Purpose of Learning Path
This learning path is recommended to learners who are interested in developing knowledge, skills, and abilities in interpersonal conflict, negotiation, and mediation. Recommended readings, resources, and activities are provided. The learning path is based on a 16-week schedule (typical university semester). Students seeking to complete this for university credit should contact me.
Recommended Books
You only need the first two to complete the recommended learning path activities and assignments.
Schedule
Weeks 1-6
- Review "Conflict Assessment Guide" in Hocker & Wilmot book (Chapter 7, pp. 252-255 in 10th edition of the book). Your major assignment is to write a conflict assessment and recommendations to parties in an actual conflict.
- Read Chapters 1 through 6 in Hocker & Wilmot book, one chapter per week.
- Activities: Apply concepts from the readings to your personal life and write a one-page, single-spaced journal entry each week the highlights what concepts are working for you in real life.
- Assignment (due Week 16): Select an actual interpersonal, organizational, or business conflict you have observed. You will analyze this conflict using If you cannot find one, use this Harvard Business Review case study >> Case Study
- Read Hocker & Wilmost Chapter 7 through 10, one chapter per week.
- Activities: Apply concepts from the readings to the conflict or case study you're analyzing.
- Assignment (due Week 16): Continue working on conflict assessment, focusing specifically on assessing the elements of the conflict (note that not every bullet may be filled in). This assessment is something you could give a client and is used to inform your recommendations.
- Read Ury and Fisher's Getting to Yes at a pace that will allow you to complete it in four weeks.
- Activities: Apply Ury & Fish er's strategies in your everyday life and for recommendations for parties in the conflict. Write a short reflection paper (a few pages) on how you would use Ury & Fisher's to achieve a better outcome from a recent negotiation that you feel did not go as well as it could have gone.
- Continue using resources (recommended below), and possibly read Gerry Spence's How to Argue and Win Every Time, Games People Play (Berne), and Scripts People Live (Steiner). These are a bit dated, but have some useful nuggets.
Resources
- Harvard's Program on Negotiation -- Sign up for the newsletter and check out their daily blog
- Northwestern University's Kellogg Dispute Resolution Center
- Online Courses (Free or Paid): Introduction to Negotiation (Yale) | High Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork, and Negotiation (Northwestern)
