Admission requirements
Required course(s):
Completion of Social Psychology (Block 1) is highly recommended.
Description
Negotiation, you do it every day! For example with your parents about how high your allowance is (if you get any), with your friends about what movie to go to or with your boss about your salary, promotion or vacation days.
This course is an introduction to negotiation, the art and science of creating and securing agreements between two or more interdependent parties in a conflict situation. It is designed to expose you to negotiation problems and give you practice in applying negotiation theory to specific managerial situations. The main goal of this course is to help you acquire problem solving negotiation skills. These skills will help you for the rest of your career (and life!) to get better deals for yourself, craft mutually beneficial win-win agreements, and secure cooperative working relationships.
This is an interactive course based on the idea that becoming skilled at negotiation is best achieved through practicing it. Therefore this course contains weekly negotiation exercises where you can practice your skills in a safe environment on your fellow students. The exercises will be combined with reflection, discussion, readings, assignments and presentations to enhance the overall learning.
Course Objectives
After the course, you will:'
possess advanced knowledge and insights about social psychological issues of negotiation and related organisational behaviour;
be able to explain central concepts in negotiation, as they apply in a variety of contexts;
manage to prepare effectively for negotiation, and understand when to negotiate, and when not to negotiate;
apply multiple approaches to resolving unproductive negotiations;
employ negotiation skills and understand how to create value and reach mutually beneficial agreements;
be able to analyse and predict the behaviour of others in negotiation;
have increased your confidence in your negotiation skills.
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2022-2023 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
This class applies an experiential learning approach. This means, the class is built around a number of exercises and debriefing in class discussion. Crucial elements in this format of instruction are:
Negotiation Exercises: The course is built around a series of negotiation exercises. You will conduct several negotiations with other students. Some of the negotiations are “one-on-one;” others are “group-on-group.” I will occasionally observe the negotiations to provide tailored feedback.
Preparation for Negotiations: Your classmates expect you to be fully prepared for each negotiation exercise. Prior to most negotiations, you are required to submit a planning document. Also, note that some exercises require you to prepare outside of class as a team.
Negotiation Debrief: We will debrief the negotiations in class. You are expected to participate in these class discussions. Your agreements will be revealed so that the class can analyse the relationship between different negotiation strategies and outcomes, learning from everyone’s experience.
Learning: You are encouraged to experiment with alternative styles in this “safe” environment. This is where you can lose a “million” euro and, in retrospect, be happy because you learned a critical lesson! Recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and track your individual progress.
Readings: It is recommended to do the week’s readings AFTER the negotiation. The concepts will be more comprehensible if you have already experienced them directly, and foreknowledge of the concepts could prevent the mistakes that you need to make in order to learn. Required readings are one book and several recent journal articles (see below), which can all be downloaded from the library.
Assessment Method
The following contribution by students are graded:
In-class participation and class discussion, incl. preparation of short planning documents for the negotiations and debriefing of negotiation exercises (10%);
One brief reflection report (10%) and one brief analysis or preparation of a role-play negotiation (10%);
Development of an own negotiation exercise (30%; this is a group exercise);
An analysis of a real-world negotiation (10%);
Two exams about the required readings (midterm and final exam, 2x 15% = 30%).
NOTE: In the unlikely case that we have to switch to online teaching, the two exams will be administered in a different form, e.g. as one open-book exam in the exam week (15%) and continuous assessment by MC questions in class (15%).
Note that the outcomes you achieve in the role-play negotiations are not graded. The role-play negotiations are meant to give you a safe environment to practice and improve various negotiation styles. In order to create this safe environment and give everyone the possibility to learn from experience and mistakes, only quality of your reflection on your behaviour is graded, but not the actual outcomes you achieve in these negotiations!
Reading list
Besides several articles (which will be available through BrightSpace), the literature consists of a selection of chapters from this text book:
- Lewicki, R. J., Saunders, D. M., & Barry, B. (2020). Essentials of Negotiation (7th International Edition). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr. W. Steinel, wsteinel@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
This course combines theoretical insights with a strong focus on acquiring skills through practice and reflection. You should be aware that, at times, the negotiations might make you uncomfortable or emotional. I urge students to be creative, practice newly learned behaviour, and experiment with tactics and strategies. You will learn most by truly engaging in the simulations, making the situations as real as possible.