15.712 Power, Influence, and Negotiation MIT Sloan EMBA Class of 2015 Professor Jared Curhan MIT Sloan School of Management curhan@mit.edu TA: Taylor Moulton (taylor.moulton@sloan.mit.edu) Course Administrator: Amy Wasserman (amyruth@mit.edu) Course Syllabus Last modified: Feb 12, 2015 No matter how excellent your ideas or how sophisticated your analyses, most business achievements require the ability to communicate with and influence others. This course will equip you with negotiation strategies that you can use to understand, plan for, and achieve your objectives whether negotiating with your boss, your subordinates, your colleagues, your partners, your spouse, your children, your friends, or your enemies. Drawing from psychology, communication, law, and economics, this course explores the theory, research, and practice of negotiation across a variety of settings. Since negotiation is something you learn by doing, nearly every lesson includes a hands on case study or negotiation simulation designed to enhance your abilities, demonstrate concepts, and/or provide you with opportunities to experiment with various negotiation techniques. Topics may include, but are not limited to the following: lessons from game theory distributive and integrative bargaining principles of influence personality and negotiation styles reputations, relationships, and trust multiparty negotiations psychological biases IMPORTANT: Please bring to every class session a laptop or tablet (e.g., ipad) with WiFi or broadband access to the Internet. You will need this device to complete surveys and receive personalized feedback during class. In addition, to facilitate discussion, there will be periods when you will not be permitted to use these devices, so please bring an alternative means of taking notes.
EMBA: Negotiations P. 2 REQUIREMENTS Reading Assignments. In addition to the cases and exercises, several of which require reading and preparation outside of class, you are expected to read the book Getting to YES: Negotiating agreement without giving in (see below for details) prior to our second class meeting. Simulations and Exercises. One of the goals for this class is that you gain a deeper understanding of negotiation, not just by reading, writing, and thinking about it, but also by experiencing it first hand. Therefore, we have planned a number of in class simulations and exercises related to negotiation. As many of these activities require some understanding of background materials and/or confidential instructions, we will expect you in most cases to prepare for these activities before class. * Attendance and Participation. Due to the highly experiential nature of this course, attendance at all classes and participation in all cases and exercises (as evidenced by on time submission of results) is mandatory. Active in class participation in activities and discussions is expected of all students. Please arrive promptly so that introductions and instructions to activities do not need to be repeated or delayed. If you believe that you have extenuating circumstances that require you to miss a class, please contact the TA; advance notice is essential, preferably by the previous class meeting. Final Paper. You will be required to submit a reflection paper on an ongoing or recently concluded negotiation experience from your own life. Your paper will be reviewed only by your TA and by your Professor. Consider a real world negotiation experience from your own life. It can be a negotiation you ve just recently completed, one in which you re currently involved, or one you anticipate facing in the near future. It could be a business negotiation, or it could be a negotiation from your personal life. Describe this negotiation as best you can, using the concepts and terminology from the course. Also provide a prescriptive analysis, using tools from the course, suggesting how the problem might best be handled (or might best have been handled if you had it to do over again). Be sure to consider the perspectives of all central parties who are involved. 1,250 1,750 words (which is roughly 5 7 pages, double spaced, 12 point font, with 1 margins). Please submit your paper electronically (via Stellar) in MS Word format. This paper is due Sun, May 3 at 11:59PM Eastern time. * A central element of this course is the production of new information about negotiation. What this means is that some of the classroom exercises double as research investigations. In many cases, you ll be asked to complete confidential questionnaires before or after the experience. This also fits the philosophy of the course: Almost all of the exercises you will experience have been studied in previous research projects in former classes, like yours. Students from those classes have contributed to your learning experience. By participating in new research projects, you contribute to the experiences of future students. In every case, these new exercises are designed to maximize both learning value and research potential. We've had a lot of practice satisfying both these criteria in the past, so don t worry about experiencing new exercises. They help keep the course fresh. If you would not like the outcomes of your participation in this course to be included anonymously in our research database, please email Amy Wasserman (amyruth@mit.edu) as soon as possible. Approved on 15-Nov-2001, MIT IRB Protocol #0403000325, Expires on: Oct-2015.
EMBA: Negotiations P. 3 GRADING Final papers will be evaluated according to the following criteria: Breadth: Number of course concepts and tools applied Depth: Understanding and thorough application of course concepts and tools applied Demonstrated ability to introspect and critique your own ideas and behavior Demonstrated ability to understand the perspectives of others Creativity in developing elegant solutions to problems Overall quality of arguments and clarity of expressed ideas Papers submitted late will result in a penalty of one letter grade per day. Classroom participation will be evaluated according to the frequency and quality of your contributions, as judged jointly by the Professor and the TA. As noted earlier, attendance at all class meetings and participation in all exercises is mandatory. Grading is based on the Final Paper (40%), attendance (25%), participation in class discussion (15%), timely completion of simulations and exercises (15%), and timely completion of Personal Evaluation Assignment (5%). READING The EMBA Program Office will provide you with a copy of the following book: Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (1991). Getting to YES: Negotiating agreement without giving in. Second Edition. New York: Penguin Books. Copies of all cases (referenced below) will be distributed prior to the class in which they are due.
EMBA: Negotiations P. 4 COURSE SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS PRE COURSE ASSIGNMENTS (due Sat, Feb 28 at 8:00AM): Complete Personal Evaluation Assignment an online survey which should take roughly 40 minutes. Details provided on Stellar. Read your confidential instructions for 67 Fish Pond Lane (distributed in soft copy via Stellar half class receives buyer version, other half receives seller version) and prepare for your in class negotiation. Please do not show your instructions to anyone else in the class because your instructions contain private information that is not shared by all students. DAY #1: Sat, Feb 28 Class runs 8:00AM 4:00PM (with breaks for coffee/snacks and lunch) Unit 1: Core Negotiation Strategy Unit 2: Distributive Bargaining and Value Claiming Unit 3: Bargaining Practice Unit 4: Principles of Influence Unit 5: Norms and Negotiation PRE DAY 2 ASSIGNMENTS (due Sat, April 11 at 8:00AM): Read your confidential instructions for Freelance Consultant (distributed in class) and prepare for your in class negotiation. Read your confidential instructions for Bakra Beverage (distributed in class) and prepare for your in class negotiation. Read Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (1991). Getting to YES: Negotiating agreement without giving in. Second Edition. New York: Penguin Books. DAY #2: Sat, April 11 Class runs 8:00AM 4:00PM (with break for coffee/snacks and lunch) Unit 6: Integrative Negotiation Unit 7: Value Creation Unit 8: Subjective Value Unit 9: Personal Signatures Unit 10: The Negotiator s Dilemma Unit 11: Pre negotiation Strategy Unit 12: Putting it All Together
EMBA: Negotiations P. 5 PRE DAY 3 ASSIGNMENTS (due Sat, April 25 at 8:00AM): Read your instructions for 3 party Coalition Exercise (distributed in class). Read your general and confidential instructions for Harborco (distributed in class). DAY #4: Sat, April 25 Class runs 8:00AM 4:00PM (with breaks for coffee/snacks and lunch) Unit 13: Psychological Barriers Unit 14: Structural Barriers Unit 15: Strategic Barriers Unit 16: Final review and Wrap up