Conflict Management Student Letter

Dear Student:

Welcome to the class on conflict management. I have designed a class includes both theoretical as well as practical material. Each week you will explore various theoretical approaches to conflict following the most current research on the topic. As always with my classes, the workload is heavy but the pay-off should be a significantly improved ability to analyze and manage conflict. 

You should download the syllabus for this class from my web site at  http://web.sau.edu/RichardsRandyL/

Click on the Conflict Management selection under courses offered and you will find the link to the syllabus. Download, print and bring to class. There is significant work that needs completing before the first class.

 Conflict Management Story Telling Project

A central part of the class is the development of your own conflict case study. You will need to think about a conflict situation at work that you can use as an on-going study and writing project for the class. Each week you will explore a different aspect of your conflict situation that is connected to the material we are studying.

I would prefer that the conflict be currently active but it need not be.

This situation must be sufficiently complex to sustain an extended analysis for over six weeks. It needs to be between you and another person at work. You have a couple of weeks before class to think about various conflicts you currently have or have had in a work situation in the past. We will be using these student projects as part of our class discussions and drawing lessons from them connected to the points we are studying each week. Think of it as your own personal case study. You may change the names and the departments if you are concerned about public discussion. Consider this carefully, you may want to list several before deciding on the one you want to use. Will the case be deep enough and complex enough for you to examine it from multiple aspects?

Look at the pre-work section at the top of the syllabus. Read the material listed and more importantly have the first writing assignment completed for the first class.

If you have any questions or want to discuss the project in more detail before the first class, contact me via e-mail at richardsrandyl@sau.edu. I’m looking forward to the class and hope that you are too.

 Sincerely,

Randy Richards