Assignemnt: SESSION PROJECT GUIDELINES
The purpose of this preparation guide is to provide you with some direction concerning the content, process, and structure of your final class project. In the sections below is some helpful information that will prove valuable with respect to facilitating your completion of a Course Project reflective of the high standards of quality work and personal learning that should be the aim of each participant in the course.
ASSIGNMENT
Members of the class are required to prepare a session project, not to exceed 12 pages in length (excluding appendices), on the broad theme of workplace conflict resolution. Within this broad theme, the project is intended to be an opportunity to explore in some depth a topic related to the course that is of specific significance to you.
In developing the project, select a specific conflict situation of interest to you. Think of yourself as a conflict resolution consultant and assume that a key manager has requested a thorough analysis and recommended course of action to resolve an actual conflict that will make a difference to the future performance of the organization.
The project should develop on the following time line.
ACTIONS REQUIRED
Prepare a draft project proposal.
Refine the project proposal.
Submit written project proposal-describe conflict situation and organizational setting. [Note: get a jump start on your literature review NOW]
Continue to work on class project.
The completed project is submitted to the instructor. Optional: post your executive summary in Doc Sharing for the class.
As should be evident, this Course Project is not designed as a make-work type of exercise. Rather, it is aimed at affording students the opportunity to bring major course concepts to life via their application to "real-world" conflict resolution situations.
To maximize the prospects for success with this project, it behooves each student to carefully deliberate on the overall project and component tasks as defined in the section below.Your paper mustinclude, but is not limited to, the following sections.
A Few Final Suggestions for the Session Paper
- Use the section headings in this guide as subtitles for your project. It makes it easier for the reader to find all of the elements of your project.
- Use this guide as a checklist. Make sure that each item is included and is located in the right place. This will ensure that you don't leave things out and it will make reviewing your drafts and your final project much easier.
- Review the Project Grading Rubric posted in document sharing.
- Review the Literature Review Guidelines below.
LITERATURE REVIEW GUIDELINES
A literature review is a written discussion of published or unpublished research, commentary, and information on a topic. The literature refers to books, journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles, company records and documents, and even personal interviews with knowledgeable industry conflict resolution experts.
- Your task is to search the management and conflict resolution literature to (1) discover the most common underlying causes of the type of conflict symptoms you have uncovered; and (2) discover the various solutions to conflict resolution that may apply to your particular situation.
- You should supply some commentary on what you find. Don't just describe what's written in six articles. You should talk about the concepts, ideas, or insights that have the most value for helping you make sense of your project. What theories can you use? What writers say something of value, and why? Which models are the most helpful, and why?
- You should cite at least six sources in addition to the course text (six is B level work, A level work would cite more). You must use the author-date citation system described in the Writing the Research Paper handbook. While newspaper articles can be excellent sources of information, it's important that not all of your citations be newspaper articles. You should access articles in management and conflictresolution journals as well.
- A good place to start your review is in the course text and in the chapter notes at the end. Then you can access Keller's online library and its search engines. You can enter key words, such as perception and conflict, and you will access recent articles on the subject. Scan the titles of the articles that come up and look for interesting ones to read in full. Also, be sure to check the references of interesting articles or books. They will lead you to others. If your initial searches don't produce what you're looking for, try using different key words. If you find yourself totally spinning your wheels, send me an e-mail and ask for help.