Response Paper

Assignment 6.2- Response Paper #2

Compose your response paper adhering to the guidelines set forth under the Instructions & Information page. Review the response paper rubric for grading criteria. Submit it to turnitin.com and to Drop Box 6.2 by the designated due date.      

Information/Instructions

Three response papers are due during the quarter (Week 3, 6 and 10). These papers are not book reviews. They are based on what you learned from each of the three books, the articles, discussions, lecture materials, Skill Soft materials, videos, and classmate interactions. The length required for each response paper is three to five pages (double-spaced, APA style, including proper grammar and correct spelling). Click here to view the grading rubric that is used for scoring your written papers. Your response papers are to be turned in through turnitin.com and the corresponding drop box.

These papers are not book reviews. They include reading materials, discussions, web assignments, lecture materials, and interactions between classmates. Criteria for the response papers include:

· You must be in the paper. You have been trained your entire academic career to present, critique, analyze ideas and issues. This paper moves away from ideas and issues to focus on you (not just your ideas either). You may find this process difficult and your resistance strong.

· Your response should include the impact of the course material addressed prior to the paper due date or all material addressed between paper due dates including reading assignments, discussion assignments, web assignments, and lecture assignments, as well as interaction between classmates.

· The impact means describing the impact the course material is having on you. If you tell the instructor how wrong you think someone’s ideas, discussion, or opinions are, then you are reflecting on the impact of your thinking on the material. RATHER: Tell your instructor the material’s impact on your thinking.

· If you tell the instructor about the issues, the arguments, the facts then you are reflecting on things outside of you. RATHER: Tell your instructor the issues, the arguments, the facts impacts upon you.

· You have been trained to learn from the professors and give back information. The information these papers require from you (for an “A) is information an instructor cannot give to you… Nor is it information you already have. What is required in the response paper is the information that arises in and through the process of interaction with the course material.

· If this course material has no impact on you, then either you are not participating in the class or you do not know how to reflect on yourself. In any case, your resistance to the material is greater than your ability to be open, vulnerable or self-aware. Resistance to or lack of openness or vulnerability or lack of self-awareness will stand in the way of being the best negotiator possible for you. This usually indicates some form of protection.

· There is a lot about negotiation that provokes self-protection. Your instructor must see progression of growth through various levels. Grading will also take into consideration movement into deeper levels, as well as thoroughness within levels.

· Consider how you are different, what changes have been made on the surface, what does having this information feel like, how have you been permanently changed, how have your relationships changed?

· Go beyond the assigned textbook reading in your response papers. Include discussion assignments, reading assignments, lecture assignments, web assignments, personal encounters outside the class, professional situations, comments from classmates, interests and positions of others in the negotiations, and comments from your instructor.

Late reports may be accepted, at the discretion of the instructor. If accepted, late reports will be subject to a 50 point deduction. After 7 calendar days from the original due date, a grade of zero will be recorded

