Negotiation Spring 2008
Professor Jamie Moffitt Office 105D 346-3541 jmoffitt@law.uoregon.edu
Course Memo Updated 1/7/08
Introduction
Over the Spring semester, we will engage in an introductory exploration of the practice of negotiation. My goal is to help you to improve your skills in understanding and conducting negotiations – as lawyers and in other contexts. I do not believe that there is a single “best” or “correct” way to negotiate. At the same time, it is my experience that there are better and worse practices. I have every confidence that over the semester, you will develop an improved sense of the approach(es) to negotiation that you believe will serve you best in various contexts. With some hard work and careful reflection, I believe that you will become more observant, purposeful, analytically skilled, behaviorally agile, and persuasive negotiators. I have designed the course toward those aims.
The course is quite different from many law school offerings in both content and method. As described below, there is no final exam, and there is not even a final paper (at least not a final paper in the typical form). Unlike most courses, which demand the most significant attention at the end of the term, the Negotiation course requires considerable work during the semester, with most of the work completed before the close of the term. In many ways, the ideas we will cover in Negotiation are not terribly complex – until you try to put them into practice. I suspect that you will find the course exhausting at times, and I hope that you will find it rewarding as well.
Before I go further with describing the course, I’d like to share a few thoughts about negotiation and about the class with you.
1. Negotiation is everywhere. For purposes of learning, I think the most helpful definition of negotiation is broad. I would suggest that a useful definition of negotiation is any effort to influence or persuade someone else to a particular course of action, though I am open to many other competing definitions. The important thing is to note that by “negotiation” I do not refer simply to the highly formalized or stylized negotiations that make for blurbs in the news. You negotiate with your roommates, your friends, your colleagues, your professors, and any number of other people all the time. (Indeed, you negotiate with yourselves perhaps most of all. Some of that, though, goes far beyond what we will study in this course.) I strongly suspect – and hope – that as you go through this course, you will begin to observe some of your interactions with others with a new perspective.
2. Like any skill, negotiation aptitude can improve with careful work. There is a popular perception that some people are “born negotiators,” while others among us somehow “don’t have it.” In fact, all of us are born negotiators. Anyone who has ever dealt with infants and children for very long knows that negotiating begins very early in life. Since the time when we were very young, most of us have broadened our negotiation repertoires through a process of observation, experimentation, and reflection. The course aims to provide you with intensive opportunities to do all three of those things. Unlike a course in Civil Procedure or Antitrust, to which you come with very little personal experience, you come to this course with many years of experience negotiating. While you may not have yet negotiated as a lawyer, there are some important lessons to be drawn from the experience you already have.
3. There is no single, universal “best” way to negotiate. We will consider many different approaches to negotiation over the semester. Your goal should not be to hunt for the one that is the “right” answer. Negotiation is a dynamic, context-sensitive enterprise. I am deeply suspicious about efforts to create universal negotiation rules (“always/never give the first offer,” “always/never negotiate in private,” “always/never walk out,” and so on) because they ignore important differences in context, in personal comfort, in goals, and in counterparts. At the same time, I will encourage you strongly to develop a rich set of guidelines for yourselves – practices that form something of a personal default, from which you can vary if you perceive a strategic reason to do so. We will practice some scenarios that will permit practice of baseline approaches and some scenarios that will likely demand that you expand your repertoire in order to be successful.
4. Learning to negotiate need not be a competition. Many people see negotiation as a competition to be “won,” and we will talk at great length about whether and when this view of negotiation is accurate or helpful. Regardless of whether you view negotiation as a competition, however, my experience teaching negotiation has convinced me that learning negotiation need not and should not be a competitive endeavor. This is a course aimed at improving skills. By definition, it will require everyone in the class to experiment with different approaches, searching for the things that seem to work best. That kind of genuine experimentation can take place only in a learning environment that is open, supportive, honest and creative. I will ask your help in making sure that we structure our time together in ways that help us best to create that atmosphere.
Required Texts
Much of the learning in this course will be experiential, rather than textbook-based. As a result, I have pared down the readings for the course tremendously. This has the added benefit of keeping the costs of participation quite modest, compared to most law school courses. The two texts required for the course are:
We will also be reading several chapters out of The Handbook of Dispute Resolution, however you do NOT need to purchase this text. I will post the relevant chapters on BlackBoard for your use, with the understanding that you will not distribute or share these materials with others.
