On March 24, students in Professor Tim Golden’s MGMT 6961-Negotiations course experienced a lively enactment of cross cultural negotiations as two students, Atif Majeed MBA ’10 (from Pakistan) and Sreekanth Venkataraman MBA ‘10 (from India), dressed in traditional clothing from their home countries and engaged in a negotiation over the India-Pakistan conflict.
Professor Golden observed, “As future managers, MBA students need not only analytical skills, but also a variety of negotiation skills in order to effectively implement solutions to pressing business needs.” This new negotiations course is designed to help students develop basic expertise in managing negotiations that occur in a broad array of business settings.
For this discussion on cross-cultural negotiation, the evening began with a brief history of the India-Pakistan conflict, and then each side in the international dispute presented their position on several of the main issues that have spanned the 60+ year conflict. The two parties then negotiated over these issues, with the class acting as mediators in the international negotiation.
Professor Golden used the discussion to highlight key concepts in cross-cultural negotiations.
The evening
concluded with the class enjoying “Gulab Jamun,” a traditional
dessert made with cheese, cream, sugar syrup, cardamom and rosewater, that is
popular throughout the Indian subcontinent.