SPRING 2010 STUDENT HANDBOOK
Course Title: / Introduction to Conflict ManagementCourse #: / CACM 11001
Time/Place: / Section 001 (call #11630) / MWF / 9:55 - 10:45 am / 224 BOW
Section 002 (call #13416) / MWF / 11:00 - 11:50 am / 224 BOW
Section 003 (call #14094) / MWF / 1:10 - 2:00 pm / 217 BOW
Professor: / Karen Cunningham
Office Hours: / MWF 12:00 - 1:00 pm; TR 2:30 - 3:30 pm; other times by appt.
Office Location: / Center for Applied Conflict Management, 321 Bowman Hall, Office C
Office Phone: / 330-672-8943 (direct), 330-672-3143 (CACM office)
Home Phone: / 330-650-0293
E-Mail: / (or )
(Note: I check my email regularly at least once a day and usually more often. I prefer email because it provides a written record of correspondence, but recommend that for important issues you also call, since email is not always reliable.)
Website: / Go to for class assignments and information.
Course Objectives: / This course will serve as an introduction to the scope and nature of conflict and conflict management. Students will become acquainted with some of the methods of conflict resolution and nonviolent change at various levels. Students will learn about their own personal communication styles, will be introduced to various techniques of resolving conflicts (with a focus on negotiation and mediation), and will explore concepts of nonviolent social change. Students will also have an opportunity to develop and practice skills through exercise assignments.
Course Format: / This course will operate on a lecture and discussion format supplemented with exercises to allow students to practice skills. Students will be expected to attend regularly and be prepared to discuss the material and related topics.
Required Texts:
Robert Bolton, People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1986 ISBN: 0-671-62248-X (paperback)
Roger Fisher and William Ury, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, NY: Penguin 1991 (second edition) ISBN: 0 14 01.5735 2 (paperback)
Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.
Other readings will be posted on Blackboard Vista during the course of the semester, and some internet readings will be assigned. It is recommended that you print these out, since most students seem to retain the information better when they have hard copies and can highlight important concepts. (You should also bring the relevant reading material with you to class on the days that it is being covered.)
Books may be purchased at the KSU Bookstore at the Student Center, Dubois Bookstore on S. Lincoln St. across from McGilvrey Hall, and Campus Book and Supply, near the intersection of Rt. 59 and S. Lincoln St.
Students Requiring Accessibility
University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessability Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit for more information on registration procedures).
Registration Requirement
The official registration deadline for this course is January 31, 2010. University policy requires all students to be officially registered in each class they are attending. Students who are not officially registered for a course by published deadlines should not be attending classes and will not receive credit or a grade for the course. Each student must confirm enrollment by checking his/her class schedule (using Student Tools in FlashLine) prior to the deadline indicated. Registration errors must be corrected prior to the deadline. The last day to withdraw is April 4, 2010.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION
Regular attendance is expected and is highly recommended, since we will occasionally have in-class exercises, and we will at times cover material in class that is not in your reading.
Attendance will be taken at each class session. (If I forget to pass around the attendance sheet, please remind me before the end of class.) It is your responsibility to make sure you sign the attendance sheet at each class session. (Note: Do NOT sign in for any other student on the attendance sheet; doing so is an act of academic dishonesty that falls under the definition of cheating and will result in disciplinary action. A student who asks or allows another to sign in for them is also guilty of cheating and subject to disciplinary action.)
If you must miss class, contact me via email or phone to let me know. (Keep records of this communication.) If we are doing an exercise in class that day, you will be allowed to make it up if you have contacted me on or before the day of that class. If you have NOT contacted me, you will not be allowed to make up a missed in-class exercise (unless there were circumstances that prevented timely communication or other exigent circumstances).
Advisors will be notified of any students who frequently miss class. (The Dean’s office has requested that we do this in order to identify students who may need assistance.)
Students are expected to schedule outside appointments and other activities at times that do not conflict with class attendance. Students are expected to arrive on time and to stay for the entire class period. If you arrive late, please enter quietly and quickly take a seat with a minimal amount of disruption. In the event that you absolutely must leave class early, please notify the professor in advance as a courtesy, and leave quietly.
All students are encouraged to actively participate in class discussions and activities. Sharing of stories, experiences, ideas and questions is a valuable component of the learning process.