I do not require you to purchase anything else, though I strongly recommend each of the following four texts. For anyone interested in a more thorough treatment of negotiation, these are outstanding.
Written Products, Grades, Participation and AttendanceThere is no final examination in this class and there is no final paper. Instead, your grade is based upon the written products that you put together in conjunction with your “final negotiation” and your class participation.
Written products. 60% of your grade for this course will be based on the quality of your final written products. Each of the written products is described below. The deadline for each written product is fixed, and failure to turn in materials before the deadline will result in a lower score.
Video Critiques. Multiple times during the semester, you will be videotaped as you negotiate. On several occasions, you will review the contents of videotaped negotiations in smaller feedback sessions. We will also be reviewing and discussing videotaped negotiations in class. Near the end of the semester, you will be asked to prepare a written critique of your last videotaped performance. You will also receive a videotape of a negotiation in which you did not participate, and you will prepare a written critique of that negotiation.
Final Negotiation Preparation. One of the skills we will practice throughout the semester is preparing for negotiations. In lieu of a final exam or final paper, you will be given a final negotiation. I will ask you to turn in your preparation materials from the case before you negotiate it.
Participation. The remaining 40% of your grade will be based on the quality of your participation in the class. This does not mean that I expect you to talk in class several times every day. At the same time, a student who never participates in class discussion will not score well on participation. What I will be looking for is the degree to which you engage actively in the tasks at hand (e.g., simulated negotiations, feedback sessions and memos, class discussions, class exercises, etc.) seeking to improve your negotiation skills and helping your classmates to improve their negotiation skills.
Attendance. ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED FOR EVERY CLASS THIS SEMESTER. As with all classes, if you miss a class, your own education will suffer. In this course, however, absences affect others as well. In many classes, we will be doing simulated negotiations or exercises that will have you paired with one or more of your classmates. If you are not present, your classmates will not have the experience they deserve and it will cause considerable logistical difficulties. I understand, of course, that things sometimes happen that require absence. I would ask, or even plead, that if you have to miss a class that you contact me with as much advance notice as possible. Where appropriate, absences will be reflected in a student’s participation grade. If you have any questions or concerns about this policy, please see me as soon as possible. If you believe that you will not be able to attend classes regularly, we should talk about whether it is appropriate for you to remain enrolled in the course.
A Note on Negotiation Performance. In some schools, a student’s grade in a negotiation course depends on her or his performance in the simulated negotiations. For a variety of reasons I’ll describe in class, I do not believe that this creates an appropriate learning environment. I will not, therefore, factor your results into your final grade, with the following exception: On occasion, a student’s performance in a simulated negotiation reflects a lack of preparation. To the extent that you are clearly unprepared for a simulation, I will factor that into your overall Participation score. My expectation, however, is that all of you will be well prepared, and that you will have varying degrees of “success” in your outcomes in simulations because you will be experimenting with different approaches. Not everything you try will work out – that’s the nature of good experimentation. Please experiment with various approaches – other than approaches that eschew preparation – without concern that it will affect your grade.
Contacting Me I welcome the opportunity to get to know each of you better over the semester. I am happy to meet with you during office hours, and also encourage you to email me to set up other times to meet. My general contact information is included on the first page of this working syllabus. My home phone number is _______. Please understand that I have two daughters under the age of six. I recognize that sometimes in life, things will come up that require immediate attention. I would ask that you exercise careful judgment in deciding whether to call me at home.
