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OB 110N: Savvy: Learning How to Communicate with Purpose

Our seminar is designed for students interested in improving their communication skills. Right now, you probably don't spend much time thinking about the way you communicate, nor are you likely, in the academic setting, to get much feedback on the messages you send. Yet the quality of your communication will have a large impact on your overall effectiveness in building relationships and getting things done, both in the university setting and later in your career. Each of the sessions in our seminar will help you appreciate the nature and complexity of communication and provide guidelines for both improving your communication style and recognizing the unique styles of others. In each class session, we'll consider a number of well-studied forms of interpersonal communication. And, we'll rely heavily on experiential learning to bring the concepts to life. For example, to better understand the dynamics of unstructured, spontaneous communication, we will participate in an improvisational theatre workshop, taught by one of the artists-in-residence at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles. To better understand persuasive communication tactics, we'll participate in role-play exercises, competitive games, and negotiation simulations. For each tactic, we'll talk about why it works, when it works best, and what its limitations might be. We'll discuss how you can put these approaches to work in order to support your goals. After taking this course, you will be better able to: (1) identify strategies for crafting effective communication in the form of everyday conversation, written work, and public presentations, (2) develop techniques for building strong, long-term relationships with your peers, and (3) become more persuasive in advancing an agenda, acquiring resources, or gaining support from others. These skills will be invaluable to you as you grow and develop here at Stanford and beyond.
Terms: Win | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: WAY-SI
Instructors: ; Flynn, F. (PI); Long, M. (GP)

OB 331: Leadership Fellows II

This course is the continuation of Leadership Fellows I, an 8-unit course that begins in Autumn Quarter. During this quarter Fellows will continue to deepen their coaching and mentoring skills, and will focus exclusively on in-depth 1:1 coaching with three MBA1 coachees (who were not members of their MBA1 squad.) Classes and clinics continue as in Autumn Quarter.
Terms: Win | Units: 4

OB 374: Interpersonal Dynamics

PRE-QUALIFICATION IS REQUIRED BY THE DEADLINE (APPROXIMATELY FIVE WEEKS BEFORE THE QUARTER BEGINS). The focus of this course is to increase one's competencies in building more effective relationships. Learning is primarily through interactions with other T-group members. This course is very involving, and, at times, can be quite emotional. However, this course is not a substitute for therapy. If you are in therapy, please talk this over with your therapist and get their advice before enrolling in this course. T-groups meet during part of class-time as well as in the evening. T-groups for all sections will meet for 3 hours in the evening. For 1-day/week sections groups will meet the same evening as class. For 2-day/week sections, please see course details. The class has a weekend retreat toward the end of the quarter (check section details for specific dates). It is very important to note that when you decide to take this course, you make an explicit contract to be actively involved. ATTENDANCE: Because of the highly interactive nature of this course, it is very important that all students attend all sessions. Missing class, class T-group, evening T-group, or any portion of the weekend for an unexcused absence will negatively influence your grade and may result in your grade being dropped one grade level (for each absence). Attendance to the first class is required for all sections and failure to attend the first class will result in an automatic drop. Some sections of the 2-day/week version of the course also require attendance at the second or third class to remain enrolled. See individual instructor for details. Students who are waitlisted must attend the first meeting of each section they are waitlisted for in order to secure a place in the course should space open up. It is the student's responsibility to notify respective OB 374 faculty of your attendance and wish to fulfill your waitlist requirement. PRE-QUALIFICATION: Students must pre-qualify before taking the class through an assignment on Canvas (due approximately five weeks prior to the quarter). Go to https://canvas.stanford.edu/enroll/H8WJ8X, then select "Enroll in Course". In addition to the Pre-Qualification assignment, you will also be asked to complete a Demographic Survey for each section in which you are enrolled or waitlisted. The survey(s) will be sent to you by email prior to the start of the quarter.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 5

OB 377: The Paths to Power

Power and influence processes are ubiquitous and important in organizations, so leaders need to be able both to understand power and to act on that knowledge. This course has three objectives: 1) increasing students' ability to diagnose and analyze power and politics in organizational situations; 2) increase students' skills in exercising power effectively; and 3) helping students come to terms with the inherent dilemmas and choices, and their own ambivalence, involved in developing and exercising influence. Topics covered include: the sources of power, including individual attributes and structural position; dealing with resistance and conflict; obtaining allies and supporters; maintaining power; how and why power is lost; living in the limelight--the price of having power--preparing oneself to obtain power; and the use of language and body language in exercising power. The class involves a reasonably large number of written, self-reflective assignments as well as one individual project--a doing power project using the class material during the quarter to build power in some group or organization. The class emphasis is on both learning the conceptual material and also incorporating it into one's own strategies and behaviors.
Terms: Win | Units: 3

