978-1285444604 Solution Manual Part 13

The Analysis

1. Suggest that The Scorch have exclusive use of the facilities

Monday through Wednesday (right before publication when the

facilities are needed most). Have The Crucible use the facilities

Thursday and Friday (mostly “down time” for The Scorch staff).

2. Ask the college administration to hire a work study student

to operate the machine (trained, of course, and paid for by

government money). Then if anything happens to the

machine, neither group will blame the other. Chances of

equipment damage are reduced because only one person runs

the machine. A second work study student can also be

trained as a backup or to share the work load. The fewer the people

handling the machine the less likely Murphy’s Law will bite.

CASE STUDY #TWO

The Problem

A primary school teacher (3rd grade) has had some discipline problems in the classroom.

Several students have been chronically disruptive. The teacher has disciplined them in

various ways (e.g., verbal reprimand, extra homework, detention after school) with little

success. The students’ clownish antics threaten to turn the classroom into a zoo.

As a “last resort” the teacher sends the disruptive students to the principal whose policy is

that a little corporal punishment (spanking) will solve most problems of disruption (“Spare

the rod, spoil the child”). The teacher is uncomfortable with this policy, abhorring violence,

but desperate people do desperate things. The spankings temporarily reduce the disruption

but it is beginning to increase once again. To make matters worse, now the entire class

sees the teacher as an insensitive ogre. In addition, some parents have verbally accosted the

teacher over the phone for sending their kids to the principal to be spanked. When the

teacher retorts that the parents should instruct their children to “toe the line,” the teacher is

told to “lighten up” and learn to accept a little “harmless playfulness.”

The teacher is beginning to lose motivation to continue teaching. The classroom has

become a battlefield and large amounts of time are spent disciplining students. Little

learning is taking place. Parents are upset with the teacher, the students are upset with the

teacher, and the teacher hasn’t a clue how to proceed.

All right, you brilliant conflict managers, help this poor beleaguered teacher.

What should the teacher do?

The Analysis

A. The only communication style used by the teacher has been

competing/forcing. As is typical of such a strategy, competition breeds

conflict and exacerbates the disruption. The teacher has turned

discipline problems into a contest of wills.

B. Confrontation needs to take place between the teacher and the disruptive students’

parents. The parents, if made to see that their children are preventing learning from

taking place in the classroom by their disruptive antics, may lend assistance to

the teacher. If not, nothing is lost. Confrontation also needs to occur between the

teacher and the disruptive students. A clear and consistently applied discipline plan

should be instituted, one that the students help formulate. Experts on “assertive

discipline” argue that when students participate in constructing a discipline plan

they see it as their own and are more willing to have it enforced by the teacher than

if it is imposed on them by the authority figure. In the spirit of principled

negotiation, such a plan should be pursued as a problem to be solved (i.e.,

disruption), but not as an opportunity to humiliate individual students

(separate the people from the problem).

C. There needs to be greater emphasis on positive reinforcement of admirable behavior

than has taken place. In addition, the class should be made more interesting. In

terms of principled negotiation strategies, the interest of the teacher is to make

order out of what has become chaos. The interest of the students is almost

assuredly to have a more exciting, stimulating class. Boredom breeds discontent

and disruption. Emphasizing the positive accomplishments of students and

striving to make the class more exciting would help meet the

interests of both parties in this conflict.

IV. Excerpt from the movie, Ordinary People

A. Show clip about mid-film where Conrad (Timothy Hutton) and his dad

(Donald Sutherland) bring a Christmas tree home. Conrad’s mom (Mary

Tyler Moore) enters the living room while Conrad and his dad trim the

tree. End the segment when Conrad’s dad leaves Conrad’s room after a

terrible fight has ensued. Give class brief background on what has

occurred prior to this scene, namely, that Buck, Conrad’s older brother

died in a sail boating accident. Conrad blames himself, even though he

did nothing wrong but managed to survive during a storm that

swamped their sailboat. Conrad is deeply disturbed by his older brother’s

death. He requires psychiatric therapy after trying to kill himself.

B. This is a powerful, disturbing excerpt that illustrates well several

communication styles of conflict management and their likely results.

Most students have never seen this movie so it will be a fresh

experience.

1. Conrad’s mom confronts Conrad about quitting the swim team, but

she doesn’t confront as a collaboration (descriptive first-person

singular language). Instead, she seems to be attacking him

(competitive/power-forcing).

2. At first, Conrad plays dumb, trying to avoid an ugly conflict with his

mother. It doesn’t work. Conrad’s dad, ever the peacemaker, tries to

smooth things, but ends up looking like an ineffectual referee

separating mother and son from coming to blows. Conrad explodes at

his mother unleashing vitriol and obscenities. His mom strikes back.

Power-forcing is the primary style used at this point.

3. Conrad retreats to his bedroom. Conrad’s dad asks his wife to join

him to talk to their son about what had just transpired. She refuses,

attacking him as over-protective. Conrad’s dad explodes at his wife,

then tries to smooth things (“Let’s not fight.”). Too late. Power–

forcing styles have corroded the atmosphere making smoothing

ineffectual. Conrad’s dad sits down with Conrad, who is lying on his

bed with his face covered. Conrad’s dad confronts his son in an

empathic, collaborating way. Conrad finally opens up (“Can’t you see

she hates me?”). Conrad’s dad contradicts his son (“She doesn’t hate

you, Conrad”). He seems to take sides from Conrad’s perspective

(competing style) so he clams up once again.

