Thursday, December 14, 2006

[Leadership] Chapter 10: Leading through Effective External Relations


Leadership Communication

Chapter 10

This chapter focuses on leading through effective external relations that include developing an external relations strategy, building and maintaining a positive corporate image, working with the news media, and handling crisis communication.
Effective external relations require a sound communication strategy. You can use the communication strategy framework. With the framework in mind, you can take the following steps to create a strategy for external audiences:

1. Clarify your purpose and strategic objectives.
2. Identify your major audiences or stakeholders.
3. Create, refine, and test your major messages.
4. Select, limit, and coach your spokesperson(s).
5. Establish the most effective media or forum.
6. Determine the best timing.
7. Monitor the results.

Building and maintaining a positive corporate image require having an external relations strategy that is vigilant, vigorous, and comprehensive. It involves developing a strategy for managing the press and media, making meaningful and sincere philanthropic contributions, being actively involved in the community, obeying all of the legal and regulatory requirements of investor relations, and ensuring all external communication vehicles carry honest, clear, consistent, and meaningful message to all stakeholders.

To increase chances for favorable treatment, it is important for a company to establish a positive relationship with the media and for every senior manager to know how to work effectively with them. Any leader of an organization should know why the media are important, when to talk to them, and how to manage encounters with them.
Most companies will face a crisis so they should know how to handle with it. Although establishing positive relationships with external audiences prior to a crisis will help in all but the extreme situations, no amount of goodwill can guarantee the positive coverage that is necessary to avoid permanent damage to a company’s reputation. The following guidelines will help companies respond appropriately in most crisis situations.

1. Develop a general crisis communication plan and communicate it.
2. Once the crisis, respond quickly.
3. Make sure you have the right people ready to respond and that they all respond with the same message.
4. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience.
5. Do not overlook the value of the Web.
6. Revisit your crisis communication plan frequently.
7. Build in a way to monitor the coverage.
8. Perform a post crisis evaluation.

All leaders of organizations must realize that their companies’ reputations depend on their internal ethos and the perceptions of their many external stakeholders. They cannot ignore the importance of establishing and maintaining a positive reputation or the necessity of effectively managing external relations to obtain and keep it.

[Leadership] Chapter 9: Establishing Leadership through Strategic Internal Communication


Leadership Communication

Chapter 9

Recognizing the strategic role of employee communication For employee communication to play a strategic role in organization, the leader must realize its importance in accomplishing the company’s strategic objectives and performance goals and integrate it into the company’s overall strategy and business processes. Your communication to employees needs to support the strategy and the performance goals, and all communication with them needs to position them to help you achieve those goals. Therefore, you should think about how best to accomplish the following basic employee communication objectives:

1. Educate employees in the company vision and strategic goals.
2. Motivate employee support for the company’s strategy.
3. Encourage higher performance and discretionary effort.
4. Limit misunderstandings and rumors that may damage productivity.
5. Align employees behind the company’s performance objectives and position them to help achieve them.

Assessing employee communication effectiveness. Before developing an internal communication strategy, you may want to use the scorecard to uncover how your organization stands in relation to the best practices for internal communication.

Establishing effective internal communications. The effective internal communication consists of the following:

1. Supportive management—managers should model the communication behavior they expect of their employees.
2. Targeted messages—effective communication depends on making all messages specific to the audience receiving them.
3. Effective media/forum—companies may need to communicate internal messages through several different media to reach all employees.
4. Well-positioned staff—the communication staff must be positioned close to the most important business issues and decisions and involved in the strategic and business planing processes for internal communication to be fully effective.
5. Ongoing assessment—you need to demonstrate clearly that you consider good communication to be valuable and important.

Using missions and divisions to strengthen internal communication
- Understanding the importance of missions and visions—effective mission and vision statements can :
1) inspire individual action, determine behavior, and fuel motivation.
2) Establish a firm foundation of goals, standard and objectives to guide corporate planner and managers.
3) Satisfy both the company’s need for efficiency and the employees’ need for group identity.
4) provide direction, which is particularly important in times of change, to keep everone moving toward the same goals.


- Defining missions and visions: Mission—a statement of the reason a company exists that is intended primarily for internal use. ; Visions—describe an inspiring new reality, achievable in a well-understood and reasonable time frame.

- Ensuring the mission and vision are effective—can be helpful in guiding employees.

- Building an effective mission and vision. There are three approaches to building a vision:
1) CEO/leadership developed
2) Leader-senior team visioning
3) Bottom-up visioning.

You might take the following steps in a leader-led, interactive, employee-involved approach to building a mission and a vision:
1. Create initial draft—bring the right employees, usually a cross section of organizational leaders, together to create the initial draft of the mission and vision.
2. Clarify the meaning.
3. Tell the world in 25 words or less what you are and what you want to become.
4. Develop the strategic objectives to make the vision specific and actionable.
5. Hold cascading meetings with employees to test the mission and the vision.

