ArgosyUniversity

COURSE SYLLABUS

L7438

Team Development & Leadership

Faculty Information

Faculty Name: Anne T. Egan

Campus: 350 N. Orleans

Contact Information: Cell Ph. 312-907-2681

Office Hours: Prior to class and by request

Short Faculty Bio:

Course description:

This course utilizes an experiential format to focus on a variety ofconcepts and practices associated with developing and managingan effective team. Different approaches to establishing and honoring trust;creating a healthy organizational climate;managing differences in perception, motivation, and communication; management, motivation,and performance are addressed. Barriers to effectiveteam formation will be considered. Case studies and problem resolution are the focus of thisexperience. Expected student outcomes include mastering the basicconcepts, theories, and fundamental techniques of team management,identifying current challenges and issues confronting managers inhuman services organizations, and identifying positive teammanagement strategies and their application to human services.

Course Pre-requisites: None

Required Textbooks:

Dyer, W. G., Dyer, W.G., Dyer, J.H., Schein, E. H. (2007). Team building: Proven strategies for improving team performance. (4th Edition)John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 978-0-7879-8893-7

Katzenbach, J. R. & Smith, D. K. (2003). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. New York: Harper Business Essentials.

ISBN: 0-06-052200-3

Lencioni, Patrick M. (2002). The Five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 0787960756

Course length: 7.5 Weeks

Contact Hours: 45 Hours

Credit Value: 3.0

Program Outcomes:

  1. Leadership in Teams: Given an organizational situation, identify strategies to develop, maintain, motivate, and sustain self-managed teams using concepts, theories and techniques of team leadership.
  1. Collaboration in Teams: Given a case study or leadership situation, collect, assimilate, disseminate, and maximize the views of team stakeholders in order to reach defensible goals with minimal conflict.
  1. Conflict: Given an organizational situation that requires interpersonal or interdepartmental action, identify situations of conflict, diagnose the impact of both overt and covert behavior, and develop a plan for conflict resolution using evidence-based methods.
  1. Ethics: Given an organizational setting, identify ethical and dilemma-resolution practices, and make evidence-based decisions that integrate personal, social, and corporate responsibility.
  1. Communication: Communicate orally and in writing to individuals and groups in a concise, clear, organized, and well-supported manner using formats and technology relevant to the organizational context.
  1. Motivation: Given a leadership situation, identify workplace commitment theories to incorporate influences and power as a leader to motivate organizational stakeholders.
  1. Research: Given an organizational need to evaluate and defend its actions or potential actions, select, analyze, and apply the assessment techniques, research methods, and/or statistical analyses needed to evaluate and defend those actions based on evidence
  1. Knowledge and Understanding of the Field: Demonstrate competency in identifying and integrating the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, historical trends, and key figures in the field of organizational leadership.
  1. Change: Evaluate the impact of change on organizations, organizational members, and other stakeholders and apply appropriate change models and theories to facilitate successful change.
  1. Global diversity: Analyze and evaluate the involvement of diversity in leadership issues, with special attention to the implications of diversity for individuals, organizations, and societies.
  1. Interpersonal Effectiveness: Achieve personal development and demonstrate positive relationship skills via effective communication, respect for others, and awareness of their impact on others.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course students will be able to do the following:

  1. Given an organizational situation, identify strategies to develop, maintain, motivate, and sustain self-managed teams using concepts, theories and techniques of team leadership.Program outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
  1. When faced with problems in team functioning, use the supported theoretical foundations of team development to clearly identifythe dysfunction of the team, the leader’s role in the dysfunction, and the leader’s role in resolving the dysfunction. Program outcomes: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
  1. Given organizational teams at different stages of development, apply the theoretical foundations of team development to identify and describe the stages of development and explain the leader’s role in each stage Program outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
  1. Apply positive team leadership practices to a range of organizations and organizational scenarios, and identify implications of good team leadership to leaders and organizations Program outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
  1. Integrate the concepts of shared values, vision, commitment, and problem resolution with the principles of effective team leadership. Program outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
  1. Given an organization’s team leadership practices, critique the practices in a manner that is defensible and well supported, and implementpositive strategies to develop and lead empowered teams. Program outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
  1. Assess individual and group dynamics within teams, their effect on goals and the leader’s role. Use the assessment to inform the creation, implementation, and maintenance of key organizational strategies. Program outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10

