Full course description
All teams are groups, but not all groups truly function as teams. Successful organizational leaders recognize these differences and strategically develop diverse, collaborative teams to accomplish organizational goals. Designed for adult learners, this 10-week online asynchronous course supports workforce preparation and future credential and credit opportunities through PSC’s Credit for Prior Learning and Prior Learning Assessment pathway.
This course offers applied leadership strategies addressing team development, team behavior, organizational dynamics, collaboration, and performance management across a variety of professional settings. Students will examine the characteristics of high-performing teams, explore the relationship between leadership and organizational context, and evaluate strategies for building effective, culturally competent, and collaborative teams.
Throughout the course, students will develop practical leadership skills related to team composition, role development, communication, conflict management, virtual teamwork, decision-making, and team evaluation. Emphasis is placed on creating inclusive team cultures that leverage diversity, foster psychological safety, encourage interdependence, and reduce dysfunction to improve organizational effectiveness and team performance.
Students will also examine leadership approaches that strengthen collaboration and synergy while applying strategies to real-world workplace and organizational scenarios. Using leadership frameworks and team development models, students will evaluate how organizational resources, culture, and leadership practices influence team success in both traditional and virtual work environments.
This self-paced course requires approximately 10 hours of work per week and includes formative checks for understanding throughout the term, culminating in a comprehensive business plan in which students design and lead a goal-oriented team using evidence-based leadership and organizational strategies.
A certificate of completion will be awarded to students who successfully complete the course.
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Evaluate the impact of organizational context and resources on team leadership and performance
- Determine team composition, roles and responsibilities, and decision-making processes to ensure effective team leadership and business execution
- Utilize proven leadership strategies to cultivate team norms which empower team members to harness the power of diversity, safely express divergent opinions, and work interdependently
- Lead the development of a team culture using strengths, weaknesses, and talents of individual team members to create team synergy and interdependence
- Implement specific leadership tactics to prevent and mitigate team dysfunction