CAUTIONARY NOTES ON
TEACHING NEGOTIATION SKILLS
The purpose of this section is to share some insights and observations about
teaching courses on negotiation. We have learned through many interesting but
tension- filled experiences that when instructors let students “experiment” with conflict
and power through role-plays, simulations and questionnaires, things do not always
proceed as calmly and predictably as we might like. For some instructors, these
experiences are the spice of exciting classroom instruction; for others, they are the
unpredictability that one may find a bit threatening and intimidating, since the learning
event may occasionally appear out of control. Therefore, in order to help the instructor
understand these dynamics, and lead students to learn the most from them, we will
attempt to provide some insights and cautionary notes in this section.
Our Assumptions About You, The Instructor:
In preparing this Instructor's Manual, we debated about the amount of
background and preparatory materials that we should include on both experiential
learning and case teaching. We decided to make an assumption: that instructors who
would adopt this book were already fundamentally familiar with the mechanics of
conducting experiential exercises, self-assessment questionnaires, role-plays, and case
teaching. We would therefore limit our commentary to the more specific dynamics of
conducting learning experiences about negotiation, power and conflict. Short overview
notes on the general approach to using role-playing and instruments in the classroom
are reproduced following this introduction.
For those of you about whom we made the INCORRECT assessment
that you are not familiar with the mechanics of experiential exercises or case teaching,
we recommend that you consult any one of a variety of sources on this subject. We
have found that the best overviews to conducting experiential exercises may be found in
the Instructor's Manuals of several leading Organizational Behavior texts. We
specifically recommend the introductory sections of the following Instructor's Manuals:
Hall, D. T., Bowen, D. D., Lewicki, R. J., & Hall, F. S. (1996). Instructor's Manual to
,Accompany Experiences in Management and Organizational Behavior. Fourth Edition.
New York: John Wiley.
Cohen, A. R., Fink, S. L., Gadon, H., & Willits, R. D. (1996). Instructor's Manual to
Accompany Effective Behavior in Organizations. Seventh Edition. Burr Ridge, IL:
McGraw Hill.
For case teaching, the Cohen et al. manual also provides an excellent
discussion. Harvard Business School Case Services has several good books and
pamphlets on case teaching and the case method.
,Other Instructional Resources:
After many years in which there were few if any resources available to guide
instructors in teaching negotiation, more work is beginning to emerge. Currently, the best
resource is:
Teaching Negotiation: Ideas and Innovations, Edited by Michael Wheeler, PON Books, 500
Pound Hall, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 01238. This book is the result of a
conference sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation in 2000. It includes past articles from
Negotiation Journal and many of the new papers presented at the conference.
Two other journals continue to publish occasional articles about teaching negotiation:
Negotiation Journal, published by Kluwer. Consistently publishes strong applied articles on
negotiation (many of which have appeared in our Readings volume) and periodically,
articles on teaching negotiation.
The Journal of Management Education, published by Sage. Published since 1975 (formerly
as Exchange), this Journal publishes many articles on methods, strategies and issues in
experiential, case and traditional pedagogy in the organizational behavior field.
, CHALLENGES OF TEACHING NEGOTIATION1
Roy J. Lewicki
An earlier version of this article originally appeared in Negotiation Journal. The
article explains some of the ways that teaching negotiation is different from other
experiential-based courses, uses a well known model of experiential learning to
explain the various vehicles for learning in the course, discusses some general
problems in structuring a negotiation course, and describes some of the unique
challenges that are created for instructors in these courses. For those who do not
have extensive teaching experience in this area, the article creates an appropriate
groundwork for understanding the course specifics that we describe on this
website. References and language have been updated as appropriate.
Courses in negotiation are a mature academic industry. In the mid-1970s, when
I first taught a negotiation course to students in a graduate school of business, there
were perhaps two or three other comparable courses in the United States. Reading and
case materials at that time were drawn largely from labor relations, social psychology,
and international diplomacy. Simulation materials were adapted from game theory,
collective bargaining and psychological experiments. Only one or two practitioner-
oriented trade books were available in the marketplace.
Today, negotiation courses are staples of the curriculum in business schools, law
schools, public policy schools, schools of international relations, and undergraduate
curricula. Case studies and simulations are regularly developed to analyze and enact
negotiation in each of these environments and contexts. Research emphasis has largely
moved from the development of new theoretical bases to applications and the analysis
of negotiations in situational context. Practitioner oriented books on negotiation abound,
and comprehensive textbooks are beginning to appear. Finally, seminars for executives
and practitioners are available from many training organizations and consulting firms.
My purpose in this article is to outline some of the central problems, issues and
dilemmas of teaching negotiation. While some of these problems are not unique to
1
Adapted from an article that first appeared in Negotiation Journal, January 1986, pp. 15-27.
