MBK7005M Building and Leading High Performing Teams

Module Handbook

Module Details:
Module Director: David Atkinson
Module Code & Title: MBK7005M Building and leading high
Module Tutor: Radu Negoescu
performing teams
Level: Master's Email: radu.negoescu@rkc.edu
Credits: 30
Academic Year: 2020/21

OVERVIEW OF THE MODULE/MODULE AIMS

The aim of this module is to appraise critically theories of teams, teamworking and how
leadership may be exercised in teams. The module will focus on issues of how effective and
creative teams can be developed and maintained in organisations, to achieve a high level of
performance. Consideration will be given to enduring teams, such as strategic senior
leadership teams, as well as temporary teams – such as project teams – and also teams that
cross departmental and organisational boundaries, and virtual teams. The module will
include an analysis of a team or teams in an organisation, or organisations, of the
participant’s choice. Participants will be encouraged to use their own experience of team
membership to inform their enquiry and critical thinking.

INTRODUCTION TO THE MODULE

The module will explore the following:

 Types and functions of groups and teams in organisations

 Theories of characteristics of high performing teams
 Processes within high performing teams
 Contributions and roles of members of teams
 Models of leadership in teams, including ethical, responsible, focused and shared
leadership, and leadership processes
 Team learning
 Conflict and cooperation within teams
 Diversity in teams
 Virtual teams

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

By completing this module, you will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate contemporary theories of team development and team

performance, in relation to decision-making teams in organisations.
2. Critically compare different models of leadership within teams and identify
appropriate contexts for different models.
3. Undertake critical analyses of examples of team working in organisations, in relation
to contemporary theories.
4. Understand and apply appropriate academic standards in written work.

ASSESSMENT DETAILS

Assessment is by one assignment, a critical essay of 6000 words (100%) which integrates
theory and practice. The assignment must include a clear structure with an abstract, a list of
references and, where appropriate, appendices and diagrams. You must make appropriate
use of journal articles and texts. References should follow the Harvard system – see the
guide at https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/library/referencing/guides/.

The assignment should contain:

1. A critical review of theories of team working, particularly ideas about how teams in
organisations can be effective in achieving results, including theories of team
leadership.
2. An analysis of a team of which you have personal experience, either as a member or
a leader, in relation to relevant theories of team working.
3. An assessment of your own abilities as a team leader or team member, using
appropriate theories; identify areas of strength and areas where you might benefit
from development

To preserve confidentiality, please anonymise the organisation or organisations you discuss

in the assignment, eg by calling them Company X, or Governmental Organisation Y, or
International Organisation Z. Similarly, where you write about private individuals, call them
manager A, or leader B.

N.B. The word count will include quotations but exclude footnotes, list of references,
appendices, tables and graphs. Appendices will not count against the word limit but should
not contain large amounts of text. (It will be expected that they will normally contain
diagrams or tables or visual images). Appendices should not contain material that is
essential to meeting the assignment brief. If you exceed the wordcount by more than 10%,
you will be penalised.

See the final page of this Handbook for assessment criteria.

You are encouraged to proof read your work thoroughly before submission.  You may ask
others to proof read your work on your behalf for matters of punctuation, grammar and
spelling, but UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should they comment on the subject content of
your work.  While errors may be highlighted for your attention, edits and corrections must be
your own.  You are reminded that any work submitted should be yours and yours alone. If
the paper has been proof read (especially it that involved correcting the English) this must be
stated on the cover of the paper and a copy of the original, pre-correction, paper retained for
possible review by the University. The regulations on Academic Misconduct (including
cheating and plagiarism) can be viewed here: Academic Misconduct.

Formative Assessment

You will be expected to complete an interim assignment, and you will receive formative
assessment on it – details are on the Online Campus system. Formative assessment will
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also take place on an informal basis through feedback via various in-class group activities
and exercise. The purpose of formative assessment is to give you feedback on your
progress towards the development of knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes, in
order to help you in your individual assignments and monitor the learning progress.

REGULATIONS ON CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM

Students are warned that the University will take the offences of Academic Misconduct
(including cheating and plagiarism) very seriously. Please read the Academic Misconduct
policy information carefully and seek further help via the Academic Misconduct web page

MODULE OUTLINE / TIMETABLE / KEY DATES

It is expected that this module will require a total of about 300 hours of study. For the
detailed schedule see the Online Campus syllabus and forum

RESOURCES - KEY TEXTS

In support of this module, a pack of recommended reading will be made available through
the Online Campus system, which you can download as pdf files: the source texts are listed
below.

