INDIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

NEGOTIATIONS

Faculty: Saumya Sindhwani

Office: Room 103, ACAD
E-Mail: saumya_sindhwani@isb.edu
Office Hrs: After class or by appointment

COURSE INFORMATION

We negotiate every day. We negotiate with potential employers, co-workers, 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, art 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 and the professional. 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.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course seeks to develop negotiations skills and provide students with frameworks
for analyzing negotiations. Participants get the opportunity to identify their strengths as a
negotiator and to work on their weaknesses. The course will provide a conceptual
framework to diagnose problems, concluding agreement and contracts, handling
renegotiation and cut losses as and when warranted. The course also provides an
opportunity to experiment with different techniques to explore what works and doesn’t
work while negotiating.

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.

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
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 the place to try something new. The course is sequenced so that cumulative knowledge
can be applied and practiced.

COURSE FORMAT

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. Students should also be prepared to stay a few minutes
after class to arrange meetings with other members of the class.

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 COURSE MATERIALS

Course packet.

Handouts: Negotiation exercise materials will be handed out in class.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

I hope that your focus in this class will be on learning rather than on the grade you will
receive. 60% of your grades will be made up of an in-class Quiz (Code 4N). This will be
an exam comprising of multiple-choice questions and an analysis of a short negotiation
case. The remaining 40% would be through a presentation (Code 0N). Details about the
assessments will be shared during the first session.

Please note that certain behaviors in the classroom impede the learning of other students.
These include 1) participating in private conversations with your neighbor during class
time, 2) consistently showing up late to class, late from your negotiation simulations, or
late from break, 3) using a cellular phone in class, and 4) using a laptop during lecture
time (you are welcome to use them during your negotiations). While I understand this
latter rule may seem draconian since laptops could be used for legitimate note-taking, my
experience in teaching this course is that the majority of in- class laptop-users cannot
resist the temptation to surf the net, check email, etc. As a result, the in-class use of
laptops is restricted. Please feel free to see me if this poses a hardship for you.

You are expected to be prepared for class and to actively participate in all class
discussions and negotiation exercises. Do plan to invest time outside the classroom for
preparation of the exercises. You will be evaluated on the quality of your contribution to
class discussions. After each exercise, we will discuss what happened and why it
happened. We will discuss strategies that worked and those that did not. If you should
use a strategy that was unsuccessful, I hope that you will be open and willing to discuss
it in class. By delving into the thinking that led to a particular strategy, we can correct the
thinking and prevent it from interfering with future negotiations.
The readings are assigned to be read after the exercise. I have selected readings to
reinforce the learning points of the exercises, and you will best be able to benefit from the
readings if you read them after the exercise. The concepts will be more comprehensible
after you negotiate rather than before. Similarly, you will best be able to learn about your
strengths and weaknesses in negotiations by approaching the exercises using what you
have learned about negotiations to date.

Guidelines for In-class Presentation (40%)

Each group will comprise of 5-6 individuals and is expected to make a presentation or
video of about 10 minutes. Each person in the group is expected to be involved in the
presentation. Efforts should be made to make the presentation interesting and creative.
The presentation will be worth 30% of your grade. Additionally, on the day of presentation,
each student sitting in class will have to score the all other group presentations (via
Qualtrics survey) except the group he/she belongs to. These scores will then be averaged
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 for each group. You need to submit your ppt or video via email to TA (keeping me in cc)
by 08:00 AM on Apr 24, 2018.

There are a variety of topics that a group project could address. Below are some
suggestions. I would like to speak with all groups at least once before the presentation to
assess your progress and to offer suggestions (contact me to schedule a time to meet
before or after class). Possible topics:
 Analyze a current or historical negotiation. This must be a negotiation in a business
context or a policy issue. Choose an issue that provides sufficient detail and
complexity to allow a rich analysis. Your analysis should include important
negotiation concepts, an objective assessment of what happened and why, and
suggestions for what would/could have improved the negotiation.
 Analyze an international negotiation or a business related negotiation.
 You can even do a presentation on a difficult client, you may be finding a hard time
negotiating with.
 Or…talk with me if you have some other ideas for a project. I welcome new and
creative ideas!

The quality of the analysis in a project is more important than the topic itself. Select a
topic you find personally interesting. It is always easier to produce a good project on a
topic you find exciting and relevant. As with the analysis papers, group projects should
emphasize analysis rather than description or chronology of a negotiation (which could
be provided in an appendix).
Depending on the topic you choose you may need to do some outside research for your
analysis. I may be able to direct you to appropriate reading or resources. You should
always cite your sources in an appendix with supportive bibliography or reference section.
If you do interviews, you should turn in copies of interview questions. If you write a survey
you will need to turn in copies of the survey.

