GBUS 8429

Course Description

This course will provide a deeper understanding of options, preferred approaches and best practices in managing conflict, and leveraging consensus. As conflict is an inevitable element in all human relations, students will explore how managers and leaders who effectively deal with both daily and systemic conflict enjoy a distinct competitive advantage in a variety of respects. These include: building and maintaining strategic alliances and networks; furthering team creativity and innovation; fostering collaborative organizational cultures and working relationships; containing financial and human costs; and, ultimately, improving business results. While rooted in negotiation and conflict theory, this course will provide pragmatic and practical general management skills and should therefore be of interest to all students, regardless of their specific career or personal goals. Bargaining and Negotiating is a prerequisite for this course. Principal modes of instruction are cases, readings, extended simulations, and in-class exercises.