Managing Teams in Organizations

BMGT-484 (3)

This practical, discovery class depends upon active, consistent student involvement. Check our WebTycho classroom and your email at least once every two days and respond to queries within one day if possible, two at the maximum (even if just to say when you will be able to give a more complete answer to the request). I will try to allow you time to explore the subject both individually and in small groups while giving you feedback on completed assignments.

There will be both individual and small group work. In addition to studying the assigned text, you must satisfactorily complete the following:

a. Weekly or biweekly assignments to be shared and critiqued with other students.

1) Use WebTycho conference and study group areas. We will use email as a back-up system.

2) Find and share with the class at least one different article or web site a week that relates to the current, just past, or just upcoming week's topic.

3) Complete individual assignments as shown in the Schedule and Assignments Sheet.

b. A Journal on your reactions to and progress through this course submitted twice monthly.

c. Participate in group discussions and lead class discussions on designated topics.

d. Case Analysis: Using techniques of case analysis and teamwork as well as the models and processes presented in your book, you will, in teams of 5-9 students, examine four cases during the course.

• Cases 1 and 2: I will assign students to teams for this project for the first half of the course. Concurrently, you will be formed into other, ad hoc teams for weekly assignment purposes.
  
  
• Cases 3 and 4: After the term break your team assignments will be changed. You will stay in the same team for the last half of the course. As before, you will also be assigned to other teams or groups to complete weekly assignment

e. An open-book, take-home mid-term exam accessed on-line at 2359 hours, 14 Dec. 2001, and returned by 2359, 16 Dec. 2001. This test will include case analysis and problem solving. All times are London local times. (Requests for a different testing time must be fully justified and will be considered on a case by case basis.)

f. An open-book, take-home final exam accessed on-line at 2359 hours, 22 Feb. 2002, and returned by 2359, 24 Feb. 2002. This test will include case analysis and problem solving. All times are London local times. (Requests for a different testing time must be fully justified and will be considered on a case by case basis.)

Class Participation: (15% of course grade)

• individual work,
• a journal in which you reflect on your process of learning and sharing during the course, and
• small group work.

Case Analysis: (35% - 5% for the first, then 10% each for the next three).

• I will divide the class into project teams twice so you will keep with one project team for two months. Each project team will analyze, research and report on two cases.

I will provide you the real world cases to be studied.

• You will apply the models and principles from the text to the case.
• You will research the company and situation on the Internet to obtain more background and improve your understanding of the teamworking situation.
• You will evaluate the effectiveness of the team and support recommended improvements in procedures, processes, structure, etc.
• Use my case analysis guidelines, among others, to help you.
• The first case is due in Week 4, the second in Week 7, the third in Week 10 and the fourth in Week 14.

This is not a correspondence course. Your presence in our virtual classroom is a vital part of the learning experience for everyone in this course. Consequently lack of consistent participation 2-3 times weekly in spite of long hours at work, computer problems, deployments, vacations, business trips, other courses, etc. may earn you a grade of F(n) as such action overrides the grading percentages shown above.