Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Spring Semester 2026

Effective Teams (Online)

MGMT 6260-A71

Course: MGMT 6260-A71
Credits: 3
Term: Spring Semester 2026
Department: MHRH
CRN: 10514

Course Description

This course covers a deep exploration of what it takes to build effective teams. Participants will study what makes teams effective, what is required to build trust on teams, handling team conflict, creating accountability on teams, practical leadership strategies when leading teams, multicultural and virtual teams and team branding. (Spring [Online]) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Prerequisite(s): MGMT 6100 and MGMT 6150 - Prerequisite Min. Grade: C Registration Restriction(s): MBA majors and MSBA majors and CSIA - Management Emphasis (M.S.) only

Required Texts

The materials required in this course include two books and a course pack of articles and case studies that will need to be purchased online from Harvard Business Publishing. Books can be purchased at most book retailers including the SUU Bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. They come in hardcover, eBook, and audio-book formats. Shop around for the best price, but don't procrastinate your purchase. Additional articles/video resources are posted on Canvas.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable - Lencioni, Patrick - Jossey-Bass - ISBN-13: 978-

Do You Care to Lead?: A 5-Part Formula for Creating Loyal and Results-Focused Teams and Organizations - Rogers, Michael G. - Wiley Publishing - ISBN-13: 978-111962841 Important: As you may have noticed this is my book. I think it is important to point out that I don't use my book to make money with the course I teach, I use it because it contains all of my thoughts on leading teams. In the spirit of transparency, this book is published by Wiley - a major publisher in the US. My royalty on the book is about $1.50 for each book sold. I am more than happy to Venmo that amount to you. If you would like, please send me your Venmo information, and I will send it ASAP. Unfortunately, I don't control the price of the book the publisher does. I encourage you to find a better price by getting a used version of the book if you can.

Harvard Course Pack: https://hbsp.harvard.edu/import/1368225

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • 1. Explain the important components of building team trust and psychological safety, healthy productive conflict, commitment, accountability, and focus on results.
  • 2. Identify leadership opportunities in developing and facilitating conditions to build effective teams.
  • 3. Synthesize the dynamics of diverse and virtual/remote teams.
  • 4. Using an assessment, interviews, and other resources - create, present, and defend a client team solution.

Course Requirements

Course Assessment Table
Course AssessmentsCO 1CO 2CO 3CO 4
DiscussionsXX
Written Case Study AnalysisXX
QuizzesXX
Consulting Activity (Final)XXXX
Assignment Outline
Written Case Study Analysis (200 Points / 45% of total grade)

You will complete four written case study analyses, each worth 50 points. These assignments assess your ability to apply management and leadership principles to real-world situations and to clearly recommend and justify a course of action.

Each analysis must be 650–850 words, present a clear position, support recommendations with case evidence, apply relevant course concepts, and follow APA 7th edition guidelines. Writing quality, organization, and professionalism matter. Detailed instructions and grading rubrics are provided in the corresponding Canvas modules and must be reviewed before submission.

Consulting Activity (Final) (150 Points / 34% of total grade)

The Team Consulting Project is a multi-stage, team-based experience designed to reflect real-world consulting and leadership work. Students function as a consulting team tasked with helping Joe and the leadership team at The Forest Group address key team and leadership challenges.

As the project unfolds, teams use the same skills they are learning in the course—building trust, setting norms, managing conflict, making decisions, and holding one another accountable—while applying course concepts to a real client situation. Students integrate frameworks from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Do You Care to Lead?, and other course models to diagnose problems, design a practical three-step team reset, and translate theory into clear, actionable recommendations.

The project concludes with a professional consulting presentation delivered via video, supported by peer and cross-team evaluations. Detailed instructions and grading rubrics are provided in Canvas.

Quizzes (94 Points /21% of total grade)

There will be seven total quizzes - six quizzes on the course reading assignments (14 points each), plus one quiz on the course syllabus (10 points). All quizzes consist of multiple-choice and True-or-False questions and are open-book. There is no time limit, and you get one opportunity to take the quiz before the due date (no multiple attempts). The deadlines to submit the weekly reading quizzes are listed on Canvas.