Designing and implementing effective change communication
- Detemining the scope of the change communication program
- Structuring a communication program for major change

[Leadership] Chapter 8: Building and Leading High Performing Teams


Leadership Communication

Chapter 8

This chapter focuses on business leaders need to know how to build and how to manage them to achieve high performance. Most businesspeople have experienced successful as well as unsuccessful teams. Building an effective team raises both organizational and individual leadership issues. If you are thinking of forming a team for specific tasks, you first need to determine that a team is the most effective and efficient approach to perform the task, solve the problem, generate the new ideas, or generally move your company forward in some way.
Once you have told the selected team members that they are on your team, you should schedule a launch or kick-off meeting so establishing the necessary team work processes are important. Although most teams will probably want to jump right into the work without spending the necessary time on process issues, leading them through development of the purpose, goals, and approach (the commitment side of the team basics framework) will help your team work more efficiently and effectively. In this section, you will learn how to address the issues of goals, purpose, and approach in your team launch by creating a team charter, action plan, and work plan.
Teams bring together the best talent available to solve a problem; however, some times these talented people clash. Just as emotional intelligence is important for individuals, it is also important for groups. One way to improve the team’s emotional intelligence or ability to work together smoothly is for the team to take time to know something about each other’s current situation, work experiences, expectations, personality, and cultural differences. This knowledge may not result in team bonding or friendships, which are more the by product of teams than the goal, but since these softer issues influence how the person behaves as a team member, the knowledge can help the team avoid conflict and help you as the leader anticipate any problems or performance roadblocks. Although team members will get to know each other through day-to-day interactions while working together, the team members can shorten the learning curve by discussing the following information at the first team meeting:


1. Position and responsibilities
2. Team experience
3. Expectation
4. Personal
5. Cultural difference


Despite all of the best planning and time spent getting to know each other, teams will likely experience conflict. Some of it will be useful and some not, but the odds are that it will occur. As Katzenbach writes, an effective team is “about hard work, conflict, integration, and collective results.” Working on a team is not easy, but the benefits can be very rewarding for the team members, and the results can be much better for the company. Obtaining the best results can depend on the team’s ability to manage conflict. Just as individuals and teams must be able to disagree in meetings, teams need to know how to manage conflict in their overall team activities.

Types of team conflict; internal team conflict will usually be one of four types:
1. Analytical (team’s constructive disagreement over a project issue or problem)
2. Task (goal, work process, deliverables)
3. Interpersonal (personality, diversity, communication styles)
4. Roles (leadership, responsibilities, power struggles)


Approaches to handling team conflict; most teams will use one of the following three approaches to managing conflict:

1. One on one: Individuals involved work it out between themselves.
2. Facilitation: Individuals involved work with a facilitator (mediator).
3. Team: Individuals involved discuss it with the entire team.


More and more companies are using virtual teams to connect their personal in offices around the globe. Although virtual teams are common, many companies do not know to ensure that they function as effectively as a co-located team would. Virtual teams require special effort, and it should not be taken for granted that people who are effective in traditional teams will also work well in a virtual team setting. There are marked differences.

Traditional team:
• Face-to-face
• Communications primarily in person
• Limited by time and distance

Virtual team:
• Geographically dispersed
• Communicating through technology
• Unrestrained by distance and time

This chapter has discussed the best approach to ensuring all team activities run smoothly so that the team achieves its objectives. It has provided team leaders and team facilitators tools to help them build and manage a team. No doubt, leading a team and working on a team present some challenges, but with the right approach, a team can work through the challenges, achieve high performance, and, in the end, “outperform other groups and individuals.”

[Leadership] Chapter 7: Leading Productive Management Meeting


Leadership Communication

Chapter 7

The leaders need to be able to plan and conduct effective, productive meetings. Doing so requires leadership communication skills and is important in setting the precedent for the rest of the organization. To avoid creating a negative atmosphere around meetings in the company, we need avoid the seven deadly sins of meeting.
1. People don’t take meeting seriously
2. Meetings are too long
3. People wander off the topic
4. Nothing happens once the meeting ends
5. People don’t tell the truth
6. Meetings are always missing important information
7. Meetings never get better
Communication purpose and strategy should come first in planning meetings, as in all communication situations. We need to define a clear purpose and analyze your audience to determine whether a meeting is the best forum for what we want to accomplish. The care that people give to defining the purpose and objectives will determine the success of the meeting. We need to write out the purposes and objectives very specifically: then, to start the meeting, tell the audience our intentions.
The agenda should follow directly from the objectives and end products and contain the information regarding the topic. In determining the agenda topics and the meeting tasks, we need to consider the time it will take to cover each topic or more important, to accomplish each objective then add et least 5 minutes to each topic to allow for transition.
The attendees are should be the ones who can contribute to achieving the objectives. The selected attendees will usually include the decision makers, the budget holder, those who must take action on the decision, those with expert knowledge affecting the decision, and representation from those affected by the decision. To the differences arising from national, regional, and functional cultures, we should encounter differences caused
by personality.

[Negotiation] Chapter 9: Managing Difficult Negotiations: Individual Approaches


Essentials of Negotiation

Chapter 9

It is not uncommon for negotiations, especially distributive ones, to become contentious to the point of breakdown. In extreme cases, conflict escalates and interpersonal enmity increases. Negotiations are “difficult to resolve” to the extent that the process of conflict resolution is characterized by the following dynamics:

- The atmosphere is charged with anger, frustration, and resentment. Mistrust and hostility are directed at the opposing negotiator.
-Channels of communication, previously used to exchange information and supporting arguments for each party’s position, are now closed or constrained.
- The original issues at stake have become blurred and ill defined, and perhaps new issues have been added.
- The parties tend to perceive great differences in their respective positions. Conflict heightens the magnitude of these differences and minimizes areas of perceived commonality and agreement.
- As anger and tension increase, the parties become more locked in to their initial negotiating positions.
- If there is more than one person on a side, those on the same side tend to view each other favorably.


