The most rewarding, stressful, and important aspect of organizational life is working with other people. The ability to understand and manage interactions with others is crucial to the rise of an individual's career and to the functioning of an organization. In organizations, the consequences of "people problems" are often disastrous. The art of working with and leading people involves a myriad of skills, including the abilities to create and sustain motivation, use effective influence tactics, evaluate people and information accurately, communicate effectively, make high quality decisions individually and with others, and manage work teams.

This course provides an overview of theory and research on understanding the behaviour of individuals and groups in modern organizations. Through exercises, case discussions, lectures, videos, and assignments, the course will provide you with the opportunity to learn and practice these skills. If you make an effort to learn in this course and familiarize yourself with systematic and scientific knowledge about the psychology of organizational life, you will have an advantage over others who lack this knowledge. This is why executives come back to take courses on leading people more than they do for any other topic: because it is difficult and challenging, and few really know how to do it well.

This course rests on the notion that effective leadership and management require a profound understanding of the causes of human behaviour. Leaders who understand the forces that guide behaviour can inspire other people to work toward common goals. This course will equip you with an understanding of the principles by which leaders influence other people, with a particular focus on leading teams. After taking this course, you will be able to understand why some bosses are a disaster while others are great; some team leaders can be fun and still effective while others are no fun and get nothing done.