Response Paper Rubric

Points Possible  100

Criteria	Achievement Level
	Achievement Level 1	Achievement Level 2	Achievement Level 3	Achievement Level 4	Achievement Level 5
“You” are in the paper	0 points No attempt to include self-reflection in the paper	16.75 points Discusses facts from the book, but does not reflect upon the impact the course material has had on the student’s thinking and behavior	19.25 points Discusses facts from the course materials, but seldom reflects upon the impact the course material has had on the student’s thinking and behavior	21.75 points Reflects upon the impact of the material, but makes frequent references to the facts presented in the course materials	25 points Reflects upon the impact the material has on the student’s thinking and behaviors, and links course materials to the changes in thinking and behavior
Inclusion of all course materials for the timeframe	0 points No attempt made include pertinent course materials	16.75 points Does not incorporate many of the course materials for the timeframe into the response	19.25 points Incorporates some of the course materials for the timeframe into the response	21.75 points Incorporates most of the course material for the timeframe into the response, but misses some of the materials	25 points Incorporates all course materials for the timeframe into the response
Communication of Ideas	0 points No attempt made to communicate ideas	16.75 points Lacks focus, demonstrates confused or simplistic thinking, or fails to communicate ideas	19.25 points May treat the topic simplistically or repetitively; doesn’t demonstrate sufficient comprehension of the text	21.75 points Shows some depth and complexity of thought	25 points Explores the issues showing thorough comprehension of the text; goes beyond the obvious or class discussion
Organization of Paper	0 points Incoherent and no organization	10.05 points Poorly organized and/or undeveloped; lacks support from the text	11.55 points Adequately organized and developed; generally supports ideas with reasons and examples	13.05 points Well organized and developed with appropriate reasons and examples	15 points Coherently organized with ideas supported by apt reasons
Mechanics	0 points Unreadable due to the severity of mechanical errors	6.7 points Contains serious and persistent errors in word choice, mechanics, usage, and sentence structure	7.7 points Contains some errors, but generally demonstrates control of mechanics, usage, and sentence structure	8.7 points Contains minimal errors in mechanics, usage, and sentence structure	10 points Well written and concise; generally free from errors in mechanics, usage, and sentence structure

Emotional Intelligence

The Harvard Project on Negotiation article focuses on culture, and the PowerPoint presentation discusses power, so the crux of the lecture this week is about emotional intelligence and how it is a useful skill for negotiators to know about and use. Are you ready?

Emotional intelligence is a critical skill for negotiators and for leaders, in general. Often times, negotiations do not fail because the parties are not intelligent; they fail because they are not emotionally intelligent. Daniel Goleman’s model of Emotional Intelligence (2005) encompasses the following skills:

· Self-awareness – the ability to read one’s emotions and recognize their impact

· Self-management – controlling one’s emotions and impulses

· Social awareness – the ability to sense, understand, and react to others’ emotions while comprehending social networks

· Relationship management – the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict

Self-awareness, an important aspect of emotional intelligence, requires accepting your strengths and weaknesses and being confident that others will accept you also. In addition, self-awareness helps us become more compassionate toward ourselves; it is difficult to have genuine compassion toward others if we are not compassionate with ourselves. Self-compassion leads to self-acceptance and self-actualization. As a result, self-awareness leads to personal growth and leadership development (George & Baker, 2011). 

 

Positive and Negative Emotions and their Impact on Decision-Making

Negative emotions result in high levels of stress and can impede decision-making abilities. In negotiations, the parties may not fully plan, research the other parties BATNA, effectively appraise the situation, or develop a contingency plan. Angry negotiators are less willing to work with one another, may retaliate more, and have less compassion toward the other party. 

However, positive emotions can promote creative thinking and collaborative problem-solving, a goal of negotiations.

 

Strategies for Managing Emotions in Negotiations

Know your own emotional intelligence quotient, and understand that the other person may be experiencing different emotions than you.  Recognize and deal with the emotions. As humans, we are emotional beings, and as a result, we are not very good at hiding our emotions. Like the flu, emotions are contagious. If we express positive motions, the other person will pick up on that. 

Conversely, be aware that we can catch the bad mood of the other party (Thompson, 2009). Whatever you do, when the other party becomes angry or throws a temper tantrum, do not respond in kind. Either sit quietly and say nothing until the outburst ends, or say “This is not getting us anywhere.” Responding to anger with calmness can be a shocking reality check for the angry person (Negotiation, 2003).

 

Conclusion

Emotions are information. Ignoring them simply does not work, so acknowledge your own emotions, do not allow others to use your hot buttons as weapons of mass destruction, and use them to make good decisions. Being emotionally intelligent in negotiations gives us positive power that we can use for win/win outcomes. 

Resources: Negotiation, Harvard Business Essential Series. 2003.

Thompson, L.L., The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator.  4th Edition. Pearson, 2008.