The document proposes a new course called Conflict Communication for the Communication Department. It would serve as a valuable addition by enhancing the curriculum and better preparing students for the workplace. The course would bridge the gap between Interpersonal and Organizational Communication courses. It would use hands-on activities to help students master conflict theories and build skills for handling workplace conflicts. An existing professor, Trina Wright-Dixon, could teach the course, requiring no additional hiring costs. The course aims to improve students' workplace success, allow practical application of theories, fill a gap in the department, and provide new research opportunities.

1. To: David Tewksbury, Cara Finnegan, Trina Wright-Dixon and Students of Communication
From: Jamie Bronska, TaNay Morris, Nicole Sadowski and Cole P. Griffin
Date: April 28, 2016
Subject: Proposing a New Course: Conflict Communication
Conflict is a normal aspect of the workplace environment. Working in teams and dealing with
stressful situations inevitably brings on levels of conflict. However, with conflict comes growth.
We would like to propose a new course that would serve as a valuable asset to the Department of
Communication by enhancing our curriculum. This new course, Conflict Communication, will
be taught with a hands-on approach to build on theoretical perspectives already discussed in
Interpersonal Communication (CMN 230) and Organizational Communication (CMN 212). This
course can serve as a new research opportunity for the department and generate revenue.
Additionally, Conflict Communication will better prepare students to enter the workplace by
enhancing skills that are inherent to handling common conflict situations that arise in the
workplace.
We invite you to a presentation on April 29, 2016 to receive more information and participate in
a discussion with regards to the implementation of Conflict Communication. Our hope is that the
course will become an addition to the Communication Department starting Spring 2017.
THE PROBLEM / OPPORTUNITY / NEED
A gap currently exists between Interpersonal and Organizational sectors of the Communication
Department. When communication students enter the workplace after post-college, they lack the
necessary hard skills for handling conflict in the workplace context. A lack of education on
relevant issues, such as microaggressions, stress management, and multi-cultural backgrounds
has the potential to be detrimental to a new graduate’s career.
This new course would appeal to the Department of Communication because it will offer a
bridge between two existing courses and open up new research possibilities, while also
minimizing the skills gap that currently exists in the department’s course offerings. Enhancing
the department’s curriculum benefits professors and students. The investment of this course will
also help students practice familiar theories and better prepare them to enter the workplace.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
Conflict Communication will be a new course at the University of Illinois. Conflict
Communication has four key benefits for the department of Communication and the students in
this program, including: improved success rates in the workplace, mastering theories through the
use of applied skills, filling a significant gap that currently exists in the Communication
Department and beginning a new area of research for the department without costing more

2. money by hiring an existing faculty member.
The first benefit of our course is that it will lead to greater success in the workplace. This course
predominantly consists of seniors who are in the midst of their job searches and about to enter
the workforce. Through this course, these students will be exposed to valuable workshops and in-
class activities and will be given the opportunity to build on theories that have been taught in
lower-level communication courses. Conflict Communications will provide students with
valuable skills, knowledge and hands-on experience dealing with communication-related issues
that often arise in the workplace.
The second benefit of our course is that it will allow for students to master theories through the
use of applied skills. Conflict Communication will build on conflict theories that students have
already been exposed to in other courses, such as the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode
Instrument (TKI) and the Blake Mouton Managerial Grid. These are examples of theories that
were previously taught in lower-level courses which our course would build on. In Conflict
Communication, students would be given specific scenarios to exemplify conflicts that may arise
and the class as a whole would determine the most effective and efficient ways to work through
the given issues.
The third benefit of our course is that it will fill an important gap that exists in the
Communication Department. Currently, the department is broken up into two sections:
interpersonal and organizational communication. While both of these sections are extremely
important and the courses offered are valuable, there is not a course that is a culmination of the
two. Research suggests that there are a plethora of interpersonal communication conflicts that
arise in the workplace each day. For example, there is a rise in microaggressions, even on our
campus, as cited in the Racial Microaggressions Report (Harwood et al., 2015), in which 39% of
students in the survey reported feeling uncomfortable on campus because of their race. We have
an opportunity to educate communication majors to prevent any future aggressions from
occurring. The ability to effectively communicate in order to overcome conflict in the workplace
is a vital skill for students to possess, especially as they prepare to enter the workforce.
The fourth and final benefit of beginning this course would be the research opportunities for the
department of Communication. Conflict in the workplace is something that has been studied and
reported on by an existing professor, Trina Wright-Dixon. If we used an existing staff member,
the department can save money by not adding any costs to the budget. Developing research is a
goal of the University and by researching this topic, we might be able to offer more courses to
students. New research could also bring in funding from grants to the department of
Communication.

