NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Reflective Practice: Learning from Work

PADM-GP 1901 Spring 2015Tuesday, 4:55pm- 6:35pm Room: Global Center – Rm 375

Professor Ellen Schall Adjunct Professor Angela Hendrix TerryOffice: 212-998-7438 Office: 917-803-4728Office Hrs: By Appointment Only Office Hrs: By AppointmentE-mail: ellen.schall@nyu.edu E-mail: angela.terry@nyu.edu

COURSE GOALS

“Research on leader development suggests that reflection, especially for highly successful action-oriented leaders and managers, is counter-intuitive, requires disciplined and intentional practice to become a solid part of a leader’s development strategy, and is critical to success.” 1 The goal of this course is to provide the basis on which students can begin to build the tools to become disciplined and intentional reflective practitioners. To this end, we will explore:

the issues of self at work, including ways of paying attention to the individual, small group, and large group dynamics of organizational life;

the concept of building theory from practice;

the use of work experience as a place of leadership learning; and

the ways to create space for reflection.

STATEMENT OF COURSE EXPECTATIONS

1. Students are expected to be working or interning at an organization during the semester they are taking this course.

2. Students are expected to attend every class on-time, be prepared to discuss readings and assignments and to participate in class and on NYU Classes discussion boards.

1 Brown, Judy. A Leader’s Guide to Reflective Practice. Trafford Publishing (2008), pg 13.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 1Schall & Terry

3. Learning about group dynamics is a course goal and requires in-class group work as well as group reflection. Because of this class attendance is essential. Students are at risk of not passing the course if they have more than 1 unexcused absence.

4. Students are expected to accord the same professional respect to their classmates' contributions as they do to the instructors’ remarks. Given the nature of the course material, it is especially important that students listen carefully to one another and respond with consideration.

5. Students are expected to keep class discussions confidential. This is necessary to facilitate full and open exchange and to maximize learning.

6. Assignments:

a. Late assignments are not accepted unless prior arrangements are made with the instructors.

b. All written assignments except journals are to be typed double-spaced using standard English grammar and spelling. If you need help with writing, see www.junketstudies.com for excellent refreshers on grammar and writing (“11 Rules of Writing, Grammar and Punctuation ”). There are also writing tutors at Wagner who are available to review general assignments.

c. Journals (see details below) can be written informally in a notebook or logged on your computer in a way that best expresses your intentions ; however, the instructors need to be able to read them so they should be legible.

d. Students will submit each assignment (with the exception of their notebook journals) to the NYU Classes “Assignment” page. Assignments should be uploaded to the page. Assignments are due by midnight and notebook journals are due in class. Students should keep a copy of all their assignments in the event of loss.

7. Students will be assigned to a small group during week 8. Each small group is expected to prepare a brief group presentation for Week 11.

REQUIRED READING

Required reading for this course includes textbooks, article and video links. There are three major texts for the course - The Unconscious at Work: Individual and Organizational Stress in the Human Services, edited by Anton Obholzer and Vega Zagier Roberts, Trade Up! Five Steps for Redesigning Your Leadership and Life From the Inside Out by Rayona Sharpnack, and Strength Finder, 2.0 by Tom Rath. All texts are available at the NYU Main Bookstore, 726 Broadway. Articles and web links are available on NYU Classes. Additional readings may be distributed in class.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 2Schall & Terry

ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW

Journaling. Keeping a journal is an excellent way to explore issues, express yourself creatively, and track personal learning and growth. For this course, we require that students keep a journal in order to encourage a habit of reflection. Documenting your learning, responses to class, and finding links to your experience in your workplace is a type of scholarship in its own right. Journaling is a way to begin to unpack these connections. In your first journal entry, please specify participation goals for contributing to your individual learning and to group learning during this Reflective Practice class.

You may keep a journal in any format that is comfortable for you, written or typed. If you hand-write your entries, please be sure that your writing is legible. Your entries should include reflections on the course as well as on your work experience and should demonstrate an understanding of the material being discussed and read. Insights and reflections on the dynamics of group work within the class are also appropriate material for journaling. The following questions may help you focus:

Journal entries of at least one typed page or the equivalent (250 words) should be made weekly (or more frequently if you prefer). It defeats one of the main purposes of journal work to write the entire journal for the semester in one sitting. Part of the discipline expected in this course is attention to the effect of the time factor on your learning. Your journal will be collected twice during the semester, Weeks 6 & 14. We will respond in writing with our thoughts and/or comments.

