53 Imagine you work for an international organisation engaged in educational projects in developing countries. Now, it needs to make up a team of teachers to go to a remote quarter somewhere on Earth. You are put in charge of recruiting the staff, but you are staying in this country. You talk to a school head master/mistress who can afford to give you some names of teachers who might be covered, but the head teacher refuses to let others go as they are indispensable. It is logical to presume that those few won't make up a team – there must be somebody to take charge, somebody capable of analytical thinking, someone economical and good with his hands, and a level-headed peacemaker. All of them must be experts in their fields of learning.
Pair off in your group. Assume roles and try to work out a solution. If there aren't any other lists of characters, take the 13 human archetypes from the text.
The school head master elicits a list of four names, gives those workers favourable references and details of their qualifications.
Those candidates must be checked. You have to see their photos. Over the conversation you discover some of their alarming personal traits. You finally feel that those candidates must be replaced. The project calls for a more scrupulous staffing policy, etc. After an extensive conversation you report to the class if a compromise has been achieved and how an acceptable solution was worked out.
54
Let’s say you work on a project. According to the Project Activity Schedule you hold a conference, which should have closed on Friday. However, its proceedings have been extended until next Monday and the participants are staying for the weekend. So, the project team feels obliged to arrange some social programme for the attendees.
Now there is the Project Manager and you, the Leading Expert. You rack your brains over what you can suggest and whom. You have made acquaintance with all of the people and have an idea of their personalities. The manager sits on the money and he/she will decide what the Project can afford for certain groups and individuals.
Invent some characters (the portraits below can be of help), or take the old ones. Think of what will be suitable for the staying conference participants and negotiate the opportunities with the manager, make decisions about tomorrow’s itineraries and then share your ideas with the class.