3. COST / RESOURCE ANALYSIS
After reviewing the salaries of many professors and instructors on the Illinois Board of Higher
Education website, we determined that there are a couple of ways to ensure that we have a
qualified professor teaching our course at a reasonable and logical price. Our first option is to
select an instructor who is a current University employee. Our second option is to hire an
instructor to teach the course specifically, for $40,000 or far more, which may end up being more
expensive than hiring someone from within. With the current budget issues facing Illinois public
universities due to the budget stalemate, this is not a prudent option at this time. Thus, our
preferred option would be to use an existing professor – such as Professor Trina Wright-Dixon –
as the instructor for this course. The communication department will negotiate pay with the
existing professor as needed.
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
April 4th-15th, 2016 (Previous meeting date with the department head, Professor
Tewksbury, and future date to meet with him as well as the assistant department head,
Cara Finnegan)
Prior our meeting with you today, we ensured that there was not currently a course being offered
that is similar to Conflict Communication. After extensive research from the database on the
University of Illinois website, we did not find any courses similar to our proposed course. With
the assistance of Professor Wright-Dixon, we have created a content outline for the course.
May 1st- August 15th, 2016 (Needtime to create, revise, and get syllabus approved)
The next step is to utilize the content outline to create the syllabus and select the weekly hands-
on activities that the students will engage in during the class time. We will also implement a
grading scale and determine how many points these activities will be worth. We do not want to
have a traditional grading scale; we would like for final grades to serve as a reflection of
individual evaluations and participation. Our hope is that every student enroll in our course will
finish the given semester with a better understanding of his/her individual conflict styles and
obtain greater knowledge and skills necessary to handling tough situations at the workplace. Due
to the fact that Professor Wright-Dixon is already familiar with the notion of conflict and
microaggressions in the workplace, only minimal additional training in this area would be
necessary.
August 15- October 16th, 2016 (Allow time for posting due to registration opening)
Next, we will work closely with the department head, Professor David Tewksbury, to make any
last-minute changes to the syllabus. As soon as that is determined, the course will be officially
added to registration website. When a new communication is first implemented, the course
always falls under Special Topics, which is either Communication 396 or Communication 496.
This course will classify as a Communication 396 class because a Communication 496 class
would not fit in with our target audience or the layout of the class. Communication 496 classes

4. are strong on theory and are offered to graduate students, as well. Our Communication 396 class
will briefly cover theories already covered in the pre-requisite courses and will be tailored to
meet our target audience of juniors and seniors in the Communication Department. After
approximately two semesters as a special topics course, if Conflict Communication is in high
demand, it will become a permanent course, Conflict Communication 301.
Ongoing (Reviews will be at the end of each semester)
The final step will be two ongoing reviews of the course after the end of each semester. One
form of reviews will be the ICES, the course evaluations that we are all familiar with. We would
also create a unique course review which will ask the students what they feel is working and
what is not working. We want to ensure that our class is reaching its optimal potential to help
students and prepare them for possible conflict situations in the workplace. Additionally, we
want to make sure that the hands-on activities are sufficient and preferred over other forms of
teaching. This unique form of review with be considered an extra student assignment for students
and will help to continuously improve the course.
CONCLUSION / CALL TO ACTION
We highly recommend that the University of Illinois Department of Communication approves of
our Conflict Communication course and that it will be offered to students starting Spring 2017.
This course will be a great aspect of the Communication degree, as the theories of conflict are
applied. Additionally, our course covers concepts and situations that no other current courses do.
The addition of this class will add value to the essence of the Communication degree as a whole,
while also provide research and publication opportunities for Communication educators in the
department. Professor Wright-Dixon has expressed interest in teaching this course. Given her
vast knowledge of conflict and microaggressions in the workplace, she will be a possible
professor for this course. Lastly, the Head of the Communication Department, David Tewksbury,
expressed great interest in this course and felt as though Conflict Communication would serve as
a vital addition to the Communication Department.
We would like to invite Professors Tewksbury, Finnegan, and Wright to a presentation about our
course. This would provide us with an opportunity to discuss the specific elements of the course,
which will lead you to gaining a better understanding of the layout and how it will be a good fit
for the Communication Department and students. We highly recommend that you consider
approving of our proposed course and look forward to the prospect of hearing from you in the
near future.
SIGNATURES
Cole P. Griffin, Nicole Sadowski, TaNay Morris, Jamie Bronska

