MANA 5330: Negotiations & Conflict Management

Spring 2009

Professor: Jim Lavelle, PhD

Office: 211 Business Building

Phone: 817-272-3854

E-Mail:

Office hours: Mondays after class or by appointment

Course web page: http://management.uta.edu/lavelle/default.htm

Course Overview

This course focuses on developing your conflict management and negotiating skills. By the conclusion of this course, you will have improved your ability to diagnose negotiation situations, strategize and plan upcoming negotiations, and engage in more effective negotiations.

Negotiating effective agreements is typically viewed as a blend of art and science. Consequently, to assist you in developing effective negotiation and conflict management skills, this course heavily emphasizes experiential learning through student participation in a variety of exercises and role-plays. Research on negotiations and conflict will be used to supplement this learning. Throughout the course you will be placed into numerous realistic negotiation settings, and you will need to prepare for, participate in, and analyze your negotiations.

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course include:

1. Understanding the central concepts of negotiation and conflict.

2. Providing experience in the negotiation and conflict management process.

3. Effectively diagnosing and planning for different types of negotiation situations.

4. Developing negotiating skills and confidence in a variety of contexts.

Course Materials

The first two required texts are available at the bookstore:

1.  Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (1991). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, second edition. NY: Penguin.

2.  Lewicki, R.J., Saunders, D.M., & Barry, B. (2006). Negotiation, sixth edition. NY: McGraw-Hill.

3.  Ury, W. (1991). Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People. New York: Bantam (available through Amazon or local book stores)

  1. You are also required to purchase experiential exercises at $3.50 per exercise. These exercises will be passed out in class. Please make a check out to the “Dispute Resolution Research Center” for $35.00.

4. Harvard Cases and Readings:

A few required cases and selected readings are available for purchase through Harvard Business School Publishing’s web page. These cases are noted on the syllabus as (HBSP). The link you will need is listed below. You will be asked to register and then you can select the cases listed and download them. This should be fairly painless.

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/relay.jhtml?name=cp&c=c58853

  1. Articles:

A few articles are available on my web page and others may be available through the UTA library.

Course Requirements & Evaluation

You will be evaluated on the following basis:

1.  Participation (30%). Student participation is especially critical to the learning environment of this course and thus, is highly valued and rewarded. The flip side of course, is a lack of quality participation will have a substantial and detrimental impact on the course grade. In general, participation includes being present and prepared for class discussion and negotiations based on assigned readings, cases, and negotiation role-plays. Evaluation of participation will be based partly on (1) negotiation preparation as determined in part by planning documents for certain negotiations and/or quizzes, (2) thoughtful and active involvement in the negotiation role-play process, (3), negotiation outcomes (certain negotiations will be scored), (4) post-negotiation analysis. Peer and instructor evaluations of student participation will be used to help determine this aspect of the grade. Early in the semester, a few case reviews (CR) will also contribute to this grade.

2.  Mid-term exam (30%). The format will likely be short answer questions covering text info, readings, and class discussion material. A few MC questions are possible.

3.  Group Presentation & Executive Summary (20%). Sections of the book “Getting Past No” will be assigned to a few groups for analysis. Other groups will be assigned different topics. Further details will be described in class.

4.  Final exam (20%). The emphasis of the exam will be on the material from the second half of the semester although info from the first part of the course will also be included. The format will likely be a mix of multiple choice and short answer questions.

Course Schedule: Tentative and Subject to Change

Topics and Class Activities Readings

1/26 /

Introduction

/ Download Readings from HBSP, my web page, or the UTA library
2/2 /

Conflict: Types, Handling Styles

DUE: Check made out to “Dispute Resolution Research Center” (Northwestern University) / “How management teams can have a good fight” (This reading can be downloaded from the course web page)
“Building Coalitions” (HBSP)
CR Due: “Donna Dubinsky & Apple Computer” See link on course web page for CR questions.
2/9 /

Conflict & Decision Making

Groupthink / CR Due: “Henry Tam and the MGI Team” (HBSP). See link on course web page for CR questions.
“Identity issues in teams” (HBSP)”
“The “Necessary Art of Persuasion” (This reading can be downloaded from the course web page)
2/16 /

