| Agenda 8:30-9 a.m.-Registration & Continental Breakfast
9-9:15 a.m.-Conference Welcome
9:15-10:30 a.m.-Concurrent Sessions
Are Teams the Best Way to Organize?
In this session you will consider the use and usefulness of work teams. What are the strengths and liabilities of using teams to do work? Overall, how advantageous is it to assign the work to a team? How feasible is it? What are the benefits of having a team perform the task? What are the risks and liabilities? Given that it typically takes more managerial skill to manage a team than to manage individuals working on their own, are the advantages worth the costs? And when you do use teams, are they staffed by socially and technically competent people in a work environment that requires either coordination, information processing, or behavioral control? In this session you will examine these questions and discuss when and how to use teams to their greatest advantage.
Presenter: Richard Saavedra, Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology, is an associate professor of management at UNH’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics, where he teaches in the part-time MBA Durham and Manchester programs, in the Executive MBA program, and in the Master of Technology program in Seoul, Korea. His primary research interests include social comparison and social influence process in work groups, mood in groups and organizations, and the design and leadership of organizations and work teams. He has has been a frequent presenter and published numerous articles about work groups and organizations, including: “Extinguishing Candles and Kindling Fires: The Wind of Mood Contagion in Work Groups”, in the book, Research Companion to Emotions in Organizations (in press); “The Contagious Leader: Impact of the Leader’s Mood on the Mood of Group Members, Group Affective Tone, and Group Processes” in the 2005 Journal of Applied Psychology. He has also conducted research on organizations and groups, including a study on “Social Exchange and Emotional Investment in Work Groups.” He has consulted to companies and organizations across the United States. Prior to joining the UNH faculty, he was on the faculty of the University of Michigan for several years.
Communicating in the Workplace during Tough Times
When you look at what people want out of work, money is usually low on the list. Instead, they want to know how they’re doing, how they can improve or advance, what will be expected of them, and what changes will affect them. It’s all about communication. But when the workplace becomes too busy, there is often less--rather than more--communication. And when resources are tight, secrets and rumors abound, frequently leading to misinformation and lower morale. Good communication is always a critical factor, but even more so when times are tough. In this you will look at the current communication within your organization and ways to improve it.
Presenter: Gerri King, Ph.D., is a social psychologist and organizational consultant to corporations, nonprofits, governmental agencies, and educational and healthcare institutions. She works throughout the U.S., Asia, and Canada with a focus on Mergers & Acquisitions, Strategic Planning, Leadership & Supervisory Training, Conflict Resolution, Managing Change, and Enhancing Teams. Based in Concord, NH, she is a founding partner of
Human Dynamics Associates.
10:30-10:45 a.m.-Break
10:45 a.m.-Noon-Concurrent Sessions
Group Dynamics: In Search of Team Synergy
Everyone knows what group dynamics are all about--or do they? In this session we will define and examine interpersonal behavior in teams, noting predictable patterns associated with familiar concepts such as cohesion, conformity, trust, respect, norms, conflict, and communication. We will also reflect on the magic recipe to create “healthy” relationships that produce positive group synergy as opposed to negative synergy or no synergy (simply adding up the contributions of the individual members). You will look at how helping members to perform well on the task can be far more productive than focusing on group interpersonal relations--a reversal of the traditional view that task performance depends on the quality of interpersonal relations.
Presenter: Richard Saavedra (see previous biography)
Leading with Emotional Intelligence
Technical competence and traditional analytical intelligence (IQ) are foundational for effective leadership. But a growing stream of research reveals that it is the leader’s emotional intelligence (EI) that best predicts the performance of a leader’s team. This session looks at the concept of EI and shows how leaders use EI to build successful teams. You’ll get concrete, research-based answers to questions about what typically goes wrong in teams and how to address those problems. You’ll also discuss how to build an emotionally intelligent team that exceeds its performance potential. Presenter: Vanessa Druskat, Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Boston University and M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, is professor at the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics, and an expert in Group dynamics, team process effectiveness, team leadership effectiveness, leadership development, emotional intelligence, emotions in teams and organizations, cross-cultural management. She is author of several articles and book chapters on emotional intelligence, group process, and transformational leadership, including a chapter in the book by Daniel Goldman and Cary Chemiss on “The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace.” In 2006 she also co-edited a book,
“Linking Emotional Intelligence and Performance at Work.” And her most recent article is a book chapter that examines the effects of team member confrontation on team effectiveness.
