IIMA Course Catalogue

Programme

PGPX

Term

Academic Year

2021-22

Course title

Negotiation Strategy for Managers

Area

Organizational Behaviour

Credits

0.75

Instructor(s)

Prof. Amit Nandkeolyar

Course Description & Objectives

Introduction:
Course content: We negotiate every day. We negotiate with potential employers, coworkers, roommates, landlords, parents, bosses, merchants, service providers, spouses, and even our children. What price we want to pay, how much we want to be paid, who will do the dishes ... all of these are negotiations. Yet, 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 obtain the agreement we desire?

Negotiation is the art and science of securing agreements between two or more interdependent parties. This course is designed to be relevant to a broad spectrum of negotiation problems that are faced by the manager. It is also designed to complement the technical and diagnostic skills learned in other courses. A basic premise of this course is that while a manager 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. Successful completion of this course will enable you to recognize, understand, and analyze essential concepts in negotiations.

Objectives:
The course will highlight the components of an effective negotiation and teach students to analyze their own behavior in negotiations. The course will be largely experiential, providing students with the opportunity to develop their skills by participating in negotiations and integrating their experiences with the principles presented in the assigned readings and course discussions.

• This course is designed to foster learning through doing, and to explore your own talents, skills, and shortcomings as a negotiator.
• The negotiation exercises will provide you with an opportunity to attempt strategies and tactics in a low-risk environment, to learn about yourself and how you respond in specific negotiation situations.
• If you discover a tendency that you think needs correction, this is the place to try something new. The course is sequenced so that cumulative knowledge can be applied and practiced.

Pedagogy

There will be a negotiation exercise in almost every class. Classes will also include lectures and class discussions. Although the class officially meets at scheduled course times, students will be expected to meet with other students outside of class to prepare for certain negotiation exercises.

In addition to the ethical code, additional rules apply for this course. This class heavily relies on role play exercises during which students will negotiate with one another. You are encouraged to experiment with new approaches, learn from your previous mistakes, and be creative during these exercises. To enhance the quality of these exercises, there are several ground rules for the negotiation role-play exercises:

• Do NOT show your confidential role instructions to other parties, though you are free to share whatever you would like to about your confidential information.
• You may use any strategy, short of physical violence, to reach agreement. However, in selecting a strategy, it is wise to consider that using it may have ramifications that go beyond the particular negotiation.
• Do not make up facts that materially change the power distribution of the exercise; e.g., that your family has just bought the company with which you are currently negotiating for a job.
• Do not share or describe the content of the role-playing exercises to students who may consider taking this course in the future.

Back