Exercise 1 Goal: This activity is designed to help students examine the types of messages that are given about
the way men and women communicate and to assess whether or not people in positions of strong influence are justified in giving this advice. Instructions: Oprah Winfrey's day time talk show has a huge audience. Recently, Oprah has
added a weekly program (every Tuesday) with Dr. Phil McGraw who gives advice to couples on the relationship and
finances. Your task is to go to Oprah's website <www.oprah.com>
and read the advice that Dr. Phil is giving to people. After you have done some reading, decide whether or not he is reinforcing
Deborah Tannen's research on the type of split between report talk and rapport talk for men and women in relationships.
Is this a good or a bad thing? Is Dr. Phil justified in giving such advice? What messages does this show send to society? Exercise 2 Goal: This activity is designed to expose students to other perspectives on how to manage cultural diversity in the workplace. Instructions: Your task is to explore the difficulty of managing cultural differences in the
workplace by reading an article on this topic at the following web
page <www.mediationworks.com/mti/cultdiff.htm>.
After reading the article, answer the following questions: a) Can you take any advice away from this article and apply it to today's business world? Why or why not? b) What is self-mediation? Can this be a productive means of managing cultural differences in the workplace? |