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Making the Team, by Leigh Thompson (most recent edition). Prentice Hall, NJ. ISBN 0130143634.

I will occasionally provide other readings for this class.

Check in the USC bookstore for availability before ordering online. If you are having difficulty locating the text, you may contact a number of online book sellers or the publisher, including amazon, barnes & noble, borders, campusi, ecampus, and others.

Instructor: Dr. Kelton Rhoads.
Office hours: Mo. & We. 11:30 am - 12:30 pm.

Please note that, as an adjunct professor, my time on campus is limited. If you need to talk to me on another day, you can call me at work during working hours. I travel a lot, so leave a message if I'm not in, and I'll call you back. Please call me rather than use email. My email is set up so that it rejects messages where the sender is not recognized. You are also welcome to stop by my Torrance office (please call first for an appointment & driving instructions).

This course is designed for 1) the present or future manager of a group; 2) for the person who is, or is likely to become, a work team member; and 3) future scholars who plan to study human behavior and communication patterns within groups. We'll take a look at the best and most recent information we have about the psychology of, and communication patterns within and between teams. We'll be able to get "up to date" on what's known about team communication, and also to make educated guesses about the many areas of group behavior that remains unexamined.

Please read the syllabus carefully so you'll know what's expected of you. In particular, please be aware that you will need to complete team assignments, and you will need to work in the groups to which you are assigned. Group projects can be fun or frustrating (or both), depending on the players and the dynamics that develop. Either way, you will need to work with your group to create group projects in this class. Please be certain to review all of the links at the top left corner of this page.

Readings: It's important to keep up with the reading. If you wait until the week before the test to read the assigned material, you won't learn or retain the material as well and you'll likely do poorly on exams. A thorough understanding of the assigned readings will be necessary in order to obtain top grades on the exams and in your project. If you must miss a class, please contact a fellow student for notes, since class notes are not available from the instructor. Not allowed in class: phones or pagers or other electronic or manual devices that are audible; no audio or visual recording devices, no exceptions. Allowed in class: computers (if they are used for taking notes and don't become a distraction) and PDAs (ditto).

Participation: Class participation & attendance will be considered for scores that border between a higher and lower full grade, unless your attendence is unusually bad, in which case poor attendance can drop your grade by a full letter. Excused absences require documentation and a compelling reason for your absence. You get three "freebie" absences in the class if they are non-test days--no documentation or excuses required. If you miss more than that, you will need to document ALL your absences at the time of your fourth. So save documentation in the event you go over the allowed number of absences. Class attendance will be taken.

Exams: There will be 3 multiple choice exams which will count for 66% total of your grade. The exams will concentrate on your knowledge of the material we've covered and your ability to apply the principles we've learned. You should know 1) the material assigned as reading, 2) the material presented in lectures, to do well on the tests. I rely on the tests to motivate your reading of the text assignments and class attendance. Some of the standardized test questions that come with the textbooks will be used in the construction of tests. For more information, click on the "About Tests" link above left.

Group Paper: You will turn in a 4-person group paper toward the end of this class, worth 33%. It will need to be on one of the topics we cover in class (see the course schedule). Choose one of the topics that interests you, and read in that topic. The text of the paper should be 20 pages minimum (Title, abstract, bibliography, etc., are in addition to those 20 pages). You can start your paper early in the class--no need to wait until the last weeks of class to start. See the link "The Paper" for more info.

Jan 12 - Introduction. Social Science. Definitions.
Read the syllabus thoroughly.
Answer the questionnaire (see link at top left) and bring it to class on Jan 26.

Jan 19 - Individual vs. Group.
Mo. is MLK Holiday;
No class Wednesday, assignment is to read Forsyth Ch. 3, online here.....
Read Thompson, Chapter 3 - Compensation

Jan 26 - Building the Team
Thompson, Chapter 1 - Basics of Teamwork

Feb 2 - Communication about Norms & Roles
Forsyth, Chapter 5 - Structure.

Feb 9 - Performance & Productivity
Thompson, Chapter 2 - Performance & Productivity
Thompson, Chapter 8 - Creativity

Feb 16 - Tasks & Skills (Mo is President's Day.)
Thompson, Chapter 4, Building the Team
Read to the end of "Team Norms." Stop at "Cohesion: Team Bonding."

Feb 23 - Test 1. Feb 25: Communicating Cohesion & Trust
Feb 23 = Test 1.
Thompson, Chapter 4, Building the Team
Start reading where you left off, at the header "Cohesion, Team Bonding."

March 1 - Team Communication
Thompson, Chapter 5 - Communication & Collective Intelligence

March 8 - Bias & Dysfunction, Part I
Thompson, Chapter 6 - Thinking Errors

March 15 - Spring Break all week.

March 22 - Bias & Dysfunction, Part II
Thompson, Chapter 11 - Interteam Relations Gone Wrong

March 29 - Test 2. Mar 31: Cooperation, Competition & Conflict in Teams.
March 29 = Test 2.
Thompson, Chapter 7 - Conflict in Teams

April 5 - Self, Status, and Leadership I
Thompson, Chapter 10 - The Leadership Paradox

April 12 - Self, Status, and Leadership II
Paper outlines due April 14.
No reading assigned this week.

April 19 - Small Groups, Cults, and Terrorists
Reading to download: The Sociology & Psychology of Terrorism
Assigned reading is from the beginning of file to the end of the Conclusion on page 72 of the text (which is the same as page 80 of the PDF file).

April 26 - Lecture Topic: Negotiation & Influence in Teams
Reading: Thompson Ch 9, Networking.
(Note that I will not give a lecture to accompany Ch. 9; instead, I will address Negotiation & Influence.)

May 10 - Final Exam - Monday May 10 at 8 am. The final exam date won't be changed from the date and time specified in the Schedule of Final Exams. Please don't ask to take the exam earlier. The final covers material after Test 2 only (that is, it's noncomprehensive). Papers due in their final form. Peer ratings are also due at the time of the final. Penalties apply for late papers.

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