Quiz questions are taken from the readings and videos (lecture and non-lecture videos). It is a good idea to watch the videos and complete the assigned reading, and while doing so, take notes so you not only have them available for the quizzes, but also for the assignments and discussions.

Extra Credit Professor's Corner Discussions (Up to 5 Points per Discussion)

Professor's Corner is an opportunity to participate at a deeper level in the class. In these meetings, we review the case studies, articles, and videos of the past week and the current week. You will be better prepared as a result of that week's assignments. Attending Professor's Corner live is optional, but watching the recording and participating in the discussion is not. There are four Professor's Corner discussions you are asked to participate in.

After participating live or watching the recording of Professor's Corner, you are required to post one substantial, well-constructed contribution to the discussion that demonstrates clearly that you watched it and were engaged. There is no word length. The quality of the content is more important than the number of words, but a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 300 words is a good guide to follow. Following your initial post, you are asked to make at least two meaningful replies (not to exceed 150 words each) to other students’ responses.

Please see instructions in the Modules and Rubric for more specific instructions and information.

Important: Since active participation is critical to the online discussion, no credit is given for late submissions.

Course Flow

Most weeks, the general flow of the course, except for the first week to some extent, and team projects, includes the following:

  • An open-book quiz due Fridays (or sooner, should you choose)
  • Initial extra credit discussion post due Fridays (or sooner should you choose)
  • Replies to extra credit discussions are due Tuesday (or sooner should you choose)
  • Case study analysis due Monday (or sooner should you choose)
  • See Canvas modules for specific deadlines for the team consulting project deliverables

For more information, go to "READ: Course Overview and Module Workflows" in the course modules.

Grade Scheme

Grading Philosophy — Many of you may be balancing multiple, competing demands in your life – career, education, family, etc. I understand that unexpected situations might arise during the semester. For this reason, I have included some flexibility into the design of the course and will drop the lowest grade in certain assignments as described above.

Late Policy — Deadlines are established for each assignment, discussion and quiz. Late assignments, discussions and quizzes are not accepted unless noted.

Discussion of Grades — Coaches and I will discuss grades on individual assignments up to one week after the grade is given. If you can make a cogent argument in favor of increasing a grade, We will consider it. After that point, I will not alter grades for any reason. Also, unless you honestly believe I erred in computing your final grade, please do not email me after grades are posted and ask for a higher grade. The answer will be no. Additionally, I don't round grades up - ever, so please don't ask. I have found that rounding grades causes too many issues and isn't fair. Let me explain. If I round your grade up then I have to round up everyone's grade up and where do I draw the line? No matter where I draw it someone will think it is unfair. My hands are unfortunately tied. Many in the class will be on the "cusp" of an A, A-, B+, etc. at the end of the term. If I allow you to do extra credit to round your grade up, then I have to open that up to every student in the class to make it fair. That doesn't make it better because I will have a whole new group of students just on the cusp asking what they can do to get an A, A-, B+, etc. I understand this can be frustrating, but my philosophy with grading is that it is your responsibility to get the grade you want, not the professor's. Sorry to be so direct, but this seems to be a recurring problem every term. I will provide you with every opportunity during the semester to succeed, but at the end of the day, it is your responsibility to get the grade you want :-)

Rubrics — In the interest of fairness, consistency, and transparency, assignments are evaluated using grading rubrics that provide the assessment criteria. You will earn points based on the extent to which you achieve the objectives defined in the assessment criteria. Please carefully study the grading rubric for prior to beginning each assignment and allow it to guide your work.