Aligned Practice. Being reflective requires space, intention and discipline. You may have a practice in your life – i.e. yoga, meditation, exercise – that requires these three ingredients. We believe that such “aligned practices” can strengthen our reflective practice work. During the semester we invite you to find or continue an “aligned practice” that you can do at least once a week. Some examples include those stated above as well as:

Artist date* – a block of time each week where you explore your creative side i.e. visit museums, attend a concert, attend a reading

Morning pages* – three pages of longhand writing strictly stream-of consciousness written each morning

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 3Schall & Terry

1. What did you learn about yourself in class? What sticks in your mind about a reading or a class session? Why? What was comfortable, known? What was not?2. Select a quotation (from a reading or class) with which you agree or disagree. Copy it into the journal and explain your reaction to it.3. What ideas and/or feelings are stirred up for me by a reading or a class session? Elaborate.4. What questions have emerged for you from a reading or a class?5. Do you link class work or reading to other learning you've done? How?6. Have you come to a new understanding due to a reading or a class?7. Has your reading or classwork affected your behavior in your workplace or how you view the behavior of others there?

Tai chi, Yoga, meditation Spiritual work, i.e. walking a labyrinth, reading sacred text.

Short Written Assignments. There are several short written assignments due during the semester, each of which is described in the syllabus. These assignments should be carefully written using the guidelines noted under the statement of course expectations.

Final Paper. The final assignment is a synthesis of what you have learned during the semester. It should include material from the course as well as from your work experience. It may be helpful to refer to your journal when pulling together your thoughts for this synthesis; however, the final assignment differs from the journal in that it sums up the most potent ideas affecting your thinking and/or your behavior that you see as a result of your participation in the course. We invite you to be creative in your presentation - paper, video, blog etc.

Group Presentation. Students will be assigned to a small learning/teaching group (LTG). This group will prepare a brief presentation for Week 11. Further information about this will be given in class.

Assignment Due Dates:

Executive Coach Memo Due February 17th

Generalizable lesson assignment Due March 3rd Journal Submission (Part 1) Due March 10th Role Analysis paper Due March 24th Midterm Self Reflection Due March 30thGroup presentation Due April 21st Social defenses paper Due May 5th

Journal Submission (Part 2) Due May 5th

Final synthesis paper Due May 12th

NYU Classes Discussion Board: Occasionally you will be invited to answer questions on our course discussion board. Because of time constraints this is an excellent way to have space to put your thoughts about the readings or videos suggested for the week.

*From The Artist Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron, Penguin Putnam Inc., 2002.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 4Schall & Terry

WEEKLY CHECK- IN

Each week at the beginning of class you will be asked to track the ongoing development of your reflective practice. You will be provided with a card on which you will answer the following questions:

1. Is there anything you need to put aside to be present for the evening? If yes, name it.

2. Did you come to class prepared for the work (completed readings, assignment)?

3. Were you able to apply any of the tools or skills you have learned? If so which ones?

4. What was your “aligned practice”?

5. Did you find yourself on the balcony?

These cards will be collected each week and returned to you at the end of a semester. You’ll be able to review how your capacity for reflective practice has developed.

GRADING

The grade for this class is pass/fail. Class participation includes participation in class exercises and group work as well as completion of all assignments. In your first journal entry, please specify participation goals for contributing to your individual learning and to group learning during this Reflective Practice class; later, you will be asked to evaluate how well you met your own goals.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 5Schall & Terry

COURSE INFORMATION

Week 1: February 3rd

Topic: Reflective Practice: Introduction

This class will explore what reflective practice is and its value and introduce class members to each other.

Readings: Ancona, Deborah, Thomas W. Malone, Wanda J. Orlikowski and Peter M. Senge. “In

Praise of the Incomplete Leader”, Harvard Business Review, February 2007, 92 – 100.

Center for Applied Research. “Briefing Notes: Silence in the Service of Development”, 2007.

Eisold, Kenneth. "The Task of Leadership: Leadership as an Attribute of Group Life”, ADE Bulletin, No. 116, Spring 1997, 33-37. Heifetz, Ronald A and Marty Linsky. “Chapter 3: Get on the Balcony” in Leadership on

the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2002, pp 51- 74.

