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Negotiation
BUS 9303: The Three Faces Of Negotiation
This 1-credit seminar engages students in an experiential, theory-grounded, practice-driven, study of three core perspectives in negotiation:
- strategic negotiation,
- the law in negotiation, and
- the industrial and labor relations process.
A basic premise of this seminar is that while a businessperson needs analytical skills to develop optimal solutions to problems, a broad array of negotiation skills is needed in order for these solutions to be accepted and implemented.
Professors Molly Kern (Management), Seth Lipner (Law), and Peter Pepper (Management) will team-teach this seminar. After the final session, students will be given 4 weeks to complete an analysis of a negotiation or dispute in their own lives, which will comprise the majority of their grade for the course.
BUS 9303 will be held on three Fridays during Spring 2008:
- Friday, March 28, 2008 – 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
- Friday, April 4, 2008 – 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
- Friday, April 11, 2008 – 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
MODULE 1: Strategic Negotiation
Although people negotiate all the time, most know very little about the strategy and psychology of effective negotiations. Why do we sometimes get our way whereas other times we walk away feeling frustrated by our inability to achieve the agreement we desire? The goal of this module is to learn the keys to successful negotiation – thorough preparation and effective implementation of strategy.
In this module you will prepare, negotiate, and analyze two distinct negotiations. You will receive quantitative and qualitative feedback after each negotiation. We will discuss (and practice!) integrative and distributive negotiation strategies, individual and team-based negotiations, and negotiating joint and individual gains. You will leave the classroom with a better understanding of your own strengths (and areas for improvement), a few new strategies, and a model for preparing for any negotiation.
MODULE 2: Law, Negotiation and Commercial Dispute Resolution
You are negotiating a purchase or a sale, an employment contract, or a new business venture. What terms are important? What is customary? Do you need a lawyer? What about all the "boilerplate"? And what can you do if the deal goes bad? The answers to these (and other) questions will be explored in this module given by Professor Seth E. Lipner of the Law Department.
This module will begin with a discussion of contracts and the way business uses them. You will be introduced to different types of contracts, including goods contracts, services contracts, employment contracts, technology contracts, licenses and international contracts. You will learn about the law that applies to these different kinds of contracts, and how they (and the law that governs these contracts) differ. You will be introduced to contract basics, the Uniform Commercial Code, and the way the law makes contracts binding.
Our goal will be to enable students to read, understand and use the "standard form" contracts that are ubiquitous in business. The emphasis will be on "the moving parts" and the way the law and the contract interact to define the rights and responsibilities of the parties.
What is important and what is not? What is negotiable, and what is sacred? What are the remedies if something goes wrong? What needs to be put into the contract as protection against disaster? What does all that legal terminology mean, and what basic legal principles do businesspeople need to know? The focus of these sessions will be to provide answers to these questions.
Students will engage in a simulation where some will play the role of sellers and the others buyers. The sellers will be given a "standard contract form" to adapt, and then present to the buyer. The parties will then negotiate either to contract completion of impasse. Faculty from both the Law and Management departments will then review your results and present solutions and ideas for the future.
We will then conclude with an inside view of lawyers, the profession, the "legal system", and the array of dispute resolution mechanisms. Aspects of the attorney-client relationship will be covered, including selection, retention, and attorney and client responsibilities. There will be an opportunity to learn new lawyer jokes.
MODULE 3: Negotiation in Industrial and Labor Relations
This module is designed to provide an intense overview of the industrial and labor relations’ framework, and the procedures available for negotiations and dispute resolutions in the United States’ economic structure.
Noteworthy historical events in United States’ legislative and legal history, specific to the industrial and labor relations process, will form the necessary framework for this session. Key legal cases shape the important background necessary to appreciate both the changes in environment, and the obligations of employers and labor organizations in approaching their unique relationship.
The strategy within the collective bargaining relationship in the private and public sectors, and the always-lurking possibility of impasse will be covered. In this regard, there will be a brief discussion and examples of actual collective bargaining agreements. The various theories of management rights, where the parties' relationship is initially established, will be provided. Emphasis will be placed on the exercise of leverage by both labor and management, and the power and responsibility of both parties. Finally, the grievance and arbitration process will be reviewed.
This module will culminate in an arbitration exercise, in which students will play various roles in a presentation of an actual real-world arbitration case and the instructor and several invited guests will function as arbitrators.