Instructor
Gregg Walker, Professor, Department of Speech Communication
phone: 541.757.5397    fax: 541.737.4443    email: gwalker@orst.edu
Office hours are Tuesdays 0900-1100, Wednesdays 1330-1500, and by appointment.  Office hours may vary due to extended education and administrative service commitments.

Course Description
"Bargaining and negotiation processes" is a course concerned with productive approaches to reaching agreements, settling disputes, and managing conflicts.  The course is designed to familiarize students with critical aspects of the dispute resolution process by focusing primarily on bargaining and negotiation.  Students will examine the alternatives available in negotiation situations.  By learning the material of the course, students may even become better bargainers!

Some course "Rules of the Road"
Readings
There is a lot of reading material in this class, much like a "reference library."  Read for the essential message rather than for detail.
1.    Lewicki, R., Minton, J., & Saunders, D.  (1999).   Negotiation,  3rd ed.   Burr Ridge,  IL: Irwin.  Although (too) expensive, this is an
       excellent book--the best on this topic.
2.    Fisher, R., Ury, W., and Patton, B. (1992). Getting to Yes, 2nd ed. New York: Penguin.  This is a classic.
3.    If a COMM 542 student, an additional book (see list).
4.    Articles in a reserve reading packet at Valley Library ("must-read" materials).

Attendance
Come to class.  This is not a "correspondence" course. I do not grade on attendance, but missing class more than twice (or equivalent) without a great excuse results in loss of the re-write, re-take privilege.  This includes missing negotiation simulation sessions.

Exams and papers
Plan for two exams; essay variety, with both in-class and take-home versions.  Two or three papers are required; one dealing with a personal bargaining experience (BE), a second concerning the team negotiation simulation (TM), and a third based on your interview of a negotiation "professional" (IV) or a research article critique (RC).  Graduate students' third paper will be a book or article critique and report/outline for the class or a special COMM 542 seminar.  Please type or "word process" your papers.  Although I evaluate your work based on substance, pay attention to style: proofread your paper, spell-check to document, and number your pages.

In-class activities
The course includes role plays, discussion, and a detailed negotiation simulation that will take place throughout the term.  The simulation and role plays are essential to the effectiveness of the course.  If you do not like these types of learning experiences, you will be better off elsewhere.

Late assignments and "second chance" papers and exams
Papers should be turned in on time.  I do accept late papers, but for each week a paper is late, it will lose 10% of its "weight" (one day late equals one full week).  Late papers are evaluated whenever I can get to them.  As long as your attendance is good, you can re-write the papers and take a second (or third) version of the midterm.  The final and third paper can be "revised" during the subsequent term (again, assuming good attendance).  Only "on-time" work can be revised.

Grades
Requirements differ for "B" and "A" grade goals.  To earn a particular grade you must not simply "do" the work; you must write work of a quality appropriate for that grade.

                                 BE Paper            SIM Paper            IV-RC-BC        MidExam            FinalExam            Commit

442 - B	10	25	---	30	30	5
442 - A	10	20	15	25	25	5
542	10	20	15	25	25	5

The commitment grade denotes my assessment of your commitment to/involvement in the course.  You will evaluate commitment concerning the negotiation simulation.  Please note that I use the +/- grading system.  Your course grade is computed by multiplying the value of the grade received for each assignment (i.e., 12 for an A+, 10 for an A-, 8 for a B, 2 for a D, etc.) by that assignment's weight and summing the results for all assignments.  For example, the weighted grades for a student who received all B's would sum to a total of 8, or B.

Grade standards
Evaluation of performance and achievement involves judgments of quality.  Please note that I view quality of work as significantly different from (and more important than) quantity of effort.
*The A range is for excellent to outstanding performance and superior achievement.
*The B range denotes good to very good performance and substantial achievement.
*The C range indicates standard, acceptable, average performance and achievement.
*The D range is for substandard performance and marginal achievement.
*An F is given for unsatisfactory performance and achievement.
*An I is given only for documented emergencies or other extraordinary circumstances. An Incomplete is not a "dead" or finals week option as a stress management tool.