Assignment Table

Module / Module Topics / Readings / Assignments
1 / Introductions, course expectations.
Introduction to Team use and formation / A Purposeful Approach to Team Work. (June 2005).Academic Leader, Vol. 21 Issue 6, p1-7. / Be prepared to present an introduction of yourself noting your previous experience working in teams within your organizations and exploring how this class can be most useful to you and your work.
Read the article, paying particular attention to the sections on: Deciding to use a team. Building a team. Common team dysfunctions.
2 / The purpose of using teams as a positive goal attainment leadership strategy
Underlying theoretical foundations of team leadership and application to organizations / Katzenbach & Smith, introduction and chapters 1-3
Dyer, chapters 1-4 / Class will be divided into small groups. Each group will identify the types of teams used in the workplace today. Give a description of each and delineate its purpose. Answer the question: When are teams not an appropriate strategy?
Prepare a 1,000 to 1,500 word report that describes the degree to which your organization uses teams. Identify the types of teams used and evaluate their success.
3 / Critical elements of high performance teams and leadership’s influence
Application to organizations / Katzenbach & Smith, chapter 4
Dyer, chapters 4 - 5 / In small groups discuss the elements that are critical for high performing teams and how those elements are developed.
How are the elements related to accomplishing team goals and what is the leader’s influence?
Using your texts prepare a 1,000 to 1,500 word paper that delineates the five of the critical elements for successful team function and how a leader develops and sustains them within the team.
4 / Stages of team development
Impact of sequential development to organizations / Katzenbach & Smith, chapters 5-6
Dyer, chapters 6-9
Argosy data bases and the World Wide Web: Bruce Tuckman / In a full class round robin discussion (each class member contributes in turn) identify team formation in your workplace. Identify both the positives and negatives strategies used.
What is the impact on the organization?
Using your texts, the World Wide Web and Argosy data bases prepare a 1,000 to 1,500 word paper that reviews the five stages of team development identified by Bruce Tuckman. Identify the general task of each stage as well as the individual and group behaviors. What is the impact to teams and to organizations when sequential development is not provided?
5 / Leadership role in developing, maintaining, and sustaining teams
Application of stages of team development / Katzenbach & Smith, chapters 7-8
Dyer, chapters 10 / In your group, discuss the stages of team development you have experienced since the beginning of this class.
Are you a group or a team? How has working in this format assisted you with your individual goals?
In a paper of 1,000 to 1,500 words, analyze the leaders’ role in each of the stages of development and the goal for each stage in terms of behavior and task.
6 / The dysfunctions of teams
Application and implications to organizations / Lincioni, “The Fable” / With your team, prepare a 10 – 15 slide PowerPoint supported presentation that identifies a) Lincioni’s five dysfunctions of teams, b) the role of the leader, and c) the implications to organizations.
Based on the PowerPoint presentation prepare a 1,000 to 1,500 word paper that describes your experiences with the five dysfunctions, and recommend possible leadership strategies that could avoid them in the future.
7 / Characteristics of The Abilene Paradox and Group Think / Katzenbach & Smith, chapters 9-10
Dyer, chapters 11-13
Argosy data bases and the World Wide Web: The Abilene Paradox and Group Think / In your group, discuss the critical attributes of both The Abilene Paradox and Group Think. How are they alike and how do they differ? Discuss your experiences with each within your workplace. What were the ramifications to the team and its goal?
In a paper of 1,000 to 1,500 words delineate why it is necessary to The Abilene Paradox and Group Think in a team setting and how the leader can do so.
8 / Katzenbach & Smith, chapters 11-12 and epilogue
Dyer, chapters 13-14
Argosy data bases and the World Wide Web: The Abilene Paradox and Group Think
Lincioni, “The Model” / The final paper is to be 4,500 to 5,000 words in length (approximately 15 to 20 pages) and will include a title page, an abstract, a table of contents, reference pages, and appendixes (as needed). The paper will conform to APA standards and should have no more than three levels of headings.
In this paper you will delineate a real life plan for successful team building and or team leadership. Include the problem or background, and the setting.
You will also identify when Group Think and The Abilene Paradox phenomena are most likely to occur and the leader’s role in avoiding them.
The summary section will evaluate and delineate the implications to organizations when teams are successful.
The paper will be graded on topic focus (20%), completeness of discussion (20%), use of research and citation (20%), organization of content (20%), clarity of expression (10%), and mechanics (APA, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and use of vocabulary) (10%).

