Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.
There are twelve major in-class negotiation activities scheduled for this semester. Each of these will simulate a conflict between you and another party, giving you the change to practice the various negotiation and conflict resolution strategies presented in the readings and discussed during our class meetings.
- Here’s What I Want You to Do
- Here’s Why I Want You to Do It
- Here’s How You’ll Earn Negotiation Experience Points
- Using Philosopher’s Stones
- What If You Miss a Negotiation?
Take this negotiation activities seriously and watch your negotiation and conflict resolution skills really start to improve!
Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.
Here’s What I Want You to Do
At least one class prior to a scheduled negotiation activity, you will receive a hardcopy of confidential instructions. (I do not distribute digital copies of these instructions because I need to keep these instructions confidential. That is why I will only give out hardcopies.) Your instructions will provide you with any necessary background along with details about your role in the negotiation. You are expected to then prepare in advance for each of these activities.
On the day of a negotiation activity, I will have assigned you a negotiation partner. So please show up on time to class so that your negotiation partner is not inconvenienced by having to find a new partner. Because of that, if you show up after the activity has started, you will not be able to participate.
Meanwhile, please do not show your partner your confidential instructions during the negotiation. (Feel free to swap instructions after the negotiation is over to see how they understood the situation.) Also, try not to make up facts that are not in your instructions, but definitely feel free to be creative with the information you have.
You will have a set time limit in which to negotiate with your partner. During that time, your goal is try and reach an agreement that is prudent according your role in the negotiation. This means that you are not competing with your negotiation partner. Instead, you are competing with your classmates that are representing the same role as you.
As you are doing all that, please role-play as the character you are representing during the negotiation. That will make this a fun way to experiment and learn! That said, do take these negotiation activities seriously through careful preparation and focused intent on reaching a prudent agreement. These are not frivolous games.
Finally, you and your partner will fill out and sign an agreement card if you both wish to make any binding agreements. However, if you and your partner are unable to come to an agreement, you may then rip your agreement card in half. In either case, you will turn your agreement card in at the end of the activity.
Here’s Why I Want You to Do It
The purpose of these negotiation activities is to provide you with the opportunity to practice and develop your skills for negotiation and conflict resolution.
More specifically, each negotiation activity is intended to gauge your progress towards all four learning outcomes for this course:
| 1. | Apply models explaining the nature of conflict and the process of negotiation, |
| 2. | Compare and contrast different strategies for negotiation and conflict resolution, |
| 3. | Reflect on and develop your own approaches to negotiation and conflict resolution, and |
| 4. | Transform conflict into an opportunity for joint problem solving with others. |
Indeed, I see these negotiation activities as most directly fulfilling my primary mission to cultivate your cognitive and affective capacities for practical deliberation with others when your wishes may differ from theirs. Such skills will serve you very well as you take up the mantle of leadership within your communities and chosen fields of study.
Photo: Drew Goddard / NBC.
Here’s How You’ll Earn Negotiation Experience Points
Each negotiation activity is worth 200 negotiation experience points.
If you fully participate in the activity, you will earn all 200 points. If you are unable to fully participate in the activity—for instance, because you are late, absent, or unprepared—then you will earn 0 points.
Your agreement will earn even more negotiation experience points, counting towards class participation, based on how prudent that agreement is for your role in the negotiation.
Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.
Using Philosopher’s Stones
You may exchange philosopher’s stones for the Gift of Gab philosophical power:
Gift of Gab
Cost: 3 philosopher’s stones.Area of Effect: 1 negotiation activity.
Duration: Instantaneous.
You select 1 negotiation activity and give up 3 philosopher’s stones. You then gain the full 200 negotiation experience points for that negotiation activity.
You may do Gift of Gab at any time during the semester. For example, in week 12 you may use your stones on one of the negotiation activities from week 8. For that reason, I encourage you to save your philosopher’s stones until the end of the semester. At that point, you may then decide whether to use them on any negotiation activities.
Photo: Justin Lubin / NBC.
What If You Miss a Negotiation?
Missing a negotiation activity under any circumstances does not excuse you from that activity. However, keep in mind that this course’s grading scheme is extremely flexible in how you may earn negotiation experience points. Furthermore, you may use philosopher’s stones (see above) to make up for a missed negotiation activity. So missing a negotiation activity or two may not have significant impact on final course grades.
In any case, if you miss a negotiation activity for a reason that is excused according to the university attendance policy, you may have the opportunity to earn the full 200 negotiation experience points by completing a make up negotiation. However, even if the absence is excused, you must reach out to me via email with your excuse within 72 hours of the absence. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to make up the missed negotiation activity.