Undergraduate Course: Negotiation (BUST10039)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course addresses an area where many resource allocation decisions depend not on the outcome of market forces but on the interplay of bargaining between two or more groups. Such situations may be found in purchasing a car, a carpet, or a house; in contracting for the services of a painter, a builder, or a plumber; in determining the terms and conditions of one's individual employment; in corporate take-overs; in union-management agreements concerning groups of workers; in free trade agreements within groups of countries; in divorce settlements; in setting regulatory conditions; in determining the location of an environmentally dangerous facility; and in many other areas of resource allocation. |
| Course description |
Some of the important considerations that bear on such situations have long been understood in economics, e.g. the concept of reservation price. Others are only now being addressed. These new developments principally concern game theory and can be traced back to the work of Thomas Schelling as summarised in his The Strategy of Conflict. More recent examples of this line of work can be found in Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff's Thinking Strategically. It has to be emphasised that this is not a course in game theory and does not pursue the theoretical approach. The approach we will adopt here is more behavioural and applied.
This course attempts to recognise that the proper understanding of negotiation requires we go beyond the traditional boundaries of economics and management science, and address notions of bounded rationality, biases in decision making, social influence etc. What is outlined here is not a course in game theory. This course will place much greater emphasis on bounded rationality. It will also make extensive use of role playing and group based simulations. There will, therefore, be a substantial "practical" component to the teaching.
Syllabus
1. Determining price and value; BATNA; zone of agreement; focal point; the canonical distributive bargaining case.
2. Perceptions and biases; framing; anchoring; escalation.
3. Strategic behaviour - two parties; commitment; integrative versus distributive negotiation.
4. Strategic behaviour - more than two issues; more than two parties; coalitions.
5. Bargaining over positions versus principles.
6. Third parties; facilitators, mediators, arbitrators and rule manipulators; negotiating via information technology.
7. Negotiation in the Shadow of the Law.
8. Strikes.
9. Environmental conflict resolution.
10. Ethics of negotiation; fairness; lies versus 'strategic misrepresentations'.
11. Negotiation and culture; Body Language.
12. Electronic Negotiation
Student Learning Experience
Negotiation cases and simulations form an important part of the course. In each case you will be asked to sign-up for a particular role in a case, e.g. the buyer of a used car. You will then be assigned to a "team", e.g. matched up with the seller of a used car. Each team will have a physical area in which they can negotiate in privacy. Sometimes the lecture theatre itself will suffice. At other times you will be free to break out into other spaces. Combining these exercises with a coffee break is fine (and, indeed, we shall see that social interaction plays an important part in negotiation), but please maintain your focus on the exercise at hand and return to the lecture theatre by the deadline set. Late returns to class will miss the all-important 'de-briefing' component of the learning exercise.
Even more so than in other courses, attendance is essential. As an important part of learning in this course comes through the role playing exercises you are strongly advised to attend all teaching and learning sessions. Any student who, for whatever reason, fails to attend three or more of the teaching and learning sessions is advised to drop the course in favour of some alternative.
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment is in the form of one component of course work and a two-hour degree examination in December.
The element of course work comprises an in-class multiple choice test to be held in week 10 (30% of final grade).
Students will be awarded EITHER the weighted average of the multiple-choice text mark (30%) and the final degree exam (70%) OR the final degree exam only (100%).
For the multiple-choice test, a sample test is provided at the end of this booklet and we will go over the correct answers in class near the end of the semester. Negative marking will be utilised in the multiple choice test. The test itself will take place in the final Negotiation class session of the semester.
The degree examination in December is a two-hour examination that will require students to answer two out of four questions. The degree examination will be integrative, in the sense that, where appropriate and relevant, students will be rewarded for displaying knowledge of more than one lecture topic in the answer to each question. This means that the practice of concentrating on three or four topics out of the whole course is strongly discouraged here. Please, be warned. |
| Feedback |
Finalised examination marks will be posted on Learn (together with generic feedback and examination statistics) as soon as possible after the Board of Examiners' meeting (normally end of January/beginning of February). You will have the opportunity to look at your examination scripts in early February in the UG Office (Room 1.11, Business School, 29 Buccleuch Place). Note that you will not be able to remove any examination scripts from the UG Office as they may be required by the Board of Examiners. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand some of the economic theories that are relevant to the negotiation process.
- Understand and discuss critically components of the negotiation process.
- Apply the principles of the negotiation process to negotiation in practice.
- Understand and apply the concept of bounded rationality.
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Reading List
The principal text for the course is:
Leigh Thompson, The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator, Prentice Hall, ISBN 10: 1-292-02319-8 (2014) Fifth edition. There is a 2009 fourth edition; 2004 edition; and a 2001 edition that serve equally well. Clearly newer is better.
Main Library (HUB SHORT LOAN) - Ground floor Shelfmark: HD58.6 Tho.
Alternative texts which cover some aspects of the course are:
Howard Raiffa, John Richardson and David Metcalfe, Negotiation Analysis, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002, pp548. (STANDARD LOAN - 2nd floor HD58.6 Rai.)
Howard Raiffa, The Art and Science of Negotiation, Harvard University Press, 1982, 373pp.,Main Library [SHORT LOAN] - Shelfmark: BF637.N4 Rai.
Max H Bazerman and Margaret A Neale, Negotiating Rationally, New York: Free Press. 1992 (.3011554 Baz)
An entertaining and insightful background overview of the area is available in:
Kennedy, Gavin (1989, 1994), Everything is Negotiable. Hutchinson (Short loan: BF637.N4Ken or .311.116Ken). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
1. The objectives of the course are to provide you with a deeper understanding of the negotiation process and to allow you to develop some facility in negotiation practice. These objectives will be achieved both through the analytical discussions provided in lecture and backed up and developed in the course readings, and through the in-class (and, when necessary, out-of-class) group simulations of negotiation. In the simulation exercises you will be actively involved in playing a role in a wide range of negotiation situations. This is a highly interactive class that will require you to develop your interpersonal and group skills.
2. Participation on this course should, quite simply, make you a better negotiator. Better in the sense of being more likely to come to an agreement that is in your interest (and, of course, also in the interest of the other negotiating parties). You will not end up after only 10 weeks as an expert, but you will have the analytical tools that will allow you to prepare for and engage in negotiation in the myriad of situations where negotiation arises. When things do not work out as well as might be hoped, you will have the knowledge and understanding to be able to stand back and analyse where things went wrong, and how you might learn by the experience and do better next time. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Wednesdays in Semester 1 from 9.00-10.50 am. |
| Keywords | Neg |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Brian Main
Tel: (0131 6)50 8360
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Paul Kydd
Tel: (0131 6)50 3824
Email: |
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