HARDER THAN SAID: GETTING PAST «WAR OF ALL AGAINST ALL» IN THE NEGOTIATION LEARNING

Abstract

The purpose of the article was to study students' stereotypes regarding the negotiation process. The use of projective methods helped understand whether students taking specialized courses on negotiations tended to adhere to classical economic provisions and how prevalent this mindset was. The study's results confirmed the frequent presence of simplified ideas about the roles of participants in negotiations, the nature of the process itself, and the perception of other participants, among other aspects. Interestingly, even the newest concepts, presented through textual and multimodal representations, often fell victim to traditional logic in students' interpretations. Most notably, negotiations were still predominantly associated with money conversations, rather than considering the interests of all participants. The dynamic visual images chosen by students as representations of real negotiations demonstrated the persistent influence of stereotypes over innovation in the negotiation context. Particularly, the stereotype regarding the rationality of negotiations was clearly evident. Addressing this challenge in specialized teaching and learning, the authors proposed a realistic approach that incorporates practical experience.