Schall, Ellen. "Learning to Love the Swamp: Reshaping Education for Public Service," Presidential Address given at the Fall 1994 meeting of the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management, Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, 1995,Vol 14, No. 2, 202-220.

13 Things Successful People Do In The First 10 Minutes Of The Workday Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/successful-people-do-the-first-10-minutes-at- work-2014-10#ixzz3OA63Q3BK {EL}

Optional Reading: Goleman, Daniel, “The Focused Leader” Harvard Business Review, December 2013,

51-60. Gosling, Jonathan and Henry Mintzberg. “The Five Minds of a Manager” Harvard

Business Review, November 2003, 54-63.

Future Assignment:Students should select five to ten people with whom they work (current or past), asking each of them to participate in a feedback exercise related to the work of this Reflective Practice course. These forms can be downloaded from the “Feedback” folder on the NYU Classes site. Depending on your workplace environment, you may also wish to write a personal cover note to those you are asking to give you feedback. To each person you select, give 1) a copy of the (class) cover letter describing the purpose of role messages and 2) a role message form with your name on it for them to complete. The forms must be returned by February 25th

so distribute them ASAP. Forms should be emailed to Emily Gadd, executive assistant to

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 6Schall & Terry

Ellen Schall, at emily.gadd@nyu.edu . Please stress to your reviewers that their identities will be kept confidential. You will receive the (anonymous) compilation of the results in Week 5 when the topic is, appropriately, Feedback.

Assignment – First Journal Entry:As part of your first journal entry, discuss your class participation goals, both for individual learning and for contributing to group learning. (Your journal will be collected in Week 6 and Week 14.)

Week 2: February 10th Topic: The Importance of Self-Awareness: Understanding Self and Others

This class will outline the importance of self-awareness in leadership development. Reflection becomes an essential element in gaining self-awareness. Reflecting on one’s person and role and interactions with others can be insightful. We will explore various ways to gain self-awareness to enhance your leadership.

Readings: Achor, Shawn. “Positive Intelligence” Harvard Business Review, January/February 2012,

100–102.

Craft Associates. “Using Your Understanding of MBTI Type Differences at Work”

Introduction and Chapter 1. Trading Up! Five Steps for Redesigning Your Leadership and Life From the Inside Out.

Johari Window

View Johari Window Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWii4Tx3GJk {EL}

Rath,Tom. Strength Finder, 2.0.

Roberts, Laura Morgan et al. “How to Play to Your Strengths” Harvard Business Review, January 2005, 74-80.

View Susan Cain’s The Power of Introverts | Video on Ted.com {EL}

Zenger, John et al. “Making Yourself Indispensable” Harvard Business Review, October 2011, 84 – 92.

Optional Reading: Bazerman, Max H. and Dolly Chugh. “Decisions Without Blinders”, Harvard Business

Review, January 2006, 88-9.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 7Schall & Terry

Center for Applied Research. “Using Critical Incidents to Develop Leadership Skills” 1994.

Drucker, Peter F. “Managing Oneself” Harvard Business Review, January 2005, 100-109.

Hirsh, Sandra Krebs and Jean M. Kumerow. Introduction To Type in Organizations, 3rd ed. Consulting Psychologist Press, Inc. (1998).

Assignment for Week 2:Come to class prepared to discuss the results of the various assessments to be taken prior to class: MBTI * Strength Finders** Map Your Context (utilize Table 1.1 and/or figure 1.7 in Trade Up!)

*The MBTI is an assessment tool that provides insights on our work preferences.  It is not definitive but gives us a way of thinking about how we work. If you took the core management course at Wagner, you may have taken the MBTI personality type assessment or you may have taken it as part of a career service workshop. Please take this assessment by linking onto the MBTI link on NYU Classes using the following login - Wagner and password – practice14 (note the login is case sensitive). Even if you’ve taken it before, please take it again for our work together. Do not share this password with others outside of class. Please allow at least 20 minutes for the assessment. Don’t overthink this. Just answer what comes naturally.

**The code to access the on-line assessment is found at the back of the book (you must purchase a new book to have access to a code. Codes are not provided in used books). Once you complete the assessment print the Personalized Strengths-Based Leadership Guide that will be provided to you upon completion of the on-line assessment. Place your assignment (list of your top 5 strengths) in the assignments section of NYU Classes no later than February 8th.

