How can the subject of moral and ethical behavior be taught and understood?

How can leaders better understand the competing motivations being balanced by their colleagues?

Literature, especially drama, provides concrete and practical cases that help us to understand how ethical decisions are made and to see how ethics and leadership intersect. Participants in this course will use dramatic texts to ask the questions: “What is the nature of an ethical challenge?” “How can people reason ethically?” and “How is ethical leadership different from any other kind?”

Drawing upon specific examples, participants will examine their own emotional and personal responses as they face difficult fictional decisions. Through a systematic approach to assessing competing motivations in context, participants will also develop workable definitions of ethical leadership.

Gaining a business advantage is one good reason to read literature, but understanding the motivations of the people you work with is equally as important. Through careful analysis of the motivations and identities at play in the selected scenes, participants will develop strategies for asking themselves productive questions which lead to positive outcomes from conflicted situations in which competing ethical and personal agendas might otherwise lead to negative, or even tragic, consequences.

The goal is to develop attentiveness to those patterns of motivational conflict which might jeopardize the health and productivity of the organization and/or community in question. Hands-on experience with analyzing fictional conflicts will allow participants to develop their own strategies for responding to real-life tensions and pressures in a self-aware and constructive manner.

Location: UT Austin Campus
Upcoming Courses: September 12, 2019
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 0.7 CEUs will be awarded upon completion of this course (seven hours of instruction)

Seminar Pricing

• Standard Registration: $1,000
• UT System Staff/Alumni Registration: $650
• Educator/Nonprofit/Government/Military Registration: $650
• HDO Master’s Program Alumni: Free
• Group Pricing
• Certificate Seeker Discount

Seminar Fee Includes:

• Course Registration
• Parking
• WiFi Access
• Lunch
• Refreshments
• Course Materials

If you have questions prior to registering, please see our Professional Training FAQ or contact Miles Husid, HDO’s Marketing Coordinator, at miles.husid@utexas.edu.

Elizabeth Richmond-Garza is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, teaching theatre, aesthetics, and fine arts at UT Austin. She also teaches the “Organizational Diversity” course in the HDO Master’s Program. She is the Director of the Program in Comparative Literature and was previously chief administrative and financial officer of the American Comparative Literature Association.

Dr. Richmond-Garza holds degrees from U. C. Berkeley, Oxford University, and Columbia University and has held both Mellon and Fulbright Fellowships. She works actively in eight foreign languages and is renowned for her creative, multi-media approach to teaching. Among other honors, she has been awarded the Chad Oliver Plan II Teaching Award, the 16th annual Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, and the Minnie Piper Stevens Teaching Award. She was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2004 and was awarded the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award in 2009. She has also offered a series of lectures at the Menil Art Gallery and is regularly invited as a speaker in Dallas, Austin, and Houston.

The majority of participants in our Seminars and Certificate Programs are mid- and upper-level professionals working in the business, nonprofit, government, or military sectors; however, professionals at all levels of experience are welcome to participate. There are no prerequisites for enrolling in an HDO Professional Seminar.

While all HDO Seminars are developed with wide-ranging applicability in mind, the following individuals and groups will likely find Understanding & Balancing Motivations most directly relevant to their work:

• Senior/Executive Leadership
• Middle Management
• Team Leaders & Supervisors
• Human Resources/Recruiting Directors & Managers
• Consultants tasked with identifying organizational and/or leadership challenges
• Any individual or team that faces daily decisions about personnel and information management, decisions that rely upon balancing personal convictions, identity politics, and institutional demands

For participants coming in for seminars from outside the Austin area, there are several hotels near campus, many within walking distance.

HDO recommends the following hotels:

• AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center (On-Campus)
  1900 University Avenue, Austin, TX 78705
• Hampton Inn & Suites (10-minute walk to campus)
  1701 Lavaca Street, Austin, TX 78701
• Hotel Ella (12-minute walk to campus)
  1900 Rio Grande St, Austin, TX 78705
• DoubleTree Suites (15-minute walk to campus)
  303 W. 15th Street, Austin, TX 78701

HDO works with these many of these venues on a regular basis. If you need assistance selecting a hotel, please contact Jessica Crawford, HDO’s Senior Administrative Associate at jessica.crawford@austin.utexas.edu.

On-campus parking is covered for all participants for the day of their seminar. For transit information, please visit Capital Metro’s website.

Additional HDO One-Day Seminars:

Achieving Balance: Time Management for Modern Professionals

Addressing Change-o-Phobia Up and Down the Org Chart

The Art and Science of Negotiation

Behavior Change & Influence

Ethics, Culture, and Leadership

Flourishing in the Workplace

Fulfillment in the Workplace

A Good Idea is Not Enough: Persuading Like an Entrepreneur

The Heart of Leadership: Moving Forward Through Change

Human Error: Engineering it Away

Managing Knowledge in Organizations

Maximizing Mental Agility

Millennials, Innovation, and the Future of Work

Organizational Leadership & Strategy in Uncertain Times

Telling Your Story: Crafting an Honest, Effective Organizational Narrative

Understanding & Balancing Motivations