2003-04 ANNUAL REPORT

CREATING AND DISSEMINATING LEADING-EDGE KNOWLEDGE.

MANAGEMENT

TEAM EFFECTIVENESS TEACHING LAB
PREPARES LEADERS FOR THE REAL WORLD

In the new Team Effectiveness Teaching Lab, student teams use computers to interface with a preprogrammed decision-making scenario depicting territories that must be “defended” with four types of military vehicles, each vehicle having a different function. In one scenario, for example, a team leader sees all the possibilities and threats within the team’s territory, while each individual team member sees only his or her territory and can control only his or her resources. Only by communicating and working with one another— and the team leader—can the group ultimately be successful in defending their territory.

According to John R. Hollenbeck, professor of Management, the simulation drives home management theories in powerful ways. “When students are in the lab simulation, they find themselves living the theory and learning who they are as people and potential leaders,” he says.

Leadership and Teamwork (MBA 808), is a short, one-credit course taught by Hollenbeck that is required for all first-year MBA students in their first five weeks of the program, and much of their time is spent in the teaching lab. The course is meant to prepare them for their two-year immersion in the team-based learning environment of the Broad MBA program, as well as to build their leadership skills for the next level in their careers.

Recognizing the learning power that this course provides, the MBA program began offering a new elective course in Spring 2004 called Leadership and Team Management (MGT 840), taught by Associate Professor of Management Frederick Morgeson and Assistant Professor of Management Remus Ilies, in which MBA students work with undergraduate students and serve as leaders of competitive teams. The undergraduate students involved are completing their management capstone course (MGT 460), and they learn how to work in teams before they enter the real world. The MBA team leaders perform all the tasks that would normally be required of a working manager, including selecting and recruiting undergraduate students who they think would make the best “employees” and then developing, motivating and leading them through a series of computer-based simulations.

“These courses are a wonderful way to leverage our smaller MBA program with our large undergraduate population,” Morgeson says. “It enables us to apply our research expertise on teams and leadership to create a cutting-edge learning environment that is unique among MBA and undergraduate programs.” For more information on the Team Effectiveness Teaching Lab, see www.bus.msu.edu/mgt/ lab/teaching/.