Great Exercise

I conducted a fantastic exercise in my organizational communication class today. I had told students that one of the most important things that I wanted them to get out of this class was an understanding of the importance of critical thinking and, when appropriate, dissenting in organizations, but I really don't have any activity or assignment to reinforce that. Over the weekend, I had an epiphany.

Early in the day, I emailed the students saying that I was adding reading quizzes to our class. I said that they would be presenting a summary in groups of the methods for analyzing organizational communication that we've covered in class. And I said that each student would be required to volunteer 4-6 hours at the nonprofit organization that their group was assessing (I had previously said that each group had to volunteer, but that the volunteering could be delegated to a couple of group members). Naturally, I was very unpopular after that email. Then during class, I explained that I wanted to meet with groups individually but that we wouldn't have time for every group during class time (I do plan to do this, but I've alloted class time for it). I explained that at least 2 groups would need to schedule a time to come to my office hours--if they had conflicts, they could call in sick to work or come up with another excuse.

During class, I had several complaints and worked these into a discussion of rocking the boat when managers are irrational, unfair, or unethical. The discussion was great, the surprise that none of that was real was priceless, but more importantly, the opportunity to practice and experience dissenting was invaluable for students. And I think they've forgiven me for the 3 hours of misery that they endured.