CLASSROOM DECORUM AND BEHAVIOR
Class can be both educational AND fun if we work together to make it that way. All class members are expected to be prepared for class, attentive, and respectful of their classmates and the instructor or guests. Since this is a conflict management class, all members are expected to utilize these skills to prevent, resolve and or manage conflict appropriately.
If you have a concern about another student’s behavior, try to utilize your conflict management skills to resolve the issue, if possible. A student whose behavior is inappropriate and/or creates problems in the class may be asked to leave the class, assigned alternate seating, given additional assignments to complete, docked points from their grade, or referred to the appropriate office for further disciplinary action.
CELL PHONES, PAGERS AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Please turn OFF all cell phones, pagers and other electronic devices that could be distracting to you or to others during class. If you have an emergency situation that requires you to be contacted quickly, let me know at the beginning of class and an exception may be made. Absolutely NO cell phones or pagers may be on during exams.
1
EXAMS
There will be three exams given during the term. Each exam is 20% of your course grade. Exams may consist of any combination of matching, multiple-choice, true-and-false, fill-in, short-answer questions or essays. The purpose of these exams is to ascertain that you understand the concepts presented. If you are attending class regularly and participating fully, it should not be difficult to study for these exams.
Make-Up Exams:
No make-ups will be given unless you have contacted me on or prior to the day of the exam to request a make-up. (Exceptions will be made only for very unusual circumstances). If you are unable to take an exam on the scheduled day due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances, notify me as soon as you become aware that you will be absent and a make-up exam will be scheduled. If you cannot reach me at the office or at home, send an email and/or leave a phone message with your name, phone number, and reason for missing the exam. Keep a record of your communication. Makeup exams should be taken as soon as possible (preferably within a week of the scheduled exam date).
APPLICATIONS
Because this is a course in Applied Conflict Management, 40% of your course grade will be based on application of concepts, self-analysis and reflection. This will be done through the use of journals, in-class exercises and homework assignments.
Journals (20%)
First Journal (10%) - covers Weeks 1 through 6 (January 20 through February 28; due March 1) -worth up to 100 points
Second Journal (10%) - covers Weeks 7 through 12 (March 1 through April 18; due April 19) -worth up to 100 points
Students will be expected to keep conflict management journals during the course of the semester. These will be a record of your thoughts, ideas, observations and experiences related to conflict and conflict management. Each week some questions will be posted at the class website and/or on Vista for you to think about and respond to in your journal. In addition to the questions posted each week, you should utilize your journals to write about anything else relevant that comes to mind as we go through the course -- ideas, revelations, experiences, etc. This is your opportunity to show how you're thinking about and applying the course concepts in your everyday life.
Journal entries should be done a MINIMUM of once a week, though more frequent entries are recommended as you think of things or as you have relevant experiences to write about. The more thought you give to the material and the concepts, and the more you experiment with the techniques, the more valuable this course will be for you. Points will be awarded based on the quality of work put into the journals. Make sure that you answer all of the questions asked each week, practice your skills, reflect upon your experiences, and record relevant observations.
Journal entries should be typed or NEATLY handwritten. (If I can't read it, I can't give you credit for it.)
Exercises and Assignments (20%)
Conflict Mappingworth up to 25 points
Conflict Stylesworth up to 25 points
Reflecting Skillsworth up to 25 points
Assertion Messagesworth up to 25 points
Brainstormingworth up to 25 points
Objective Criteriaworth up to 25 points
Listening Projectworth up to 50 points
Dates for homework assignments and exercises will be posted at the class website and will be announced in class. These exercises are designed to help familiarize you with the concepts being taught, get you to think about some of the ideas presented, and to help you to practice skills discussed in class.
Students are expected to approach the journals, exercises and assignments thoughtfully and professionally. Points will be awarded based on the quality of the work submitted. For group exercises, all group members will receive the same number of points unless it is clear that one or more members did not actively participate.
Late Assignments and Missing Exercises:
Journals and homework and assignments must be submitted by the date due in order to receive credit, unless other arrangements have been made with the professor. If you will be unable to submit a journal or assignment on time, contact me on or prior to the day it is due. If you have contacted me and submit the journal or assignment by an agreed-upon deadline, credit will be given as if the assignment had been completed on time. Late journals or assignments will not be accepted after the agreed-upon deadline unless that deadline has been renegotiated.
Exercises to be done in class will usually be announced in advance. If you are unable to attend class on the day of an in-class exercise, contact me on or prior to that day so that arrangements can be made to make up the exercise. If you have contacted me and submit the exercise by an agreed-upon deadline, credit will be given as if the assignment had been completed on time. Late assignments will not be accepted after the agreed-upon deadline unless that deadline has been renegotiated.
