Take My Liberty MGMT 527 Class

Two books run side by side. Starbird and Cavanagh is read two chapters a week, building a model of engaged team performance in which aligned processes and committed people produce results, then working through how to create, measure and sustain that alignment on projects.

Lead Like Jesus Revisited is read one part a week. It frames leadership as a matter of the heart, the head, the hands and the habits, and asks leaders to examine their motives as well as their methods.

The early weeks set out what an engaged team is and why so many project teams fall short. The middle weeks cover conflict, decision making and the empowerment that lets a team act without constant approval.

The later weeks deal with motivation over long projects, with keeping engagement through change and with the leader's own habits.

Each module has a short presentation. Discussion threads are due in odd weeks with replies in the following even week. The case paper falls in week three, the first test in week four, the team assessment in week six, and the journal and second test in week eight.

MGMT 527 is carried in two-week cycles for the discussions, with the two papers planned from the start because the team assessment needs time at a real organization.

Each thread clears 500 words, applies the week's chapters from both books and cites three peer-reviewed journal articles and a passage of Scripture. A thread on conflict, for example, can argue that task conflict improves decisions when the leader keeps it from turning personal, cite research on psychological safety and draw on Matthew 18 for how to raise a disagreement directly.

Each reply runs at least 200 words with its own peer-reviewed source or biblical point, and engages what the classmate actually wrote.

For the week-three paper, three well-reported examples of committed teams, perhaps a hospital rapid-response unit or a software group known for honest retrospectives, are examined for why they worked and then set beside a team that never came together.

The team assessment is written from what you collect: survey responses, interview notes or meeting observations. Part 1 reports the organization's team culture on empowerment, engagement, communication and motivation; Part 2 compares the findings with research and recommends next steps.

Posting and submitting remain your job, as do both tests and the journal.

MGMT 527 work goes to someone who has led project teams and studied how teams work: a program manager with the PMP, an organizational development consultant or a team coach with a graduate degree in leadership.

That experience shows in the team assessment, where findings are organized the way a consultant would present them to management: what is working, what is not, why, and what to do first.

It shows in the case paper, where the contrast case is used to make the success factors clear rather than as a story of failure.

The threads benefit from practice as well as reading, with examples of how a leader rebuilt trust on a troubled project or delegated a decision the team was ready to own.

Before release, another team leadership specialist reads each piece for length, citations and formatting, and the same writer stays with you all term.

The team assessment is the first difficulty. It needs a real organization willing to let you survey or interview its people, and the information has to be gathered well before week six.

The source rule is the second. Every thread needs three peer-reviewed journal articles and Scripture, and every reply needs at least one source of its own.

The case paper is the third, since three well-documented engaged teams and one poorly developed team take real searching to find.

Reading two books a week is the fourth. Starbird and Cavanagh and Lead Like Jesus Revisited run in parallel, and threads are expected to draw on both.

The weekly journal is the fifth. It is easy to leave until week eight, when the second test and the last replies also fall due.

With a thread due in week one and an organization to arrange for the assessment, the earliest start is the easiest.

Threads reach you early in weeks one, three, five and seven, and replies early the following week once classmates post.

The case paper arrives before week three closes.

The team assessment is planned with you in weeks two and three, including a short survey or interview guide you can use, and both parts arrive before the week six deadline once your information is in.

The quote prices each discussion, the case paper and the assessment separately, with the assessment the largest.

Late joiners pay only for what remains.