Dear students –

We are excited that you will be joining us for Leveraging Diverse Teams. We’re Marlys Christianson and Jia Lin Xie, the two OBHRM professors who are teaching this course.
We wanted to share some information with you about the Leveraging Diverse Teams class that starts on Tuesday August 17th. We’ve designed a fun and interactive class, with lots of in-class exercises, computer simulations, and a case analysis.

For our first class, we will be engaging in a discussion of the “2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A)” case, which is posted in the Session 1: Teaming module. On August 17, when our class begins, we will provide a brief introduction of the course, and then we will dive into the case analysis.

It is expected that you will have read the assigned case and prepare the following case discussion questions prior to class so that you can be actively and constructively involved in class discussions.

Case Discussion Questions:

1. What factors allowed the miners to survive, physically and psychologically, until they were found?
2. How would you characterize the actions taken by the government’s senior executives in the rescue?
3. What factors contributed to the technical (engineers and geologists) team’s successful rescue efforts?
4. What can we learn about “team of teams” from this case?
   Please keep in mind that your classmates expect you to be fully prepared for each class. Therefore, your preparation is not only for your own study, but also for facilitating the quality of our collective learning in class.

Note: please join the classroom 5-10 minutes before the start of the class to ensure that we can work out any technology issues and start on time.

Thank you in advance for your preparation. We are very much looking forward to working with you.

Best,
Marlys and Jia Lin

Jia Lin Xie is Magna Professor in Management and Professor of Organizational Behaviour and HR Management at Rotman. Her research focuses on the fit between employees and their work environment (P-E fit) and the effects of such fit and misfit on employee well-being. Another area of her research expertise is cross-cultural management, with a focus on Chinese organizational behavior. Jia Lin has served at editorial boards for Journal of Organizational Behavior (2006-2011) and Management and Organization Review (2003 and onward), and currently serves as the President for International Association for Chinese Management Research (IACMR).

If you have a physical, learning or mental disability, you may want to register with Accessibility Services for academic accommodations. Students may register as soon as they have accepted their offer of admission, and are encouraged to do so early, prior to the beginning of the year.

Academic accommodations support your ability to participate fully in the academic environment in a positive way that is responsive to your learning. Academic accommodations are based upon available documentation outlining your functional limitations, provincial best practices, the student’s past educational experiences and current needs, as applied to the academic demands of your program.

Academic accommodations do not exempt you from meeting course and program standards.