Negotiating to Create Value: The Mutual Gains Approach is a four-week online course that will empower you with a proven negotiation method for achieving results advantageous to all parties.
The course teaches the Mutual Gains Approach, a negotiation method developed by MIT and Harvard, co-led by Larry Susskind, and well-proven through extensive research. The method allows all involved parties to both maximize their gains and maintain positive, long-term business relationships. You will learn to Prepare, Create Value, Distribute Value, and Follow Through in negotiations.
The course is well-suited for professionals and entrepreneurs in business, industry, government, and other organizations. Specific positions that may be particularly well-suited are directors of sales and account representatives. However, professionals from any area interested in improving their negotiation skills to maximize negotiation outcomes while maintaining long-term relationships will benefit from the course.
The coursework features numerous practice activities with immediate feedback, three graded activities with a focus on peer-review as an application of the course skills—including self-guided reflections and a case study involving providing negotiations advice—, and discussions with course TAs and peers. Learners will also complete two negotiations simulations, role-playing the negotiations with a course colleague. The course team will facilitate the process of partnering learners for the simulation.
You will spend the first week learning the foundational principles of the Mutual Gains Approach negotiation methodology. In the second and third weeks, you will partner with a peer to put the Mutual Gains Approach methodology into practice by applying the knowledge and skills gained from week 1. You will role-play a negotiation simulation from the MIT-Harvard Program on Negotiation, with confidential instructions provided for each participant. You will need to produce creative solutions to fulfill interests and maximize results for both sides. After the simulation, you will get to see experts negotiating the same simulation, with Professor Larry Susskind debriefing that simulation. Finally, the last week will focus on improving and refining your understanding of the Mutual Gains Approach methodology, as well as your personal theory of practice for negotiation. You will complete a peer-reviewed case study, practicing providing negotiation advice to both parties and receiving peer feedback to increase your proficiency with the methodology. Please review the Course Schedule for more details.
The course will train you to analyze, prepare for, and undertake negotiations to both maximize outcomes for and maintain working relationships between all parties using a proven methodology.