Leadership and Teams

Course objectives

• To convey the most important aspects of leadership of teamwork as well as team behavior in organizations.
• To make students familiar with the tools that are needed to be a good, i.e. an effective leader
• To make clear which kind of behaviour in teams is advantageous

Course description
Managers do not work in isolation, just for themselves. To the contrary, they are per definition also leaders: of teams, departments or entire companies. This course has the objective to convey the most important aspects of leadership and aspects of teamwork and teambuilding in organizations.

The course will address the different concepts of leadership. Thus, it will deal with the question whether leaders are “born” or whether one can learn to be a leader. Another topic of this course will be the distinction between different leadership styles and the development of leadership skills. This course will also address the leader-member relations and how team leadership can be successfully executed. Characteristics of teams and effects of team composition on organizational success will also be discussed.

The course will combine theoretical concepts and practical aspects of leadership and teams. It will therefore consist of lectures with discussions, case studies that need to be prepared by the students and in-class (group) work on selected topics.

Learning methods
The course basically consists of two different kinds of sessions: lectures and discussion of business cases. The business cases are connected to the preceding lectures. Right after some of these business case discussions. I will upload questions on the cases that the students have to answer and that are related to the class discussions. These answers will be graded.

Attendance
Attendance is of course appreciated, but not required.

Examination information

• Students are required to answer questions on the cases, and submit them prior to the deadline. You will usually have about 6 days to answer the questions. In any case, the respective deadlines will be indicated on the course’s icorsi-website. It is also necessary that students prepare the case discussion sessions.
• There will be a final exam.
• Grading will be based on the final exam (60%) and individual assignments that will be given to students after case study sessions (40%).

Required material

• The course is largely (but not completely) based on: Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
• All readings, including business cases will be provided