OSD | Written Portion of ICR:DDP Assessment

Your assignment is to write a conversational script of you doing a ‘perspective check’ with a person named “Kelly”.

Imagine that you work in the same workplace that you presently do in real life, and that “Kelly” has been your co‐ worker for 2 years. Initially, the two of you seemed to get off to a bad start (for reasons that aren’t entirely clear to you) but for the last 2 months, you seem to be getting along pretty well.    Two days ago, as you and 5‐6 others were chatting in the lunch room at work, you overheard Kelly comment about people who “…need to hear one of those talks about how there’s no ‘I’ in team.” As the words were spoken, Kelly gave a quick sideways glance in your direction, and it distinctly felt as though Kelly was talking about you, but you decided not to respond at all.   Just as well, since the thought that Kelly might have been referring to you made you feel too offended to discuss anything civilly at the time. After lunch, you tried to get back to work, but it was difficult to stay task‐focused for the remainder of the day. (Yes, you feel ‘pinched!’)  The next day, you decide you need to approach Kelly to find out if there’s something about you that’s bothering him/her.

Write out a “perspective check” conversation that you might try with Kelly, including your thoughts in preparation. As you craft the dialogue, assume that when Kelly responds to your ‘perspective check,’ you are surprised to learn that Kelly has felt some resentment for quite a while, about how you treat co‐workers, particularly her (or him, as you wish!). You realize as s/he speaks that s/he and others have noticed that when you think you are very busy and feeling overwhelmed, you tend to ignore others and their needs, becoming rather inflexible, closed and unresponsive to the needs of others. In responding to your ‘perspective check,’ imagine that Kelly lets you know how s/he feels (you can script that as you like), but s/he is mostly reasonable as s/he talks.  How will you respond to Kelly’s concern? (See the various response options in the ‘perspective check’ pages of your manual.)

For this assignment, you should think in terms of approximately 800‐900 words.  Students will be graded primarily on their ability to demonstrate the model in writing, including the communication skills involved (e.g. listening skills, and using “I Messages” so as to avoid using evaluative language.) Following is a short sample verbatim/script of a perspective check that Jim might have with Mary regarding her comment “I’m sure you’ll have opportunities to succeed outside of the department.” 

Please email a copy of your completed assignment to [email protected], with the subject line 'OSD Introduction to Conflict Resolution Assignment'.