Module 1 discussion
Power and Influence
For the your first post in the first week of the module,
take the following self-assessment regarding your power and influence skills:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/uzzi/ftp/page292.html
Based on this assessment, what do you think you want to get
out of this class and what areas are you most interesting in improving or
learning more about this session?
For the second week of the discussion, take a look at some
videos from Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University. He is considered one of the
leading experts in the world on power and influence. Find a video from Dr.
Pfeffer on power or influence that you find useful and share the link with your
classmates. Do you think he practices what he preaches? In other words, does he
exhibit expert power?
Module 2 discussion
Organizational Politics in TV or Movies
For your SLP, you will be writing about a real-life example
of organizational politics from your own work life. For the discussion, we will
take a bit more lighthearted approach and look at some examples of how
organizational politics is portrayed in movies or TV as well as video games.
Notable TV series that focus on workplace life include
Suits, Mad Men, Silicon Valley, House of Lies, Ugly Betty, and The Office. You
can probably think of few more recent ones. In terms of movies, Office Space,
The Social Network, and Jobs are some examples of popular movies that revolved
around corporate life.
For your first post in the first week of this module, try to
find a good example of a recent TV series or movie that you watched that you
thought was a good example of any of the concepts from this module. Give a
short synopsis of the story involved and how it reflected concepts from the
background readings. If you can find a YouTube clip from this show or movie,
share the link with your classmates. Also, discuss how realistic the TV show or
movie was—did it seem similar to what you might find in real life?
Just as office politics is a common theme in movies and TV,
there are a surprising number of video games with an office politics theme. Do
a search on “office politics games,” “office simulators” or similar searches
and see if you find any games that look interesting or are relevant to this
module. Some of these games are even available for free—special kudos to any of
you who try the game out yourselves. But at least include a short description
of the game you found and a link to a video or webpage that illustrates the
game.
Module discussion 3
Conflict Management Self-Assessment
The reading by Shearouse (2011) discusses five conflict
management styles. Many companies sell conflict style questionnaires for use in
organizations. For the first week of this module, try your hand at a free
questionnaire. Here is one that allows you to identify your own conflict
management style based on five styles similar to those discussed in Shearouse
(2011):
https://edge.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/10.2_Conflict_Style_Questionnaire.pdf
Report your rating as well as your general impressions about
the usefulness of this questionnaire. Were you surprised by the results? Do you
think the results are accurate? Would the questionnaire be useful for your
organization?
For week two of this module, try your hand at using some of
the conflict management or negotiation tactics discussed in this module. This
could be with a coworker or family member. If everything is peaceful these days
at home or at work, you can also try negotiating for a better deal, such as
calling up your credit card company to try to get a lower interest rate or
calling up your cell phone carrier to get a lower monthly rate. Share the
results with your classmates, and don’t cause too much trouble…
Module 4 discussion
Battle of the Gurus
In Module 1 you looked at a video from leader/organizational
power guru Jeffrey Pfeffer. Part of your Module 4 materials are an article by
Robert Cialdini and a video for which he provides some narration. As you might
have guessed by now, Pfeffer and Cialdini are two of the most famous and
popular authorities on power, influence, and persuasion.
In addition to experiencing Cialdini’s presentation style
from his narration in the Background video, view some of his other videos on
YouTube. Find at least one that discusses persuasion. Post the link to the video
and share your thoughts.
After viewing at least one of Cialdini’s videos on
persuasion, discuss the following in your first post during the first week of
the class:
Who do you think is more persuasive given what you’ve read
about persuasion for this module—Pfeffer or Cialdini?
In what ways do you think these gurus are similar or
different?
Your second task for the discussion is to actually go out
and try to use some of Cialdini’s techniques from his videos or the background
readings. You can try them on a coworker, a family member, or even a salesperson
that you are trying to coax into giving you a better deal. Did it work? How did
these tactics work compared to what you tried for the Module 3 disussion? Would
you try this technique again? Share your story with your classmates sometime
during the second week of the module.
Module 4 reflective
discussion
Applying Course Concepts
Go back to the self-assessment that you took for the Module
1 discussion on power and influence skills. Based on what you’ve learned over
Modules 1-4, have you met some of your goals in terms of improving your power
and influence skills and knowledge? What are some areas that you plan on
learning more about in your future career?
In addition, explain how taking this course has given you
new insights into your own profession and career. Describe two concepts from
this course that you think are most applicable to your career.
