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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2013/2014
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Undergraduate Course: Negotiation (BUST10039)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Course typeStandard AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) Credits20
Home subject areaBusiness Studies Other subject areaNone
Course website None Taught in Gaelic?No
Course descriptionThis 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.

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. Students are recommended to take The Economics of Strategic Behaviour. 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.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: Economics 1A (ECNM08005) OR Economic Principles and Applications (ECNM08002) OR Business Economics (BUST08005)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs None
Course Delivery Information
Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Learn enabled:  Yes Quota:  None
Web Timetable Web Timetable
Course Start Date 16/09/2013
Breakdown of 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 )
Additional Notes
Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) Written Exam 70 %, Coursework 30 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
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.
Assessment Information
Assessment is in the form of one component of course work and a two-hour degree examination in April/May. The element of course work comprises an in-class multiple choice test to be held in week 11 (30% of final grade). The degree examination, therefore, counts for 70% of the final grade.

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 ¿ attendance is compulsory and failure to attend will result in a reference to the Special Circumstances Committee.

The degree examination at the end of the year 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.
Special Arrangements
None
Additional Information
Academic description Not entered
Syllabus Not entered
Transferable skills Not entered
Reading list The principal text for the course is:

Leigh Thompson, The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-129375-3 (2012) 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.
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).
Study Abroad Not entered
Study Pattern Not entered
KeywordsNeg
Contacts
Course organiserProf Brian Main
Tel: (0131 6)50 8360
Email: Brian.Main@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMr Paul Kydd
Tel: (0131 6)50 3824
Email: Paul.Kydd@ed.ac.uk
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