Improvisation and Teaching Negotiation: Developing Three Essential Skills

Abstract

The notion of an adaptable negotiator, who can respond to any situation he or she encounters, resonates with every negotiation expert. Unexpected things happen in negotiation, and negotiators must be able to adapt in fleet and effective ways. Dealing with the unexpected, responding “in the moment,” and adapting effectively to sudden changes — these are the skills of an improvisational artist, and they are effective skills for negotiators to learn. How can improvisational skills be taught to negotiation students so that they will be able to draw upon these skills in the heat of a negotiation or mediation? By bringing together teachers of improvisation in various disciplines, we explored how improvisation is currently applied and taught in theater, business, and psychotherapy. We then developed some ideas about ways in which teachers of negotiation might begin to incorporate improvisation as part of the negotiation lesson plan.

Organizational Improvisation: A Consolidating Review and Framework

“…Unforeseen circumstances are not a necessary condition for improvisation: jazz bands, for instance, or newly formed start-up teams fully expect improvisation. Dealing with the Balachandra et al (2005) Dealing with the unexpected; responding 'in the moment'; adapting effectively to sudden changes Barrett (1998) Inventing novel responses without a plan; discovering the future as action unfolds Barrett (2000) Contemporaneous composition and performance Barrett and Peplowski (1998) Creating on the spot without a pre-scripted plan Brown and Eisenhardt (1997) Making strategy up as one goes along Cleary and Groer (1994) Making numerous interactive in-flight decisions ('psychology') Crossan et al (1996) Ideas emerging in unplanned ways; taking advantage of opportunities in the moment Gardner and Rogoff (1990) Adapting planning to the circumstances ('psychology') Hmieleski and Corbett (2008) The deliberate extemporaneous composition and execution of novel action Leybourne and Sadler-Smith (2006) A combination of intuition (also an antecedent to improvisation), creativity and bricolage driven by time pressures Lockford and Pelias (2004) Incorporating new information spontaneously to action; Adapting to emergent circumstances ('theatre') Machin and Carrithers (1996) Creating ad hoc responses according to circumstances ('anthropology') Magni et al (2009) The creative and spontaneous behaviour of managing an unexpected event Meyer (1998) Solving problems in the nick of time Mirvis (1998) Making things up as one goes along Pasmore (1998) Creating in real time in a flexible fashion Tanenbaum and Tanenbaum (2008) A highly contingent and emergent human process ('theatre') Weick (1993b) Immediately inventing substitutes to old order Weick (1998) Dealing with the unforeseen without prior stipulation Weick (2001) Just-in-time strategy Dealing with the Balachandra et al (2005) Dealing with the unexpected; responding 'in the moment'; adapting effectively to sudden changes Barrett (1998) Inventing novel responses without a plan; discovering the future as action unfolds Barrett (2000) Contemporaneous composition and performance Barrett and Peplowski (1998) Creating on the spot without a pre-scripted plan Brown and Eisenhardt (1997) Making strategy up as one goes ...…”

Organizational Aesthetic Capability and Firm Product and Process Innovativeness

“…As aesthetics involves sensory assessments of anything we live and see around us, and that guide our behaviors, thoughts, and actions (Hansen et al, 2007), it also shapes our instant judgments about taking actions emerging without planning. In this respect, spontaneous act entails dealing with unexpected, identifying emergent issues, but specifically responding with a corresponding design ‗in the moment' (Balachandra et al, 2005). Similarly, Moorman and Miner (1998) invites attention to timing actions in spontaneous act context as an important research issue.…”

Teaching Real-World Political Economy: Simulating a WTO Negotiation

“…show how negotiation courses improve at least self-perception of negotiation skills. Instructors may wish to shareBalachandra, Crossan, Lee, Leary, and Patton (2005),Lax andSebenius (2004), andMcClendon, Burke, andWilley (2010) with their student who wish to improve their negotiation skills. Readers interested at understanding how ethical culture impacts the negotiation process should refer toAquino (1998).4 The Summit of the Americas was a conference at which the process of creating a free trade area, or bloc, encompassing North America, South America, and the Caribbean was initiated.…”