Journals, homework assignments and exercises will not be accepted late if you have not contacted me on or prior to the due date, except under very unusual circumstances.
EXTRA CREDIT
1
In order to encourage students to learn more about the subject matter outside of the classroom, extra credit opportunities may be made available throughout the semester. Extra credit can be submitted at any time throughout the semester, but must be submitted no later 10:15 am on Monday of finals week. There are three ways that you can get extra credit points.
Option 1a: Find a recent article or book chapter relevant to class that could be used as reading material for future classes. Bring in a copy of the article, and submit it with a brief explanation (one to two pages, typed) as to what you found in the article that would be valuable for future classes.
Option 1b: Attend one of the events on the "Upcoming Events" page at the class website that is designated as an "extra credit" event. After attending the event, submit a short (1 - 2 page) summary and critique of the event. Discuss how it related to this class, and be sure to provide enough specific information in your summary to demonstrate that you did in fact attend the program.
For each extra credit assignment that you submit under Option 1a or 1b, you will receive up to 10 points. You may do up to three extra credit assignments under Options 1a and 1b during the course of the semester. (In other words, the maximum amount of extra credit you can earn for any one class is 30 points.) If you are in more than one of my classes in which extra credit is being offered, you will need to determine in which class you want the extra credit. You can not get credit in two different classes for the same paper.
OR
Option 2: Read one of the following books, depending on what you feel you most need to improve on in dealing with conflict. Try applying some of the concepts in your everyday life. Write a review of the book, identify the concepts that you found most helpful, and describe one of your experiences in using those concepts. Your review should be 4 to 5 pages. (NOTE: Option 3 is worth up to 30 points (the maximum extra credit you can get for this course). If you choose Option 3, you can NOT receive any points for Option 1.)
Tim Ursiny, The Coward’s Guide to Conflict: Empowering Solutions for Those Who Would Rather Run Than Fight, Sourcebooks, Inc. 2003. (Available through amazon.com and other retailers. Can also be purchased and downloaded through iTunes as an audiobook.)
Kerry Patterson, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, McGraw-Hill, 2002. (Available through amazon.com and other retailers. Can also be purchased and downloaded through iTunes as an audiobook.)
CALCULATION OF GRADES
Final grades are calculated as follows:
•Three exam grades, plus
•Two journal grades, plus
•Total points for exercises and homework assignments, plus
•Extra credit (up to 30 points) minus
•Any deductions
GRADING SCALE
There are 1000 possible points that can be earned in this course, plus up to 30 points for extra credit. Adding up all of your scores will give you your course grade. Letter grades will be based on the following scale:
925 - 1030A
895 - 924A-
865 - 894B+
825 - 864B
795 - 824B-
765 - 794C +
725 - 764C
695 - 724C -
665 - 694D+
595 - 664D
0 - 594F
I do not grade on a curve, so if everyone earns an A, everyone will get an A. Your grade is based on your own performance, not on the overall class performance.
GRADE CHANGE POLICY
The following is University policy: Once grades are submitted, they are final and will not be changed except in cases of administrative error. Grades will not be changed by allowing the students to do additional work or by using criteria other than those applied to all students in the class.
It is therefore extremely important that you submit all work and extra credit by the appropriate deadlines and before final grades are submitted.
CHEATING & PLAGIARISM
According to the Kent State University Policy Register, Section 3342-3-01.8 (Administrative policy and procedures regarding student cheating and plagiarism), subsection (A):
Students enrolled in the university, at all its campuses, are to perform their academic work according to standards set by faculty members, departments, schools and colleges of the university; and cheating and plagiarism constitute fraudulent misrepresentation for which no credit can be given and for which appropriate sanctions are warranted and will be applied. (Excerpted from the policy published online at )
The university affirms that acts of cheating and plagiarism by students constitute a subversion of the goals of the institution, have no place in the university and are serious offenses to academic goals and objectives, as well as to the rights of fellow students.
Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses, punishable by a variety of sanctions, up to and including dismissal from the university. Such acts, if discovered, will not be tolerated in this class. It is strongly recommended that you read this policy in full and be aware that it will be strongly enforced. Ignorance is NOT a defense; if you have questions as to whether an action would be considered cheating or plagiarism, please read the full policy at and/or ask.