BUAD 6305 On Ground Summer 2018

Reflective Practitioner Session Instructions

This activity will provide learning opportunities for each student to reflect upon and
analyze, from an objective point of view, an interpersonal interaction they recently
experienced or expect to experience, with a less than positive, effective outcome.
Additionally, everyone will get practice providing feedback to others after assessing
opportunities for improvement in interpersonal interactions. The goal of this exercise is to
identify how the theories, models, concepts, and skills we have studied in this class
might be applied to change the underlying assumptions, and thus the behaviors and
potential outcomes, during similar interactions in the future.
The ultimate goal of reflecting back on an interaction is to become more aware of what
your underlying assumptions were/are and to think about how those might be changed to
improve future interactions. As an effective leader you will want to increase your comfort
in adjusting your behavior as necessary during the course of the myriad interpersonal
interactions you engage in every day.
Follow these steps to prepare for and conduct your Reflective Practitioner Sessions with
your team:

1. Prepare your own case – you will be examining a challenging interaction with one or
more people that (a) you have already experienced, or (b) you realistically expect to
experience in the near future. (Refer to the sample case on the following pages)

2. Begin the description with a brief Overview of the case - a paragraph about the
purpose of the interaction, the setting, the people involved, and any other important
details

3. Next, write about what your Strategy was in the situation. What were your objectives
in this interaction, how did you intend to achieve them, and why did you select those
strategies?

4. Follow that by writing a few pages of the Dialogue that actually occurred or that you
expect to occur. Use the following format:
On this side of the page, write On this side of the page, write what each person
what was going on in your mind actually said or what you expect them to say.
while each person in the dialogue Continue writing the dialogue until you believe
is speaking (including yourself) your major points are illustrated.

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5. Make an initial posting in your team’s designated threaded discussion. Include the
following:
a. Look beneath the actions, words, and even the thoughts in your case study
to examine your motives in the situation (similar to what we did with the
intention point on the Awareness Wheel in the P.E.A.L. exercise – however
this should be done in greater depth this time). Then, describe the
Underlying Assumptions that you think you held about effective action in
this case.
b. Add any other details that may provide more context for your case
c. Indicate aspects of your case about which you would specifically like to
receive feedback.
d. Upload your case study as an attachment to your initial posting (do not put
your case in the body of the posting).
e. This should be completed by date and time listed in BrightSpace.

6. Download and review your teammates’ cases and be prepared to provide feedback in
the discussion designated specifically for your team. When reading the cases shared
by your teammates, look for opportune places to apply the various EQ, team, and
relationship concepts / skills that we have addressed in this class.
For example, someone’s case dialogue may indicate that they were being defensive,
or they were not asking effective open-ended questions, or they weren’t using the
most appropriate conflict management strategy, or their social awareness appeared
low because they were missing social cues, etc.
Pay particular attention to their underlying thought processes and assumptions so
you can point out where changing their thinking – and subsequently their actions –
might result in a more positive outcome in the situation.
Be sure to pay attention to the areas for which your teammates indicated they would
specifically like feedback. However, do not limit your feedback only to those areas.
View the case as a whole and look for opportunities where they could apply any and
all models / concepts / behaviors from the entire semester so far.
7. You will then respond to each of your teammates’ original postings about their cases,
to include the following:
a. Offer your observations as to the efficacy of the case writer’s underlying
assumptions.
b. Also offer suggestions for the application of principles / skills learned during
this class that might lead to different assumptions and behaviors when the
case writer finds themselves in similar situations in the future.
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 The objective is to propose alternative assumptions that your teammates could have
made (or will make) in their case, and suggestions for developing different behavioral
strategies that would result in more successful outcomes, while also preserving the
quality of your relationship with the person(s) described in your case.
8. When possible, use the feedback format we practiced in previous exercises:
 Your assumptions and actions in this case were effective because . . .
 Your assumptions and actions would have been more effective if . . .
9. Post your responses to each of your teammates’ cases no later than date and time
listed in BrightSpace.

10. After reading all of your teammates’ responses to your case posting, make a final
posting to outline how you plan to change your behavior the next time you find
yourself in a situation similar to what you described in your case study. Share your
own insights about your case and incorporate suggestions from your teammates’
feedback. This final posting should be made no later than date and time listed in
BrightSpace.

11. Everyone should remain open to their teammates’ suggestions and acknowledge
each of them without becoming defensive. Graciously accept it for the learning
opportunity that it is.

SAMPLE REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER CASE STUDY

Adapted from: Agyris, C. & Schon, D. A. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing
professional effectiveness, (pp. 60-62). Jossey Bass: San Francisco.

Overview: (briefly explain the situation, the people involved, and the purpose of the interaction)
I am the marketing manager for Company A. Several other representatives of the
company and I were asked to inform the president of Company B that two customer
service representatives assigned to Company B are being promoted and two new ones
are being assigned. I predict that this action will upset the president because his firm
depended on the two representatives for important technical assistance in installing and
using the complicated systems Company B has bought from our company.

Strategy: (what were your objectives and how did you plan to achieve them?)
My strategy going into the meeting was: 1) to review current progress to confirm that
things were going well; 2) to announce the new assignments; and 3) to correct the
president’s expected feeling that Company A was not concerned about his company

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The Interaction: (enter actual dialogue first, then go back to enter your thoughts at the time)
My Thoughts (enter this second)
Take the initiative and define the job
to be done
Oh no! The four of us have triggered President: Yes, what is the objective of today’s
off questions in his mind. My
strategy of beginning with a review is
going to have to be changed. He
senses that there are more important
reasons, so I’ll just have to come to
the point
Oh, no! This will really set up back.
When he hears this, he is really
going to go through the roof. But I
have to tell him to make him
understand that he cannot change it.
The president is furious
I’ve got to use his own argument
BUAD 6305-1QA – Spring 2018
Actual Dialogue (enter this first)
Marketing Manager: I would like to review the
purpose of today’s meeting
meeting? Why are four of you here?
Marketing Manager: There are two purposes for
today’s meeting. One, obviously is to review the
status of your account with you. Second, and the
most important reason for the meeting is to review a
change that we are making on the account. From
time to time, excellent opportunities come up for our
customer service reps. When that occurs, we do not
want to block deserving individuals. We obviously
cannot control the timing of these opportunities and
such an opportunity has appeared for representative
1. We are very pleased to advise you that he is
being promoted to a new job.
President: You can’t pull him out when I need him
most.
Marketing Manager: Your account has a lot of
progress; your people are more than self-sufficient. I
assure you, the new representative is very well-
qualified. [The president is quiet and shakes his
head]. Well, we can’t control when these
opportunities occur, and when an individual
deserves a promotion, we should promote them.
We’re also going to promote representative 2.
President: No! No! No! You can’t do that. It’s totally
unacceptable. You know I signed with your company
because of the support you promised. I knew I could
pick up the phone and someone would help us. Now
you’re doing this to me! No! No! No!
Marketing Manager: You made the right decision.
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against him These changes will give you the opportunity to test
our support and commitment to you; let us
demonstrate it to you.

President: (Probably thinking “I can’t believe they are

not giving me a choice and I don’t like it. But they
have been good so far. I’ll give them a chance. What
else can I do?”) Listen. I hear what you are saying. I
don’t like it one bit, especially when you surprise me
like this. Alright; I’ll go along, but I’m going to make
you responsible for proving your claim before we will
commit to extending our service contract with you.

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