NEGOTIATION ANALYSIS AND SKILLS INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL SERVICE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY SIS 419.023/619.002 Spring 2012 Version of Spring 2012 “It's not always rainbows and butterflies… It's compromise that moves us along” Maroon 5, “She Will Be Loved” “Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent.” Claudio, in Shakespeare‟s Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Sc. i , Ph.D. Assistant Professor [email protected] Office hours: Office: SIS 206 Class meetings: Tuesday 5:30pm to 8:00pm Classroom: Overview: Negotiation is a universal human behavior greatly impacted by a number of assumptions, behaviors, attitudes, contexts, constraints and other factors. And yet, most people (including professionals whose success depends upon their negotiation performance) approach negotiations with only scant awareness of what they are doing, or why. Our ability to prepare for a negotiation, diagnose a negotiation and „change the game‟ of a negotiation is vastly improved by deliberately increasing our knowledge and enhancing our skill through study, practice and reflection. Several fields of social science have contributed to the research and practice of negotiation. This course draws on several of the foundational branches of research, including game and decision theory, social and cognitive psychology, communication as well as more recent syntheses such as negotiation analytics. Practical applications of negotiation knowledge and skill are apparent in all facets of life: from difficult family conversations to job interviews to bargaining with nervous armed groups at a military checkpoint. Negotiations pervade our life. The context may be transactional (making a deal), or it may be conflict orNegotiation Analysis and Skills , School of International Service Page 2 of 9 dispute-related, or be elsewhere in the spectrum. Negotiation is a key skill in the repertoire of people who are committed to building peace, working for peaceful change, and otherwise changing hearts and minds in a non-coercive context. It is important to understand too the coercive applications of negotiation in order to better know how to deal with them. Following the literature, the course is both descriptive and prescriptive as we learn how negotiation processes truly are conducted, with all their defects and creative possibilities, and how they should or could be conducted as we grow in knowledge and experience. Both approaches contribute to our understanding of negotiation as a dynamic social and interpersonal process, in which unexpected outcomes abound; surprises, paradoxes and turning points are not uncommon and cooperation sometimes emerges from the chaos. There is an important self-awareness thread that runs throughout the course so that each learner gains a deeper understanding of their contribution to negotiation problems and capacities for overcoming them. Ultimately, each learner confronts the challenge of how to optimally shape the processes of negotiation for successful outcomes. There is no pre-requisite for the course. It complements and supports two courses I currently teach: SIS 611 “International Negotiation” and SIS 496/696 Comparative Peace Processes, as well as several other courses at . It thus serves as a stand-alone learning experience and as a foundation for those who wish to go on to more advanced topics related to negotiation and conflict resolution. While in the past many graduate-level negotiation offerings would combine interpersonal, analytical and international themes into a single class, offers a greatly expanded learning possibility. Many of the concepts and tools of Negotiation Analysis and Skills contribute to a deeper understanding of what goes on in the international sphere. Learning Outcomes of the Course By the end of the course, learners will: 1. Understand the psychological barriers that impede agreement and constrain negotiation 2. Develop a broad understanding of the capacity to overcome such barriers and optimize both processes and outcomes of negotiation 3. Understand the range of analytical components that must be mastered in order to understand and conduct dynamic complex negotiations 4. Enhance the ability to diagnose negotiations, and to prepare for them 5. Gain insight into one's own skill level and one's contribution to the processes and outcomes obtained 6. Practice skills in changing negotiations from distributional to integrative encounters in a safe environment 7. Increase improvisational behavioral repertoireNegotiation Analysis and Skills , School of International Service Page 3 of 9 Who should take the course: The course is designed to enrich the SIS-IPCR stream of courses in International Negotiation. It provides practical knowledge, skills and case histories to all AU students who want to understand and perform better in interpersonal negotiations in a wide variety of contexts. Information on the IPCR „streams‟ and other important academic information can be found at http://www.american.edu/sis/ipcr/Academics.cfm Structure of the course There are several structural components of the course, each of which contributes to learn about the challenges inherent in the negotiation of peace. In-class participation, a reflective journal and a final paper comprise the three course requirements. Truly outstanding work on all three is required to maximize learning and earn a high grade. Readings, Seminar Discussions, Simulations: Students are expected to be adult learners, responsible for the readings and able to fully contribute to in-class discussion as well as add to it from life experience and insight. There will be several negotiation exercises and simulations in which all students gain the opportunity to practice and to reflect on the experience. All will be provided without charge. Outcomes of exercises are not graded. Meaningful, open and reflective participation in simulations counts toward class participation. (15% of final grade). Reflective Negotiation Journal: All course participants will be asked to keep a personal diary of actual day-to-day negotiations engaged in and which you‟d like to learn from. We call this the Reflective Negotiation Journal or RNJ. Students write and submit one RNJ entry per week (approximately 1 page of reflection, 15 pages total by the end of the semester). At the end of the semester, the RNJ is augmented by annotations or commentaries: