Courses and Events for Researchers and Teachers
Description
The offered two-day workshop is practice- and dialogue-oriented, experience-based, and participatory in nature. Within the framework of the workshop, participants will -on a voluntary and confidential basis- use their own situations to practice confident engagement with power and micropolitics in the university context. The goal is to identify resources and strategies to successfully navigate the micropolitical landscape and achieve one’s own objectives.
Prior to the workshop, participants will be invited to describe their own examples. Through role plays, social dynamics become visible and tangible, allowing participants to test and apply the skills and strategies they have developed.
Content
Part 1: Understanding Power and Micropolitics
o What is power, and through which mechanisms does it operate?
o Micropolitics as a network of interconnected games
o Power and micropolitics in universities as special types of organizations
o Types and functioning of typical “power games” in academia
Part 2: The Micropolitical “Toolbox”
o Understanding actors and their interests – stakeholder analysis
o Engaging people in change: dealing with resistance
o Principles of effective persuasion
o Effective negotiation using the Harvard Model
o Leading without formal authority? – Lateral leadership in universities
Part 3: Personal Reflection: Micropolitics and Personal Integrity
Methods
- Trainer inputs, feedback, and plenary discussions
- Demonstrations and practical exercises
- Transfer and reflection exercises, simulations, and role plays in group and individual work
Aims
- Understand power and micropolitics
- Develop a reflective personal attitude toward power and micropolitics
- Identify one’s own scope of action and limitations
- Strengthen one’s sense of self-efficacy in dealing with power and micropolitics
- Develop strategies to effectively pursue and achieve one’s own goals