Rationale

The main purpose of this course is to enable students to participate effectively in teams and other collaborative processes and to proactively support and promote collaboration. This course provides a theoretical base for identifying and understanding how teams are organised and structured, team dynamics, team building and functional requirements of effective teamwork. It examines features common to both interdisciplinary and inter-organisational collaboration. Also, it explores distinctions among multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams. Finally, the course emphasises intensive experiential skill development to effectively engage the main challenges teams face, that is, the distribution and use of power, conflict resolution, decision making, problem solving, creativity and valuing diversity.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be expected to:
(i)    Collaborate effectively in order to maximize the opportunities and mediate the constraints inherent in interdisciplinary team efforts.
(ii)   Facilitate meaningful participation of team members.
(iii)  Identify how the dynamics of power, social influence and culture in teams affect leadership behaviour, member interactions, the impact of minorities and interpersonal influence.
(iv)  Assess sources of conflict in a team and identify the team’s dominant mode of responding to conflict.
(v)   Envision and effectively introduce integrative solutions to conflict which threatens to undermine the efficacy of the team.
(vi)  Identify factors which improve and impede problem-solving and decision making by the team, and apply team-oriented approached to problem-solving and decision-making which are most appropriate to achieving on team process.
(vii) Identify team norms and recognize their influence on team process.
(viii) Explain how stages of development affect a team’s productive capacity and role behaviour.
(ix)  Observe, evaluate and influence team communication patterns and climate in ways which optimize interpersonal trust and information processing.
(x)   Assess their own performance and growth as a team member and contributor.
(xi)  Identify the relevant differences between cross-functional and interdisciplinary teams and their practical implications for participation.