printer friendly pageOB 381: Conflict Management and Negotiation
Conflict is unavoidable in every organization. The key question is how it will be handled: will it escalate to dysfunctional levels or will it be effectively managed? Hence, a first aim of the course is to develop your ability to analyze conflicts, to look beneath the surface rhetoric of a conflict, to isolate the important underlying interests, and to determine what sort of agreement (if any) is feasible. We'll analyze which negotiation strategies are effective in different conflicts. We'll also examine psychological and structural factors that create conflict and often pose a barrier to its resolution. nnnBut understanding how to analyze a conflict is not enough. To manage conflict effectively, you need a broad repertoire of behavioral skills. Developing these is the second aim of the course.nnnTo achieve this, negotiation exercises are used in every session. 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 log. In sum, you can use this course to expand your repertoire of skills, to hone your skills, and to become more adept in choosing when to apply each skill.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Bendor, J. (PI)
OB 383: Lives of Consequence: How Individuals Discover Paths to Meaningful Engagement
This course is a Bass Seminar. This course will examine the lives of individuals who contributed greatly to society, either through their contributions to business, politics, the art and entertainment worlds, or society in general. We will take a close look, for example, at individuals such as Steve Jobs, Condi Rice, George Lucas, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King (to name just a few examples). We will develop together a framework for thinking about the "paths to prominence" of such individuals. Students working in small groups will also select an individual or individuals they would like to study. Students will also have an opportunity to apply the framework to their own lives. The course will be very discussion oriented and quite lively, employing a variety of learning materials (including written cases, video material, and reflective exercises).
Last offered: Autumn 2007
OB 390: Individual Research (ACCT 390, FINANCE 390, GSBGEN 390, HRMGT 390, MGTECON 390, MKTG 390, OIT 390, POLECON 390, STRAMGT 390)
Need approval from sponsoring faculty member and GSB Registrar.
Last offered: Autumn 2007
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 8 units total)
OB 392: Leadership Coaching and Mentoring II
This course is the continuation of a 6 unit course and runs for the Winter and Spring Quarters. It is open to up to 24 MBA2 students who have been selected on the basis of their having passed a screening to assess their potential to coach effectively. They also need to haven taken
OB 374 - Interpersonal Dynamics or will take
OB 374 in the Autumn or Winter. There will be a reading list. That conceptual material will be supplemented during class time with lectures and discussions. Students will have the opportunity to apply those concepts through role-plays and exercises during class time. Each second-year student will be assigned three first-year students. The second-year coaches will meet with their coaches 5 times each quarter in a series of semi-structured coaching activities.nnnThere will be two mandatory Friday sessions, on April 2 and April 16.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Robin, C. (PI)
OB 393: Leadership in Diverse Organizations
How improve capacity to exercise leadership and work effectively with others within the context of culturally diverse groups and organizations. Premise is that diversity presents challenges and opportunities that pushestudents to develop leadership skills relevant across a variety of situations. What social and psychological obstacles limit people's ability to work effectively across identity-based differences? What can people do to build the relational and organizational capacity to enable these differences to be a resource for learning and effectiveness within teams and organizations? Focus is on dynamics of race and gender; attention to other dimensions of identity and difference in organizations, including sexual orientation, nationality, class, and religion.
Last offered: Autumn 2008
OB 533: Acting with Power
The ability to function effectively within a hierarchy is a crucial determinant of managerial success, yet many people struggle with "authority issues" that make certain hierarchical roles and positions difficult for them. This course draws on the craft of acting and the science of psychology to help students learn to use themselves to develop the characters that can play these roles effectively. nnnThis class is designed specifically for students who have trouble "playing" authoritative roles: those who find it difficult to act with power, status, and authority. It will also be useful for students who find it difficult to share power and authority, which involves accepting and deferring to the power and authority of others. Participants will be asked to read, think deeply about, and share some of their own feelings about power and authority, and the origins of those feelings. They will also be asked to prepare for and present a series of in-class performances that involve playing characters with and without power, in scenes that highlight the interactions and relationships between high and low power characters. These performances will take up much of our time during class. Out-of-class assignments will include reading important works on psychology, and on the theory and practice of acting, as well as writing short essays analyzing their own and others' performances.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
OB 541: How to Change Things When Change is Hard
This course will explore case studies and research about how to create behavior change from a position without much formal authority or power: e.g., a middle manager trying to change a failing unit of a big firm or a social entrepreneur trying to influence the behavior of a community. We'll use principles from social psychology, clinical psychology, and behavioral economics to analyze cases like the following: How a new head of the equities research department at Lehman Brothers changed his group's ranking in the Institutional Investor polls from #15 to #1 over a four year period. How Teach for America teachers take unmotivated kids in neglected schools and manage on standardized tests to gain more than two year's progress in one year of schooling. How a clever application of behavioral economics managed to triple employee savings rates.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 2
Instructors:
Heath, C. (PI)
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. nnnThis 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
| Units: 2
Instructors:
Neale, M. (PI)
OB 593: Leadership in Diverse Organizations
This course is designed to help students improve their capacity to exercise leadership and work effectively with others within the context of culturally diverse groups and organizations. The course is based on the premise that diversity can present unique challenges and opportunities and thereby pushes students to develop crucial leadership skills, many of which are relevant across a variety of situations. The class will address two primary questions: 1) What social and psychological obstacles limit people's ability to work effectively across identity-based differences? 2) What can you do to build the relational and organizational capacity to enable these differences to be a resource for learning and effectiveness within teams and organizations? Students should be prepared to experiment with various conceptual and analytic skills inside and outside of the classroom. While the course focuses on dynamics of race and gender, there will be opportunities for students to explore a variety of other dimensions of identity and difference in organizations, including (but not limited to) sexual orientation, nationality, class, and religion. The course is intended for students who expect to work in culturally diverse groups or organizations and will be equally relevant to those who plan to work in the not-for-profit, public, and for-profit sectors. The course is cross listed in the School of Education.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 2
Instructors:
Meyerson, D. (PI)
OB 652: Statistical Methods for Behavioral and Social Sciences
(Same as
Psych 252 -- Co-taught with Ewart Thomas). For students who seek experience and advanced training in empirical research methods. Analysis of experimental data through factorial designs, randomized blocks, repeated measures; regression methods through multiple regression, model building, analysis of covariance; categorical data analysis through two-way tables. Integrated with the use of statistical computing packages (SPSS, R). Prerequisite: An intro stats class.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Monin, B. (PI)
;
Thomas, E. (PI)
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