The five major conflict-reduction strategies that can be uses to resolve impasses:

- Reducing tension and synchronizing the de-escalation of hostility.
- Improving the accuracy of communication, particularly improving each party’s understanding of the other’s perspective.
- Controlling the number and size of issues in the discussion.
- Establishing a common ground on which the parties can find a basis for agreement.
- Enhancing the desirability of the options and alternatives that each party presents to the other.


Another major difficulty that inhibits parties from reaching agreement is that as conflict intensifies, the size and number of the issues expand. The problem for negotiators in escalated impasses, therefore, is to develop strategies to contain issue proliferation and reduce the negotiation to manageable proportions.

“Fractionating” is a method of issue control that involves dividing a large conflict into smaller parts. Fractionating can involve several actions: reducing the number of parties on each side; controlling the number of substantive issues involved; stating issues in concrete terms rather than as principles; restricting the precedents involved, both procedural and substantive; searching for ways to narrow the big issues; and depersonalizing issues, separating them from the parties advocating them.

Parties in escalated conflict tend to magnify perceived differences and to minimize perceived similarities. The parties tend to see themselves as further apart and having less in common than may actually be the case. Therefore, another action that parties can take to de-escalade conflict is to establish common ground and focus on common objectives. Several approaches are possible: establishing common goals, aligning against common enemies, agreeing to follow a common procedure, or establishing a common framework for approaching the negotiation problem.

The tools discussed are broad in function and in application, and they represent self-help for negotiators dealing with stalled or problematic exchanges. None of these methods and remedies is a panacea, and each should be chosen and applied with sensitivity to the needs and limitations of the situations and of the negotiators involved. A truly confrontational breakdown, especially one that involves agreements of great impact or importance, sometimes justifies the introduction of individuals or agencies who themselves are not party to the dispute.

[Negotiation] Chapter 8: Global Negotiation


Essentials of Negotiation

Chapter 8

The number of global negotiations is increasing rapidly. People today travel more frequently and farther, and business is more international in scope and extent than ever before. For many people and organizations, global negotiations have become the norm rather than an exortic activity that occurs only occasionally.

The American negotiating style Lebel tend to constrain our thinking and expectations such that we may perceive more consistency in the other person than actually exists, and labels may lock us into perceiving the other party’s behavior in a historically dated manner.
- How Non-Americans describe the American style. Tomy Koh, the former ambassador from singapore to the United States, noted The strengths of the American negotiators: 1) good preparations, 2) clear and plain speaking, 3) a focus on pragmatism over doctrine, 4) strong ability to recognize the other party’s perspective, 5) good understanding of the concession-making process, and 6) candid and straightforward communication.
- How American perspective on the American negotiating style. McDonald noted the weaknesses of American negotiators : 1) impatience, 2) arrogance, 3) poor listening skill, 4) insolarity, 5) legalism, and 6) naivete. On the other hand, he perceive the strengths of American negotiators: 1) friendliness, 2) fairness and honesty, 3) flexibility, 4) innovativeness, 5) pragmatism, 6) preparedness, and 7) cooperativeness.


What makes cross-border negotiations different?

There are two overall contexts that have an influence on cross-border negotiations:


1. Environmental context – includes “forces in the environment that are beyond the control of either party” that influence the negotiation. There are six factors that make global negotiations more challenging than domestic negotiations: Political and legal pluralism, international economics, foreign governments and bureaucracies, instability, ideology, culture, and external stakeholders.
2. Immediate context
· Relative bargaining power – one factor in cross-border negotiations that has received considerable research attention is the relative bargaqining power of the two parties in the negotiation.
· Levels of conflict – influence the negotiation process and outcome.
· Relationship between negotiators – the history of relations between the parties will influence the current negotiation.
· Immediate stakeholders


Hofstede’s dimensions of culture Hofstede’s research defines culture as the shared values and beliefs held hy members of a group, and is consideres the most comprehensive and extensive program of research on cultural dimensions in international business. He concludeed that foyr dimensions could summarize cultural differences: 1) individualism or colectivism , 2) power distance, 3) masculinity/femininity, and 4) ubcertainty avoidance.

How do cultural differences influence negotiations? Foster, drawing work by Weiss and Stripp, suggest that culture can influence negotiations across borders in eight different ways: 1) definition of negotiation, 2) selection of negotiators, 3) Protocol, 4) communication, 5) time, 6)risk propensity, 7)groups versus individuals, and 8) nature of agreements.

Culturally responsive negotiation strategies Several factors indicate that cross-border negotiators should not make large modifications to their approach:
1. Negotiators may not be able to modify their approach effectively.
2. Even if negotiators can modify their approach effectively, it does not mean that this will translate automatically into better negotiation outcome for their side.
3. Research suggests that negotiators may naturally negotiate differently when they are with people from their own culture than they are with people from other cultures.
4. Research gy Francis suggest that moderate adaptation may be more effective than “acting as the Romams do”


According to Weiss, when choosing a strategy, negotiators should be aware of their own and the other’s party’s culture in general, understand the specific factors in the current relationship, and predict or try to influence the other party’s approach. Weiss’s culturally responsive strategies may be arranged into three groups, based on the level of familiarity( low, moderate, high) that negotiator has with the other ‘s culture.
- Low familiarity : Employ agents or advisers, Bring in mediator(joint strategy), and induce the other party to use your approach.
- Moderate familiarity : Adapt to other party’s approach(unilateral strategy), and coordinate adjustment(joint strategy).
- High familiarity : Embrace the other party’s approach, improvise an approach, and effect symphony.