OB 518: Leading Through Culture

This course examines organization culture, how and why managers can use culture to maximize results within an organization, and how culture can undermine results. The course begins by situating cultural leadership and management within a culture-shaping framework and the opportunities, obligations and methods for leaders to impact culture. It also focuses on what is different in cultural management and why so many contemporary firms attempt to use it. We analyze the relationship between culture and strategy, seeking alignment between the two. The course also explores different kinds of cultures seen in high performing and low performing organizations, and seeks to understand how cultural content affects behavior and business results. Students will be asked to describe and define the culture of an organization needed for a given business and strategy, and to define the role of executives in shaping culture. The class identifies and analyzes the tools or levers that leaders can use to build an effective culture. We will spend a session on each of the following: culture and strategy alignment, architecture for shaping culture, selecting people for cultural alignment, aligning organizational practices, culture and society, cultural inflection points from start-up to scale, cultural aspects of high performance and cultural diagnostics. The course will end with a session on culture issues in merger and acquisition.
Terms: Win | Units: 2

OB 581: Negotiations

This course is designed to improve students' skills in all phases of a negotiation: understanding prescriptive and descriptive negotiation theory as it applies to dyadic and multiparty negotiations, to buyer-seller transactions and the resolution of disputes, to the development of negotiation strategy and to the management of integrative and distributive aspects of the negotiation process. The course is based on a series of simulated negotiations in a variety of contexts including one-on-one, multi-party, and team negotiations. When playing a role in a simulated conflict, you will be free to try out tactics that might feel uncomfortable in a real one. You will get feedback from your classmates about how you come across. You will have an opportunity to reflect on your experience in your negotiation paper. In sum, you can use this course to expand your repertoire of conflict management and negotiation skills, to hone your skills, and to become more adept in choosing when to apply each skill. This course represents a shorter, more intense version of OB 381-Conflict Management and Negotiations. Students should not take both courses, as there is considerable overlap in course content. Attendance and participation in the negotiation exercises is mandatory.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 2

OB 624: Interactive Decision Making: Cooperation, Competition, and Negotiation

This seminar will explore how people think, feel, and act in interactive decision making situations. Topics of discussion will include strategic thinking and choice, social influence, bargaining games, social dilemmas, negotiation, conflict management, and dispute resolution, among other topics. We will discuss intrapersonal, interpersonal, intragroup, and intergroup processes related to interactive decision making, and read research from multiple disciplines, including cognitive and social psychology, behavioral economics, management, and more. This course is intended for PhD students who wish to think together about theoretical ideas, methodology, and empirical findings related to interactive decision making, and develop research projects in this field.
Terms: Win | Units: 3
Instructors: ; Halevy, N. (PI); Long, M. (GP)

OB 654: Organizational Behavior Pro Seminar

This pro-seminar is primarily for OB PhD students who are developing dissertation ideas. The pro-seminar covers the main research areas of OB faculty and aims to help students develop their theoretical ideas for their dissertation research. OB PhD students are required to take the pro-seminar in all years prior to the approval of their dissertation proposal.
Terms: Win, Spr | Units: 1 | Repeatable 6 times (up to 6 units total)

OB 678: The Design and Process of Experimental Research

This year-long course takes a hands-on approach to learning about experimental research. It will cover the entire process of experimental research from idea and hypothesis generation to study design, analysis, and publication. The topical content will be customized to the specific interests of the enrolled students, but generally will be concerned with questions about behavioral phenomena in organizational contexts.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 1 | Repeatable 15 times (up to 15 units total)

OB 691: PhD Directed Reading (ACCT 691, FINANCE 691, GSBGEN 691, HRMGT 691, MGTECON 691, MKTG 691, OIT 691, POLECON 691, STRAMGT 691)

This course is offered for students requiring specialized training in an area not covered by existing courses. To register, a student must obtain permission from the faculty member who is willing to supervise the reading.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum | Units: 1-15 | Repeatable for credit

OB 692: PhD Dissertation Research (ACCT 692, FINANCE 692, GSBGEN 692, HRMGT 692, MGTECON 692, MKTG 692, OIT 692, POLECON 692, STRAMGT 692)

This course is elected as soon as a student is ready to begin research for the dissertation, usually shortly after admission to candidacy. To register, a student must obtain permission from the faculty member who is willing to supervise the research.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum | Units: 1-15 | Repeatable for credit
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