Intelligently Interacting with Others
Course Facilitator: Venkat R. Krishnan (http://www.rkvenkat.org)
Great Lakes Institute of Management, May-June 2009
Required Texts:
Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester (translation). (2002). The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal (selections). New York: Signet Classics.
Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood (translation). (2002). Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God. New York: Signet Classics.
"Jnana Yoga" by Swami Vivekananda. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
"Karma Yoga" by Swami Vivekananda. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
"Practical Vedanta" by Swami Vivekananda. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
"Lectures from Colombo to Almora" by Swami Vivekananda. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
Donelson R Forsyth. (2006). Group processes (India edition). New Delhi: Wadsworth (Cengage Learning). ISBN: 978-81-315-0546-5.
Overview
This course is designed to help enhance your interpersonal skills -- the skill of interacting with others intelligently. Success in every walk of life depends the most on how well you can interact with others. "Few people consider their lives failures if they have not mastered the calculus, memorized Chinese ideograms, or learned how to play chess at a championship level. Instead, what we all struggle with -- and gut-wrenchingly so -- are our relationships with other people" (O'Toole, 1999: 54). You could of course acquire interpersonal skills through trial and error by learning from your own experiences in life. However, this could involve a huge cost for you and others. For example, learning through trial and error how to interact with one's spouse or one's boss intelligently may be expensive for the person as well as for others in terms of emotional energy drained, career failure, or broken relationships. This course will take you through the accumulated wisdom on interpersonal skills. After all, wise people learn from others' experience and from the accumulated wisdom.
This course also draws lessons from the Upanishads, the most wonderful texts and the foremost gift of India to the world, on interacting with others intelligently. A study of the Upanishads would help identify the near-universal values that could form the foundation of authentic interpersonal relationships. It will help you better understand what a human being really is and what the life goals should truly be. Understanding your and others' true nature will not only enhance your interpersonal effectiveness, but will also enrich your life by making it multi-faceted, more balanced, and less stressful. Comprehending that human beings are not merely sheep, but that they are in reality lions, will enable you to work wonders in every walk of life.
Pedagogy
This course follows the method of education and not training (O'Toole, 1999); emphasis will be on 'why' and not 'how'. Training focuses on how to do something, providing cookbook recipes for achieving specific predictable outcomes. Education, on the other hand, focuses on why people do something, helping you learn to ponder why people like to achieve various outcomes, so that you can yourself identify, if and when needed, the appropriate means for achieving those outcomes. Education is thus not application-oriented and immediate usefulness is not the main objective. It focuses on developing your capacity to think independently and thereby reach your own solutions to various problems.
The learning method that we will use will be one of interactive discussion that evolves out of questions and answers drawn from a thorough reading of the assigned materials for every session. Skimming through the readings in a superficial manner will not help in this regard. It is expected that you will come fully prepared to every session to engage in a fruitful discussion. My role in this interaction is that of a guide and facilitator, inserting useful additional material at times, but seldom interpreting the readings for you or lecturing about them.
Grading
5% Attendance. You will get 5 percentage points if you attend all sessions in full. For every session or part thereof that you miss, the score will be reduced by 2% points till it becomes -27, irrespective of the reason for not attending or not being allowed to attend.
5% Preparedness for class. You should come to class fully prepared with each session's prescribed readings completed (prepared means being capable of summarizing any section and being able to raise points for discussion). Preparedness will be tested individually but scored group-wise. The depth of your understanding of the required readings and the extent to which your preparedness enhances class learning and fun will be the basis of evaluation. Attending a session without completing the readings assigned for that session will result in the student being asked to leave the class and every member of his or her group getting a -2 score.
10% Personal Journal. You have to maintain a personal journal. The purpose of a journal is to allow you to reflect creatively and personally on the subject matter of the course and attempt to apply it in your personal life. Your journal will consist of at least one entry per course session. You should submit your journal through e-mail as text or HTML file on or before 10 June 2009.
50% Quizzes (2 Quizzes carrying equal weight). The quizzes will have multiple-choice questions from prescribed readings, assignments, and everything that takes place in class.
30% Team Project. The class will divide itself into 15 teams of size four or five each. Each team will do a karma-yoga project (Bies, 1996) lasting five months. The project will involve each student doing at least 3 hours of service per week to a group of relatively powerless people. The objective will be to bring about enduring change in their lives while addressing their real needs. Effectiveness in transferring project learning to managerial life will be the basis of evaluation.
Randomly selected teams will take me on a field visit, to provide a direct glimpse of their project.
Each team will submit an update on its project work by the end of every month and a final project report by the end of fifth month through e-mail as text or HTML file. A diary of fieldwork done should be included as an appendix.
Time Line
[Besides the readings listed below, some assignments may be required for some sessions. You will be informed of those sufficiently in advance.]
[01]
Krishnan Preface and Ch. 1: Introduction.
The necessity of religion. Jnana Yoga, 1-19 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 57-69].
The way to the realisation of a universal religion. Jnana Yoga, 343-366 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 359-374].
The ideal of a universal religion: How it must embrace different types of minds and methods. Jnana Yoga, 367-399 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 375-396].
[02]
Karma Yoga (complete booklet). [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 1, 27-118].
Krishnan Ch. 2: Samhithâs and Brâhmanas.
[03]
Krishnan Ch. 3: Âranyakas and Upanishads.
Maya and illusion; Maya and the evolution of the conception of God; Maya and freedom. Jnana Yoga, 47-107 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 88-129].
[04]
The real nature of man. Jnana Yoga, 20-46 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 70-87].
God in everything. Jnana Yoga, 129-144 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 144-154.]
The Atman. Jnana Yoga, 268-291 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 238-253].
[05]
Realisation; Unity in diversity; The freedom of the soul. Jnana Yoga, 145-214 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 155-202].
[06]
Practical Vedanta (complete booklet) [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 291-358].
[07]
Krishnan Ch. 4: Epic period.
Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God.
[08]
Krishnan Ch. 5: Conclusion.
The Atman: Its bondage and freedom. Jnana Yoga, 292-303 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 254-262].
The real and the apparent man. Jnana Yoga, 304-342 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2, 263-288].
Vedanta and its application to Indian life. Lectures from Colombo to Almora, 146-168 [Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 3, 228-247].
QUIZ 1
[09]
Forsyth Ch. 1. Introduction to group dynamics.
Forsyth Ch. 2. Studying groups.
[10]
Forsyth Ch. 3. The individual and the group.
Forsyth Ch. 4. Formation.
[11]
Forsyth Ch. 5. Cohesion and development
Forsyth Ch. 6. Structure.
[12]
Forsyth Ch. 7. Influence.
Forsyth Ch. 8. Power.
[13]
Forsyth Ch. 9. Performance.
Forsyth Ch. 10. Decision making.
[14]
Forsyth Ch. 11. Leadership.
Forsyth Ch. 12. Conflict.
[15]
Forsyth Ch. 13. Intergroup relations.
Forsyth Ch. 14. Groups in context.
[16]
Forsyth Ch. 15. Groups and change.
Forsyth Ch. 16. Crowds and collective behavior.
QUIZ 2
Last Modified:
Return to Venkat's Front Room