Psychology Collaboration
The
subtitle of Levine’s (2009) book, Turning
Conflict into Collaboration, underscores the importance of getting others
involved in order to not only resolve conflicts; but, to make better decisions.
Hoch, Kunreuther, and Gunther (2001) observe a “third major source of
complexity”, with regards to making decisions in a multifaceted milieu, is that
which stems from multiple stakeholders and their interactions (p. 125). As Hoch
et el. (2001) contend, the shared reliance and the need for “agreed-upon rules”,
termed as “co-opetition” (a blending of cooperation and competition), can be
used to encourage involvement from various stakeholders and assist in achieving
better decisions (p. 125). In a presentation posted by Jerry Wagner (2015),
Levin cites four reasons that lead to conflict; each involves differences in:
observations, interpretations, needs, and feelings. Two individuals can observe
the same traffic accident; yet, each will see and report the events in
different manners; both will believe their truth as reported (Wagner, 2015).
What Levine hopes we take away from conflict is a “normalization of conflict as
human beings working together”, which is why collaboration plays an important
role (Wagner, 2015).
Levine
(2009) writes, “Getting a successful project up and running is an exercise in
forming a collaborative team” that requires “some conflict”, which cannot be
avoided; but, once resolved, creates an infectious enthusiasm that makes the
most insurmountable struggle simple to overcome (p. 56). This is exactly what
occurred when I served as the Vice-President of the Daytona State College
Psychology Club – Flagler/Palm Coast Campus. Our group had become aware of the
struggles facing many students with regards to being able to buy books. Even
though the college bookstore offered used books for sale, many times the
bargain offered was just as unattainable as the price listed for a new text.
Past club fundraising activities had been small scale in nature. The club would
sell popcorn at open house and other campus events. Our group made a decision
to expand our first fundraiser and offer both students and community members an
opportunity to participate.
We called
our venture the Daytona State College Flagler Community Sidewalk Sale. Our
campus featured an amphitheater that offered cover in the event of inclement
weather. Our first organizational meeting embraced Levine’s (2009) principle of
abundance and made a conscious effort to set aside egos. We wanted to plan for
a community sidewalk sale, hosted in the spring and fall, so that students and
members of the community could rent a table or a space, display their hidden
treasures, make sales, and realize a little added income. It was a way to serve
students and have the college become a more active partner in the community. Each
member was given the chance to tell their story and offer their input without
interruption. Our secretary took notes so we would be able to refer back to
ideas, concerns, and questions presented. We identified other stakeholders we needed
to include in order to develop our final plan. Those stakeholders were the
campus provost, campus security, director of student events, student government,
and the bookstore.
Our provost
became our primary contact for anything we needed for the event, such as
securing tables and chairs from the main campus. He also helped us with
advertising and posting flyers as he had direct authority to approve all
literature. Many of our club members had developed a relationship with campus
security from other events. We were able to invite them to our meetings and implement
their suggestions for parking and access to campus equipment so that safety was
insured. The director of student events was able to provide us with all of the
forms and legal documents we needed to secure in order to sponsor an event that
invited the public’s participation. Student government representatives helped
us increase the number of volunteers beyond our club membership so that set-up
and implementation did not rest with only a handful of members. Finally, our
bookstore, which at the time was located at the main campus, agreed to host a
table and have a selection of books students could purchase at reduced prices
at the event. Our event was able to draw more than fifty participants, many of
whom were students and local businesses. A few of the businesses made donations
to our club which we used to help students purchase books. Since our first
event, the sidewalk sale has been repeated and adopted by other Daytona State
campuses. It was hailed as a huge success by our club sponsor, Dr. John
McNeeley, Professor of Psychology, and our Provost, Mr. Kent Ryan. This event
was also the first step in securing a bookstore for the Flagler/Palm Coast Campus,
which has since been realized.
We were a
group of psychology students, many of whom not only continued with psychology courses;
but, graduated with honors, too. We understood the need to set aside our egos,
embrace abundancy, bring in others, and conduct a post-event meeting in order
to provide improvement. The following semester, we brought in the local media
as a stakeholder and were able to communicate a more effective message, which
led to an increased turnout. This experience, although unknown at the time,
helped me to understand Levine’s (2009) “Law of Agreement” wherein tight
collaborative efforts can result in increased productivity and lead to the
fulfillment of not only the vision; but, the establishment of a team that
generated an infectious enthusiasm with each opportunity we faced (p. 163). I
learned that although conflict can be seen as fighting or a “test of wills”,
viewing conflict “as an exercise in creative problem solving” produces a much
better resolution and can establish a team able to overcome obstacles in a
relatively simple manner (Levine, 2009, p. 62). The greatest lesson learned,
and one that I use today, is the formation of “long-term partnerships” (Levine,
2009, p. 181). Members of that team have long since graduated and gone on to
pursue graduate studies; yet, we still stay in contact and recently
re-assembled in order to lay the foundation for a tribute garden for the
executive administrator for our campus provost. She was an integral part of all
the events we hosted and a friend to all faculty and students. I am quite
certain those lesson learned so many years ago will help us as we navigate the
planning stages for her memorial garden.
References
Hoch, S.J., Kunreuther, H.C.,
& Gunther, R.E. (2001). Wharton on
Making Decisions.
Hoboken,
NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Jerry Wagner. (2015, April 17).
Stewart Levine. [Video file]. Retrieved from
Levine, S. (2009). Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into
Collaboration. San
Francisco,
CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
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