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Colleagues--

I am looking for a text and/or articles for experienced grad students
that give some theory and a lot of practical information on
communicating in an organization--having difficult conversations with
people, dealing with emotions, providing feedback, counseling an errant
employee, crises communications, etc.

The course covers communication, conflict and negotiation so this book
(or set of articles) will supplement Lewicki et al's "Essentials of
Negotiation" and, possibly, some additional materials on conflict
management. Everything I have looked at, to date, is either too
rudimentary for experienced people or too heavy on theory and light on
application. In other words, they are sick of hearing about "active
listening" and other such topics, but haven't yet figured out how to
actually make them part of their every-day practice--especially in
emotionally difficult situations.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ruth

I teach a similar group around this range of issues. I used to use Timm
and DeTienne, Managerial Communication... but I found that the costs of all
these textbooks add up and none has everything you need or want. Now I use
a combination of Harvard Business School and other cases and the book by
Stone, Patton & Heen "Difficult Conversations." The later gives a good
overview of the different levels at which conversations take place, but
does not go into the techniques of how to conduct a difficult conversation.
As for that, I think other fields have done a much better job at the
practical level, but I don't feel that I can exactly assign business
students a book with the title "Fighting FOR Your Marriage." It's a great
book though.

On the other hand, the DRCC (Dispute Resolution Research Center) at Kellogg
has a nice set of simulations including a number covering the topics you
mention and at affordable prices (though it is a drag to have to collect
the money from the students yourself).

Hope this helps. I'll be interested to hear your results which you can
communicate to me personally at: livesey@fordham.edu

Sharon

At 09:03 AM 3/15/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Colleagues--
>
>I am looking for a text and/or articles for experienced grad students
>that give some theory and a lot of practical information on
>communicating in an organization--having difficult conversations with
>people, dealing with emotions, providing feedback, counseling an errant
>employee, crises communications, etc.
>
>The course covers communication, conflict and negotiation so this book
>(or set of articles) will supplement Lewicki et al's "Essentials of
>Negotiation" and, possibly, some additional materials on conflict
>management. Everything I have looked at, to date, is either too
>rudimentary for experienced people or too heavy on theory and light on
>application. In other words, they are sick of hearing about "active
>listening" and other such topics, but haven't yet figured out how to
>actually make them part of their every-day practice--especially in
>emotionally difficult situations.
>
>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Ruth
>
Sharon Livesey
Associate Professor, Communication & Media Management
Fordham University, GBA
113 W. 60th St.
New York, NY 10023

tel: 212-636-6581
fax: 212-765-5573
email: livesey@fordham.edu

From: Alice Macpherson [mailto:Alice.Macpherson@kwantlen.ca]

Ruth,

It sounds like you have the basics in theory (and the
extensions/enrichments if you need them)
However, theory is just that ... theory.

I suggest that what your students need now is PRACTISE (active verb). I
believe that experiential learning goes further to moving skills into
long
term memory and usefulness than any other way. I frame it as
"Simulation"
and make the situations as real as possible (rather than "Role-Playing"
where people may feel free to revert to previous attitudes and
behaviours
after the session).

Cooperative groups, real situations , useful feedback.

You could use video, written and oral feedback to build critically
thinking skills to see abilities in others and to self monitor for
communications skills.

I am embedding the instructor overview that I use to get them started,
an
exercise that I use for practise and the minimum of text that I use with

them. I hope that you will find a use for them ... or recycle the
electrons ;-)

I have lots more like this that go further and build to real competence.

best regards

Alice Macpherson
PLA Coordinator
Kwantlen University College
604 599-2426 vm 9954

Life Long Learning includes everyone, all the time.

++++++++++++

Instructor Overview
Student Skills for the Next Steps in Skilled Communication
. Skilled Communication
how to listen and hear others, and
to say what you mean
. Constructive Feedback
skills for giving and receiving feedback
. Teamwork Basics
skills for working together
Setting the Environment
. Teach the skills and arrange for practise
. Model the skills - Walk the Talk
. Require utilization of the skills by the students
. Connect activities to workplace culture
. Create authentic simulations for practise
. Assess to give feedback and support learning
Developing Criteria for Success
. Cooperative groups develop basic criteria from their current
background (theoretical, observational, early practise) using "I" charts
(Looks like, sounds like, feels like)
. Instructor guides and expands where necessary
. Checklists are developed and agreed on
. "I" Charts Help Us See Better
Critical Skill Practise
. Students engage in realistic simulations, assessing each other
using the
developed criteria and checklists
. They give constructive feedback and useful suggestions for
change to each
other under instructor guidance
. Instructor becomes a coach and mentor
Critical Skill Application
. Scenarios become progressively more complex
. Students increase their ability to self-assess as they develop
their
critical thinking skills
. Student groups develop / implement scenarios and other student
groups
perform / assess these scenarios
Critical Skill Development
. Group Processing is used to analyze performance and plan for
improvement
within the small groups
. Feedback skills are used for analysis and synthesis, giving
suggestions
for scenario improvement
Applied Learning Cycle
. Practise, Feedback, Processing
. Then the cycle starts over
. Each cycle increases the individual's:
competence,
teamwork skills, and
critical thinking abilities