Ethical guidelines

In addition to the ISB Honor 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.

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  Do not share or describe the content of the role-playing exercises to students who
may consider taking this course in the future.
Coding scheme for ALL course work

What kinds of collaborative activities are allowed? What material can be referred to?1

References Can I discuss general Can I discuss specific Can I refer to Can I refer to the
/Coding concepts and ideas issues associated with external case-study solutions
Scheme relevant to the the assignment with material?2 or problem set
assignment with others? others? solutions?
4N N N N N
3N- a Y N N N
3N-b N N Y N
2N-a Y Y N N
2N-b Y N Y N
2N-c N N Y Y
1N Y Y Y N
0N Y Y Y Y
As a general rule:

• Students are responsible for submitting original work that reflects their own effort and interpretation.
Remember that any submission should be your own work and should not be copied in part or verbatim from
any other source whether external or internal.
• An honour code violation is an honour code violation. A violation under coding scheme 0N is not less severe
than others. A 0N coding scheme submission is judged against a 0N coding scheme, and a 4N coding scheme
submission is judged against a 4N coding scheme; therefore, any honour code violation is equally severe
irrespective of the coding scheme of the submission.
• Students can discuss cases and assignments with the course instructor and the Academic Associate for the
course.
• Required and recommended textbooks for the course and the course pack can be used to answer any
individual or group assignment.
• Although not all submissions may be subject to academic plagiarism checker (e.g. turn-it-in), in retrospect,
if the Honour Code committee feels the need, any of the previous submissions of an individual or a group
can be subjected to turn-it-in or any other academic plagiarism checker technology. • When in doubt, the
student should contact the instructor for clarifications.

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Any referencing needs to be accompanied with appropriate citations
2
A non-exhaustive list includes journal articles, news items, databases, industry reports, open courseware

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 Recommended Books

Bazerman, M.H. & Neale, M.A. (1992). Negotiating Rationally. New York: Free Press.

Brett, J.M. (2014). Negotiating Globally: How to Negotiate Deals, Resolve Disputes,
and Make Decisions across Cultural Boundaries. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Cialdini, R. B. (2001). Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York, NY: Allyn
& Bacon.

Ekman, P. (2001). Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics and
Marriage. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Fisher, R., Ury, W.L., & Patton, B. (1991). Getting to Yes: Negotiating an Agreement
without Giving in. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Lewicki, R.J., Barry, R., Saunders, D.M., & Minton, J.W. (2003). Negotiation (4nd ed.),
McGraw-Hill: Irwin.

Murnighan, K.J. The Dynamics of Bargaining Games. Prentice Hall.

Raiffa, H. (1982). The Art and Science of Negotiation. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.

Shell, R. (1999). Bargaining for Advantage. New York: Viking.

Thompson, L.L. (2001). The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall.

Ury, W.L., Brett, J.M., & Goldberg, S.B. (1988). Getting Disputes Resolved. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ury, W. (1991). Getting Past No: Negotiation with Difficult People. Bantam Books.

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Negotiation Analysis

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

Date Topic In Class After Class - To Do After Class - To Read

Class 1 Introduction to Prepare, Negotiate & Debrief Lewicki, Saunders, & Minton: Strategy and tactics of distributive
Negotiations Hamilton Estate bargaining
Cialdini: Harnessing the science of
Simple, Two- Persuasion
Party
Negotiations
Class 2 Multiple issue, Prepare, Negotiate & Debrief Lax & Sebenius: Creating value or where do joint gains really come from?
two party Mom’s.com
negotiations
Class 3 Trust Gas Station exercise Bazerman & Malhotra: When Not to Trust Your Gut

Class 4-5 Dispute Prepare, Negotiate and Debrief Ury, Brett & Goldberg: Three
Resolution Viking Approaches to Resolving disputes
Lytle, Brett & Shapiro: The Strategic use of Interests, Rights, and Power to
resolve disputes

Class 6-7 Coalitions & Prepare, Negotiate and Debrief Prepare for Quiz Thompson: Tacit Negotiations and Social
Multiparty Newport Girl Dilemmas
Negotiations Vanover: Getting things done through coalitions
Class 8 Exam Quiz

Class 9-10 Presentations Group Presentations plus peer

evaluations