Report on "Real World" Negotiation

- Instructions

go out into the world and actually negotiate for something (do not write about a past negotiation experience that occurred before this course began).

You need not go out and buy something you would not have already bought, but instead try to negotiate for a purchase you were planning to make for which you otherwise would have simply paid the listed price or negotiate as a seller.

The monetary amount is not important. You can even negotiate for a product, service, or other outcome that does not involve money.

After you have negotiated for your item, write a brief report analyzing the experience. To aid you in your analysis, consider some of the following questions:

•What were 1-2 key aspects of your preparation or actual negotiation with which you were pleased or disappointed, and why? i.e., Were there barriers or mistakes that hindered or limited the possibility of making a good agreement?

•What surprised you about your own behavior or that of others? Were there any unexpected approaches or actions by your counterpart(s)? How might you better anticipate and deal with such behavior in the future?

• What did you learn from the experience about your strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator? Is there anything you would do differently in the future, and how?

Your report should not exceed 2 pages double-spaced (1-inch margins and 12-point font) with no minimum required length.

Since the report is short, you can skip formal introductions and conclusions, but your report should use complete sentences (bullet points are not conducive to analyzing in depth and are thus inappropriate for this assignment).

The assignment is designed to help you analyze your behavior in a real negotiation outside class and develop a deeper understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator.

Thus, your report should demonstrate that you are getting the underlying negotiation principles (the "science") and also the transferable learnings (the "art") that you can take away from this course. If you made mistakes, think about what you learned and would do differently, i.e., demonstrate

Mastering Management

that you are maximizing your

"ROM" (return on mistakes). If you were successful, think about why that was. The best papers tend to have many of the following characteristics:

• Analytical, not merely descriptive (goes beyond what happened, to why it unfolded that way)

• Makes an accurate and relevant connection between the external negotiation and course concepts

• Shows learning, self-awareness, and insight into your emerging negotiation style ("ROM" is high)

•Can cite specific behaviors or comments in the negotiation process that directly contributed (positively or negatively) to the process or outcome

•Well-written and clear Get creative. There are many options out there where you can find negotiable items for sale.

Here are just a few ideas: flea markets or street vendors, newsgroups selling used items (e.g., craigslist), retail stores (e.g., furniture, electronics), or services like taxicabs, lodging, cleaning, cell or cable contracts, etc.