EXC 3402 Business Communication - Negotiations and Presentations
EXC 3402 Business Communication - Negotiations and Presentations
This course is relevant to students who recognize that negotiations play a daily role in both their professional and personal lives - whether it is negotiating salary, the price of a new apartment or terms of a contract with a customer. In this highly interactive course, students will learn negotiation theory and acquire the practical skills and techniques required to competently engage in a variety of negotiations. In this learn-by-doing course, students will apply negotiation theory in in-class negotiations, critique the outcome of those negotiations and will practice designing and delivering presentations. These activities will enable students to strengthen their skills in two important areas of business communication that is most often carried out in English: (1) negotiations and (2) presentations.
The overall objective of this course, is that students develop skills which will enable them to communicate effectively in an international business environment. By the end of the course students will first have developed their competence as negotiators and will be able to reason and reflect orally in English on both the theoretical aspects of negotiation strategy and on their personal experience from participating in negotiation case simulations. Second, students will also have developed their skills in developing and delivering an effective persuasive business presentation in English.
Students will acquire a thorough theoretical knowledge of the two major approaches to negotiation theory: principled negotiating and distributive negotiating, and be able to explain them in their own words. Students will also acquire an appreciation of business presentations as a communicative exchange.
Students will develop the formal language skills to discuss negotiation theory and practice. In addition, students will apply their acquired theoretical knowledge of negotiation strategies by participating in several negotiation cases - alone and within teams. Students will be able to identify, assess, and address ethical concerns within negotiations and then be able to reflect on the real-world implications of those concerns. Students will, also, acquire the skills necessary for preparing and delivering a persuasive business presentation in English.
Students should be able to reflect on the appropriateness of particular negotiation strategies, to evaluate their usefulness, and to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of those strategies. Students should also be able to reflect and analyze the ethical implications of the decisions made during their negotiations and the impact their decisions have on stakeholders not at the negotiation table. Additionally, students should be able to reflect on the communicative context in which a particular business presentation is delivered and how that ought to affect the content of the presentation they deliver.
- Negotiations
- Introduction to negotiations
- Distributive bargaining
- Principled negotiating
- Criticism of the negotiation theories
- Eight business case negotiation simulations - requiring students to prepare for and participate in in-class negotiations. Each process concludes with discussion/reflection of the negotiation process.
- Presentation
- Introduction to presentations
- What makes a presentation effective?
- All students develop their own persuasive business presentations with advice, guidance and feedback.
- Dress rehearsal presentation in front of an audience with feedback.
Students should start the course by learning what will be required of them in the oral exam. They can do this by carefully reading the Exam Procedure and Grading Guidelines document, (provided on the first day of class) which describes the procedure for the oral exam.
Students can also test how well they have understood course contents by taking (optional) multiple-choice quizzes on Its Learning.
- Negotiations
From class 1, students will actively participate in negotiations and acquire knowledge of negotiation theories and strategies covered in this course. To implement these theoretical negotiation ideas in practice, students will participate in in-class negotiation case simulations - individually in in teams. This process requires students to reflect on both their own negotiation experiences as well as provide a peer-review of another student team’s negotiation. Students also must reflect on and analyze how well they managed to apply a negotiation strategy to the cases.
- Presentation
Students are themselves responsible for identifying a suitable topic for their persuasive business presentation, constructing a suitable context within which their presentation could be delivered and then developing it, practicing it and ultimately delivering it at the oral exam. Class lecturers provide advice and guidance to students during this process.
The workload for students. According to ECTS norms, a student should work 200 hours including lectures and exams to obtain 7.5 credits. The following allocation of time is provided for students as a guide.
The exam for this course focuses not only on the student's knowledge and understanding of negotiation theory but also on the application of negotiation theory during in-class negotiations. Therefore, regular attendance is expected for the quality of each students learning and for the successful completion of this course.
Higher Education Entrance Qualification
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
English from upper secondary school or equivalent.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Oral examination Weight: 100 Grouping: Individual Duration: 30 Minute(s) Exam code: EXC 34021 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination every semester |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 42 Hour(s) | - Presentation – rehearsals - Participation on negotiation theories - Negotiation of four business cases |
Student's own work with learning resources | 157 Hour(s) | - Presentation - development of presentation - Negotiating - reading the course literature thoroughly/carefully - Preparation for seven classroom negotiations - Post-negotiation evaluation of the four cases |
Examination | 1 Hour(s) | Oral exam (30 minutes) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.
1) A 6 to 7 minute presentation in a business/professional/organizational context which occupies one third of the examination time and counts for roughly one third of the overall grade. The student, in his/her/their role of presenter, must make an explicit attempt to persuade the audience that they should either do something or think something which they otherwise would not. (This is not an informational presentation).
2) A 12-13 minute negotiation discussion, which, occupying two thirds of the available examination time, counts for roughly two thirds of the overall grade. The business case selected for discussion is chosen at random. No second choice is permitted. The discussion is led by the examiner and is based on the negotiation theories and critiques studied during the course and the experience of the candidate in attempting to use the theory in the in-class business case negotiations.
Examination support materials:
PowerPoint slides for the business presentation.
Notes are NOT permitted on either section of the exam.