Communication and Conflict

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. COURSE OVERVIEW. Study of how communication practices shape the development, escalation and resolution of conflict across interpersonal, intergroup, organizational, family and/or public settings. Examines both theoretical frameworks and practical approaches to negotiation, mediation and/or facilitated dialogue. Course content may reference real-world disputes involving sensitive or emotionally charged situations, analyzed for communication insight. RELEVANCE AND APPLICATION. Builds capacity for managing disagreement in personal, professional and civic environments. Strengthens competencies relevant to leadership, teamwork, client relations, human resources, counseling, public service and community engagement. Supports the ability to navigate high-stakes conversations, advocate constructively and participate effectively in decision-making processes. DEEPENING UNDERSTANDINGS. Considers ways conflict is not always or necessarily destructive but also a potential site for clarification, innovation and relational growth. Explores how disagreement can surface unmet needs, reveal assumptions or prompt creative problem-solving when approached with strategic communication. Considers that managing conflict effectively requires awareness of both one’s own communicative choices and broader dynamics that shape interaction. TOPICS AND THEMES. May include study of interpersonal disputes; intergroup tensions and prejudices; workplace and organizational conflict; group decision-making dynamics; negotiation tactics and persuasive framing; mediation and third-party intervention; cultural and gender influences on conflict style; conflict in digital or mediated environments; reconciliation, apology and forgiveness. Case material may draw from personal, professional, civic or community contexts where disagreement plays a central role. Prerequisite: Junior or senior classification or approval of instructor.