- Dr. Xiaoying (Grace) Xie, Faculty of Business and Economics, HKU
- Prof. Nina Leffers, Vice Dean, Faculty of Business Studies, OTH Regensburg, Germany
Programme Description
In the last three weeks of the course of BUSI2811, students attended joint sessions led by both instructors from HKU and OTH Regensburg, conducting two negotiation simulations on zoom with students of the counterparty university. The lecture part of the sessions in Hong Kong was delivered face-to-face in class and also recorded on Zoom. The lecture recording was then shared with students in OTH Regensburg. Likewise, lecture recording of Prof. Leffers conducted in-person in OTH was shared with students of HKU as well. A combination of synchronous and asynchronous methods was used for this COIL collaboration. For the two simulations, the first one was conducted during overlapping class time on Zoom, followed by debriefing. The second simulation was conducted in groups between students of the two classes, at a time of students’ own scheduling. The debriefing of the simulation was conducted in the overlapping course hour in the third week of the collaboration. The language of instruction was English.
Distinctive Features
- The cross-cultural communication and negotiation experience enriched the students’ experiential learning of negotiation.
- The online negotiation form is an integral part of business nowadays given the international business context. The COIL sessions allow the students to experience the difference of online negotiation from in-person negotiation. Particularly, the counterparty in the two online negotiations was located in a different continent with real time difference, which made the simulation more realistic.
- The students got to learn, not only from their own instructor for the course, but also are able to listening to the lecture of the instructor of the partnered university.
- The debriefing session in the last class allowed students from both universities to exchange their experience and feelings about the negotiation experience, which enhanced cross-cultural understanding.
Intended Learning Outcomes
- Enhancement of computer mediated negotiation and communication skills
- Development of cross-cultural negotiation and communication skills
- Development of global and intercultural competencies
Technologies Used for Teaching
- Zoom
Schedule
| Week 1 (Week 12, November 14, 2024) | The class started with a 30-min lecture on cross-cultural negotiation (in-person at HKU and zoom recorded to be posted after class for German students to watch before the second session). Joint session started after the lecture: 1) Introduction of both parties; 2) introduction of COIL arrangement and content of the three sessions; 3) a one-on-one negotiation simulation; and 4) debriefing and discussion. |
| Week 2 (Week 13, November 21, 2024) | Students from both universities conducted the group negotiation on zoom in breakout rooms. Both instructors joined the breakout rooms to observe the simulation and help with technical problems. |
| Week 3 (Week 14, November 28, 2024) | The class focused on the debriefing and discussion of the group negotiation, which led to a discussion of negotiation ethics. Before class, HKU students were asked to watched a 30-min zoom recording lecture on negotiation ethics conducted by the German instructor in week 2 in Germany. The class concluded with a summary of the key takeaways of the sessions by the two instructors. |