5. ATTACHMENTS: References; Course Outline
References
Ditewig-Morris, K. (2016, April 4).
Harwood, S. A., Choi, S., Orozco, M., Browne Huntt, M., & Mendenhall, R. (2015).
Racial microaggressions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:
Voices of students of color in the classroom. University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
Public University Administrator and Faculty Salary & Benefits Database. (n.d.).
Retrieved April 13, 2016, from http://salarysearch.ibhe.org/search.aspx
Tewksbury, D. (2016, April 4).
Wright-Dixon, T. (2016, April 12)

6. Department: Communication
Course Prefix: CMN
Number: 396
Semester: Spring 2017
Location: TR 9:30- 10:50 LH
I. Title: Conflict Communication
II. Course description: This course is
designed to help students master overcoming
conflict and learn how to handle
miscommunication and microaggressions in
the workplace. Using a hands on approach,
this required course, coupled with an existing
Organizational Communication course, would
be the perfect match for graduating seniors
who would like to gain firsthand exposure to
the application of theories in stressful
situations. By blending theories from
interpersonal and organizational
communication, this new hybrid course
would produce distinguished communication
scholars.
Prerequisites: CMN 212: Intro to
Organizational Communication & CMN 230:
Intro to Interpersonal Communication
III. Content outline:
A. Brief overview of conflict related theories
B. Trust
C. Perspectives on conflict
D. Power differences
E. Conflict in organizations
F. Benefits of conflict
G. Microaggressions/ Cultural Values/
Gendered communication
H. Miscommunication (Verbal/nonverbal)
I. Conflict and social media
J. Forgiveness and reconciliation
K. Hands on experience with UIUC theater
group (Final project)
IV. Instructional activities: Brief lecture
with hands-on learning approach (Role play,
short lectures, discussion, group activities,
speeches, projects)
V. Examples of in class activities
1. In the beginning of the semester after a
brief overview of the theories, the first hands
on activity will help students be aware of how
they handle conflict situations
individually. Before teaching a hands on
course, it is essential for each student to
determine where they are at with handling
conflict, so the professor can make this class
semi-individualized for each student, and so
each student can see a noticeable difference
between their starting point and ending point
throughout the course.
Example: All of the students will stand up in
the middle of the room. The professor will
announce certain situations pertaining to
“fight or flight” conflict responses as the
students follow along on a piece of paper. One
side of the room will be the flight response
and the other side will be the fight response.
If the students thinks they would do the flight
response in the situation given then they will
walk over to that side of the room and so on.
The students will keep track of how many
times they have been to each side and add
them up at the end. Whatever side they had
the most points on is the type of conflict style
they most likely use in everyday life.
2. At the end of the semester after students
have learned and practiced proper conflict
techniques, they will have a hands on, role
playing final exam.
Example: The UIUC theater group will come
in to help with this. Beforehand, the professor
will come up with conflict scenarios and give
them to the theater group to practice. On the
day of the final, each student will individually
go up in front of the class and the theater
group will cause a conflict situation with the
student. The student has to resolve the
situation to the best of their ability and will
get graded on how well they do so.