Mastering Negotiation Skills & Strategies

Overview

Designed to improve students’ understanding of the negotiations process and their ability to plan and conduct negotiations effectively. Includes such activities as readings, lectures, and discussions as well as case discussions and role-playing negotiation exercises.

Syllabus

Getting Started with Negotiations

This module, you'll be learning the fundamentals of negotiation. This includes key attributes of negotiations, such as reservation value, aspiration value, and BATNA. You'll also address key concepts such as why many are anxious about negotiating, and how to fight that anxiety. Most importantly, you'll get a sense of your negotiating style, including your habits and assumptions.

Seven Elements and More

This module, you'll begin working with the 7 Elements Framework, a powerful system that will give you tools that you can use before, during, and after a negotiation to ensure a positive outcome. You'll learn about the power of using objective standards to maintain a win-win negotiation, and how to be prepared before even sitting down at the table by considering your alternatives.

Engaging With Bias

Every negotiator is prone to bias. This module, you'll learn about the many ways in which bias can affect a negotiation, as well as tactics you can use to help mitigate not only your own biases, but the biases of your counterpart across the table. Some of these biases may be more general, such as agreement bias, and others may be more specialized to negotiations, such as fixed pie bias. In any event, having a firm knowledge of the potential pitfalls will help equip you with the tools you need to successfully negotiate a long lasting agreement.

Difficult Tactics

This module is all about hardball tactics. We commonly associate negotiations generally with win-lose scenarios where one party walks away from the table unhappy. In this module, you'll dispel those notions and learn why integrative negotiation is the superior method for making deals that create value. However, you'll first need to know what you may be up against if your counterpart attempts one of multiple aggressive approaches. You'll learn the what and why of such tactics, and how to shift the negotiation towards a more collaborative tone.