Business Negotiations by Indiana University

ABOUT THIS PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION

People who achieve the highest levels of professional success have done so by mastering the art and science of negotiations. In this program, you will acquire the skills you need to become a skilled negotiator. Better yet, you will have the opportunity to apply those skills by actually negotiating a transaction.

In this program, you will work in online, real-time teams to negotiate a complex business transaction. This portion of the program consists of live interactive negotiation sessions with written follow-ups, culminating in a letter of intent. Throughout the process, you will address the numerous legal, business, social, ethical, and political issues that arise during a transaction. You will apply creative problem-solving as you and your team work with the other side toward a mutually beneficial result.

As a prerequisite to the actual negotiations, you will complete a self-paced class that explores the key elements of negotiating and structuring the transaction that you’ll be working on. You will learn to analyze, strategize, negotiate, and draft, and to think holistically about a transaction. The prerequisite course may be taken as a stand-alone class, but you must complete it in order to enroll in the negotiations class.

The program is ideal for anyone who wants to become a better negotiator, including professionals and students at all levels in law, business, engineering, government, diplomatic service, or any other profession that engages in negotiations. Whether you are looking to hone your skills, or to practice what you’ve learned in a collaborative team setting, you will benefit from this stimulating and action-oriented program. In addition, the online setting for the negotiations presents an added benefit: because the COVID-19 pandemic has made online negotiations the new normal, it is more important than ever to become proficient at them.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• The elements of a successful negotiation, including trust and rapport, comprehensive understanding of the transaction, and creative problem-solving.
• How to negotiate a complex transaction in a live, team-based, online setting, with the goal of achieving optimal results for you and your clients.
• How to handle unexpected developments in a business negotiation, such as conflicting objectives, cultural differences, and impasses.
• The role of political considerations in business negotiations.
• How well you are performing at each stage of the negotiation process through a series of scheduled debriefings.

JOB OVERVIEW

• Jobs requiring a high “negotiation importance” score according to the US Department of Labor’s O*NET database tend to pay higher salaries than jobs with a lower score.
• Employment of arbitrators and mediators, for which negotiation skills are essential, is projected to grow 8% from 2019-29, much faster than the average for all occupations (Bureau of Labor Statistics).