Teaming for Innovation

(BUS 198)

The pressure for companies to come up with new products, services, processes, markets, or business models has been increasing for some time. Our current economic situation has only heightened this need for innovation. While occasionally an individual is charged with the task of creating a new product, service, process improvement, or even market, this task usually falls to a group of people who often have not worked together before.

Featuring lectures, individual and team activities, guest lecturers, and team projects, this course will help you understand why teams are more innovative than individuals, what makes some teams more innovative than others, how you can improve a team’s innovativeness, and what tools and techniques are available. Whether you are currently part of a team, or are thinking of assembling a new team, this highly interactive course will help you work more effectively in innovative team environments. Students will work on homework assignments with other members of the class.

Francine Gordon, CEO, FGordon Group

Francine Gordon is an executive coach and organization consultant who helps companies become more innovative by improving team effectiveness.   Before starting her own business, she spent over five years as manager at Boston Consulting Group (BCG).  Clients have included Global 500 companies in high technology, finance, biotechnology, industrial goods, and pharmaceuticals in North America, Europe and Asia.  Earlier in her career she was an assistant professor of Organization Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. While there, she co-edited Bringing Women Into Management (McGraw-Hill). Gordon received a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Yale University.