Faculty
Professor Leonard Greenhalgh
Objectives
This course is designed for students who seek to learn how to become effective negotiators. It is offered during the December mini-term. Classes are scheduled to accommodate the unique format of the course, which is designed to maximize the learning experience. Negotiation is an essential business competency that you primarily "learn by doing." Each class consists of one or two simulations in which every student is a key participant. The teaching involves getting you to reflect on what made you more effective or less effective in the variety of simulated managerial situations you dealt with.
Because the course is experiential and densely packed, perfect and on-time class attendance is a course requirement. In practice, this means there are no excused absences. Less than perfect attendance can be expected to result in a less than satisfactory course grade. Please note that the perfect-attendance policy arose from student requests to make this an explicit course requirement. Here's why they asked for this policy: if a student was scheduled to participate in a negotiation with another student who didn't show up on a particular class day, then the student who came to class but had nobody to negotiate with learns nothing either. Lateness is another form of absence: the class can't start on time if one of the people needed for a negotiation is late. Thus, your enrollment in the course represents a commitment to show up on time for every class session. If you can't make-and live up to-this commitment to your classmates, you should not enroll in the course.
COURSE CONTENT
The course is designed as "discovery learning." It will cover how to negotiate effectively in a broad range of situations, including the following:
Negotiating a plant acquisition
Resolving conflicts that deadlock negotiations
Negotiating with subordinates
Top management team negotiations over corporate strategy
Creating strategic alliances
Negotiating difficult personnel issues
Being effective in low-power situations
Allocation decisions
We'll cover a lot of ground in just three weeks. You'll work hard, learn a lot, and have fun.
Requirements
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS AND EXAMS
There is one group written assignment and a (take-home) final exam in the course.
The written assignment is a group paper. It analyzes the effectiveness of the process by which group members made a strategic decision in the videotaped exercise (the Ford SUV simulation, which takes place in class on December 1). The group has a week-with no scheduled class sessions-to write the paper. It presents your analysis of this videotaped top management team negotiation. The paper will be graded on the quality, insightfulness, and candor of the analysis, not on how good was the group's final recommendation from a strategic standpoint.
The final exam, a take-home, will be an opportunity to demonstrate the diligence with which you read the text, and what you learned about your effectiveness as a negotiator.
CLASS DATES
The course meets during the first and third weeks, with no formal classes scheduled during the middle week. The open week gives you enough time to meet as a group and conduct your analysis of the videotape.
The class schedule is as follows. Please mark your calendars with these dates and times, and please don't schedule any appointments or travel immediately after class, because simulations can sometimes take more time than we predict.
Materials
The text for the course is Managing Business Relationships by Leonard Greenhalgh. It must be read by the end of the course. We will not go over the individual chapters but will focus instead on application of the concepts and models to a broad range of negotiation situations. The role-playing instructions will either be distributed in advance, or handed out in class just before you begin the exercise.
THE TUCK HONOR PRINCIPLE
The final exam should be the student's own work, with no help from anyone.
The group analysis of the SUV strategic decision making exercise must be truly a group effort. This means, in practice, that by putting a student's name on a paper, the other group members are certifying that the student made a substantially equal contribution to all phases of the paper's development. If there is any doubt about the adequacy of a student's contribution, the student's name should be left off the paper and the matter referred to the professor. It would be a violation of the Tuck Honor Principle to shelter a free-rider, or someone whose contribution was relatively minor: this is misrepresentation. Every group member has a responsibility to ensure that a situation where one group member doesn't make an approximately equal contribution to a group assignment gets reported to the professor.
Grading
Your course grade will be a subjective global assessment of your overall performance in the course. It will reflect the quality of the analysis of your group paper, your performance on the final exam, your apparent level of preparation for class, your participation in class, and your contribution to the learning of others. You should not expect to receive a passing grade in the course if you have not completed the course requirements, which include perfect, on-time class attendance.
Schedule
Monday, Nov. 29, 1:15PM-4:45PM
Negotiating Effectively
(role-playing instructions will be distributed in class)
Preparation: Begin reading the book
Wednesday, Dec 1, 1:15PM-5:15 PM
Negotiations to Establish the Corporate Strategy
(videotaped group negotiation)
Preparation: Thoroughly prepare for your role in the SUV strategic simulation
Friday, Dec 3, 10:30AM-2:30 PM
Managerial and Corporate Negotiations
(role-playing instructions will be distributed in class)
Preparation: Finish reading the book
Monday 12/06
Week of Dec 6: No formal classes scheduled
(Groups should meet to analyze their videotapes
and write the group paper)
Monday Dec 13, 1:15-5:15 PM
Resolving Disputes During the Implementation Phase
(Your group paper is due at the beginning of class)
Preparation: Carefully prepare your role in Viking Investments
Wednesday Dec 15, 1:15-5:15 PM
Negotiating to Achieve Competitive Advantage
Top management teams will negotiate deals with other companies)
Preparation: Carefully prepare for your role in Sphynx Malls.