[Negotiation] Chapter 7: Ethics in Negotiation


Essentials of Negotiation

Chapter 7

The effective negotiator must recognize when the questions are relevent and what factors must be considered to answer them. There are several major ethical questions that arise in negotiation:
1. What are ethics and how do they apply to negotiation?
2. What major types of rthical and unethical conduct are likely to coccur in negotiation?
3. How can negotiators deal with the other party’s use of deception?


What are ethics and why do they apply to negotiation?
Ethics proceed from particular philosophies, which support to a)define the nature of the world in which we live, and b) prescribe rules for living togrther. There are four type of ethics: 1)end-result ethics: in that the rightness of an action in determined by evaluating the pros and cons of its consequences, 2) rule ethics: in that the rightness of an action is determined by existing lawa and contemporary social standards that define what is right and wrong and where the line is., 3) social contract ethics: in that the rightness of an action is based on the customs and norms of a particular society or community., and 4) personalistic ethics: in that the rightness of an action is based on one’s own conscience and moral standards.


How do negotiators choose to use ethical or unethical tactics?
· Ethical tactics in negotiation are mostly about truth telling – concerned with standards of truth telling—how honest, candid, and disclosing a negotiator should be.
· Typologies of deceptive tactics – seen as inappropriate and unethical in negotiation.


Intentions and motives to use deceptive tactics
· The motivation to behave unethically
· The consequences of unethical conduct – based on whether the tactic is effective; how the other person, constituencies, and audiences evaluate the tactic; and how the negotiator evaluates the tactics.
· Explanations and justifications – the primary purpose is to rationalize, explain, or excuse the behavior—to verbalize some good, legitimate reason why this tactic was necessary.


How can negotiators deal with the other party’s use of deception?
· Asking probing questions about the other’s position, point of view, information, and so on may help you uncover the key information that was omitted.
· Recognize the tactic – ignore the tactic, ask questions, “call” the tactic, respond in kind, and discuss what you see and offer to help the other party change to move honest behaviors.

[Negotiation] Chapter 6: Finding and Using Negotiation Leverage


Essentials of Negotiation

Chapter 6

This chapter focuses on leverage in negotiation. By leverage, we mean the tools negotiators can use to give themselves and advantage or increase the probability of achieving their objective. Leverage is often used synonymously with power. Most negotiators believe that power is important in negotiation, because it gives one negotiator an advantage over the other party. Negotiators who have this advantage usually want to use it to secure a negotiation usually arises from one of two perception:
1. The negotiator believes he or she currently has less leverage than the other parties, so he or she seek power to offset or counterbalance that advantage.
2. The negotiator believes he or she needs more leverage than the other party to increase the probability of securing a desired outcome.
In general, negotiators who don’t care about their power or who have matched power—equally high or low—will find that their deliberation proceed with greater ease and simplicity toward a mutually satisfying and acceptable outcome. Power is implicated in the use of many negotiation tactics, such as hinting to the other party that you have good alternatives (a strong BATNA) in order to increase your leverage.
In general, people have power when they have “the ability to bring about outcomes they desire” or “the ability to get things done the way them to be done.” Three sources of power: information and expertise control over resources, and the location within an organizational structure (which leads to either formal authority or informal power based on where one is located relative to flows of information or resources).
The concept of leverage in relation to the use of power and influence. It is important to be clear about the distinction between the two. We treat power as the potential to alter the attitudes and behaviors of others that an individual brings to a given situation. Influence, on the other hand, can be though of as power in action—the actual messages and tactics an individual undertakes in order to change the attitudes and/or behaviors of others. A very large number of influence (leverage) tools that one could use in negotiation. These tools were considered in two broad categories: influence that occurs through the central route to persuasion, and influence that occurs through the peripheral route to persuasion.
In the final section of the chapter, we focuses on how to receiver—the target of influence—either can shape and direct what the sender is communicating, or can intellectually resist the persuasive effects of the message. Effective negotiators are skilled not only at crafting persuasive messages, but also at playing the role of skilled “consumers” of the messages that others direct their way.

[Negotiation] Chapter 5: Perception, Cognition, and Communication


Essentials of Negotiation

Chapter 5

Perception, cognition, and communication are fundamental processes that govern how individuals construct and interpret the interaction that takes place in a negotiation. Reduced to its essence, negotiation is a form of interpersonal communication, which itself is a subset of the broader category of human perception and communication. Perception and cognition are the basic building blocks of all social encounters, including negotiation, in the sense that our social actions are guided by the way we perceive and analyze the other party, the situation, and our own interests and positions.

Negotiators approach each negotiation guided by their perceptions of past situations and current attitudes and behaviors. Perception is the process by which individuals connect to their environment. Perception is a “sense-making” process; people interpret their environment so that they can respond appropriately. In any given negotiation, the perceiver’s own needs, desires, motivations, and personal experiences may create a predisposition about the other party. Such predispositions are most problematic when they lead to biases and errors in perception and subsequent communication.

