Negotiation Behavior

Non-MBDS students may request a permit to register at www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/mbds/permit-request.We negotiate every day-with merchants, service providers, employers, coworkers, friends, and family-determining the price we will pay, the amount of our compensation, where to go to dinner, who will clean the kitchen, etc. Although negotiations are a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives, many of us know little about the strategy and psychology of effective negotiations. Why do we sometimes get our way, while other times we walk away feeling frustrated by our inability to achieve the agreement we desire? Over the past few decades, research in social psychology and decision science has sought the answer to this question and created a rich body of knowledge on bargaining behavior, leading to a well-validated prescription on how to negotiate. In this course, you will learn both the how and the why of negotiation behavior. Through role-playing exercises, you will be able to evaluate your own negotiation behavior as well as that of your classmates and receive advice on how to optimize it to achieve your desired outcomes. Importantly, you will also read and discuss research articles that have led to such practical advice.