Elective course - Teamwork and Leadership in Modern Organizations

Course content

Modern organizations and teams are facing unique challenges and opportunities that were not there decades ago. Due to globalization and societal demographic changes, the workforce has become more diverse in, for example, ethnicity, gender, and age than ever before. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, hybrid work and work-from-home have become the new norm. Due to increasing geopolitical uncertainty and market complexity, top managers, team leaders, and employees need to deal with a variety of adversities and even conflicting demands in their work. Due to technological advancement, AI and robots have been teamed up with humans in the decision making and service provision processes respectively. All these new work situations call for a deeper understanding of their implications for employee behaviors, performance, and well-being as well as effective ways to manage them.

 

This course will address the theory and practice of four current and important topics in work and organizational psychology (WOP): (i) diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues, (ii) hybrid work and virtual teams, (iii) resilience and paradoxes, and (iv) AI and robots in the workplace. For each topic, you will not only learn about the state of the science but also team up with fellow students to develop a solid understanding from and about organizational practice.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

 

  • Understand major concepts and theories in each topic
  • Describe basic facts and evidence in the research of each topic
  • Understand major methods in the research of each topic

 

Skills:

 

  • Identify managerial problems in teamwork and leadership in organizations
  • Analyze managerial problems with solid and rigorous methods  
  • Provide evidence-based solutions and interventions to solve managerial problems

 

Competences:

 

  • Apply WOP theories and conceptual models to evaluate organizational situations
  • Assess and analyze organizational issues with relevant WOP theories
  • Develop constructive solutions for organizations to manage current challenges in the workplace

The course consists of five pairs of lectures and seminars. Whereas you will learn about theory and research of a topic in the lecture, you will apply this theoretical knowledge to practice in the paring seminar following the lecture. In the five seminars, you will work in a team of 4 to 5 students on different assignments (e.g., interviews with managers and employees, case studies etc.).

(400 compulsory; 400 self-chosen)

Below is an overview of the course.

Lecture 1. DEI Issues in Teams and Organizations I: Formal Policies and Procedures
Seminar 1. In this team assignment, you are expected to interview at least one manager and one employee separately in the University of Copenhagen (preferably outside the Department of Psychology). With the interviews, you aim to find out what the formal policies and procedures regarding DEI issues in the department, faculty, or university, how the manager and employee perceive these policies and procedures, and how effective they are. You need to base your interview questions and conclusions on the relevant scientific literature and present your results in a 15-minute presentation in the seminar, followed by a discussion about the project with the class.

Lecture 2. DEI Issues in Teams and Organizations II: Informal Cultures and Practice
Seminar 2. In this team assignment, you are expected to interview at least one manager and one employee separately in a company (preferably from the same team if possible). With the interviews, you aim to find out how the team and company are handling DEI issues informationally in their daily practice. Do they “walk the talk”? What implications does this DEI practice have on team members in terms of their work attitudes, behaviors, performance, and well-being? Is there room for improvement from the employee’s and team leader’s perspective respectively? You need to base your interview questions and conclusions on the relevant scientific literature and present your results in a 15-minute presentation in the seminar, followed by a discussion about the project with the class.

Lecture 3. Hybrid Work and Virtual Teams
Seminar 3. In this team assignment, you are expected to have a debate with another team on the topic of whether hybrid work is good or bad for the company or employees respectively. In the lecture, you will be randomly assigned to the proponent and opponent for hybrid work. Your preparation material can include, for example, scientific literature, company news, interviews and even surveys with companies, and so forth.

Lecture 4. Resilience and Paradoxes
Seminar 4. In this team assignment, you will help a company/manager/employee to map out paradoxes in its/his/her work. You are expected to draw on scientific literature and develop questionnaires to assess paradoxes in the company’s operation or the person’s work. You will also assess the implications of such paradoxes for the company/ person. If the implications are positive, you can develop suggestions for further improvement. If the implications are negative, your suggestions need to be about how to overcome all these paradoxical challenges. You need to base your assessment and suggestions on the literature and present your project in a 15-minute presentation in the seminar, followed by a discussion about the project with the class.

Lecture 5. AI and Robots in the Workplace
Seminar 5. AI is widely introduced to organizations to improve decision making quality. Service robots are also introduced to hospitality, retailing, and healthcare sectors to alleviate the staff shortage problem. However, not everyone sees such workplace changes in a positive light, and some can be resistant to the application of AI and service robots. In this team assignment, you will be provided with a short case about how a company or healthcare provider is struggling with using AI and service robots in their decision making and service provision. You are expected to develop interventions to help the company or healthcare provider to address this challenge. You need to base your intervention on the scientific literature and present your project in a 15-minute presentation in the seminar, followed by a discussion about the project with the class.

Written
Oral
Individual
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)
ECTS
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment
Type of assessment details
Take-home assignment on topic of student's choice

For the exam, students will choose one topic in the course, formulate a research question, and write a research proposal to answer this question. It is an individual assignment with max. 12 pages. Information about the structure of the proposal will be provided at the start of the course.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Re-exam

For the re-exam, students will choose a different topic from the first one and write a new research proposal with the same requirements as in the exam. 
 

Criteria for exam assessment

    .

  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 30
  • English
  • 30

Kursusinformation

Language
English
Course number
APSK15769U
ECTS
7,5 ECTS
Programme level
Full Degree Master
Bachelor
Duration

1 semester

Placement
Spring
Studyboard
Department of Psychology, Study Council
Contracting department
  • Department of Psychology
Contracting faculty
  • Faculty of Social Sciences
Course Coordinator
  • Jia Li   (4-7a3e7c79508083893e7b853e747b)
Saved on the 06-11-2024

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