Week 3: February 17th Topic: Building Theory from Experience, Part I

In Weeks 3 and 4, the class looks at models for building theory, testing it, and applying it. The emphasis will be on identifying and communicating lessons learned from experience, specifically how to generalize lessons learned so that they might be of use to others.

Readings: Grant, Adam. “In the Company of Givers and Takers”, Harvard

Business Review (Reprint), April 2013.

Harney, Joseph M. and Marian Krauskopf. “Making the Case for Cases: “Home Grown” Teaching Cases to Provide Credibility in Continuing Professional Education Programs,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2003,Vol., 22, No. 1, 135-142.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 8Schall & Terry

Levy, Paul F. “The Nut Island Effect: When Good Teams Go Wrong,” Harvard Business Review, March 2001, 51-59.

Schall, Ellen. "Notes from a Reflective Practitioner of Innovation," 1997 in Altschuler and Behn (Eds), Innovation in American Government, 360-377.

Optional Reading: Christensen, Clayton M. and Michael E. Raynor. “Why Hard-Nosed Executives Should

Care About Management Theory” Harvard Business Review, September 2003, 67-74.

Assignments for Week 3: (Note: these are two separate assignments):1. Executive Coach Memo: Imagine you’ve been given the opportunity to work

with an executive coach. Your prospective coach has asked you to submit a memo summarizing the results of your assessments and how they relate to the way you do your work. Identify your strengths and challenges. What do you clearly know about yourself as it relates to how you work? Identify areas that you believe your coach could help you improve (be specific) over the next 6 months. The Memo should be two to three pages (double spaced).

2. Generalizable Story: Come to class prepared to discuss (from notes) a work experience from which you learned a lesson that you think can be generalized in a way that would offer learning to others. Think specifically about how you can describe the experience in a way that might allow others to learn from your experience.

Week 4: February 24th Topic: Building Theory from Shared Experience

The class will look at how groups and organizations can build theory from an intentional action learning agenda.

Readings: Altvater, Denise and Bethany Godsoe et al. “A Dance That Creates Equals: Unpacking

Leadership Development” a report from Research Center for Leadership in Action, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University.

Reason, Peter and John Heron. “A short guide to co-operative inquiry”, in A Layperson’s Gudie to Co-Operative Inquiry. (link to http://www.human-inquiry.com/cishortg.htm )

Assignments for Week 4:1. Generalizable Story (Part 2): Working with the experience about which you spoke

in class last week, decide how you would like to present the final version of your generalizable story i.e. written, verbal. Share a draft version with your small group for feedback. Keeping the elements of storytelling in mind, provide feedback to each

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 9Schall & Terry

of your group members that will make their story stronger. Provide your feedback no later than February 23rd.

2. Volunteers Requested: In weeks 6 and 7, the class focuses on the concept of role in the workplace and its power to define work. Additionally, we consider how a person's role in his or her family of origin (the family the person grew up in) influences the way a person takes up his or her role at work. To facilitate group learning, class members willing to do their role analysis work openly with the rest of the class will be needed for Weeks 6 & 7 (one volunteer for Week 6 and two volunteers plus four volunteer interviewers for Week 7).

Week 5: March 3rd Topic: Feedback

This class focuses on the value of receiving feedback from colleagues, including supervisors, subordinates, and peers. Students receive feedback in the form of role messages from colleagues and work with each other to understand how to interpret and use it. Reread the Executive Memo you submitted in week 3 so that you can connect the feedback to the areas you highlighted.

Readings: Center for Applied Research. “Briefing Notes: Issues and Methods to Increase Feedback

in Teams”, 2003.

Jackman, Jay M. and Myra H. Stober. “Fear of Feedback”, Harvard Business Review, April 2003, 101-107.

Senge, Peter, et. al.. " “The Ladder of Inference” pp. 242-246 and "Balancing Inquiry and Advocacy, pp. 253-263; in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Doubleday, 1994.

Chapter 2 in Trading Up! Five Steps for Redesigning Your Leadership Life from the Inside Out.

Optional Reading or Viewing: Kirkland, Karen and Sam Manoogian. “Ongoing Feedback: “How to Get It, How to Use

It”, Center for Creative Leadership, 1998.

Gavin, David A and Joshua D Margolis. “The Art of Giving and Receiving Advice”, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2015, 60 – 71.