Stereotyping and halo effects are examples of perceptual distortion by generalization: small amounts of perceptual information are used to draw large conclusions about individuals. Selective perception and projection are, in contrast, examples of perceptual distortion by the anticipation of encountering certain attributes and qualities in another person. Stereotyping is a very common distortion of the perceptual process. Stereotyping occurs when one individual assigns attributes to another solely on the basis of the other’s membership in a particular social and demographic group. Halo effects in perception are similar to stereotypes. Halo effects occur when people generalize about a variety of attributes based on the knowledge of one attribute of an individual and are as common as stereotypes in negotiation. Selective perception occurs when the perceiver singles out certain information that supports or reinforces a prior belief, and filters out information that does not confirm that belief. Projection occurs when people ascribe to others the characteristics or feelings that they possess themselves. People have a need to see themselves as consistent and good.

Another key issue in perception and negotiation is framing. A frame is the subjective mechanism through which people evaluate and make sense out of situations, leading them to pursue or avoid subsequent actions.

Rather than being perfect processors of information, it is quite clear that negotiators have a tendency to make systematic errors when they process information. These errors, collectively labeled cognitive biases, tend to impede negotiator performance; they include the irrational escalation of commitment, the mythical belief that the issues under negotiation are all fixed-pie, the process of anchoring and adjustment in decision making, issue and problem framing, the availability of information, the winner’s curse, negotiators overconfidence, the law of small numbers, self-serving biases, the endowment effect, the tendency to ignore others’ cognitions, and the process of relative devaluation.

Misperceptions and cognitive biases arise automatically and out of conscious awareness as negotiators gather and process information. Negotiators may apply several different frames to the same negotiation. When different negotiators apply different, or mismatched, frames, they will find the bargaining process ambiguous and frustrating. In such situations, it may become necessary to reframe the negotiation systematically, to assist the other party in reframing the negotiation, or to establish a common frame or set of frames within which the negotiation may be conducted more productively. Negotiators can also reframe by trying to perceive or understand the situation in a different way or from a different perspective.

Given the many ways that communication can be disrupted and distorted, we can only marvel at the extent to which negotiators can actually understand each other. Failures and distortions in perception, cognition, and communication are the most dominant contributors to breakdowns and failures in negotiation.

As negotiations come to a close, negotiators must attend to two key aspects of communication and negotiation simultaneously: the avoidance of fatal mistakes and the achievement of satisfactory closure in a constructive manner.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Conflict Resolution Techniques

Conflict resolution techniques for more productive relationships

1. Using I versus you language
-I vs. You

2. Using Anticipation:
-Gaining coop
-Influencing others
-With respect

3. Using self interest
-Money
-Power
-Popularity
-Status
-Promotion
-Recognition
-Security

4. Using Meta-talk techniques
-Pay attention to the other person's communication then approach.

5. Using limit-setting
-Both parties can know each other's priority and cooperate.

6. Using consequences
-State in a Non-Threatening Manner
-Have legitimate power
-Follow throw on your action

7. Aggressive Behavior
-Try to remain calm, the person will more likely consider your viewpoint

8. Role confusion

9. Stereotyping
-Groups tend to define themselves
according to who they are and who they are not.

10. Manipulating
-Flattery
-Sympathy
-Guilt
-Intimidation

Team Members

BA318
Communications in Leadership and Negotiations
Presented by
1. Methee Charoenpromsakul
&
2. Pattraporn Lertpipopmetha

Table of Contents

Team-Member
Welcome-Message


Essentials of Negotiation

[N]Chapter1 and mapping

[N]Chapter2 and mapping

[N]Chapter3 and mapping

[N]Chapter4 and mapping

[N]Chapter5 and mapping

[N]Chapter6 and mapping

[N]Chapter7 and mapping

[N]Chapter8 and mapping

[N]Chapter9 and mapping



Leadership Communication

[L]Chapter1 and mapping

[L]Chapter2 and mapping

[L]Chapter3 and mapping

[L]Chapter4 and mapping

[L]Chapter5 and mapping

[L]Chapter6 and mapping

[L]Chapter7 and mapping

[L]Chapter8 and mapping

[L]Chapter9 and mapping

[L]Chapter10 and mapping


VDO Studies

Time-Management
Conflict-Resolution-Techniques

Time Management

21 key ideas of Time Management

1. Goals - What is it you want to accomplish?
2. Organize plans of actions - put it in writing
3. Analysis - Make a list
4. Set priorities - What is relevant and irrelevant? What is the most valuable use of my time?
5. Concentration - Learn how.
6. Deadlines and rewards - positive logical consequences.
7. Time log - where is all your time going?
8. Procrastination - Positive or negative : do it now do it now do it now
9. Delegate - Delegate everything you can.
10. Meeting - the essential part of human life
11. Interruptions - telephones and walk in visitors.
12. Key result areas - What key results have you been hired to accomplish?
13. Batching Tasks - Group your responsibilities
14. Neatness - Clean up your work environment
15. Chunks of time - allow time for important work.
16. Transition time - learn more to earn more.
17. Telephone - a powerful business tool
18. Punctuality - Get a reputation for being on time
19. Work simplification - systemize the work process
20. Saying No - Early and often
21. Balance - Improve the quality of your life.

[Leadership] Chapter 6: Developing Emotional Intelligence and Cultural Literacy


Leadership Communication

Chapter 6



Understanding emotional intelligence (EI)

Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand your own emotions and those of other people. This understanding provides a foundation for understanding and appreciating cultural differences. The leader’s emotional intelligence determines the success of the company’s culture and performance, and the understanding of cultural differences begins with emotional intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify and manage emotions in ourselves and in others. In order to understand the emotional intelligence, you have to understand and express yourself, in addition, you also have to understand and relate to others as well. You should deal with the strong emotions and control impulses, and adapt to change and solve problems of a personal or a social nature if necessary.

