Learn, improve and hone your negotiation skills with one of Coursera’s most popular online courses.
Negotiation is one of the key components to making successful deals for businesses. It’s difficult for a company to survive without profitable contracts, and securing the right deal requires a firm understanding of knowing what stakeholders want. Within an organisation, having good negotiation skills can lead to career advancement.
The course, Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills, is one of the most popular and highly-rated Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) in the world and prepares you for the right approach and mindset to plan your negotiation strategies.
The course has been created by the University of Michigan and is available on Coursera for free. A certificate that formally recognises course completion can be earned if you have a paid subscription. It is 100% online and will take approximately 17 hours to complete.
The course is broken down into weeks. An overview of each week’s syllabus is provided below.
WEEK 1
WELCOME TO SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATION
Through this course, you’ll learn and practice the strategies and skills that will help you become a successful negotiator in your personal life and business transactions. After completing this module, you’ll be able to state the four key stages of negotiation and what you need to do successfully to complete this course. Week 1 consists of 2 videos, totaling 24 minutes, and 7 readings to accompany the materials.
WEEK 2
PREPARE: PLAN YOUR NEGOTIATION STRATEGY
This module focuses on the first step in the negotiation process – planning for a negotiation. One critical component you’ll learn is how to complete a negotiation analysis to set you up for success. The first quiz of the course is taken in this module after watching 10 lecture videos totaling 147 minutes, and 4 reading tasks.
WEEK 3
NEGOTIATE: USE KEY TACTICS FOR SUCCESS
This module focuses on two especially important topics. The first is how to use power during negotiations and the second is the psychological tools that you can use during negotiations. Keep a paper and pencil handy, as you’ll be participating in several experiments as you watch these videos. This module should take you around 96 minutes of watch time, and 4 finishing 4 reading tasks followed up by a quiz.
WEEK 4
CLOSE: CREATE A CONTRACT
This module focuses on the negotiation that takes place in a business deal after reaching an initial agreement – the negotiation to create a binding contract. Among other things, you’ll learn to decide if you need a lawyer or can act as your own for contract creation. However, the videos should not be construed as providing legal advice. This is a fairly short module, with only 76 minutes of video lecture materials and 3 reading materials.
WEEK 5
PERFORM AND EVALUATE: THE END GAME
This module focuses on performing and evaluating your agreement. If both parties perform as expected, there is no problem. But if they fail to perform, the dispute resolution processes that are covered in this module are important – especially mediation and arbitration. The course does not dive deep into the intricacies and legalities of mediation and arbitration but will provide enough materials for you to familiarise yourself with common practices. Since the University of Michigan is an institution based in the United States, most of the mediation and arbitration processes referred to are based on the US legal system. The principle, however, remains the same. This module has 8 videos totalling 115 minutes, 3 readings, and 1 quiz.
THE COURSE, SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATION: ESSENTIAL STRATEGIES AND SKILLS, IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR AND HIGHLY-RATED MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES (MOOC) IN THE WORLD AND PREPARES YOU FOR THE RIGHT APPROACH AND MINDSET TO PLAN YOUR NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES.
WEEK 6
PRACTICE YOUR NEGOTIATION SKILLS
Put your newly developed skills to the test in this module with a friend or fellow MOOC participant from another part of the world! The collaborative process and the real interaction with another fellow learner offer you the opportunity to practice your skills, receive feedback, and grade other learners on their abilities. MOOCs offer this unique opportunity to interact with people from various backgrounds, allowing you to practice your negotiation skills across a spectrum of characteristics and personalities. This module has 67 minutes of lecture materials across 8 videos, and 5 reading materials. There are no quizzes, but it is highly recommended that the negotiation practice sessions be attempted before being marked as completed.
WEEK 7
FINAL EXAMINATION
Once you have successfully completed the Final Exam, you will have successfully completed the course! The estimated time to complete the examination is 75 minutes. You can retake the examination until you are confident that you understand these concepts. The retake feature of MOOCs, particularly those of Coursera, is the best asset digital platforms have to offer to learners. With a virtually infinite number of attempts, you have the option to keep coming back and practice more negotiation tactics with fellow learners to hone your negotiation skills.
Course Rating
The course has an average rating of 4.8/5 and 4230 reviews. Around 82% of learners rate the course 5/5, and 15% rate the course 4/5. The learning community is very active, and 5-star reviews and positive comments posted as recently as 24 January 2023 indicate that the course materials have stayed relevant to this day since its launch in 2015.
