ESSEC offers a new MOOC about International and Cross-Cultural Negotiation

ESSEC Business School has just launched a new MOOC which offers a better understanding of when and how cultural differences are likely to influence the different dimensions of a negotiation. Currently open for registration, the MOOC is available on the Coursera platform.

All of us are aware that cultural differences are significant and that they affect how we interact with others in business and in leisure activities. However, how do cultures impact negotiations, in particular?

The new ESSEC MOOC “International and Cross-Cultural Negotiation” is an intermediate level course for anyone who wishes to develop a better cross-cultural understanding and to enhance their dialogue and negotiation capabilities.  The objective is to support participants’ understanding of different dimensions of culture, from one region or country to another, while also helping them to avoid simplifications, clichés and stereotypes.

The MOOC provides a concrete look at different national and regional negotiation styles (i.e. French, Chinese, North American and Middle Eastern). Moreover, an examination of negotiation in two multicultural settings (the European Union institutions and the COP 21 climate conference in Paris) highlights the importance of well-designed negotiation processes for getting both efficiency and fairness. The MOOC has been developed based on the expertise of ESSEC’s Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation (IRENE Paris Singapore Brussels), which has conducted negotiation-related activities in over 75 countries to this day.

The MOOC features:

• Aurélien Colson PhD, Professor of Political Science at ESSEC and Director of ESSEC’s Center of Excellence IRENE International Governance & Dialogue
• Alan Jenkins PhD, Professor of Management at ESSEC
• Francesco Marchi PhD, Director of the Research and Training program “Negotiators of Europe” at ESSEC IRENE
• Joseph Maïla PhD, Professor of Geopolitics and Program Director at ESSEC IRENE
• Tai-Wei Chao, Executive Director of ESSEC IRENE ASIA in Singapore

Through four modules, the course will take participants on a learning journey which will enable them to effectively apply concepts and skills to concrete situations and will provide them with a better overall awareness of their own cultures.

• Module 1 – An introduction to culture and negotiation    
• Module 2 – The impact of culture on the process dimension of negotiation
• Module 3 – The impact of culture on the people dimension of negotiation
• Module 4 – An examination of specific cross-cultural negotiation examples

Registration on the Coursera platform opens today, May 15: International and Cross-Cultural Negotiation and the first session of the MOOC begins on May 22.

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