Appreciating Personality Differences might help you in Establishing EI. To understand your personality type and that of others can contribute to the emotional intelligence needed to lead and manage effectively.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most popular psychological profile that can be very useful in leading and managing. The MBTI consists of 4 dichotomies in 16 combinations.


Non-Verbal Communication

Non-Verbal Communication Ability is very useful for interactions. The way you dress, walk and carry yourself, stand in relationship to others, use your hands, move your head, and change your facial expressions, all of these are types of nonverbal communication or sending messages without using verbal language. Knowing something about nonverbal communication is clearly important for anyone to improve the communication skill and is certainly important for any leader. Developing a better understanding of nonverbal communication can help you in your communication to others and in your understanding of how your communications may be perceived by them. In order to improve your non-verbal communication ability, you must learn as much as possible about any groups in which you will be interacting and develop a lot of understanding and sensitivity to non-verbal cues. Learning to listen to the others emphatically is also essential in effective interactions


Developing an approach to cultural literacy

“Culture is broader than geography”. Culture is an integrated system of learned behavior patterns and it refers to the total way of life in particular groups of people. Culture includes geographical, social characteristics and values.

Realizing the value of cultural differences is a key component of emotional intelligence. Only by understanding and appreciating cultural diversity,you can know how to communicate with all of the different audiences that form the complexion of most of the world. Nowadays, A lot of businesses are international, multinational, and global. You might obtain a very basic level of cultural literacy from reading about the differences across cultures. Furthermore, you can use a framework of cultural variables to help understand some of the differences foundation on which to build the greater knowledge and also to distinguish the cultural differences.

[Leadership] Chapter 5: Using Graphics and PowerPoint for a Leadership Edge


Leadership Communication

Chapter 5



This chapter focuses on when and how to use graphics. Graphics will improve presentations and documents, and contribute to the success of your oral and written communication.

When to Use Graphics
- To reinforce the message
- To provide a roadmap to the structure
- To illustrate relationships or concepts visually
- To support an assertion
- To emphasize important ideas
- To maintain and enhance interest


“Text slides” are the staple for most presentations. The goal with any text chart is to make it as readable as possible and to make sure that it contains meaningful content.


The fundamental graphic design principles (How to Design a Slide) are as follow


- Keep it simple but meaningful
- Have only one message per slide
- Make sure the slide title captures the “so what?”
- Select graphics that support the message
- Use shading to guide audience to the message
- Use animation only if it reinforces the message


The colors and fonts can make your presentation more effective. The selection should focus on colors and fonts that show up best when a presentation is projected


Creating meaningful and effective text layouts
- Not use too Many Words
- Use of Hanging Indents
- Using Columns
- Using Graphic Support
- Building Text Charts (if you plan to spend some time discussing)


Selecting and designing effective data charts
- Selecting the Right Type of Graph: For instance,
Using Pie to compare proportions and relative amounts U
Using Bars to convey absolute value data, relative sizes, or close comparisons
Using Histograms to show the typical or exceptional
Using Line to demonstrate trends or interactions between variables
Using Scatter Plot to illustrate how one thing predicts another

- Making the most of PowerPoint as a design and presentation tool
- Using Distracting Background
- Using Color and Animation to Convey a Message


How to Present PPT Slides
- Check equipment and room in advance
- Introduce each slide before showing
- Avoid blocking the audience’s view
- Stop talking when you move to advance a slide
- Always look at your audience, not back at the screen or down at your laptop
- Use PPT to reinforce your message
- Focus on the presentation, not the PowerPoint

[Leadership] Chapter 4: Creating and Delivering Leadership Presentations


Leadership Communication

Chapter 4



This chapter mainly focuses on the techniques of using language effectively to the art of public speaking. The main point of the chapter is the action step in the Three "P" process

The Three P’s of Oral Presentations

1) Plan


- Determining the strategy from the spokesperson to the audience

- Analyzing Your Audience: what is your primary purpose in delivering this presentation to this audience, who is your primary audience and what do they know, expect, and feel, who is the secondary audience, what is motivating the audience to attend the presentation and how do you motivate them to listen to you, what do you expect the audience to do and to feel based on your presentation.

-Selecting the Medium and Delivery Method: such as, overhead or computer, flip charts or white boards, video or phone conferencing, Round-table discussions and Team presentations.

-Organize speech and establish logical structure


2) Prepare


- Developing the Introduction, Body, and Conclusion
- Proofreading and creating graphics
- Practicing: Try to recreate the speaking situation or practice in the same
room if possible and also be prepared, be flexible, and anticipate the unexpected


3) Present

- Using appropriate eye contact, facial expressions, and body language
- Using an Effective Speaking Style
- Avoiding common body language problems
- Delivering effectively with visual aids
- Handling the Q&A
- Achieving a positive ethos

[Leadership] Chapter 3: Using Language to Achieve a Leadership Purpose


Leadership Communication

Chapter 3



This chapter focuses on helping you to create a positive ethos through the effective use of language. As a leader, you want your audience to perceive a positive eths in your tone, to see you as confident, and to trust and believe you. The leaders can and inspire others to action through their effective use of language. You need to possess confidence not only in your knowledge on the subject but also in your ability to capture the content in the right words used in the right way. A leader should sound confident and speak with authority.It is important to know how your audience perceive the language that you use. The more you can anticipate the audience’s response and hear how you sound to others, the better you can control your tone and use it to influence your audience. Being aware of your style and tone moves you one step closer to developing a leadership style. You can learn some specific techniques to make your language more powerful and help in creating a positive ethos, that signals to your audience what you are talking about can be trusted.



