Conflicts and Conflict Resolution
Students will read the weekly assigned chapters in our two texts and choose an example of a change and/or conflict theory in action to illustrate the concept (cite Dana and/or Kotter) copiously throughout the paper, literally in almost every sentence except the part where you are “setting the stage”) – either from current news or from personal experience. The purpose of this assignment is to integrate the theory and concepts with “real world” examples. These papers will be shared in small groups so that others may learn and benefit from this integration. Each paper should be approximately 2 to 3 double-spaced pages in length and written in APA format using the APA referencing methodology. No cover page; no page break for References. Please focus on analyses and recommendations, not on retelling the chapter or describing what happened in unnecessary detail. Always start with Case Summary — NOT CHAPTER SUMMARY: A brief restatement of the case in summary form: What happened? When? Where? – no longer than 200 words (This could also be a summary of an article from a business publication: you are welcome to use an article, a TV show, or a movie –if you cannot think of any real-case situation ) Discussion: (Why did it happen? What is right? What is wrong?) The major issue(s) to be addressed in your paper. This can be a statement of the major problem(s) and or opportunities presented in the case. Your paper should use the relevant terminology identified in the text (Dana or/and Kotter) to show your understanding of the terms and their applications. If you quote the text for any referencing to support your discussion, you must use quotation marks and cite the page and author (Dana and/or Kotter) in each citation. If you cite other sources, you must reference them as well. Use APA, not MLA! Recommendations and Conclusions: (How could it have been different?) This is the opportunity you have to state what you believe is the best set of actions or steps to betaken to correct the problem or achieve a major opportunity to improvement indicated by the case such as defining the following: Where you believe the company should go from the current (last known) situation defined for the case and why What steps or process should be taken by management to remedy a clearly defined problem, how and why Who (by title and or function) in the company needs to take responsibility to change a bad situation to an improved situation What exactly needs to change, when should it change, how should it be changed and why. two books to be used: ( choose one or both for citation) 1. Dana, D. (2001). Conflict resolution. San Francisco, CA: McGraw-Hill 2. Kotter, J. and Cohen, D. (2002). The heart of change: Real-Life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
