Preparing for Negotiations

Learn how to be a proactive negotiator and how to effectively prepare for negotiations. Identify and assess the cultural, competitive, and cooperative elements of negotiation, and know when not to negotiate.

Description

Negotiation is a basic leadership skill that all successful managers need. However, many of us suffer from common misconceptions about negotiators and negotiations. Before you can become an effective and proactive negotiator, you need to confront these myths, put them to rest, and learn the skills that are critical to anticipating, analyzing, and preparing for negotiations.

This course, the first in a series of two, focuses on how to prepare to negotiate and develops the skills to become a proactive negotiator. Proactive negotiation skills enable managers and other organizational leaders to adjust to changing business situations while keeping key personnel motivated and committed. Skilled negotiators know when to negotiate and how to frame the negotiation to improve their bargaining position. This course will teach you how to evaluate the best way to resolve differences and how to strategically prepare for negotiation before you get to the table.You will develop the skills you need to craft a negotiation strategy that takes into account the nature of your relationship with the other party, whether or not they are the right negotiating partner, the options and issues under consideration (and how to categorize and prioritize them), and the bargaining power of each party. Specifically, you will learn to evaluate the peeople anticipate their negotiation styles, and appreciate the cultural context of the negotiation.

This course will provide you with a practical and effective framework and toolset to prepare for all types of negotiations, ranging from power negotiations to problem-solving negotiations and mixes of the two. It is based upon the academic and applied research of the Cornell ILR School’s Professor Samuel Bacharach and makes extensive use of real-world examples and situations, advice and insight from negotiation experts, and opportunities to apply and practice the skills in authentic situations.

Who Should Take This Course?

Negotiation is an integral part of almost every business activity. This course is essential for managers, leaders, and individual contributors who need to master the skill of preparing for negotiations to ensure that they achieve their objectives.

Course Format

All eCornell courses are delivered online and are self-paced. An eCornell instructor leads the online discussions, grades any course projects, and is available to answer specific questions about the course content.

This course contains the following modules:

• Proactive Negotiation
• Introducing Proactive Negotiations
• To Negotiate or Not
• The Proactive Negotiator
• Framing the Negotiation
• Analyzing the Situation
• Categorizing the Issues
• Prioritizing the Issues
• Alternatives and Bargaining Power
• Knowing With Whom You’re Dealing
• Negotiating with the Right Person
• Personality and Negotiation Style
• Understanding Their Culture

Benefits to the Learner

Participants who complete this course will be able to:

• Assess your needs and alternatives
• Assess the other parties' needs and alternatives
• Determine when to negotiate
• Anticipate power, personality, and cultural issues that may affect negotiations

Authoring Faculty

Samuel B. Bacharach, Ph.D., McKelvey-Grant Professor

Sponsoring School

Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations

Total Learning Time

Approximately five to six hours over a period of two weeks.



HRCI Recertification

This course been approved for six (6) recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute. Please contact the Human Resource Certificate Institute (HRCI) for further information about certification or recertification.



This course qualifies for 7.75 Professional Development Units (PDUs) from the Project Management Institute (PMI) for Professional Project Managers (PMPs) seeking ongoing education and professional development for continuing certification. eCornell is a Global Registered Education Provider of PMI. PDUs are designated as Category 3.

Project Management Institute Professional Development Units