As you are studying at Master’s level, you are also expected to explore and discover reading
independently. Typically it is a good idea to start with a broad text that summarises key
issues, then widen your research to include academic and practitioner sources.

A number of journals contain useful material for this module, including: Team Performance
Management, Leadership Quarterly, Harvard Business Review, Group Dynamics, and
Academy of Management Review. All of these are available electronically through the
University Library, and you can find and download articles from them.

Core Reading

If you were to buy one book to support your work on this module, we would recommend
either:

Susan A Wheelan, Maria Akerlund and Christian Jacobson 2020 Creating Effective Teams,
Sage, or

Michael West 2012 Effective Teamwork, Blackwell

You can buy the books on Kindle. West is available as an ebook through the University
library.

Recommended Reading

The following books are relevant to the module. Books marked with a #hashtag can be
purchased through Kindle (publication dates of Kindle editions may differ from the dates
below).

Where books are marked with an *asterisk, a chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file – see
the Online Campus for details of how to do this.

John Bratton 2015 Introduction to Work and Organizational Behaviour, Palgrave, Chapter 10
Groups and teams, pp. 263-290*

Susan A Wheelan 2016 Creating Effective Teams, Sage, Chapter 5 Effective team
members, pp. 49-69*
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E-books

Items in the list below are available as e-books through the University library. Your ability to
access these will depend on your internet connection bandwidth and availability (you must
be connected while reading, or you may download the book for a limited period of time) –
please check on this early in the module.

R Meredith Belbin 2010 Management Teams: why they succeed or fail, Butterworth-
Heinemann#

R Meredith Belbin 2010 Team Roles at Work, Butterworth-Heinemann#

John Bratton 2015 Introduction to Work and Organizational Behaviour, Palgrave

David Buchanan and Andrzey Huczynski 2017 Organizational Behaviour, Pearson,

see Chapter 13 Teamworking, pp. 417-448#

Amy Edmondson and Susan Reynolds 2016 Building the Future: big teaming for audacious
innovation, Berrett-Koehler#

Timothy Franz 2012 Group Dynamics and Team Interventions: understanding and improving
team performance, Wiley#

Brian A Griffiths and Ethan B Dunham 2015 Working in Teams, Sage

Laurie Mullins 2016 Management and Organisational Behaviour, Pearson, see Chapter 8
Working in groups and teams, pp. 270-310#

Nancy M Settle-Murphy 2013 Leading Effective Virtual Teams, CRC Press#

Michael West 2012 Effective Teamwork, Blackwell#

Videos

Video lectures and other materials for the module are available on the Online Campus
system.

Your Academic Support Librarian to contact for help is Jane Munks (j.munks@yorksj.ac.uk)

You can book an online tutorial with her at

https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/JaneMunks@yorksj.ac.uk/bookings/

See the following page for the criteria for assessing Master's level assignments.

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ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND MARKING SCHEME

Assessed Distinction Merit Pass F (fail)

Components (100-85) (84 - 70) (69 - 60) (59 - 50) (49-20)

Knowledge & Excellent understanding of a wide Very good understanding of a Good understanding of Subject knowledge is poorly

Work submitted is considered to be outstanding in the assessed

Understanding range of ideas range of ideas relevant ideas demonstrated

Excellent ability to analyse,

Analysis & Accurate analysis and very Good analysis and sound
evaluate, compare and construct Weak analysis and evaluation
Evaluation values
good evaluation evaluation

Excellent thinking, logical and Very good synthesis of ideas Good synthesis of ideas with Inconsistent logic and
Critical Thinking creative with insightful outcomes that are articulated clearly mostly consistent logic synthesis

Accurate and consistent Little evidence of research or

Research & Rigorous and sustained enquiry Consistent approach drawing
enquiry using appropriate understanding of appropriate
Enquiry with excellent outcomes
methods
on a range of sources
approaches

Original or innovative work of an Shows imagination and Good imagination with some Derivative work that offers little
Creativity excellent standard originality originality in the way of new ideas

Good referencing and

Presentation & Technically excellent, accurate Accurate and consistent Poor referencing and little
consistent approach to
Referencing referencing and presentation referencing and presentation
conventions
understanding of conventions

Excellent ability to communicate Very good ability to Most Ideas communicated Ideas are not communicated
Communication ideas clearly and appropriately communicate ideas clearly effectively effectively

Non-submissions will receive 0 marks. Non-serious attempts, where the answer is irrelevant to the set questions or is completely insufficient,
will receive 0-19 marks.

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