View: Trevor Maber’s Rethinking Thinking at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/rethinking-thinking-trevor-maber (This is a lesson on the Ladder of Inference) {EL}

Assignment for Week 5: Generalizable Story: Submit the final version of your generalizable story.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 10Schall & Terry

Week 6: March 10th Topic: Role: The Impact of Family of Origin - Part I

In weeks 6 and 7 the class will explore the concept of role by exploring the links between role in family of origin and role at work.

Readings: Armstrong, David. “Taking A Role: Note 1 and Note 2”. Tavistock Consultancy Service.

Occasional Notes, February 1998.

Heifetz, Grashow and Linsky. Chapter 17 “Understand Your Role” in The Practice of Adaptive Leadership. Harvard Business Press, 2009.

Mackoff, Barbara and Gary Wenet. Chapter 1 “The Family Template: Transforming the Influence of Family” in The Inner Work of Leaders: Leadership as a Habit of Mind. American Management Association, 2001.

Senge et al. “Unraveling the Knots of Your Family of Origin”, in The Dance of Change, Doubleday, 1999, 269-274.

Forward and Chapter 12 in The Unconscious at Work.

Optional Reading: Ephron, Hallie, “Growing Up Ephron” Oprah Magazine, March 2013, pp 117.

Hirschhorn, Larry. “The Psychodynamics of Taking the Role”, Group Relations Reader 2, ed. by Arthur Colman and Marvin Geller, Washington D.C., A.K. Rice Institute Series, 1985.

Singer & Shapiro. "Discovering the Links Between Early Family Roles and Current Organizational Roles: A Loved and Feared Task," paper presented at Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems, A.K. Rice Institute.

Assignment for Week 6: Journals will be collected for review and comment. Be sure that you have been explicit

about your class participation goals for your individual learning as well as for your contribution to group learning.

No Class: Spring Break - March 17th

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 11Schall & Terry

Week 7: March 24th Topic: Role: The Impact of Family of Origin - Part II

The class will continue to explore the concept of role and the link between role in family of origin and role at work.

Readings:

Buckley, Tamara and Erica Foldy. Chapters 1 and 2 in The Color Bind Talking (and Not Talking) About Race at Work, Russell Sage Foundation, 2014.

Foldy, Erica. “Claiming a voice on race”, Action Research, Vol.3(1), 2005, 33 – 54.

McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” excerpted from Working Paper 189 "White Privilege & Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women's Studies," Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, 1988.

McIntosh, Peggy. “Feeling Like A Fraud,” speech presented in the Stone Center Colloquium Series in April, 1984.

Optional Readings: Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “The Case for Contamination” The New York Times

Magazine, January 1, 2006.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi “The Case for Reparations” in The Atlantic June 2014 - http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/ or view Coates’ Discussion with Bill Moyers http://billmoyers.com/episode/facing-the- truth-the-case-for-reparations/ {EL}

View “The Color Bind Interview” http://wagner.nyu.edu/video/214 {EL}

Yoshino, Kenji. “The Pressure to Cover”, The New York Times Magazine, January 15, 2006.

Assignment (Due March 24th) for Week 7: Role Analysis Paper: Write a 2 - 5 page narrative description that speaks to the

following issues. The goal is to help you become more aware of your role in your family of origin, a role dilemma you have at work, and any possible links between the two. The following outline is provided for guidance. Post on NYU Classes by midnight March 3rd one comment that shares a learning from this assignment.

I. BackgroundA. Name

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 12Schall & Terry

B. Age, gender, race (and any other ways in which you would describe yourself)

C. Professional training and experienceII. Family of Origin: Role Issues

A. Birth OrderB. Your relationship to your mother, father, siblings, and any other

important figures in your family lifeC. Role in family (e.g. pathfinder, caretaker, peacemaker)

III. Work Organization: Role IssuesA. Please describe your position at work. You may want to include the

following information. For whom do you work? How are your tasks defined? With whom do you interact? Where do you fit in the organizational structure? A simple organizational chart may help clarify your position.

B. Describe a role dilemma at work. A role dilemma can be many things, e.g. a problem facing you at work, an aspect of your job you find problematic, conflicts that keep occurring at work.

