General description of course content and course goals

We negotiaate everday in privat and professional contexts. Leading negotiations successfully has a significant impact on future careers. Yet, we tend to have limited knowledge about the theory and empirical evidence regarding successful negotiating. Many people approach negotiations in a rather intuitive and unplanned way which often results in sub-optimal negotiation outcomes.

The purpose of this interactive and problem-based course is to theortically understand the strategies and process of negotiationas practiced in a variety of business-related settings (e.g. negotiations about working conditions, negotiations with customers and suppliers). The course will highlight the components of an effectivenegotiation (strategy, perparation, execution, evaluation) and offer the students the opportunity to analyze their own behavior in negotiations in order to improve.

The course structure is experiential and problem-based, combining lectures, classdiscussion, mini-cases and small erxercises, and more comprehensive negotiation practices in longer sessions. Through participation in negotiation exercises,students will have the opportunity to practice their communication andpersuasion skills and to experiment with a variety of negotiating strategiesand tactics. Students will apply the lessons learned toongoing, real-world negotiations.

Content:

The studentswill find answers to the following fundamental questions of negotiation strategies in theoryand practice:

• How do negotiations influence everyday life and business processes?
• What are key features of negotiations?
• What are different forms of negotiations? What kinds of negotiation can be distinguished?
• Which theoretical approaches to a theory of negotiation can be distinguished?
• How can game theory be applied to negotiation?
• What makes an effective negotiator?
• Which factors should be considered when planning negotiations?
• What steps must be followed to reach a deal?
• Are there specific negotiation tactics?
• What are the typical barriers to an agreement and how to deal with them?
• What are possible cognitive (mental) errors and how to correct them?

Knowledge

Students know...

• the theory basics of negotiations (e.g. game theory, behavioral theories)
  
• the types and the pros and cons of diffrent negotiation strategies
• the process of negotiation, inlcuding goal formulation, preparation/planning, execution and evaluation 
• about some key issues impacting negotiations (e.g. team building and roles, barriers to reaching a deal, cognitive biases, multi-phase negotiations)

Skills

Students arecapable of...

• simultaneously considering multiple factors in negotiation situations and taking reasoned actions when preparing and conducting negotiations.
• Analyzing and handling the key challenges of uncertainty, risk, intercultural differences, and time pressure in realistic negotiation situations.
• assessing the typical barriers to an agreement (e.g. lack of trust), dealing with hardball tactics (e.g. good cop, bad cop; lowball, highball; intimidation), and avoiding cognitive traps (e.g. unchecked emotions, overconfidence).
• reflecting on their decision-making in uncertain negotiation situations and derive actions for future decisions.

Social Competence

Studentscan...

• provide appropriate feedback and handle feedback on their own performance constructively.
• constructively interact with their team members in role playing in negotiations sessions
• develop joint solutions in mixed teams and present them to others in real-world negotiation situatio
  

  Self-Reliance

  Students areable to...

  • assess possible consequences of their own negotiation behavior
  • define own positions and tasks in the negotiation preparation process.
  • justify and make elaborated decisions in authentic negotiation situations.