A note on Assignments: The assignments for this class have been designed to give the faculty member the greatest degree of flexibility. In most modules assignment options include classroom activity and a writing activity. By looking at the content of each assignment it is possible to make the written assignments classroom discussion and the classroom discussions could easily be made into writing assignments. In the case of online instruction, either type of assignment could be made into a ‘turn in’ writing assignment or a discussion board activity.

Grading Criteria

Grading ScaleGrading requirements

A / 100 -93
A- / 92 – 90
B+ / 89 – 88
B / 87 – 83
B- / 82 – 80
C+ / 79 – 78
C / 77 – 73
C- / 72 – 70
F / 69 and below
Attendance/participation / 25%
Weekly Assignments / 40%
Final paper / 35%
100%

Library

Library Resources: ArgosyUniversity’s core online collection features nearly 21,000 full-text journals and 23,000 electronic books and other content covering all academic subject areas including Business & Economics, Career & General Education, Computers, Engineering & Applied Science, Humanities, Science, Medicine & Allied Health, and Social & Behavior Sciences. Many titles are directly accessible through the Online Public Access Catalog at All resources in ArgosyUniversity’s online collection are available through the Internet. The library will provide students with links, user IDs, and passwords. A detailed list of online resources is located at In addition to online resources, ArgosyUniversity’s onsite collections contain a wealth of subject-specific research materials searchable in the Online Public Access Catalog. Catalog searching is easily limited to individual campus collections. Alternatively, students can search combined collections of all Argosy University Libraries. Students are encouraged to seek research and reference assistance from campus librarians.

Information Literacy: ArgosyUniversity’s Information Literacy Tutorial was developed to teach students fundamental and transferable research skills. The tutorial consists of five modules where students learn to select sources appropriate for academic-level research, search periodical indexes and search engines, and evaluate and cite information. In the tutorial, students study concepts and practice them through interactions. At the conclusion of each module, they can test their comprehension and receive immediate feedback. Each module takes less than 20 minutes to complete. Please view the tutorial at

Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism: In an effort to foster a spirit of honesty and integrity during the learning process, ArgosyUniversity requires that the submission of all course assignments represent the original work produced by that student. All sources must be documented through normal scholarly references/citations and all work must be submitted using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition (2001). WashingtonDC: American Psychological Association (APA) format. Please refer to Appendix A in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5thEdition for thesis and paper format. Students are encouraged to purchase this manual (required in some courses) and become familiar with its content as well as consult the ArgosyUniversity catalog for further information regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism.

Scholarly writing: The faculty at ArgosyUniversity is dedicated to providing a learning environment that supports scholarly and ethical writing, free from academic dishonesty and plagiarism. This includes the proper and appropriate referencing of all sources. You may be asked to submit your course assignments through “Turnitin,” ( an online resource established to help educators develop writing/research skills and detect potential cases of academic dishonesty. Turnitin compares submitted papers to billions of pages of content and provides a comparison report to your instructor. This comparison detects papers that share common information and duplicative language.

Americans with Disabilities Act Policy

It is the policy of ArgosyUniversity to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If a student with disabilities needs accommodations, the student must notify the Director of Student Services. Procedures for documenting student disability and the development of reasonable accommodations will be provided to the student upon request.

Students will be notified by the Director of Student Services when each request for accommodation is approved or denied in writing via a designated form. To receive accommodation in class, it is the student’s responsibility to present the form (at his or her discretion) to the instructor. In an effort to protect student privacy, the Department of Student Services will not discuss the accommodation needs of any student with instructors. Faculty may not make accommodations for individuals who have not been approved in this manner.

The ArgosyUniversity Statement Regarding Diversity

ArgosyUniversity prepares students to serve populations with diverse social, ethnic, economic, and educational experiences. Both

the academic and training curricula are designed to provide an environment in which students can develop the skills and attitudes essential to working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.