IV. Hypothesis GenerationOn a separate piece of paper: Develop several hypotheses about possible connections between your role in your family of origin and your current role dilemma. Have you recreated a role at work similar to any roles you played in your family of origin? Do you see ways in which the way you take up your role at work is shaped by the role you had in your family of origin?

Week 8: March 31st Topic: Author of Your Own Story

Reflecting on the knowledge you’ve acquired in the course thus far, you will have the opportunity to think about how you may want to reframe your way of being and moving forward in your work/career.

Readings: Bateson, Mary Catherine. "Composing a Life" from Sacred Stories: A Celebrations of

the Power of Story to Transform and Heal, Simpkinson & Simpkinson, editors, 1993.

View: Brene Brown: The Power of Vulnerability| Video on Ted.com {EL}

Chapters 3, 4, 5 in Trading Up! Five Steps for Redesigning Your Leadership and Life From the Inside Out.

Gawande, Atul. “Personal Best” The New Yorker, October 3, 2011, 44-53.

Ibarra, Hermina and Kent Lineback. “What’s Your Story?” Harvard Business Review, January 2005, 65-71.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 13Schall & Terry

Optional Reading or Viewing: Kegan, Robert and Lisa Laskow Lahey, “The Real Reason People Don’t Change”,

Harvard Business Review, November 2001 (Reprint).

View: Rayona Sharpnack speak about her book Trade-Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31hBGriRtcE {EL}

Assignment for Week 8: The first half of reflective practice has focused on understanding the self.  As you reflect upon what you have learned about yourself use the table below as a guide for your reflection.  We’d like to invite you to tell your “Self Reflection” story via an interactive approach.  Write a blog to the class, create a visual representation through Pinterest or Tumblr, video a Reflective Practice Talk (Ted’s got nothing on us), or write or record a conversation with your executive coach expressing what you know now.  You decide how you want to share your reflections of what you’ve learned.  Our only request is that you upload the image, video or story no later than Monday morning, March 30th and be prepared to speak to your own and view the other students’ pieces.

Week 9: April 7th Topic: The Psychodynamics of Individual & Group Processes

A look at psychodynamic processes that affect individuals and groups and the ways that unconscious processes manifest themselves in the workplace.

Readings: Kahn, William. "To Be Fully There: Psychological Presence at Work," Human

Relations, Tavistock Institute, 1992.

McRae, Mary and Ellen Short. Chapter 4 “Group Development: The Impact of Racial and Cultural Factors” in Racial and Cultural Dynamics in Group and Organizational Life, Sage Publications, 2010.

View: “Leading for Results: Managing Yourself in the Leadership Role – Consultative Stance” produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjAbcsZOnXk {EL}

Wells, Leroy, Jr. " The Group as a Whole: A Systemic Socioanalytic Perspective on Interpersonal and Group Relations," in Advancing Group Dynamics Theory.

Week 10: April 14th

Topic: Authority & Task

This class explores the nature of authority, the sources from which it is derived, and how the definition of task affects authority.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 14Schall & Terry

Reading: Green, Zachary and Rene J. Molenkamp, “The BART System of Group and

Organizational Analysis: Boundary, Authority, Role and Task”, 2005.

Heifetz, Ronald & Donald L. Laurie. “The Work of Leadership”, Harvard Business Review, Jan/Feb 1997,124-134.

Chapter 4, The Unconscious at Work, "Authority, Power and Leadership: Contributions from Group Relations Training".

Smith K, & Berg, D. “Paradoxes of Speaking: Authority, Dependency, Creativity, and Courage” in Paradoxes of Group Life, Jossey-Bass, 1987. Ch. 7, pp131-151.

Optional Reading: Snowden, David J and Mary E. Boone. “A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making”,

Harvard Business Review, November 2007, 69-76.

Assignment: for Week 10 (due COB April 13th)Post on NYU Classes by close of business on April 6th two ideas you thought important and/or interesting in the readings and why.

Week 11: April 21st Topic: Organizational Dynamics

This class will explore the role of the irrational in group/organizational life with a focus on Wilfred Bion's basic assumption theory.

Reading: Chapters 2 and 5 in The Unconscious at Work.

Rioch, Margaret. "The Work of Wilfred Bion on Groups," in Group Relations Reader, ed. Arthur Colman and Harold Bexton, A.K. Rice Institute, 1975.