Noon-1 p.m.-Lunch at the Sheraton
1-2:15 p.m.-Concurrent Sessions
Where Teams Live: Creating Conditions for Performance
A team leader should focus efforts on the creation of conditions that support effective team performance. Rather than attempting to manage group behavior in real time, leaders should spend their energies creating contexts that increase the likelihood that teams will prosper--leaving ample room for groups to develop their own unique behavioral styles and performance strategies. One of the most powerful and constructive contributions a leader can make is to help a team get off to a good start. In this session you will look at how to start teams off right, taking advantage of the fact that start-up is rarely a crisis time, but an opportunity when time and energy are available to help a team get established and functioning as a task-performing unit. You will look at how the context shapes the mood of a group and how to design situations so that contextual stimuli are as consistent as possible with group purposes. You will examine the leader’s role in: providing the group with a direction that is aligned with organizational objectives, designing the group’s structure, and giving the team the support, information, and materials needed to perform the task.
Presenter: Richard Saavedra (see previous biography)
Coaching Employees
As a manager, supervisor, team or project leader, you may find it necessary at times to be a “coach.” In this session learn how to recognize a coaching opportunity, what the key elements of good coaching are, and how to assist employees in a way that honors their skills and unique talents-while taking into consideration the organization’s goals and objectives. You will gain tools to help create a more positive and productive work environment. Presenter: Donna Singer, MS, PCC, is a Professional Coach certified through the International Coach Federation. As an organizational consultant and coach she works with corporations, small businesses, nonprofit organizations, healthcare organizations, and individuals to improve workplace performance and communication at all levels. She is considered among the best in dealing with conflict in the workplace and has worked with many local and national clients including Liberty Mutual, Fidelity, Northeast Delta Dental, Hitchiner Manuf., and Mass. Medical Soc. Donna Singer Consulting LLC recently celebrated its 20th year in business.
2:15-2:30 p.m.-Break
2:30-4 p.m.-Concurrent Sessions When Teams Go Wrong: Intervening in Team Processes
All interventions in organizations can be classified in one of three domains: composition (selection and placement of members on teams), engineering situations (job design, role specification, organizational structure), and training (changing people). In this session we will tackle potential problems in group work. You will look at issues such as: managing diversity, eliminating social loafing, curbing conformity, and protecting deviance. You will discuss: when and how to intervene in a group process; how to create, at the onset, an openness on the team to outside influence; and methods for recharting the course of the team’s work when necessary.
Presenter: Richard Saavedra (see previous biography)
Perform at Your Best, Despite Workplace Stress:
How to Handle All That You Do without Burning Out
Your ability to avoid burnout and “stress overload” despite your organizational pressures, the pressures of your job, and the
pressures of being a manager or supervisor in difficult times is key to functioning productively at work as well as maintaining a balance in your personal life. The pressures, demands, and difficult people who surface each day will have a huge impact on both your job effectiveness and your emotional well-being. In this session, you’ll learn the secrets of elite athletes and other professionals who have learned how to perform at peak levels despite crushing pressures. You’ll also learn how to not let the never-ending hassles, difficult people, and frustrations of work life get to you. This session is based on the presenter’s more than 20 years of work in the field of stress and resilience. Presenter: David Lee is the founder and principal of HumanNature@Work. He is an internationally recognized authority on organizational and managerial practices that optimize employee performance, morale, and engagement. He has written and presented extensively on stress and resilience, and is author of “Managing Employee Stress and Safety,” as well as over 50 articles on organizational and individual performance published in trade journals in the U.S. and abroad. He has held positions as a supervisor and trainer in the corporate world and a clinician and trainer in the healthcare field.
General Information
Conference Fee & Refunds
Cost is $295 if registered by November 4 ($325 after Nov. 4). (Includes $40 for meals/breaks/materials). Refunds, less a $25 processing fee, will be given if written cancellation is received at least 10 business days prior to the conference. What the Cost Includes
Cost includes conference materials and handouts, continental breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks, and parking. Cost does not include overnight accommodations. Participants will receive .6 CEUs (continuing education units), attesting to your professional development. How to Register
• On the Web. Click here.
• By Phone. Call (603) 862-2015 or (800) 313-5327 with VISA, MasterCard, Discover or Debit Card.
• By Fax. Complete and fax the registration form with credit card information to (603) 862-0655.
• By Mail. Mail the registration form with payment to UNH, Registration Office, 11 Garrison Avenue, Durham, NH 03824
Forms of Payment
• Check or money order (payable to UNH)
• VISA, MasterCard, Discover, Debit Card Be an Exhibitor!
If your company would like to be an exhibitor please send an email to Linda.Conti@unh.edu.
Overnight Accommodations
Overnight accommodations are not included in the conference fee. If you wish to reserve lodging, call the Sheraton at (888) 627-7138.
For More Information
About the Conference: Call (603) 862-4234 or send an email to: professional.development@unh.edu
About Registration: Call (603) 862-2015 or 1 (800) 313-5327
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