We all negotiate on a daily basis. On a personal level, we negotiate with friends, family, landlords, car sellers and employers, among others. Negotiation is also the key to business success. No business can survive without profitable contracts.
Within a company, negotiation skills can lead to your career advancement.
This course provides you with a practical, holistic introduction to the strategies and skills that can lead to successful negotiations in your personal life and in business transactions. The course covers the four key stages of negotiation: (1) planning,
(2) negotiating, (3) creating a contract, and (4) performing the contract.
Each stage examines the key questions that you should be prepared to answer in future negotiations, such as:
What are the key elements in a negotiation analysis, including your reservation price, stretch goal, alternatives to the deal that you are negotiating, and zone of potential agreement?
What guidelines should you use when faced with ethical questions?
What is your source of power in negotiations and how can you increase your power?
What psychological tools can you use during negotiations and what psychological traps should you avoid?
What are the four key contract law questions that should be on your negotiation checklist?
What concepts and tools can you use when resolving disputes?
During the course, you will watch a series of short videos (ranging from 5 to 20 minutes) on each stage of negotiation. The videos are interactive and will include questions to test your understanding of negotiation strategy and skills. The
course also includes videos that dramatize an arbitration of a construction dispute and a mediation of a robotics software dispute.
Depending on your schedule, you can watch the videos over a few weeks or you can binge watch them. A student who binge-watched the course concluded that “It’s as good as Breaking Bad.”
After watching videos on the four key stages of negotiation, you can participate in a one-on-one negotiation that will test your skills as a negotiator. The final course videos debrief your negotiation and review the concepts and tools covered in
the course. You will also receive feedback on what you do well as a negotiator and how you can improve.
Beginning in January 2015, you will be able to join Signature Track, a system that verifies your identity when you take an exam. This option will allow you to earn a Verified Certificate, which provides formal recognition of your achievements in
the course and includes the University of Michigan logo. Before January, you can complete a “test run” of the exam. You can then re-take the exam after the Verified Certificate becomes available. For information regarding Verified Certificates, see https://courserahelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201212399-Verified-Certificates