Conflict & Teams / Negotiation

Negotiation 1: Blue Buggy / CR Due: Trading Floor (HBSP)
“What you don’t know about making decisions”
By: Garvin, David A.; Roberto, Michael A. Harvard Business Review, Sep2001, Vol. 79 Issue 8, p108-116 (UTA Library)
2/23 /

Bargaining Zone

Negotiation 2: Coffee Contract
Negotiation 3: Buying a House / Lewicki, Ch. 1 (The Nature of Negotiation)
3/2 /

Distributive Bargaining

Negotiation 4: BioPharm-Seltek
Negotiation 5: Energetics Meets Generex / Lewicki, Chapter 4 (Strategy & Planning)
“Betting on the future: The virtues of contingent contracts”: Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct99, Vol. 77 Issue 5, p155-160 (UTA Library)
3/9 /

Business Week

Guest Speaker: TBA

Negotiation 6: New Recruit

Stanford Video Case / Lewicki, Chapter 2 (Strategy and Tactics of Distributive Bargaining)
Pick up the following handouts in class:
a) Post-Settlement Settlements
b) Labor contract negotiations in the airline industry
c) Process, strategy, tactics, in labor-management
d) Psychological contracts in the workplace
e) The Pivotal Role of Labor-Management Committees
3/16 /

Spring Break

3/23 /

Labor-Management Negotiations

Final Offer / Lewicki, Chapter 3 (Strategy and Tactics of Integrative Bargaining)
“Getting Past Yes” By: Ertel, Danny, Harvard Business Review, Nov2004, Vol. 82, Issue 11 (UTA Library)
AJ Washington Case (HBSP): Be prepared to discuss and analyze
3/30 /

MIDTERM EXAM

4/6 /

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Negotiation 7: Amanda
Video: Prosando / Lewicki, Chapter 17 (Managing Negotiations Impasses)
Lewicki, Chapter 19 (Managing Difficult Negotiations: Third-Party Approaches): focus on mediation and arbitration on 487-500.
4/13 /

Cognitive Biases

Negotiation 8: Club West / Lewicki, Chapter 5 (Perception, Cognition, and Emotion)
Lewicki, Chapter 6 (Communication)
Lewicki: pp. 139-140 (interests, rights, & power)
4/20 / Group Presentations / Three Group Presentations (topics TBA)
4/27 /

Group Presentations/ Global Negotiations

Negotiation 9: Alpha-Beta / Three Group Presentations (Topics TBA)
Lewicki, Chapter 8 (International and Cross-Cultural Negotiation): pp. 405-436, p. 401.
“The Chinese Negotiation”: Harvard Business Review, Oct2003, Vol. 81 Issue 10, p82-91 (UTA Library)
5/4 /

Ethics in Negotiations

Negotiation 10: Bullard Houses / Lewicki, Chapter 9 (Ethics in Negotiation): pp. 234-274.
Lewicki, Chapter 20 (Best Practices in Negotiation)
FINALS /

FINAL EXAM

My Approach to Handling Academic Dishonesty:

Academic dishonesty of any size or shape in this course will result in (at a minimum) a failing grade for the COURSE (an F for the course grade). Cases will also be sent to the administration for further processing. When a case is received by the administration, it may then be decided to impose additional consequences such as those outlined in the policy described below. For further information you can go to http://www.uta.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/dishonesty.php.

Academic Honesty: Academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form at The University of Texas at Arlington. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University.

“Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts.” (Regents’ Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2., Subdivision 3.22).

Americans With Disabilities Act
The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 93112 -- The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. With the passage of new federal legislation entitled Americans with Disabilities Act - (ADA), pursuant to section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act, there is renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens.
As a faculty member, I am required by law to provide "reasonable accommodation" to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of that disability. Student responsibility primarily rests with informing faculty at the beginning of the semester and in providing authorized documentation through designated administrative channels.


Student Support Services:

The University supports a variety of student success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve academic success. They include learning assistance, developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and transition, and federally funded programs. Students requiring assistance academically, personally, or socially should contact the Office of Student Success Programs at 817-272-6107 for more information and appropriate referrals.