Author: Bernard

Leadership through Conversations

Conversational Management Assignment

Purpose
As we discussed throughout the content for this week, managing conversations is at the heart of
leading through conversations. Additionally, we have explored the idea that every conversation
matters and you have the ability to influence change in each and every conversation you are
involved in. Therefore, in this assignment you will have the opportunity to reflect on a
conversation you typically have and plan out how you could use the principles from this week to
more effectively manage that conversation.
Process
1. First, identify a conversation you typically have. This could be the typical morning
the conversation you have with a co-worker, the conversation you have with your roommate
and/or significant other when returning home, a conversation you have with a child, or
any other conversation you find yourself having on a regular basis.
2. Use the conversation management template to document how this conversation typically
goes. Use the example script as a reference for how to format your script. Don’t worry
about being precise; the main ideas are critical to considering how to transform this
conversation.
3. Once you have documented the typical conversation, answer the questions regarding how
you could improve the conversation through the four C’s of conversation and
conversational management strategies.
4. Once you have answered the questions regarding the conversation, I encourage you to
implement your potential changes to the conversation, however this is not required.
Either after implementing the strategies, or without implementing the strategies, re-write
your script using the principles you discussed.

For this final project, you will construct a summary of findings paper, based on the case materials provided. Your paper should be well-structured, clear, and concise, containing each of the sections below. To complete this assignment, you will use information in the Final Project Case Study document as well as these guidelines.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Overview: Summarize the pattern of facts leading up to this interpersonal conflict, identifying the stakeholders in the conflict.
II. Conflict Analysis: In this section, you will analyze the transcripts provided and determine how stakeholders’ self-perception and communication practices influenced the conflict. Be sure to address the following:

A. Assess how the stakeholders’ self-perception influenced the conflict. Provide specific examples to support your assessment. In other words, how might the involved stakeholders’ self-perceptions be at odds with how others see them?
B. Describe the communication practices, implicit or explicit, that were used. What implications did they have for the conflict?
C. Assess how communication practices might be changed to de-escalate the conflict. Provide specific examples to support your assessment.
III. Analyzing Heuristics to De-escalate Conflict: In this section, you will analyze the heuristics in the transcripts provided and determine how they impacted the interactions in the workplace.
A. Appraise the heuristics you found in the transcripts that were the most relevant to the conflict in this case. Support your appraisal with specific examples. For example, was there a bias such as “more is better” or “faster is better”?
B. Determine how this heuristic resulted in impressions of bias that negatively impacted workplace interactions in this case. Support your determination with specific examples. For example, did a heuristic of “people who look like me do a better job” result in a perception of discrimination?
C. Determine what techniques your colleague might recommend to help the stakeholders to use their past experiences to positively benefit similar interactions moving forward. Support your determination with specific examples.
IV. Creating a More Effective Organizational Culture: In this section, you will analyze the transcripts provided to determine the influence of cultural differences on the conflict.
A. Analyze how the stakeholders’ cultural perspectives affected their points of view in this conflict. Support your analysis with relevant examples.
B. Describe instances in which you see a match or gaps between the former employee and organizational culture. Support your description with specific examples.
C. Recommend strategies that individual stakeholders can use to deal with employees who have disparate cultural perspectives. Justify your recommendation(s) with appropriate conflict resolution concepts.
V. Building Common Ground: In this section, you will primarily analyze the transcripts provided to find instances when your coworker employed communication skills to manage the situation, collect relevant information, and build common ground. Then, you will identify practices through which your team can rebuild trust in the affected department.
A. Referring to the transcripts provided, assess the utility of the open-ended questions that were used for eliciting useful information. Support your assessment with specific examples.
B. Identify the points during the transcribed conversations in which the interviewer verbally summarized key ideas, describing the importance of each occurrence to the communications in the interviews.
C. Determine how the impact of the former employee’s actions was at odds with his intent. Support your determination with specific examples based on the transcripts provided.
D. Identify practices by which the affected department can rebuild trust. Support your identification with accepted conflict resolution practices.
VI. Dispute Resolution and Legal Ramifications: In this final section, you will determine the best course of action for resolving the conflict and provide your recommendations for moving forward.
A. What laws are applicable in this situation and how are they applicable? Support your response with specific examples.

B. Describe the benefits and risks of direct negotiations, mediation, and arbitration between the stakeholders. Support your description with specific examples.
C. Recommend appropriate risk-minimizing strategies for your conflict negotiations based on your analysis of potential means of dispute resolution and legal ramifications.

For this milestone, you will complete a draft of the first two sections of your final project based on the final project case study.
The following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Overview: Summarize the pattern of facts leading up to this interpersonal conflict, identifying the stakeholders in the conflict.
II. Conflict Analysis: In this section, you will analyze the transcripts provided and determine how stakeholders’ self-perception and communication practices influenced the conflict. Be sure to address the following:
A. Assess how the stakeholders’ self-perception influenced the conflict. Provide specific examples to support your assessment. In other words, how might the involved stakeholders’ self-perceptions be at odds with how others see them?
B. Describe the communication practices, implicit or explicit, that were used. What implications did they have for the conflict?
C. Assess how communication practices might be changed to de-escalate the conflict. Provide specific examples to support your assessment

• Analyze and apply knowledge and theories of financial planning.
• Apply skills for effective decision-making in financial planning.
• Investigate financial problems using quantitative methods.
• Complete all parts of a comprehensive financial plan.