Information on this page was last revised on February 19, 2006

Greetings to registered students:

If you have registered but we have not yet met for the first class, pick up the course packet on campus as soon as possible. The packet includes the texts Managing Differences and Conflict Resolution, the General Case Study Company Employee Handbook, and the Manager as Mediator Seminar workbooks (two volumes).

      Preparation:   Note that a substantial amount of preparatory work is required before meeting the first time (the good news is that little reading is required after the first class session). Preparatory activities are listed below in their recommended order of completion:

1. Review the course syllabus and print off a copy for your personal reference.
2. Read the entire GCSC Employee Handbook:
         Section 1 ("Understanding our company") and Section 2 ("Understanding our customer") prepare you to be a working member of the General Case Study Company, which will be formed on the first class session. Indeed, consider running for president!
         Section 3 ("Knowledge resources") prepares you to be successful as a GCSC employee and as a student in this course. In particular, read the chapter reprint titled "Managing Organizational Conflict" (page 41).
         Section 4 ("Understanding the laboratory") prepares you to understand the unique and fascinating process of learning by the laboratory method. Without this understanding, you may be confused by the unusual nature of classroom activities.
3. Read Managing Differences, which is the source of most of the job knowledge you will need to function effectively as a GCSC employee. Recall (GCSC Handbook page 7) that your compensation as an employee will depend greatly upon your knowledge of this source material, and your ability to apply it.
4. Complete the Managing Differences LearningTest (page 29 of the GCSC Employee Handbook), which will be scored at the first class session. Your score on the MDLT constitutes a portion of your course grade.
5. Complete the on-line version of the Dana Measure of Financial Cost of Organizational Conflict.* Be sure to print off the results and bring to class. You will be asked for the results of your cost analysis in the first class session.
6. Complete the on-line version of the Dana Survey of Conflict Management Strategies.*
7. Last but not least, come prepared to have a GREAT TIME while learning some REALLY INTERESTING AND PRACTICAL STUFF!

* These on-line benchmarking instruments may be used for an optional research project by students who wish to do an assessment of conflict in their employing organizations. Details will be provided in class. To view a PowerPoint show that overviews their role in an organizational intervention, click here. View text description of benchmarking here. Please do not reveal the direct links to the instruments, which are intended only for registered students. The general business public may access them via the Conflict Management Toolbox.

1. If you have opted to take an Incomplete grade to allow more time to complete your Application Paper or other project, give yourself a deadline for completion and stick to it. I have files full of horror stories about students who have let it slide for a year or more.
2. If you send your paper to me by e-mail, please follow these instructions. We wouldn't want your masterpiece to get lost among the junk e-mail I receive, now would we?
3. Again, DO NOT FAX your paper without prior permission. You will be drawn and quartered, boiled in oil, and maybe even suffer a grade reduction for violating this gentle request.

Dan Dana designed and initiated this course in 1980 while serving as a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Hartford (Connecticut). Since leaving full-time teaching in 1985, he has conducted the course twice each year in Hartford, as well as for a number of other innovative institutions nationwide.

Due to its reputation at the University of Hartford, Managing Organizational Conflict has become arguably the most popular course in the graduate business curriculum, filling to capacity of 35 students each time it is offered. Student evaluations have consistently been among the highest of graduate courses in the business school.

As a candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1998, Dr. Dana applied the collaborative principles of this course in what is described as "the first non-adversarial political campaign in the history of American politics."

Dr. Dana seeks to enable faculty members of other institutions to teach this course. Inquiries welcome.

Depending on whether you are registered as a graduate or undergraduate student, and on the number of course credits, one or more of the following papers are required. Papers are expected to range between 2000 and 3000 words. More details will be discussed at the first class session.

Reflective Paper
The Reflective Paper provides an opportunity for you to articulate, refine, and integrate the learnings from classroom activities that you have found most personally valuable. Informal in style, it may be written in personal journal or diary form, which invites you to think about the personal significance of any insights or new concepts that you encountered in the GCSC simulation and/or other activities while giving minimal attention to "proper English" (unlike the remaining papers). You are encouraged to exercise your "right brain" while writing, allowing creative, intuitive, and stream-of-consciousness thinking to prevail over logic and rationality.

1. Case data. The objective facts of the situation, background information. Wear your "Journalist/reporter" hat.
2. Analysis. Use of any theories and models learned in class that lend to a understanding of the behavioral and psychological dynamics of the situation. Wear your "Behavioral scientist" hat.
3. Intervention. Describe the activities that actually occurred as you applied the communication tool you selected. (Journalist/reporter)
4. Interpretation. Reflect on why the actual outcomes occurred. If your attempt was successful, explain why it worked. If it failed, explain why it failed. (Success or failure does not affect your grade for the paper or the course.) (Behavioral scientist)

Case Study
An alternative to the Application Paper, the Case Study option is available to students who do not have an opportunity to actually apply any of the communication tools learned in class within the time allowed before papers are due. The Case Study resembles the Application Paper, except that the Intervention is hypothetical. Students are strongly encouraged to opt for the Application Paper whenever possible.

Bibliography Project (replaces the previous "design paper")
With instructor approval, students may engage in a bibliography project as an alternative to another course assignment, to substitute for missed class time, to supplement other evaluation elements of the course, or for extra credit. At some academic institutions, a bibliography project may be a requirement. View project overview (PDF).

Note on grading: With the exception of the Reflective Paper, it is expected that papers of the expected length will be carefully crafted and well-written to make optimum use of the space available. Papers significantly below or exceeding the expected length will be viewed with a jaundiced eye.

E-MAIL:   This is the preferred delivery method. Paste the plain, unformatted, single-spaced text of your paper into the message of an e-mail to me at dan@mediationworks.com. If your papers must contain charts, graphs, columns, or similar formatting, you may attach the paper to the email. However, it must be in MS Word. Attachments in any other wordprocessing program may be indecipherable. As the subject of your email, put: 1) your last name, 2) the word "paper" and 3) the abbreviation for the university (e.g., UH1, UH2, SYR, or OUKC). If you send your papers in separate emails, indicate as "paper1," "paper2", etc. Example: SUBJECT: Clinton paper2 SYR. Please deliver all papers on the same date.

SNAILMAIL:   This is a strongly discouraged option. However, if you do not have email, you may mail papers to: Dan Dana, 5700 West 79 Street, Prairie Village KS 66208-4604. Do NOT use a delivery method (e.g. registered mail) that requires signature for receipt. I am often away for days at a time, and papers may be returned to sender by the post office, UPS, Federal Express, or other delivery service if my signature is required. First Class or Priority Mail via the postal service has never failed in the past. Be sure to include all papers in the same envelope to ensure they will be delivered on the same date.

DO NOT FAX your papers to me except in extreme emergency AND only with prior approval. A grade reduction will result from unauthorized faxing of papers.

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