This class exists in these courses :
• IÉSEG > MSc in International Business Negotiation (MNG) > Semestre 1 > 2,00 ECTS

Prerequisites

Students should be familiar with basic concepts and approaches of negotiation (e.g. positional bargaining, interest-based negotiation)
Basic numeracy skills are required
Familiarity with role-play exercises is an advantage

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
(1) Examine the actual decision-making processes
(2) Use basic techniques of decision theory to make smarter decisions
(3) Use the theory of simultaneous and sequential games to analyse the strategic inter-dependencies of parties in a negotiation
(4) Apply concepts of decision and game theory to real life bargaining and negotiation situations
(5) Understand the scope and limits of rational approaches to decision-making

Course description

Negotiators have to make many decisions before, during, and after a negotiation process. Often those decisions need to be made under time pressure and with limited access to information. The situation is further complicated in that the outcome of a negotiation depends not only on one party’s decisions, but on those of all parties involved. This course introduces students to the basics of decision and game theory with a view to make them smarter decision-makers and develop their awareness for the strategic inter-dependencies between negotiators. It concludes with a critical discussion of the limits of rational decision-making and the cognitive biases that often govern negotiators’ decision-making in practice. The course incorporates decision-making exercises, role-playing games, and in-class discussions to facilitate students’ learning.

Class type

Class structure

Teaching methods

• Case study
• Interactive class
• Presentation

Assessment

1 take-home assignment including 3 problem questions and 1 open-ended question on decision theory and 3 problem questions and 1 open-ended question on game theory

Recommended reading

• Lecture notes (to be provided at the beginning of the course) -

• Game theory at work (2003) by James D. Miller; McGraw-Hill: New York -

• Games for business and economics, 2nd edition (2003) by Roy Gardner; Wiley: Hoboken, NJ -