Center for Applied Conflict Management CACM 11001 Kent State University, Spring 2010 Course Title: Course

e #: Time/Place: Instructor: Office Hours: Introduction to Conflict Management CACM 11001, Section 007 Wednesdays 5:30 8:15 p.m. - 224 BOW Ruth Simera W 4:15 5:15 pm; other times by appt. Center for Applied Conflict Management 321 Bowman Hall Office G CACM Secretary 330-672-3143 CACM Office 330-672-8906 (during office hours) Daytime work: 330-346-3037 (Townhall II) 330-527-2506 ruthsimera@hotmail.com

Work Phone: Home Phone: E-Mail:

Course Description: Conflict is part of everyday life and is probably no less important than laughter, anger, love, sex, and play. Conflict is neither good nor bad in and of itself and can reveal injustices, prompt change, and be a source of personal growth, social transformation, and reconciliation. Conflict can also breed resentments and alienation, and may be waged with destructive violence, including war. What tools can individuals, groups, and governments use to manage, transform, or wage their conflicts in largely constructive ways? In this course, we will explore potentially positive conflict management tools like active listening and communication skills, principled negotiation, various forms of mediation, and nonviolent action. Course Objectives: This course will serve as an introduction to the scope and nature of conflict and conflict management. Course material and exercises should bring about greater personal awareness of our individual conflict styles, including the habits, attitudes, and beliefs each of us have related to conflict, and to organizing for social change. We will develop knowledge about the nature of conflict, the growing field of conflict resolution and the ways individuals and groups deal with and wage conflict. As an applied course, you should also build skills in active listening, assertion, principled negotiation, and informal mediation. This course may be used to satisfy a Liberal Education Requirement (LER). LERs as a whole are intended to broaden intellectual perspectives, foster ethical and humanitarian values, and prepare students for responsible citizenship and productive careers. Course Format: This course will operate on a lecture and discussion format with in-class and assigned out-of-class exercises. Students are 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) Barbara A. Budjac Corvette, Conflict Management: A Practical Guide to Developing Negotiation Strategies, Pearson Education, Inc., 2007 ISBN: 0-13-119323-6 Course Reader - available from Wordsmith's, 402 E. Main St., Kent - Phone: 330-677-9673. (Make sure you get the packet #38, for section 005.) Accessibility Services: 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 Accessibility Services (contact 330672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas for more information on registration procedures). Registration Requirement: The official registration deadline for this course is January 31. 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 course withdrawal deadline is April 4. Course Requirements/Points toward Final Grade: Exams : Exams will be a mix of objective questions, short answers, essays, and exercises that require you to apply course material. All exams must be taken on the day scheduled. Only in extraordinary circumstances, and only when I am contacted in person or by phone in advance of the exam (absolutely no Email accepted on this issue) will a rescheduling of an exam be considered. Failure to do so will result in a "zero" grade. Exam #1 = 20% of grade; Exam #2 = 25% of grade; Final Exam = 15% of grade. Participation: Although this is a large class, we each should still come to class with readings and exercises prepared, willing to discuss them meaningfully. This assumes regular attendance. Unexplained absenteeism and poor preparation will impact your grade. Worth 10% of grade. Exercises and Quizzes: Take-home and in-class exercises and quizzes will be distributed that are designed to help you master course material. They will be discussed at class sessions immediately before or following distribution; some will be collected and reviewed; some will be graded. Some assignments are already noted on this syllabus; others may be assigned throughout the semester. Quizzes may not always be announced in advance. Unless otherwise noted or pre-arranged, assignments which are turned in late will not receive a grade or credit; however, you are encouraged to turn in all assignments, as this will reflect on your class participation. Worth 30% of grade. GRADING SYSTEM The final course grade will be based on the sum of the actual points received (no curve) for each of the components (exams, participation, exercises) and will be given as follows: 93 - 100 A 73 76 C 90 92 A70 72 C87 89 B+ 67 69 D+ 83 86 B 60 66 D 80 82 B0 - 59 F 77 79 C+ CELL PHONES, PAGERS AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES Please turn off all cell phones, pagers and other electronic devices that could be distracting during class. Phone calls and text communications are to be reserved for breaks and non-class time. 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. ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY AND PROCEDURES REGARDING STUDENT CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM Condensed Version; For complete policy and procedure go to www.procedure go to www.kent.edu/policyregister 3342-3-01.8. Cheating and plagiarism constitute fraudulent misrepresentation for which no credit can be given and for which appropriate sanctions are warranted and will be applied. 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. "Cheat" means to intentionally misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of academic work so as to accrue undeserved credit, or to cooperate with someone else in such misrepresentation. Plagiarize means to take and present as ones own a material portion of the ideas or words of another or to present as ones own an idea or work derived from an existing source without full and proper credit to the source of the ideas, words, or works. Spring 2010 Class Schedule (Readings and exercises are to be completed prior to the class session for which they are listed) Jan. 20 Jan. 27 Introductions, Course Overview Defining Conflict; Stress and Stress management Roadblocks to Communication Reading: Bolton, Chapter 2, p. 14 - 26.

