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Opposing Preferences: Negotiating Objects with Hidden Value
Carter McPherson
University of Windsor, Canada
Laurie L. Levesque and Regina M. O’Neill
Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University, USA
Volume 18: 2025, pp. 297-312; ABSTRACT
This engaging two-person simulation, Opposing Preferences: Negotiating Objects with
Hidden Value, enhances student learning in understanding others in decision-making and
negotiation. It emphasizes the importance of inquisitiveness in uncovering a counterpart’s
underlying motivation and of recognizing the potential powerful influence that emotions and
sentiment have in decisions. Students must employ creativity to reach mutually beneficial solutions
as their initial positions appear irreconcilable. Debriefing deepens this learning by encouraging
critical reflection on the role players’ interpersonal skills (question asking, listening, empathy) and
handling of an embedded ethical issue. Insights from the authors are offered in the debrief. This
exercise is adaptable for various class sizes or virtual settings and was designed to be run fully within
one class period with no outside preparation needed by students. It fosters rich discussion of
communication skills, honesty, and the complexities of human interactions in negotiation and
decision making.
Keywords: classroom simulation, ethics, creativity, emotions, negotiation, communication,
experiential education.
