Organizational Processes enhances students’ ability to take effective action in complex organizational settings by providing the analytic tools needed to analyze, manage, and lead the organizations of the future. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the organizational context in influencing which individual styles and skills are effective. The subject centers on three complementary perspectives, or “lenses”, on an organization: political, cultural, and strategic design. Students enrolled in this class are also jointly enrolled in 15.328, Team Project, in order to complete a field study of an organizational change initiative. Organizational Processes also operates in conjunction with 15.280, Communication for Managers, by sharing certain assignments and holding some joint classes.

This course provides understanding of the theory and processes of negotiation as practiced in a variety of settings. It is designed for relevance to the broad spectrum of bargaining problems faced by the manager and professional. With an emphasis on simulations, exercises, role playing and cases, students are given an opportunity to develop negotiation skills experientially and to understand negotiation in useful analytical frameworks.

The goal of this course is to explore and develop plans of action for improving the job and career opportunities for today and tomorrow’s workforce. If we take the right actions we can shape the future of work in ways that meet the needs of workers, families, and their economies and societies. To do so we first have to understand how the world of work is changing, how firms can compete and prosper and support good jobs and careers, and how to update the policies and practices governing the world of work.

St. Colmcille’s Hospital involves a dispute between a hospital employee and a representative of the board of management. This simulation is designed for use as an experiential learning exercise in teaching mediation to third level students (intermediate / advanced level). St. Colmcille’s Hospital is a useful exercise to explore more advanced concepts in negotiation and mediation, such as the effects of emotions and values on the outcome of the negotiation, and unequal power dynamics. This simulation may also be used to demonstrate the role of a mediator in dispute resolution, particularly regarding challenges to preserving mediator neutrality which may arise.Teaching notes include General Instructions, Confidential Instructions for Colm O'Donnell, Confidnetial Instructions for Anna O'Meara and Confidential Instructions for the Mediator. 

On June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors at the famous Palace of Versailles, officially ending World War I. World War I, or the Great War, lasted from 1914 to 1918, and claimed the lives of nearly ten million soldiers and approximately thirteen million civilians. Germany and its allies in the Central Powers had lost the war, so representatives of the victorious Allied Powers including the United States, France, and Britain negotiated the terms of the treaty. President Woodrow Wilson and his allies wanted the treaty to provide a lasting peace following Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech delivered on January 8, 1918. European powers sought peace but also wanted to punish Germany, who they blamed for causing the war. Germans also expected that the Fourteen Points would be the basis for the peace talks when they signed the armistice in November 1918. When the Allied Powers met in Paris to discuss the world after the war, however, a much more punitive plan emerged.

Yellow Moon Canyon is a negotiation between two legal agents representing actor clients over the terms of a contract for an upcoming film. It is a useful simulation to introduce students to more advanced concepts in negotiation, such as principal-agent dynamics. This simulation can also be adapted for use as a four-party negotiation, thus introducing students to the additional challenges of multi-party negotiation.Teaching Notes include General Instructions, Confidential Instructions for Jonathan Maloney- Agent for John Bell, and Confidential Instructions for Mary McManus- Agent of Henry Cooper.