TEACHING NEGOTIATION SKILLS
The purpose of this section is to share some insights and observations about
teaching courses on negotiation. We have learned through many interesting but
tension- filled experiences that when instructors let students “experiment” with conflict
and power through role-plays, simulations and questionnaires, things do not always
proceed as calmly and predictably as we might like. For some instructors, these
experiences are the spice of exciting classroom instruction; for others, they are the
unpredictability that one may find a bit threatening and intimidating, since the learning
event may occasionally appear out of control. Therefore, in order to help the instructor
understand these dynamics, and lead students to learn the most from them, we will
attempt to provide some insights and cautionary notes in this section.
Our Assumptions About You, The Instructor:
In preparing this Instructor's Manual, we debated about the amount of
background and preparatory materials that we should include on both experiential
learning and case teaching. We decided to make an assumption: that instructors who
would adopt this book were already fundamentally familiar with the mechanics of
conducting experiential exercises, self-assessment questionnaires, role-plays, and case
teaching. We would therefore limit our commentary to the more specific dynamics of
conducting learning experiences about negotiation, power and conflict. Short overview
notes on the general approach to using role-playing and instruments in the classroom
are reproduced following this introduction.
For those of you about whom we made the INCORRECT assessment
that you are not familiar with the mechanics of experiential exercises or case teaching,
we recommend that you consult any one of a variety of sources on this subject. We
have found that the best overviews to conducting experiential exercises may be found in
the Instructor's Manuals of several leading Organizational Behavior texts. We
specifically recommend the introductory sections of the following Instructor's Manuals:
Hall, D. T., Bowen, D. D., Lewicki, R. J., & Hall, F. S. (1996). Instructor's Manual to
,Accompany Experiences in Management and Organizational Behavior. Fourth Edition.
New York: John Wiley.
Cohen, A. R., Fink, S. L., Gadon, H., & Willits, R. D. (1996). Instructor's Manual to
Accompany Effective Behavior in Organizations. Seventh Edition. Burr Ridge, IL:
McGraw Hill.
For case teaching, the Cohen et al. manual also provides an excellent
discussion. Harvard Business School Case Services has several good books and
pamphlets on case teaching and the case method.
,Other Instructional Resources:
After many years in which there were few if any resources available to guide
instructors in teaching negotiation, more work is beginning to emerge. Currently, the best
resource is:
Teaching Negotiation: Ideas and Innovations, Edited by Michael Wheeler, PON Books, 500
Pound Hall, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 01238. This book is the result of a
conference sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation in 2000. It includes past articles from
Negotiation Journal and many of the new papers presented at the conference.
Two other journals continue to publish occasional articles about teaching negotiation:
Negotiation Journal, published by Kluwer. Consistently publishes strong applied articles on
negotiation (many of which have appeared in our Readings volume) and periodically,
articles on teaching negotiation.
The Journal of Management Education, published by Sage. Published since 1975 (formerly
as Exchange), this Journal publishes many articles on methods, strategies and issues in
experiential, case and traditional pedagogy in the organizational behavior field.
, CHALLENGES OF TEACHING NEGOTIATION1
Roy J. Lewicki
An earlier version of this article originally appeared in Negotiation Journal. The
article explains some of the ways that teaching negotiation is different from other
experiential-based courses, uses a well known model of experiential learning to
explain the various vehicles for learning in the course, discusses some general
problems in structuring a negotiation course, and describes some of the unique
challenges that are created for instructors in these courses. For those who do not
have extensive teaching experience in this area, the article creates an appropriate
groundwork for understanding the course specifics that we describe on this
website. References and language have been updated as appropriate.
Courses in negotiation are a mature academic industry. In the mid-1970s, when
I first taught a negotiation course to students in a graduate school of business, there
were perhaps two or three other comparable courses in the United States. Reading and
case materials at that time were drawn largely from labor relations, social psychology,
and international diplomacy. Simulation materials were adapted from game theory,
collective bargaining and psychological experiments. Only one or two practitioner-
oriented trade books were available in the marketplace.
Today, negotiation courses are staples of the curriculum in business schools, law
schools, public policy schools, schools of international relations, and undergraduate
curricula. Case studies and simulations are regularly developed to analyze and enact
negotiation in each of these environments and contexts. Research emphasis has largely
moved from the development of new theoretical bases to applications and the analysis
of negotiations in situational context. Practitioner oriented books on negotiation abound,
and comprehensive textbooks are beginning to appear. Finally, seminars for executives
and practitioners are available from many training organizations and consulting firms.
My purpose in this article is to outline some of the central problems, issues and
dilemmas of teaching negotiation. While some of these problems are not unique to
1
Adapted from an article that first appeared in Negotiation Journal, January 1986, pp. 15-27.
