Course Description

Negotiation is a key skill at every level of every organization, in every age and every country. We negotiate with potential employers, co-workers, bosses, landlords, merchants, partners, parents, children, friends, roommates, and many others. Our negotiation skills affect the prices we pay, the salary we earn, the movies we watch, and who cleans up the kitchen. Despite its universal appeal, the subject is mostly taught to graduate-level business students. But why should MBAs be the only ones who learn how to negotiate? Let’s cut some deals. While there’s no strategy that works across all situations, there is still tremendous value in thinking through the elements that generally lead to successful negotiation. Along with readings, discussion, and exercises, students will engage in a number of simulated negotiations, ranging from simple one-issue transactions to multi-party joint ventures. Keywords:Psychology, negotiation, business

Divisional Requirements

Was course completed satisfactorily?

Yes

Course Fundamentals

Attended class
Participated in class discussion
Participated in in-class or group activities
Completed assignments on time

Learning Goals

Learn to read and interpret intellectual or artistic works
Write critically and analytically
Understand quantitative methods of analysis
Develop creative abilities in expressive modes (e.g. creative writing, visual and performance arts, and music)
Effectively present ideas orally
Conceive and complete project-based work
Understand multiple cultural perspectives on intellectual or artistic subjects

Narrative Description of Student Performance

Ruth Daniel did an outstanding job in this class. They were a frequent and enthusiastic contributor to class discussions and did a wonderful job bringing ideas and facts from outside of class into the conversation. The course was structured around a number of negotiation exercises that ranged from simple one-issue deals to multi-party joint ventures. Ruth showed an immediate natural talent for negotiation, reliably making some of the best deals in the class. 

The final negotiation exercise for this course was a simulation of the papal election of 1492 and its immediate aftermath, conducted in a total of six sessions over the last three weeks of class. Ruth played the role of Cardinal Ascanio Visconti Sforza, a cardinal from Milan and brother to the Duke of Milan. Ruth immediately turned this character into the leading candidate for pope, remaining in the lead throughout the whole election, the frontrunner in every single vote after the first. They made enormously skillful use of their resources, showing great foresight, always looking for just the right piece of information at exactly the right moment. The last few votes were extremely close, but in the end, Ruth defeated the Borgia faction and won the election, becoming the new Pope Ambrose I. As Pope Ambrose, Ruth pursued a strategy of peace in Europe, and was largely successful, brokering compromises between enemies and making the war that followed much smaller than it might otherwise have been. Everyone immediately accepted Ruth’s leadership and the wisdom of their rulings; their legitimacy was unquestioned. The amount of time and energy that Ruth put into this success, and the amount of skill that it required, should not be underestimated. Many other factions wanted their candidate to become pope; only Ruth succeeded. 

At the end of the semester I had the students vote on class superlatives, and Ruth’s classmates voted them the highest superlative of all, “Best Negotiator”. In sum, Ruth did an outstanding job in this class and has proven themselves a negotiator to be reckoned with.