Developing Listening Skills and Why They are Important Reading: Bolton, Chapters 3 - 5, p. 29 - 76. Out of class assignment: Roadblock Journal due at the start of class on Feb. 10 (instructions also included in class Reader) Feb. 3 Practicing Listening Skills for Interpersonal and Social Change/Discussion of Journals Reading: Bolton, Chapter 7, p. 89 - 113; Reading: Corvette, Chapter 5 Reading: Herb Walters, Dismantling Racism Through Listening, Pax Christi, Spring, 1993 (reader); Reading: Catherine Peck, Rural Southern Voice for Peace: 12 Years of Grassroots Organizing, Fellowship, July-August, 1993 (in reader). Reading: Aaron Barnea and Ofer Shinar, Building Trust, Promoting Hope: The Families Forum Hello Peace Project in Israel and Palestine A good resource: http://www.listeningproject.info/how.php Due: Roadblock Journal Understanding our preferred mode(s) for managing conflict and Increasing our capacity to choose conflict management approaches. In class self-assessment tool will be used to identify and interpret conflict mode profiles. Reading: Corvette, Chapters 2, 3, and 4 Video: Dealing with Conflict, (20 minutes). Feb. 17 The Alternative Dispute Resolution Field: A Conflict Management Continuum Reading: Linda Singer, Origins and Growth of the Dispute Settlement Movement, and Techniques for Settling Disputes, Chapters 1 & 2, Settling Disputes, (reader). Reading: American Bar Association, What you Need to Know about Dispute Resolution: The Guide to Dispute Resolution Processes, 2001 Assertiveness and Cooperation Skills Reading: Bolton, Chapters 9 - 10, p. 139 - 176. Reading: A Better Way to Negotiate: Build Relationships, Harvard Business School, 2001 (reader) Homework assignment: 3 part message worksheet (in reader) due next week Perception and Power Reading: Corvette, Chapters 9 and 10 March 3 March 10 Exam #1 ; Due: Assertiveness Exercise (3 part messages) Post Exam Review Negotiation Reading: Cliff Goodwin and Daniel B. Griffith, Chapter 3: Approaches to Conflict (reader) Reading: Corvette, Chapters 14 and 15: The Negotiation Process and Preparation and Alternative Styles, Strategies, and Techniques of Negotiation March 17 Principled/Integrative Negotiation In class Assignment: due April 1 make sure you are at this class! (Negotiation Exercise) Reading: Goodwin and Griffith, Chapter 11(reader) Reading: Corvette, Chapter 8 (Interests and Goals) Overcoming Barriers to Negotiation lecture and handouts will supplement reading Reading: Corvette, Chapter 12: Principles of persuasion Negotiation Exercise Continued make sure you are at this class !

Feb. 10

Feb. 24

March 24

Introducing Mediation: Community, Court-based, and Victim-Offender Applications Video: Mediation, A Better Way, (16 minutes). Reading: Pat Coy, A Five Step Model of Informal Mediation Corvette: page 239 March 31 April 7 No Class. Spring Break 3/29 4/4 Mediation continued and Completion of Negotiation Exercise must be turned in at end of class. Guest speaker(s) from community mediation program(s) Mediation and Litigation: A Study in Rough Contrasts Reading: Albie Davis, The Logic Behind the Magic of Mediation, Negotiation Journal, Jan, 1989 (in reader). Reading: Juju Atkinson, Blurring the Distinction Between Mediation and Adjudication; Reading: Dave Brubaker & Ron Kraybill, When to Mediate, MCS Mediation Training Manual, 1995 (reader). April 14 Cultural Considerations Reading: Corvette, Chapter 7: A Note on Cultural and Gender Differences Reading: Michael Avery, Some Cultural Differences that Affect Conflict Resolution; MCS Mediation Training Manual, 1995 (in reader); Jan Jung-Min Sunoo, Some Rules of Thumb for Intercultural Mediations; MCS Mediation Training Manual, 1995 (in reader). Diversity Hunt (group exercise in class worksheet in reader) Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice Video: Restoring Justice, (51 minutes). Reading: Mark Umbreit, Victim Offender Mediation, Mediating Interpersonal Conflicts, 1995 (in reader). Reading: Jan Goodwin: Could You Face the Man Who Killed Your Mother?(reader); April 21 April 28 Exam #2 Post Exam Review Waging Conflict Through Nonviolent Action Introducing Nonviolent Action Reading: Mark Chupp, When Mediation is Not Enough Reading: Gene Sharp, "Techniques of Nonviolent Action, Exploring Nonviolent Alternatives, 1970 (in reader) Reading: Joseph Fahey, Conflict Creation, Peace Review, No. 4, 1993 (in reader PBS Video: "A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict. Reading: TBD May 5 Case Studies: Applying Nonviolence Against Corporations and Dictators. Reading: Ron Sider, Wheelchairs vs. Tanks, Chap. 3 of Nonviolence: 1989 (in reader); Reading: Jim Sessions, The Union/Community Takeover of the Pittston Coal Companys Moss 3 Coal Preparation Plant, Chap. 43 of Nonviolence in America, 1996 ( in reader); Reading: Patrick Coy, "Going Where We Otherwise Would Not Have Gone: Nonviolent Protective Accompaniment and Election Monitoring in Sri Lanka," Fellowship, Sept./Oct., 1995 (in reader). Reading: Walter Wink, But what IF Review for Final Exam; Last Day for Extra Credit Work to be Turned in; Course and Instructor Evaluations. May12 Final Exam 5:45 8:00 p.m.