V. Excerpt from the movie, Saving Private Ryan

A. Following a discussion of anger management, show a 5-minute clip

from the movie Saving Private Ryan. The clip is approximately 70

minutes into the film. Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) has just released a

German hostage. His unit is deeply divided about this action. One of his

platoon members (Edward Burns) decides to desert. A sergeant (Tom

Sizemore) pulls out a weapon and threatens to kill the private if he

leaves. Until this moment, Captain Miller’s unit has known nothing

about their leader’s personal life. In fact, they’ve become so obsessed with

finding out about Miller that they’ve started a betting pool to see who

can get him to talk about himself. Begin the clip when the private says,

“I’m done with this mission.” End with the team digging a grave at

sunset. A scene change immediately follows.

B. This scene depicts an extremely intense situation that is masterfully

diffused by Captain Miller. As men under his command erupt into rage,

he remains completely calm (asymmetrical). He diverts attention from

the increasingly chaotic situation by asking “What is the pool up to

now?” He shifts the focus away from the almost unbearable and

potentially disastrous pickle his troops have created for themselves.

Captain Miller validates the private’s frustration by recognizing that they

are on a mission that seems to make no sense. By talking about who he

is and how he feels about being in the war, Miller validates what all of

the men are feeling.

VI. Excerpt from movie, The Negotiator.

A. Choose any scene in movie where either Samuel L. Jackson (beginning

of movie) or Kevin Spacey (later in movie) act as negotiators trying to

defuse a hostage situation.

B. Each negotiator works hard at being asymmetrical, trying to divert

attention, validating, probing, and problem solving. Shows that we can

train ourselves to respond to the anger of others without also “losing it.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Technology and Virtual Groups

I. Theory and practice

A. Discuss media richness and media synchronicity theories with class.

B. Break class into 4 groups of about equal size.

C. Ask each group to choose a single, specific group for analysis (jury, work group,

etc.). Apply both theories to a face-to-face and to a virtual version of the chosen

group. Consider pros and cons of each version of the chosen group using the two

theories for analysis.

D. Report group conclusions to the entire class. Make a list on the board of group

conclusions.

II. Text-messaging: Pros and cons

A. Break class into groups of 5-7 members.

B. Have each group discuss the advantages and disadvantages of text-messaging

communication.

C. What difficulties emerge when more than two individuals are involved in a text-

message conversation?

D. Report group conclusions to entire class and discuss.

III. Text-messaging, audio conferencing, and videoconferencing activity

A. Discuss text material on text-messaging, audioconferencing, and

videoconferencing. with the class.

B. Break class into groups of 5-7 members. Have each group discuss individual

experiences that either support or contradict the research findings about these

three versions of virtual groups.

IV. The inherent limitations of technology demonstration/discussion

A. Purpose: To explain the bias of technologies and how electronic

technologies have an inherent bias for speed of information transmission,

contributing to information overload.

B. Time required: Approximately 5-10 minutes plus discussion

C. Instructions

1. Bring a box to class filled with these items: a hammer, a screwdriver,

a fork, a pencil, a pocket calculator, a pager, a Palm Pilot (if available),

and a cell phone (borrow one from a student if necessary–someone surely

has one).

2. As you show each item to the class, ask what function it has (i.e., a

hammer is meant to do what? Pound nails.)

3. Ask if it can do other things. Ask if it can be used for communication

(typically participants will say “tap out Morse code”). Ask if a

hammer is an efficient communication technology. Why or why not?

4. Do the same with each item shown to the class (a pager, for example,

can leave simple messages such as “911” to indicate urgent message,

but it is a relatively simple beeper, a signaling device). Ask if two or

more of the items could be used in combination to communicate

messages (e.g., the hammer and screwdriver could chisel a message

on stone). Again ask if this would be an efficient and effective way to

communicate messages.

D. Processing

1. Every technology, simple (hammer) or complex (Palm Pilot) has a

technological bias. Hammers are meant to pound nails, screwdrivers

are meant to twist screws, a pencil is made to write, a pager is meant

to signal, a cell phone is meant for verbal communication, etc.). Each

technology, or tool, can do other things but not very well. Thus, each

technology has an inherent bias–it is preordained for a specific

function.

2. Electronic technology (cell phones, faxes, ATMs, television and

computers in particular) have a bias for SPEED–instant transmission

of information and data. Transmitting enormous amounts of

information and data at the speed of light is what computers do best.

3. Electronic technologies have increased the pace of life (see Closer

Look, “Technology and the Bias of Speed,” p. 216). We are more

impatient waiting even a nanosecond for a response from

machines or from people. Gathering data (information overload)

often becomes more important than allocating time for reflection,

critical analysis of the information, even for sorting through the

gigaheaps of information, much of it useless and irrelevant.

4. You can’t expect computers to go slower. That contradicts their

technological bias. You could merely tap a nail with a hammer, but it

would make the hammer a relatively ineffective tool in most

instances. There’s no “putting the Genie back in the bottle.” Group

discussion may seem interminably slow by today’s fast-paced

standards. Nevertheless, careful, thoughtful consideration of

problems and their solutions is critical. Learning to cope with

information overload is a vital task for groups.

5. So with this inherent bias of each technology, what complications does

this make for working in all types of virtual groups? Discuss with class

and list the complications on the board.

V. Show TED talk by Sherry Turkle on the effects of social media on

Communication, available at:

http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together?language=en