Negotiation is the art and science of securing agreements between two or more interdependent parties who seek to maximize their outcomes. It is a key leadership skill. While leaders need analytical skills to develop optimal solutions, they also need negotiation skills to win acceptance and implementation of these solutions.

While we negotiate often, many of us know very little about the strategy and psychology of effective negotiations. In this course, students will have the opportunity to evaluate their existing approach to negotiations, learn new strategies, and learn how to apply these strategies to the wide variety of negotiations they will encounter across their career. The course is designed for students in all managerial and entrepreneurial careers.

The course will be largely experiential, providing students with an opportunity to develop their skills by participating in negotiation role-plays and integrating their experiences with the principles presented in the assigned readings and course discussions.

The course has five major parts, adding more complexity as we proceed in the course:

(1) Single-Issue, Two-Party Negotiations

(2) Multiple Issues, Two-Party Negotiations

(3) Multi-Party Negotiations

(4) Conflict Resolution

(5) Negotiations in International Context

(1) Gain a broad intellectual understanding of central concepts in negotiation to understand the structure and dynamics of negotiation in a variety of contexts

(2) Learn to develop strategic plans for negotiating in a variety of contexts

(3) Improve ability to lead the negotiation process and execute win-win agreements

(4) Assess one’s own and the other party’s style, strengths, weaknesses, and biases

(5) Learn how to resolve conflicts effectively and create value out of them

(6) Build confidence in negotiation skills

(7) Negotiate effectively across cultural boundaries

R. Lewicki, D. M. Saunders, B. Barry. Essentials of Negotiation (6th Edition)

R. Fisher & W. Ury (and B. Patton as Editor of the Revised Edition) (4th Edition), Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, New York, NY: Penguin Books

“The Hidden Challenge of Cross-Border Negotiations” by J.K. Sebenius, Harvard Business Review, March 2002

The best way to learn negotiation skills is to negotiate in a safe environment that provides insight, feedback, opportunity for reflection and risk taking, and where careful analysis is required. Therefore, this course has been designed to foster learning principally by concrete experiences - by doing, trying things during negotiations while thinking about the concepts we will read about and discuss in lectures.

The negotiation role-plays will treat a variety of situations (e.g., company acquisition, employment and salary, conflict between business partners, and multi-party coalition building) and will provide students with an opportunity to attempt strategies and tactics in a low-risk environment and learn about themselves and build their confidence.

Grades in this course will be based on the following three components:

• Class Contribution (15%)

• Team Presentation (40%)

• Self-Assessment and Reflection Paper (45%)

For details, please see the Syllabus (PDF-File).

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