Teaching through simulation: Negotiation Skills A learning activity for last year undergraduate students studying Project Management (U33571) as part of the BSc (Hons) Construction Management Programme 24 students, 22/2 Male/female ratio, 2 international students, 2 ethnic minority students ExperienceReflectionInsight Action

Week 9: Distribution of exercise brief Aim To negotiate in order to form a coalition with one other group, in order to provide professional design and project management services in relation to a complex and high risk project ReflectionInsightActionExperience Project data Project client, project nature, project value £150m Uncertainties Project value allowing for risk (up to £260m), fees payable (2% to 5%), losses incurred (up to 1%) Negotiation objective A coalition between 2 companies and the pain/gain share Week 10: Negotiation simulation exercise Instructions - 3 companies (A, B, C) including 6 members each - 2 observers allocated to each company - 3 rounds of negotiations - In each round: Companies negotiate in pairs Third company leaves the room / prepares 2 negotiators and 4 advisors per company - Class brief: Publicly available company information - Team brief: Confidential company information - Observers brief: Aspects of the negotiation process Requirements for effective negotiation Effective negotiation skills Focus: Negotiation process Action: Negotiation rounds Support: 1 tutor and 1 facilitator Feedback: Tutor, facilitator and observers Debrief: Negotiation theory

ExperienceInsightActionReflection Feedback from students Observation - In the beginning, suspicious as to where is the theory - As the time went on, got more and more excited -During the debriefing, pleasantly surprised to find out that they had unconsciously followed the theory Discussion - Enjoyed the session, confident they did great, wished there was assessment - 2 students found the session as the most exciting in their 4 years of studies Module formative feedback - 17 out of 24 students identified the session as one of their favourite sessions of the module Personal perspective - Built student confidence -Multiple roles (negotiators, advisors, observers) facilitated learners difference -Support and tutor involvement during the negotiation rounds (action stage) was rather disruptive to the flow of the process -Feedback from peer students (observers) was seen as tutoring and bridged the tutor - student gap, created the sense of a learning community (Oxford Brookes module evaluation and improvement framework) Peer dialogue With 2 senior colleagues who had taught the session in the past -Revealed views very similar to personal perspective -Suggested concerns with the level of student preparation -Focused on how elements of the exercise could be assessed -Indicated the importance of selecting appropriate, perhaps more experienced, observers -Emphasised the need for employing motivating teaching methods

ExperienceReflectionActionInsight Learning activity - function Meet intended learning outcomes - (Disciplinary/Professional Skills) Negotiate, particularly in relation to various project situations such as setting up business relationships or dealing with claims - (Transferable Skills) Communicate more effectively and in a professional manner particularly in relation to handling difficult people and situations, presenting proposals in a convincing manner - (Knowledge and understanding) Evaluate project and commercial risk with reference to contracts, develop an understanding of theories of negotiation Address two graduate attributes (Oxford Brookes University) Academic literacy and critical self-awareness and personal literacy Support experiential learning 5 stage model of experiential education (Joplin, 1981) Promote CEO Forum’s 21st Century Skills Inventive thinking, communication, collaboration (Lee, 2010) Address two UKPSF professional values PV4: Acknowledging the wider context in which higher education operates by considering sustainability, regeneration and local community PV3: Use evidence informed approaches and CPD outcomes by drawing upon my recent experience in industry improvement initiatives Deliver skills appropriate to an applied science Increased realism, skills which cannot be lectured (Al-Jibouri, 2005) Learning activity - points to consider as suggested by Lundy (1991) - Competitiveness has a negative effect on cognitive learning … competition is one of the key elements of business simulation games and results in higher levels of motivation (Drake, 2006) - Learning is enhanced through tutor involvement during the game … tutor involvement has the potential to highly affect and hinder the experience or ‘realism’ of the exercise environment (Lee, 2010) - A considerable amount of learning occurs during feedback and debriefing after the game … the students (observers) and tutor role during the feedback and debriefing stages has to be clarified (Al-Jibouri, 2005)

ExperienceReflectionInsightAction Recommendations Learning activity planning and design -Brief students in advance as to how the exercise facilitates experiential learning and the development of negotiation skills -Incorporate planned tutor interventions to steer negotiations -Identify observers in advance so that they can undertake directed reading on negotiation theories prior to the exercise -Design structured feedback to allow focusing on particular elements of the exercise Learning activity in the module context -Examine the use of simulation games in order to increase he variety of the employed teaching methods (Fripp, 1993) -Consider the use of this exercise to address Brookes graduate attribute ‘Research literacy’ -Incorporate this exercise in module coursework and design an appropriate assessment method

References Al-Jibouri, S., Mawdesley, M., Scott, D. and Gribble, S. (2005) The use of a simulation model as a game for teaching management of projects in construction, Industrial Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 21, pp Drake, R., Strachan, R. and Goldsmith, G. (2006) A novel approach to teaching teamwork, Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 11, pp Fripp, J. (1993) Learning through simulations, London, McGraw-Hill. Fry, H. Ketter Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. and Marshall, S. (2009) Understanding student learning, pp. 8-26, In Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. and Marshall, S. (eds.) A handbook for teaching and learning in higher education: enhancing academic practice, 3rd ed. London, Routledge. Teaching through simulation: Negotiation Skills by Christos Vidalakis, 2012, P70405: Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Joplin, L. (1981) On defining experiential education, Journal of Experiential Education, Vol. 4, pp Kolb, D.A. (1984) Experiential learning, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall. Lee, A. (2010) Simulation Games: Shifting from Conceptual Learning to Experiential Learning, Blended Learning In Practice, Vol. 3, pp Lundy, J. (1991) Cognitive learning from games: Student approaches to business games, Studies in Higher Education Vol. 16, pp