The following grading standards will be used in this class:

A100 % to 94.0%
A-< 94.0 % to 90.0%
B+< 90.0 % to 87.0%
B< 87.0 % to 84.0%
B-< 84.0 % to 80.0%
C+< 80.0 % to 77.0%
C< 77.0 % to 74.0%
C-< 74.0 % to 70.0%
D+< 70.0 % to 67.0%
D< 67.0 % to 64.0%
D-< 64.0 % to 61.0%
F< 61.0 % to 0.0%

Course Outline


Written Case Study Analysis (200 Points / 45% of total grade)

You will complete four written case study analyses, each worth 50 points. These assignments assess your ability to apply management and leadership principles to real-world situations and to clearly recommend and justify a course of action.

Each analysis must be 650–850 words, present a clear position, support recommendations with case evidence, apply relevant course concepts, and follow APA 7th edition guidelines. Writing quality, organization, and professionalism matter. Detailed instructions and grading rubrics are provided in the corresponding Canvas modules and must be reviewed before submission.


Consulting Activity (Final) (150 Points / 34% of total grade)

The Team Consulting Project is a multi-stage, team-based experience designed to reflect real-world consulting and leadership work. Students function as a consulting team tasked with helping Joe and the leadership team at The Forest Group address key team and leadership challenges.

As the project unfolds, teams use the same skills they are learning in the course—building trust, setting norms, managing conflict, making decisions, and holding one another accountable—while applying course concepts to a real client situation. Students integrate frameworks from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Do You Care to Lead?, and other course models to diagnose problems, design a practical three-step team reset, and translate theory into clear, actionable recommendations.

The project concludes with a professional consulting presentation delivered via video, supported by peer and cross-team evaluations. Detailed instructions and grading rubrics are provided in Canvas.


Quizzes (94 Points /21% of total grade)

There will be seven total quizzes - six quizzes on the course reading assignments (14 points each), plus one quiz on the course syllabus (10 points). All quizzes consist of multiple-choice and True-or-False questions and are open-book. There is no time limit, and you get one opportunity to take the quiz before the due date (no multiple attempts). The deadlines to submit the weekly reading quizzes are listed on Canvas.

Quiz questions are taken from the readings and videos (lecture and non-lecture videos). It is a good idea to watch the videos and complete the assigned reading, and while doing so, take notes so you not only have them available for the quizzes, but also for the assignments and discussions.


Extra Credit Professor's Corner Discussions (Up to 5 Points per Discussion)

Professor's Corner is an opportunity to participate at a deeper level in the class. In these meetings, we review the case studies, articles, and videos of the past week and the current week. You will be better prepared as a result of that week's assignments. Attending Professor's Corner live is optional, but watching the recording and participating in the discussion is not. There are four Professor's Corner discussions you are asked to participate in.

After participating live or watching the recording of Professor's Corner, you are required to post one substantial, well-constructed contribution to the discussion that demonstrates clearly that you watched it and were engaged. There is no word length. The quality of the content is more important than the number of words, but a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 300 words is a good guide to follow. Following your initial post, you are asked to make at least two meaningful replies (not to exceed 150 words each) to other students’ responses.

Please see instructions in the Modules and Rubric for more specific instructions and information.

Important: Since active participation is critical to the online discussion, no credit is given for late submissions.

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Late Work and Revision Opportunity

Late submissions may be accepted up to one week after the due date for a maximum of 50% credit. You may revise and resubmit one case study during the term. Revisions must show meaningful improvement based on feedback and include a 200–300 word reflection. Late work may not be used for resubmission. The resubmission deadline is one week before the end of the course.

Discussion Submissions

Important: Since active participation is critical to the online discussion, no credit is given for late submissions.

Late Policy

Deadlines are established for each assignment, discussion and quiz. Late assignments, discussions and quizzes are not accepted unless noted.

Attendance Policy

This is an online course. Attendance is not required. 

Course Fees

None

Instructor's Response Time &amp; Feedback

Canvas Information

Canvas is where course content, grades, and communication will reside for this course.

For Passwords or any other computer-related technical support:

435-865-8200
support@suu.edu
IT Service Desk

For Canvas help:

435-865-8555
canvas@suu.edu
Canvas Help Center
How to Use Canvas

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.