Course goals
Professional success and management of organizations, in any context, require agreement and collaboration with other people. While this is true for any type of transaction anywhere, it is even truer when the people who interact in order to reach an agreement are from different cultures. Because of globalization, the ability of reaching agreements, effectively collaborate, and resolve conflicts within a multicultural context, is more and more needed today. Organizations of any industry and sector, today, are increasingly embracing diversity in all aspects and this requires cultural intelligence, sensitivity, communication and negotiations skills to reach synergy and mutually beneficial outcomes. Success in diverse and dynamic environments partly depends on how well each of us knows how to negotiate. These negotiations are very peculiar because they include more variables and may entail complex cross-cultural dynamics. International negotiations, indeed, require a different series of frameworks that have be to be mastered to work successfully across cultures. Negotiating internationally requires intercultural awareness, effective cross-cultural communication skills, and specific techniques. Some of the concepts covered in this course are: basic principles of international negotiations, negotiation styles, cultural differences, values and etiquettes, conflict analysis and resolution, transcultural leadership and management.
Course results
- Introduce students to the core concepts of cross-cultural communication and negotiations in international contexts.
- Discuss and analyse issues related to international negotiation situations, causes and effects.
- Assess and analyse cross-cultural negotiations situations, problems and solutions.
- Develop a set of effective cross cultural communication skills, and specific techniques for international negotiations and conflict resolution.
- Understand cross-cultural communication and negotiation as a key element in the set of required soft skills needed in international cooperation.
- Apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills in a changing environment.
- Demonstrate knowledge and ability to evaluate and assess international negotiation theoretical concepts, strategies and techniques to be applied in real-life scenarios.
