Description project
Negotiations are vital factors of business success (Herbst and Schwarz, 2011; Sigurdardottir et al. 2018). An improved negotiation strategy can directly affect business profitability. Negotiation can be described as a problem-solving task during which the involved parties have to collaborate to generate information from the counterpart and use that knowledge to find a mutually favourable solution (Carroll, Bazerman, and Maury, 1988; Prietula and Weingart, 1994). Therefore, negotiators have to understand the negotiation process and the objectives to improve the effectiveness of business procedures, such as communication and business relationships. Effective negotiation skills training is, therefore, essential for students and practitioners. A classic problem, negotiators face in such training, is that they tend to use the same strategy, regardless of the situation. More specifically, students and practitioners are having difficulties in switching their ineffective strategy in the course of events and adjusting to new circumstance to successfully move on with the negotiation process and achieve mutually beneficial solutions. The current practice of negotiation skills education and training interventions is limited to a standard training approach which is including theoretical lectures, reading materials, interactive case scenarios, general debriefings and feedback.
As a solution, new training methods are required to support negotiators in making the switch by developing adaptive expertise, reduce the risk of conflict and become more efficient during the negotiation. It will be investigated if classroom training methods can be improved through wearable technology in combination with feedback and reflection activities to support students in adjusting their strategy throughout the negotiation, overcome the initial dilemma and change their mindset.
expected outcomes
- New negotiation skills training methods
- Publications + Dissertation
involved researchers
Henrike Fitschen, MSc. - PhD candidate and contact person
Prof. dr. Ellen Giebels - promotor
Dr. Aldis Sigurdardottir - co-promotor
Dr. Bas Kollöffel - co-promotor
Duration of the project
September 2020 – August 2024
Funding & partners
BMS Signature PhD project
project website
Not applicable