Moreover, the chapter also focuses on writing concisely. writing requires practice and a critical. Clear writing is direct to the point, free of jargon, pomposity, and wordy constructions. The guidelines to help achieve greater conciseness and a style are as follow.- Avoid the passive voice-the actor should usually come first in the sentence


- Avoid expletives, such as “there is” or “it is”
- Avoid the use of prepositional idioms
- Avoid the overuse of relative pronouns
- Avoid the repetition of words and ideas
- Avoid weasel words, ambiguous noncommittal words
- Avoid the jargon
- Avoid redundancies



To sumup, correct and careful use of language in business communication is very important to your credibility as a leader, your ability to represent yourself and your company.

[Leadership] Chapter 2: Creating Leadership Documents


Leadership Communication

Chapter 2



This chapter focuses on helping you to create documents and to select the most effective communication.

In business communication, documents can be
- correspondence (e-mails, memos and letters) or
- reports (proposals, reviews, miscellaneous reports and charts).


There are 3 phases to create a document

Phase 1: Analyzing & Planning
In this part, we have to clarify the purpose. Then, analyze the audience and select medium and key massages. There are a lot of medium to use such as, Text message, E-mail, Memo, Letter, Discussion outline and Reports; we have to selecting the most appropriate one.

Phase 2: Creating & Developing
In this part, we have to decide on organization and generate the ideas for gathering data. We should also write a draft to sum up the ideas.

Phase 3: Refining & Proofing
This part is to revise and print out to proofread the final version.


The guidelines for organizing document contents coherently


You can make your documents coherent to your audience by using a logical structure and effective organization. In order to organize and format a document effectively, firstly, we have to select the best structure for the audience and topic. Then, strongly and early begin with the major message, and finally, end by clearly establishing closure


Table of Contents


Table of Contents can be created by the list of major headings in a report and the list in order of appearance. The wording in the table of contents must be matched to the section headings exactly.


Conforming to expectations for executive summaries


The summary should usually run about 10% of full document length and contains purpose, scope of work or research and results of study. Moreover, it is very important to emphasize conclusions and information the reader needs to make a decision or agree with your recommendation.


Using Headings Effectively


We can use the headings to signal a shift to a new topic or sub-topic. Headings should be short, meaningful, and consistent and used in the same font for entire document.


Documenting Sources of information responsibly


-Type of information


1) Primary : Information gathered through your own surveys, interviews, or observation

2) Secondary : Published materials in books, periodicals, or the Website. For this kind of source, we have to correct and complete reference (notes and bibliography) for anything used in the report from anywhere.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

[Negotiation] Chapter 4: Strategy and Tactics of Integrative Negotiation


Essentials of negotiation

Chapter 4






As for the Integrative Negotiation, negotiators must focuses on commonalties rather than differences. it attempts address needs and interest, not positions, it also commit to meet the needs of all involved paties.



The success of integrative negotiation depends on a search for solutions that meet the objectives and needs. Integrative Negotiation requires a process fundamentally different from that of distributive bargaining. Negotiators must attempt to probe below the surface of the other party’s position to discover the underlying needs.



Integrative Negotiation process:




  • Create a flow of information


  • Understand the other's needs and objectives


  • Emphasize the commonalties between the parties


  • Search the solution to meet the both goals


Therefore, The key step in Integrative Negotiation are to indentify the problem, to understand the problem, to generate the solutions, and to evaluate the alternatives


- To identify the problem, we have to define a problem in a way that acceptable to both sides, state the problem as a goal and identify the obstacles to attain this goal, and at last seperate the problem definition from the search of solutions.


- To understand the problem, we have to understand the interests and needs. Such interests including substantive interests relating to key issues in the negotiation, process interests relating to the way the dispute is settled, relationship interests indicating one or both parties value in their relationship, and interests in principle in doing what is right and fair.


- To generate alternative solutions, we have to use the tools such as brainstorming, nominal groups or surveys.


- To evaluate the alternatives, we have to narrow the range of solutions options and evaluate solutions by quality, acceptability, objective standards.



There are some factors that could lead to the successful Integrative Negotiation. For example, some common objective, solving ability, a belief in validity of one's own position and the other's perspective, the motivation to work together, trust, accurate communication, and the understanding of the dynamics of integrative negotiation.






[Negotiation] Chapter 3: Strategy and Tactics of Distributive Bargaining


Essentials of Negotiation
Chapter 3


This chapter focuses on describing the basic structure of competitive or distributive bargaining situations and strategies used in distributive bargaining. The distributive bargaining situation can occur when goals of one party are in fundamental and direct conflict to another party, resources are fixed and limited, and the goal is to maximize the share of resources.

Distributive bargaining is a conflict situation because each party is looking for their own advantage. There are many ways to get this advantage. It could be through concealing information, attempting to mislead the other party, or by using manipulative actions. In order to have effective distributive bargaining, parties should plan carefully, use strong execution and have constant monitoring of the other party’s reactions.


Alternatives give the negotiator power to walk away from the negotiation. If there are attractive alternatives, the negotiators can set their goals higher and make fewer concessions. But if not, negotiators might have much less bargaining power.

Fundamental Strategies:



  • Push for settlement near opponents resistance point.


  • Get the other party to reduce their resistance point.


