Final Journal

Sometime during the course, you must actually go out and conduct a live negotiation.

The substance of this negotiation may be anything of value, a major purchase, something

related to a job or employment search, relations with peers or coworkers, etc.

The following rules apply for the live negotiation (any doubts please email me).

a. You must negotiate for something nontrivial. You should care how the negotiation turns out and this assignment should create a learning experience for you.

b. The opponent(s) may be another student in this class or one of your parents. You may change the names to protect the innocent/organization.

c. The opponent(s) may be aware either before or during the negotiation that it will

be used to satisfy course requirements.

d. If at all possible, you should try to interview your opponent and/or observers about the negotiation after it is over.

The paper should be at least 4 pages and no longer than 8 double-spaced (typed) pages. 

Your paper should encourage you to engage in thoughtful analysis and understanding of the negotiation. Your paper should describe and address the below:

A complete description of the negotiation.

setting;

participants;

and other stakeholders;

What was your goal(s);

strategy;

planning;

research;

communication process;

description of the actual events and activities involved;

social contextual observations and effects;

power process(es);

individual differences;

conflict resolution/third-party process(es);

ethical considerations;

international aspects and effects;

insights;

behaviors;

perceptions;

impressions;

lesson(s) learned;

related experiences;

significant insights gained from the theories read. 

Writing the paper should encourage you to engage in thoughtful analysis and understanding of the negotiation. It should incorporate the use of theory and research from the readings.  Although there are many creative formats for papers, a good paper usually includes the following elements:

• an introduction;

• a statement of the goal and the planning and preparation that took place;

• an objective description of the actual events that occurred;

• an analysis of those events;

• a discussion of what could or should have been done differently, and why;

• integration of readings, theory, and concepts as appropriate;

• a statement of "lessons learned" for the future;

• a summary self-evaluation of your own negotiation style, strengths, and weaknesses.