I am looking for a management/communication class that is focused on how to manage and communicate with artist/designers. I haven't had any luck searching online. Any resources or advice on where I can find a course like this would be greatly appreciated.

HI Zoo... usually, if you can talk more specifically about what you're hoping to achieve with the class, it's easier to pinpoint what existing classes (if any) might help. Good communication is good communication, good management is good management, good leadership is good leadership...

What barriers do you feel are present that preclude you from pursuing any manner of the multitude of already-available inter-personal communications, team work, management, and other such courses?

I agree with you. However my managers feel designers have a different way of thinking and require a different method of management. Thanks for your response, because you are absolutely right, I guess I have to communicate that same message to my managers.

Hi Zoo... Well - everyone has different ways of thinking, and a good manager with good communication skills can surf through it all fairly easily. So you can acknowledge that yes - perhaps these designers have a different way of thinking, but so does everyone.

You could ask them a similar question that I posed earlier - particularly if they are under the impression that there's a special paradigm that fits only their perception of what they think is different about designers.

What they seem to be missing is that if they have good communication, management and team building skills, they'll be able to bring together and communicate with all sorts of personalities. Sometimes it takes a carefully crafted Socratic discussion to get them to that realization, though.

I just did a Yahoo search (yes Yahoo, not Google) on "how to manage designers" and volia! there it was.................