Effective Communication in a Team
Effective communication skills practiced within a team environment are
the
prime attributes of an effective team. While the methods may differ from

team to team, the outcomes should include the following.
1. Members do not ignore contributions made with a serious intent.
2. Members check to make sure they know what a speaker means before

they agree or disagree with his or her contribution.
3. Each member speaks only for him or herself and lets others speak

for themselves.
4. Members view all contributions as belonging to the group, to use

or not as the group decides.
5. All members participate, but in different and complementary
ways.
6. Whenever the group senses it is having trouble getting work
done,
it tries to find the reason.
7. The group recognizes that what it does is what it has chosen to
do. No group can avoid making decisions; it cannot choose whether to
decide, only how to decide. Thus, an effective group makes decisions
openly rather than by default.
8. The group brings conflict into the open and deals with it.
9. The group looks upon behavior that hinders its work as happening

because the group allows or even wants it; it is not just as the result
of
a problem member.
Negotiating in Conflict
Some of the most important parts of conflict resolution are found in the

basic elements of negotiating.
. Agree on a definition of the conflict.
. Describe your feelings.
. Listen carefully to the other person's wants and feelings.
. Jointly define the problem as a mutual problem.
. Jointly define the conflict as being small and specific.
. Describe what you want (your interests).
. Make personal statements about how you feel or will act.
. Be specific about your goals and needs.
. Put the problem before your answer.
. Be concrete, but flexible.
. Acknowledge the other person's goals.
. Be hard on the problem, but soft on the other person.
. Look forward, not back.
. Focus on the long-term cooperative relationship.
. Exchange reasons for positions.
. Express cooperative intentions, preparing for the future.
. Present your reasons, listen to other's reasons.
. Focus on wants and needs, not positions.
. Differentiate before integrating.
. Empower the other person.
. Understand the other's perspective.
. Check your perceptions.
. Paraphrase.
. Invent options for mutual gain.
. Avoid obstacles.
. Invent creative options.
. Reach a wise agreement.
. Try, try again.
This negotiation process must meet the legitimate needs of all
participants. It must also be viewed as fair by everyone. It should be
based on principles that can be justified on objective criteria. The
process should reach a point of agreement between the participants. It
must also strengthen participants' abilities to work together
cooperatively in the future.



Negotiating Compromise Activity
Purpose: To practise conflict resolution skills.
Time
Instructor Activities
Learner Activities
Techniques / Equipment
15 min
Provide information
Guide activity and discussion
Identify and group areas of conflict that might arise
Small groups
15 min
Collect cards of strategies
Debrief activity
Identify negotiation strategies to resolve conflict in teams
Discuss aids to process
Whole group

Activity ? Negotiating Compromise
Organizer: All teams have internal conflicts. The best teams
identify and
negotiate solutions to these conflicts.
Objective: Share strategies and best practises for internal team
problem
solving
Time: 30 minutes
Techniques / Equipment: Discussion, sticky notes, index cards,
written materials
Process: In groups of three or four:
. Brainstorm types of internal team conflicts on sticky notes or
index cards
{for instance: missing meetings, work not done on time, etc.}.
. Group the types of conflicts into related clusters.
. Identify strategies that they have or could use to negotiate to
solve a
team problem with reference to the written materials.
. Transcribe these strategies in point form on cards.
Group Success: Everyone in the group can identify the group strategies.
Accountability: Share positive strategies with the whole group.
The instructor
collects the point-form strategies and has them word processed and
distributed to the participants.
Debrief: What was one strategy that you could use right away?

From: Marina Dabic [mailto:Marina.Dabic@sfsb.hr]

Hello, my name is Marina Dabic from Croatia, I am professor of Managment
on
the Faculty of Mechancial Engineering. It is very complicate for me to
buy
those books for my students, so if someone have posibiblity to send me
those
books as a gift or others relevant for Management (2+2hours per week
during
spring and winter); I really appreciate.
Best wishes, for all the members of the list, it is really very usefu.
Marina Dabic
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Slavonski Brod 35000
Gunduliceva 22
Croatia

--- Original Message -----
From: Sharon Livesey <livesey@fordham.edu>

> I teach a similar group around this range of issues. I used to use
Timm
> and DeTienne, Managerial Communication... but I found that the costs
of
all
> these textbooks add up and none has everything you need or want. Now I
use
> a combination of Harvard Business School and other cases and the book
by
> Stone, Patton & Heen "Difficult Conversations." The later gives a good
> overview of the different levels at which conversations take place,
but
> does not go into the techniques of how to conduct a difficult
conversation.
> As for that, I think other fields have done a much better job at the
> practical level, but I don't feel that I can exactly assign business
> students a book with the title "Fighting FOR Your Marriage." It's a
great
> book though.
>
> On the other hand, the DRCC (Dispute Resolution Research Center) at
Kellogg
> has a nice set of simulations including a number covering the topics
you
> mention and at affordable prices (though it is a drag to have to
collect
> the money from the students yourself).
>
> Hope this helps. I'll be interested to hear your results which you can
> communicate to me personally at: livesey@fordham.edu
>
> Sharon

--------------------------------
>
> At 09:03 AM 3/15/02 -0500, you wrote:
> >Colleagues--
> >
> >I am looking for a text and/or articles for experienced grad students
> >that give some theory and a lot of practical information on
> >communicating in an organization--having difficult conversations with
> >people, dealing with emotions, providing feedback, counseling an
errant
> >employee, crises communications, etc.
> >
> >The course covers communication, conflict and negotiation so this
book
> >(or set of articles) will supplement Lewicki et al's "Essentials of
> >Negotiation" and, possibly, some additional materials on conflict
> >management. Everything I have looked at, to date, is either too
> >rudimentary for experienced people or too heavy on theory and light
on
> >application. In other words, they are sick of hearing about "active
> >listening" and other such topics, but haven't yet figured out how to
> >actually make them part of their every-day practice--especially in
> >emotionally difficult situations.
> >
> >Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> >Ruth
> >
>