Daily Schedule Following is the working syllabus for the course this semester. I may decide to alter the contents of the class plans based on experiences during the semester. I will give you as much notice as I can regarding any changes to our plans. For each day, I have noted any reading assignments and cases to prepare. Working Syllabus
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008. Class Set for 10:30am – 1:00pm. Assignment for today: Prepare the Oil Pricing Exercise. (Note: the reading for this case is only 2 pages long. I will place a copy of it in the mail folders of all confirmed students for the course). Handouts: Inside Out, Sally Soprano & Powerscreen
Thursday, January 10th, 2008. Assignment for today: Prepare the Inside Out Case. The Inside Out case Feedback Introduction to Sections
Saturday, January 12th, 2008. Class Set for 9:30-3:30pm Assignment for today: Prepare Sally Soprano & Powerscreen Self Portraits Good Outcomes Lunch Preparation Exercise Handouts: Carpets & Cats, Mountain View Farm
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 No assignment for todayPowerscreen ReviewGuidelines
Thursday, January 17th, 2008 Assignment: Peppet 86-100, The Handbook., Chapter 11, Disputes as Opportunities to Create Value (BlackBoard), Prepare MountainView Farm Value Creation Handouts: Discount Marketplace, Super Slipster, Eazy’s Garage
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 Assignment: GTY 1-94, Prepare Carpets & Cats Carpets & Cats
Thursday, January 24th, 2008 Assignment: Peppet 116-166, Prepare Super Slipster Methods of Distribution Handouts: Discount Marketplace
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 Assignment: Prepare Eazy’s Garage
Out of Class: Complete no later than class time, Thursday, February 7th, 2008 Negotiate Discount Marketplace Submit Negotiated Clauses (additional instructions to be provided in class)
Thursday, January 31st, 2008 Assignment: Prepare Eazy’s Garage
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 Assignment: GTY 107-187 Difficult Behaviors Handouts: Author! Author, DONS
Thursday, February 7th, 2008 Discount Marketplace Negotiated Clauses due by beginning of class via email Assignment: Peppet 166-179, 183 -205 Perceptions & Communication Handouts: Chuck’s Wagon
Out of Class: Do not forget to be working on you Feedback Memo, which is due on February 14th, 2008.
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 Assignment: TBD Drafting Agreements
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 Feedback Memo Due by beginning of class via email Assignment: Prepare Author! Author! Negotiate Author! Author!
Out of Class: no later than class time on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008: Complete Diagnostic Exercise
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 Assignment: Complete Diagnostic Exercise Review Author! Author
Out of Class: Don’t forget to be negotiating the Chuck’s Wagon case Chuck’s Wagon negotiated deals due February 28th
Thursday, February 21st, 2008 Assignment: Peppet 222-258, Prepare DONS DONS Client Interviews
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 Assignment: Prepare for DONS Negotiation DONS Negotiation Handout: Role Reversal Prep Sheet, Pandora’s Box
Thursday, February 28th, 2008 Chuck’s Wagon Negotiated Deals due by beginning of class via email DONS Review
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 – No Class.
Out of Class Assignment: Conduct Pandora’s Box Client Interviews
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 Assignment: The Handbook, Chapter 10, Bone Chips to Dinosaurs: Perceptions, Stories & Conflict (BlackBoard) , Role Reversal Prep Sheet Role Reversal Exercise
Assignment: The handbook, Chapter 13, Finding Settlement with Numbers, Maps and Trees (BlackBoard), Decision Analysis Article (Posted on BlackBoard) Chuck’s Wagon Review Decision Analysis Handout: The Offer negotiation and instructions
Out of Class Assignments: #1: Conduct Pandora’s Box Client Interviews (before Class on 11/13/08) #2: Begin The Offer negotiation via email
Thursday, March 13th, 2008 Assignment: Prepare Pandora’s Box Pandora’s Box Negotiation
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 Pandora’s Box Review
Out of Class: Complete no later than 4pm Friday, March 21st Negotiate The Offer Case and submit electronic data
Thursday, March 20th, 2008 Movie Day!
Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 4:00pm Complete The Offer Negotiation & submit electronic data
Tuesday, March 25th & Thursday March 27th Spring Break
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 Review The Offer Handout: The Final Negotiation
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 Assignment: Read The Final Negotiation Materials & Review the Budget Worksheet Budget Worksheet Session Last Day of Class
Week of April 8th: No class Prepare Final Negotiation Negotiate Final Negotiation April 9, 10, 11, 14, or 15 (Days/Times will be set with as much notice and individual choice as possible) Submit Your Preparation Materials Before Your Negotiation Session
Tuesday, April 22nd : Final Materials Due by 4pm
I sincerely look forward to the Negotiation class this spring. I very much look forward to working and learning with you. |