Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills (Coursera)

Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills (Coursera)

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.

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In this course, you’ll learn about and practice the four steps to a successful negotiation, with one module for each step:
(1) Prepare: Plan Your Negotiation Strategy
(2) Negotiate: Use Key Tactics for Success
(3) Close: Create a Contract
(4) Perform and Evaluate: The End Game
To successfully complete this course and improve your ability to negotiate, you’ll need to complete the following three steps:
(1) Watch the short videos (ranging from 5 to 20 minutes) for the each module. The videos are interactive and they include questions to test your understanding of negotiation strategy and skills. Videos can be sped up or slowed down to match your preferred pace for listening. 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.”
(2) Test your negotiation skills by completing the negotiation in Module 6. You can negotiate with a local friend or use Discussions to find a partner from another part of the world. Your negotiation partner will give you feedback on your negotiation skills.
(3) Take the final exam. To successfully complete the course, you must answer 80% of the questions correctly. The exam is a Mastery Exam, which means that you can take it as many times as you want until you master the material. Additionally, this course includes the option of earning a Verified Certificate (VC) through the verification of your identity and successful completion of the course. A VC provides formal recognition of your achievements in the course and includes the University of Michigan logo. If you're considering getting a VC, you should complete the verification process before taking the Final Exam.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Welcome to Successful Negotiation!
Through this course you'll learn and practice the strategies and skills that will help you become a successful negotiator in your personal life and business transactions. After completing this module, you'll be able to state the four key stages of negotiation and what you need to do successfully complete this course.

WEEK 2
Prepare: Plan Your Negotiation Strategy
This module focuses on the first step in the negotiation process - planning for a negotiation. One critical component you'll learn is how to complete a negotiation analysis to set you up for success.

WEEK 3
Negotiate: Use Key Tactics for Success
This module focuses on two especially important topics: (1) how to use power during negotiations and (2) psychological tools that you can use during negotiations. Keep a paper and pencil handy, as you'll be participating in several experiments as watch these videos!

WEEK 4
Close: Create a Contract
This module focuses on the negotiation that takes place in a business deal after reaching an initial agreement – the negotiation to create a binding contract. Among other things, you'll learn to decide if you need a lawyer or can act as your own for contract creation. However, the videos should not be construed as providing legal advice.

WEEK 5
Perform and Evaluate: The End Game
This module focuses on performing and evaluating your agreement. If both parties perform as expected, there is no problem. But if they fail to perform, the dispute resolution processes that we cover in this module is important - especially mediation and arbitration.

WEEK 6
Practice Your Negotiation Skills
Put your newly developed skills to the test in this module with a friend or fellow MOOC participant from another part of the world!

WEEK 7
Final Examination
Once you have successfully completed the Final Exam, you will have successfully completed the course! The estimated time to complete the examination is 75 minutes. You can retake the examination until you are confident that you understand these concepts.

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