Page 160 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

Appendix A 149

Exercise 3.3 Giving criticism and reacting to criticism
The goal of this exercise is to learn to distinguish assertive, sub-assertive and aggressive
styles when using the skills of giving and receiving criticism. Time: about 30 minutes.
Method: work in groups of 6 (A-F) and a trainer.
Step Each student writes down two points of criticism (for example, coming late, not keeping
1. appointments).
Step The participants all get an action card and a reaction card. These cards have on them the
2. following: sub-assertive, assertive and aggressive.

Step A gives B his points of criticism in the described manner (see card). B reacts in the described
3. way (see card). C, D, E and F get the observation assignment: How does A give criticism and
how does B react?
Step The trainer asks C, D, E and F what they thought of the criticism and makes their
4. observations concrete by asking for specific behaviours they observed.
Step The trainer notes down the behaviour that characterizes sub-assertive, assertive and
5. aggressive behaviour on the whiteboard. Mistakes can be made in encoding (for example,
someone who acts aggressively while he means to act assertively) and in decoding (for
example, someone who interprets sub-assertive behaviour as assertive).
Step Continue B→C. Round 1:6×criticism+6×reaction. Duration: approximately 6×2 minutes=12
6. minutes.
Step Round 2: same. Assemble cards+hand them out again. Duration: approximately 12 minutes.
7.
Step The trainer gives a summary according to notes on the whiteboard.
8.

Chapter 4 Interviewing

Exercise 4.1 Interviews

Divide the group into two subgroups: group A and group B. First the members of group
A interview the members of Group B. Then the members of Group B interview the
members of group A.
Group A consists of a group of students who have to imagine that they are the staff of
a student research company. The company has got the assignment to investigate the free
time of students of higher vocational studies. The goal of this investigation is to be able
to adjust and to use this ‘need’, maybe for a type of organized free time use for students.
The association wants to get an insight into the time that students have apart from their
studies, in which way they use it, and where the bottlenecks are regarding work load,
travel time, housing, etc.
Group B also consists of students who have to imagine that they are staff members of
a student research company. The company has given them the assignment to investigate
the needs of students of local colleges for other types and forms of teaching methods. On