Assignment for Week 11: Group Presentation: Students, working in their small groups, are to come prepared

to make class presentations on one of the following topics (to be assigned):

• basic assumption, dependency• basic assumption, fight/flight• projective identification

Each group will have 10 minutes in which to teach its assigned topic.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 15Schall & Terry

The 10 minutes are to be devoted to a presentation in which the group is to briefly explain the concept, offering one or more examples of behavior representative of the concept. Each group is to decide how many examples to offer and the means for offering them, e.g. enactment of a situation illustrating the concept or a narrative description of one or more examples. The example scenarios can be from work or class. After two presentations on a topic, the two groups that presented on the topic will deal with a brief Q&A from the class.

Week 12: April 28th Topic: Social Defenses

An examination of social defenses in organizations: what they are and how they can impede or facilitate work.

Reading: Chapter 1 in The Unconscious at Work.

Hirschhorn, Larry. "The Social Defenses”, in The Workplace Within: Psychodynamics of Organizational Life, 1988, 57-70.

Menzies, Isabel. "A Case-Study in the Functioning of Social Systems as a Defense Against Anxiety," in Group Relations Reader, ed. Arthur Colman and Harold Bexton, A.K. Rice Institute, 1975.

Padavic, Irene and Robin J. Ely. “The Work-Family Narrative as a Social Defense”. Presented at the Gender and Work: Challenging Conventional Wisdom”, Research Symposium, Harvard Business School, March 1, 2013.

Assignment:1. Social Defense Paper - Stage one: If you want to be sure that you are understanding

the concept correctly you may post on NYU Classes a brief explanation of how you are using the term "social defense" related to the readings in your selected organization. This should be done by close of business Friday, May 1st. If your current organization doesn't lend itself to the task, select another organization with which you are familiar, either as an employee or client. Identify two or three social defenses within the organization.

2. Social Defense Paper - Stage two: Write a four to five page (double-spaced) paper concerning social defenses in the organization in which you work or intern in your selected organization. Summarize your understanding of social defenses and identify two or three defenses within your selected organization. Describe each defense; present your evidence for believing that it is a defense. State what particular anxiety you think it is defending against. State whether, in your view, the defense impedes or facilitates the organization's primary task. To do so, it may be helpful to think of the organization without this defense: how would the organization take up its primary task were it not for this defense?

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 16Schall & Terry

3. Role Message Request: Turn in anonymous role messages for instructors no later than May 1st. Instructors will work with this feedback in class on May 5th. Forms can be found on NYU Classes and should be emailed to Emily Gadd – emily.gadd@nyu.edu .

Week 13: May 5th Topic: Applications - Taking Reflective Practice Forward

Students will discuss the lessons they have learned over the last 13 weeks and share how they will continue their reflective practice outside the classroom.

Readings: Holmer, Leanna L. and Guy B. Adams. “The Practice Gap: Strategy and Theory for

Emotional & Interpersonal Development in Public Administration Education,” Journal of Public Administration Education, May 1995.

Senge, Peter, Hamilton,Hal and John Kania. “The Dawn of System Leadership”, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2015.

Yanow, Dvora. “Ways of Knowing: Passionate Humility and Reflective Practice in Research and Management”, The American Review of Public Administration, November 2009.

Assignment for Week 13:Journals are due, including one page in which you explicitly address your class participation goals (stated earlier) and how well you think that you attained them . Also, describe/explain the way you have contributed to group learning and state how you would grade yourself in regard to that aspect of class participation.

Final Synthesis Paper: Due May 12th Prepare a final synthesis paper no longer than ten (typed, double-spaced) pages. This synthesis paper is an opportunity for you to reflect upon your learning in this course. It may be helpful to read through your journal and the syllabus, noting which readings were most productive for learning about yourself and life in the workplace. Give some thought to the "ahas" you had during the semester.

In the paper, describe a few examples of your learning, discuss how you are helped by this learning and consider the implications of the new ideas and understandings you have acquired for your effectiveness at work. Be specific and use examples.

The final paper is also an opportunity to synthesize elements of the course as a whole (e.g., when you look at a particular work issue now, can you see it in terms of authority and task, individual style differences, roles, a particular psychodynamic process?).

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 17Schall & Terry

Note: the final synthesis paper differs from the journal in that it sums up the most potent ideas (affecting your thinking and/or your behavior) that you see yourself taking away from this course.

Reflective Practice, Spring 15 page 18Schall & Terry