Summer University Course

Prerequisites

This is a 100-level introductory course with no prerequisites.

Course description

The course aims to develop students’ negotiation skills. We’ll do lots of negotiation exercises in class in which students will have to achieve the best outcome on the basis of confidential information with a partner with their own confidential information. The concepts needed to analyze negotiations will be introduced in connection with these scenarios.

Topics

• Distributive and integrative negotiations
• Best alternative to negotiated agreement (BATNA)
• Reservation price and zone of possible agreement (ZOPA)
• Value creation through trades
• The role of information and trust
• Mental errors leading to bad outcomes

Learning outcomes

• know how to prepare for negotiations
• understand the role of conflict and collaboration in negotiation
• be able to identify and employ the most common negotiation tactics
• learn how to deal with difficult negotiators
• be able to deal with your and your partner’s emotions

Assessment

Students planning to obtain ECTS credits for the course will write a 45-minute in-class examination. Grading will be based on the written examination (50%) and contribution to class work (50%).

Reading materials

Richard Luecke: Harvard Business Essentials: Guide to Negotiation. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2003. (recommended)

Gábor Forrai is professor at the Department of Argumentation Theory and Marketing. Trained as a philosopher, he obtained his PhD at the University of Notre Dame and was a visiting scholar in Oxford, Edinburgh, Frankfurt and Marburg.

János Tanács is associate professor at the Department of Argumentation Theory and Marketing. He has been teaching negotiation for over 15 years on various levels, from beginning courses to advanced skills training programs offered to CEOs.