Contact Information
Phone Number:
608.265.4923
Email Address:
corliss.olson@uwex.edu
"The erosion of health care, pensions and good-paying jobs is unconscionable in this wealthy country. Rising productivity and work intensification have resulted in more wealth for a few and deteriorating standards of living for working women and men. It is a privilege to work with union women and men to reinvigorate the labor movement and demand economic justice for all workers."
Corliss Olson has been a faculty member at the School for Workers since 1996. She has experience in community and economic development, adult education, and union and political leadership. Corliss has facilitated union and union-management groups in the public, private and non-profit sectors.
Major teaching areas include:
- Building a respectful workplace - workplace relationships require good communication and interpersonal skills, worker to manager, union to management, and worker to worker. Skills that contribute to a respectful workplace include active listening, message clarification, conflict management, understanding gender differences in communication styles, and developing inclusivity. Recent, international work has also shown that bullying in the workplace, a huge impediment to respect, is on the rise, and it requires a collective response.
- Grievance Arbitration - understanding the process and preparing cases for grievance arbitration.
- Organizational effectiveness - development of various techniques, usually customized to the union or workplace. Topics include change management, problem-solving, organizational communication, labor-management cooperation, and appreciative inquiry.
- Steward training-grievance handling, interviewing skills, working with union members and management, and problem resolution.
Education
Ph.D., Industrial Relations, U.W.-Madison
M.B.A., Management of Organizations & Human Resources, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
M.A., Counselling Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada