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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Common Courses (Management School)

Postgraduate Course: Negotiations (MBA) (CMSE11280)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryThe aim of this course is to combine a theoretical and analytical understanding of to the negotiation process with a practical and strategic approach that will help students to improve their potential to plan for and conduct negotiations in a range of circumstances more effectively.
Course description 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.

Syllabus
Introduction to Negotiation Theory and Practice
Negotiation as a mixed motive process
Distributive Bargaining Strategies - Claiming Value
Integrative Bargaining Strategies - Creating Value
Wants and Needs - the importance of identifying underlying interests
A three-step model for negotiation preparation
Negotiating Power
Strategic behaviour in Multiparty and Multi-issue Negotiations
Alternative Dispute Resolution Processes

Student Learning Experience
The course has a strong practical emphasis, with role-playing exercises included as a component of almost every session, which are combined with comprehensive class debriefs that seek to link practice with a fundamental theoretical analysis of the negotiation process.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary.
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Block 4 (Sem 2)
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 28, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 50 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 100 %, Coursework 0 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Written Exam 100%
Feedback Students will be given feedback both on their negotiation performance and their understanding of the concepts being taught during the class exercise debrief sessions that form an integral part of the course structure. Students are also regularly asked questions during each session to assess their understanding and knowledge. Feedback on formative assessed exercise will be provided within 15 working days of completion of the course. Summative marks will be returned on a published timetable, which has been made clear to students at the start of the academic year.

Students will be provided with electronic written feedback for all coursework.
No Exam Information
Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Block 5 (Sem 2) and beyond
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 28, Summative Assessment Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 50 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 0 %, Practical Exam 100 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Written Exam 100%
Feedback Students will be given feedback both on their negotiation performance and their understanding of the concepts being taught during the class exercise debrief sessions that form an integral part of the course structure. Students are also regularly asked questions during each session to assess their understanding and knowledge. Feedback on formative assessed exercise will be provided within 15 working days of completion of the course. Summative marks will be returned on a published timetable, which has been made clear to students at the start of the academic year.

Students will be provided with electronic written feedback for all coursework.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand and critically discuss negotiation as a mixed motive process.
  2. Understand and critically discuss distributive bargaining strategies (claiming value) and integrative bargaining strategies (creating value).
  3. Understand and critically evaluate Wants and Needs and the importance of identifying underlying interests.
  4. Understand and critically discuss the three-step model for negotiation preparation.
  5. Understand and critically discuss negotiating power and the strategic behaviour in multiparty and multi-issue negotiations.
Reading List
Essential Reading: Leigh Thompson (2011), The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator (5th Ed). (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Pearson Prentice Hall).

A detailed reading list will be provided during the course.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Cognitive and Subject Specific Skills:
Identify and where appropriate compute certain key parameters of every negotiation. These include the BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement), the ZOPA (Zone Of Possible Agreement), Reserve and Target Prices, as well as assessing the relative negotiation power of the parties and their underlying interests.
Develop interpersonal skills, including those of communication, relationship enhancement and an increased ability to both add and claim value during the negotiation process as well as some third party dispute resolution skills.

Transferable Skills:
Plan for and to execute effective negation strategies in a range of situations and contexts.
KeywordsNegotiation Bargaining Resolution
Contacts
Course organiserMr Tom Hutcheson
Tel:
Email: v1thutc1@exseed.ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMr Ross Muir
Tel:
Email: rmuir310@ed.ac.uk
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