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. But what is culture exactly, and how does it impact on negotiation, in particular?

This course will help you to be more precise about different dimensions of culture, from one region or country to another, while helping you to avoid simplifications, clichés and stereotypes. It will also lead you to a better overall awareness of your own culture. In addition the course modules will guide you to a better understanding of when and how cultural differences are likely to influence the different dimensions of a negotiation - the people, problems and processes. Armed with that understanding, your awareness, preparation and strategy will be enhanced when you are faced with negotiators from cultures and regions different from your own. Your ability to anticipate and react, your negotiation flexibility, will be improved and refined. The course also gives you a concrete look at quite different national and regional negotiation styles (we look at the French, Chinese, North American and Middle Eastern). In addition, an examination of negotiation in two multicultural settings (European Union institutions, on the one hand, and the recent COP 21 climate conference in Paris, on the other) highlights the importance of well-designed negotiation processes for getting both efficiency and fairness.

Mediation is a crucial means to reaching peaceful and agreed solutions in today’s world – on an international, political, industrial, peace-keeping or social level.

With the course you will be able to choose and lead a mediation process. You will gain a deeper understanding of workplace and international conflict resolution. Fundamentals of Negotiation are required to complete this MOOC. You can acquire them through our MOOC "Negotiation Fundamentals". After this course, you will be able to: Define what a mediation is and choose when to use it; List different types of mediation; Identify typical challenges and difficulties that most mediators face; Choose the adequate strategies within a repertoire of options; Identify the do’s and don’ts in mediation. This MOOC offers video lectures from leading experts, interactive questions, case studies, practice and graded quizzes. Designed as a logical follow on from the suite of ESSEC IRENE online courses in negotiation, this course about mediation and conflict resolution teaches a whole set of additional skills and approaches. Developed by one of Europe’s leading institutes of research and education in negotiation and mediation, ESSEC IRENE, this course provides you with a meaningful and effective bouquet of practical cases, tools, approaches and skills to put your mediation into high-impact practice.

This course has been designed to help you apply knowledge, skills, and know-how you have developed in negotiation and in mediation, both as a result of your own practice and the follow up of the previous Courses of the ESSEC “Negotiation, Mediation, and Conflict Resolution” specialization.

Before you enroll this course, we strongly recommend that you acquire the necessary pre-requisites. A number of tools, concepts, and methods are outlined in 3 MOOCS: Negotiation Fundamentals, Cross-cultural Negotiations, and Mediation & Conflict Resolution. To be more specific, the following subjects must be mastered: - Get prepared for any negotiation; - Avoid traps; - Know how to prompt value-creating partnerships; - Structure an effective negotiation sequence; - Bargain in an efficient and respectful manner; - Overcome deadlocks; - Manager cultural differences in a negotiation; - Define what a mediation is and choose when to use it; - List different types of mediation; - Identify typical challenges and difficulties that most mediators face; - Choose the adequate strategies within a repertoire of options; - Identify the do’s and don’ts in mediation. The purpose of this course is to help you to put everything together, sharpen your skills and enhance your command of negotiation techniques and behaviors. We’ve designed this MOOC in a highly interactive way. You will be engaged in a negotiation with peers. You will demonstrate your improved capacity to analyze, and therefore conduct, negotiations and mediation. This capstone project will comprise three exercises. Here is an overview. In the first exercise, you will analyse a real-life negotiation of your own choice. As an expert of negotiation dynamics, you will provide your reader with a detailed analysis of this real negotiation. Indeed as a professional, your task might not always be to conduct a negotiation - but to analyse what is going on in a given negotiation, or to help others (your boss, for instance) get ready for a high-stake negotiation. Guidelines will be provided in a separate document, to help you structure your assignment. For the second exercise, you will negotiate directly with a peer. We’ve prepared a business case inspired from a true story. The third exercise is linked to the previous one. Imagine that this negotiation is not successful, and that the relationship between the two negotiators becomes too tense. You will be asked to step into the shoes of a mediator - and to structure a mediation process. Each of these three exercises will be peer-evaluated. As a result, it is really worth your engagement! Go ahead, engage fully into the exercises - you will have fun, and you will make further progress for real-life negotiation, mediation, and conflict management.