Interpersonal Relations and Motivation
(A NEW Coalition course)
Marlowe C. Embree, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer in Psychology, UWMC
March 1-24 (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00 - 6:00)
Course Objectives:
I'm excited about this class and think you will be too. My three purposes for this class are as follows:
1. To facilitate your knowledge of self through the completion of a comprehensive career self-audit of your strengths and weaknesses, skills and competencies, career interests and motivators, temperament and work style, and more. According to one nationally regarded career expert, only about 10% of employed Americans have sufficient systematic self-knowledge to navigate their career path in a rational and informed manner. At the end of this course, you'll be one of that well-informed 1 in 10.
2. To enhance your knowledge of the new world of work. The socioeconomic landscape has changed more in the past 25 years than in the 150 years prior to that. We'll engage in a comprehensive analysis of the nature of those changes and their impact on your life and career. You can't expect to succeed if you're playing tomorrow's game by yesterday's rules, so we'll focus on learning the new rules and how to thrive in the new environment.
3. To increase your knowledge of how to interactive productively with others in a workplace context, though the examination of theories of workplace interaction and their applications to teamwork, leadership, collaborative decision-making, and more.
This is not a conventionally graded course, so there won't be any "homework" in the usual sense. However, suggested exercises for further exploration, as well as a detailed bibliography of print resources worth your perusal, will be provided.
Rough lecture notes will be hyperlinked below (project will be ongoing throughout the month of February, so if you're a pre-class Web lurker, don't be impatient). As each set of notes is completed, the hyperlink will be activated. Reading these notes isn't a substitute for attending the class; if that were true, why pay your class registration fee?
Course Outline:
Topics: Introduction. Four learning styles and their relevance to this course. The role of personality diversity (the McCrae-Costa "Big Five" model). The role of generational cyclicity (the Strauss-Howe model).
Topics: The new world of work. Guess who's coming to dinner? Your VITAL statistics. Four career shapes (Jaffe).
Topics: Proactivity and reactivity (Covey). Constructing and utilizing a personal mission statement. The Bridges-Levinson model of life/work transition.
Topics: Communication and congruence (Satir). The Whorfian hypothesis. Words fo peopo dat no speak pidgin. The Johari window. Analog versus digital information (Smith).
Topics: Problem-solving and decision-making. The Keirsey temperaments. Six cognitive modes (De Bono). Sixty problems exercise.
Thursday, March 17
Topics: Coping and resilience. Three stress facts. Nine coping styles. Planned happenstance theory (Krumboltz).
Tuesday, March 22
Topics: Modes of communication. Communication and conflict. The prisoner's dilemma. Intractable conflict theory. The Cuban missile crisis redux.
Thursday, March 24
Topics: Leadership styles (Fiedler, Bass). Synopsis and integration. Constructing your life/work map. Resources for further exploration.