  • If settlement range is negative, you can get the other side to reduce their resistance point or modify your own.


  • Convince the other party that settlement is the best possible.

Keys to implement any of the four strategies are discovering and influencing the other party's resistance point.


Tactical tasks of negotiators are:




  • Assessing outcome values and costs of termination for the other party directly and indirectly.


  • Managing the other party's impressions by screening and taking direct action to alter the impressions.


  • Modifying the other party's perceptions by making outcomes appear less attractive, making the cost of obtaining goals appear higher, and making demands and positions appear more or less attractive to the other party.


  • Manipulating the actual costs of delay or termination by planing disruptive action, forming an alliance with outsiders, and manipulating the scheduling of negotiations.

Positions taken during negotiations are opening offer, opening stance, initial concessions and the role of them, patterns of concession making, and final offer(commitments).



The tactical considerations for commitments are establishing a commitment with finality, specificity and consequences, preventing the other party from committing prematurely, and preparing the ways to abandon a committed position.


To close the deal, you have to provide 2-3 alternatives for the other party and also assume which way it would end.

Friday, October 20, 2006

[Negotiation] Chapter 2: Strategizing, Framing and Planning


Essentials of Negotiation.
Chapter 2



This chapter focuses on the key factors which would be necessary to become a successful negotiator.Firstly, the negotiator should select goals. Setting goals are the first step in the negotiation process. The goals set have direct and indirect effects on the negotiators strategy.



Direct effects:



  • Wishes are not goals.


  • Our goals are often linked to the other party's goals.


  • There are limit to what our goals can be.


  • Effective goals must be concrete/specific.

Indirect effects:




  • Forging an ongoing relationship.

Strategy is the overall plan to acheive one's goals in a negotiation. Tactics are short-term, adaptive moves designed to enact or pursue broad strategy. Tactics are subordinate to and driven by the strategy. Planning is the action component of the strategy process.


Per Dual Concerns Model is the option of the strategy which is reflected in the answers to two questions: How much concern do I have in achieving the outcomes at stake in the negotiation? and How much concern do I have for the current and future quality of the relationship with the other party?



Relational outcome important? Substantive outcome important?


No No = Avoidance


No Yes = Competition


Yes Yes = Collaboration


Yes No = Accommodation



Framing is about focusing, shaping and organizing the world around us. They frame people, events and processed differently because people have different backgrounds, experiences, expectations and needs.


Frames are critical because:




  • Negotiators who understand framing may understand how to have more control over the negotiation process.


  • Frames maybe malleable and can be shaped or reshaped during negotiation.


  • Frames shift and change as the negotiation evolves.




Frames as categories of experiances:




  1. Substantive


  2. Outcome


  3. Aspiration


  4. Conflict Management Process


  5. Identity


  6. Characterization


  7. Loss-Gain

Negotiators can use more than one frame. Mismatches in frames between parties are source of conflict. Particular types of frames may lead to particular types of agreements and likely to be used with certain types of issues. Parties may use different frames (Interests, Rights, Power) since there are value differences.


Planning is one of the steps to implement the strategy. Starting from assembling and defining the issues and your interests. You have to know your limits and alternatives, set targets and openings, assess own constituents, analyze the other party, know what strategy and how you want to present and also the protocols need to be followed in this negotiation.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

[Leadership] Chapter 1: Developing Leadership Communication Strategy




Leadership Communication

Chapter 1


Leaders should consider the strategy in communication. In business way, the strategy consists of determining your goals and developing a plan to acheive them. For communication, the same definition is applied. It is to decide what your purpose in communication is and the way to achieve it.


Firstly, you have to clarify your purpose. The purposes for business communication are
  1. To inform-transferring facts, data, or information to someone.

  2. To persuade-convincing someone to do something.

  3. To instruct-instructing someone in a process.


Once you determine your specific purpose, you can begin to come up with the supporting words and ideas and explore your thoughts about the subject. The ways to help you generating ideas are:

  1. brainstorming

  2. Idea Mapping

  3. The Journalist's questions

  4. The Decision Tree


The next essential step is the communication strategy which is the plan to accomplish your purpose. In this step, you have to analyze your audiences and also organize written and oral communication effectively.





[Negotiation] Chapter 1: The Nature of Negotiation


Essentials of Negotiation

Chapter 1


The first chapter is about the nature of negotiation which is something everybody does almost everyday. Negotiation is to create something new that neither party could do on his or her own or to resolve a problem between the parties.


There are several characteristics of negotiation situation:


  • There are two or more parties with conflict of interest between them.

  • The parties negotiate because they think they can use some form of influence to make the solutions best for all parties.

  • The parties prefer to search for agreement rather than to fight openly.

  • In negotiation, we expect to give and take.

  • Successful negotiation involves the management of intangibles as well as the resolving of tangibles.

In negotiation, both parties need each other. Such situation is called "Interdependence".


Two potential consequences of interdependent relationships are value creations and conflict. Negotiation skills are useful in situations where one wants to create value or needs to manage conflict.


There are five major strategies for conflict management have commonly identified: Contending, Yeilding, Inaction, Problem Solving and Compromising.


Welcome!!


Hello everybody!!

This is our blog for BA318 class.
We think this is a great idea to have
a blog so that we all can cantact and help each other
to effectively study this course.

And many thanks to Dr.Sylvia for letting us
learn another way to communicate with people.
We are so sure that learning how to use a blog
will be very useful in the business career in the future.

See you all in class!!

May & Pam