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Although
situations involving international incidents, corporate acquisitions, or
national collective bargaining contracts demonstrate the dramatic effects of
the need for negotiation, it is something that most people do every day.
Negotiation is not a process reserved for skilled diplomats, top
salespeople, or leaders of labor unions. The structure and processes of
negotiation at the interpersonal level are fundamentally the same as at the
corporate or international level. For this reason, knowledge about and
skill in negotiating is essential to anyone who works with and through other
people to accomplish objectives. It is part of the normal “give and take”
of any business situation, such as negotiating salaries, arranging deals
with vendors, or allocating resources for a project.
Unfortunately the ability to simply recognize conflict and the need for
bargaining does not insure successful negotiating situations.
Negotiation is a complex human activity, involving a dynamic
interpersonal process. The skilled negotiator possesses a number of
skills including: the intellectual ability to understand the key facts
that shape and characterize different negotiation situations; the skills
to diagnose problems and select appropriate strategies and approaches to
address them; and the understanding of one’s own personality and value
system, which affect the perception of a situation and the choice of
tactics and strategy.
Negotiation is a learnable process. In this course students will learn
how to recognize and resolve conflict through bargaining, what the
bargaining process involves, and how to plan and carry out a successful
negotiation.
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