Simply enriching to meet new students, in an unfamiliar environment, becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable!
– Jerry Crouse, student from the University of Michigan
For the 4th consecutive year, ZSEM once again hosted a joint program with the the University of Michigan’s Ross Business School–one of the top ten business schools in the United States–from 24th of February – 4th of March, 2018. The 1-week “Cross-Cultural Negotiations and Dispute Resolutions” program, taught by professor Cindy Schipani from the University of Michigan (UM) hosted 40 students from around the world.
Throughout the week, 19 students from the Ross School of Business engaged in dialogue with students from all over the world and first-handedly learned tips and tricks on negotiating and dispute resolution from professor Schipani. After illustrating to the students deal-making processes, negotiation strategies, tactics for dispute resolution, negotiation tools, Schipani paired her American students with students from Croatia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Canada, China and Morocco whereupon the students practiced role-playing negotiations in a truly international context.
Jonas Stein from Germany commented the following about the program: ”the Negotiations program offered an excellent mix of learning about proper negotiations and actually practice them with really interesting people”.
The academic program also included visits to the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and several Croatian and international companies such as ManpowerGroup – a world leader in innovative workforce solutions, the renowned Kostanjevec family vineyards and the Koprivnica Business Incubator, which is an innovative business support institution that presents a special form of support for entrepreneurs.
Guest lecturers and company owners further enriched the program. For instance,. President of the Croatian Mediation Association, Dr. Srđan Šimac, PhD, joined by giving his insights on the importance of mediation in business negotiations, while Sarah Groen, Head of the Political Economic section at the US Embassy in Zagreb gave the students an overview of Croatia’s economy in a political context.
The students wrapped up their week by visiting the baroque town of Varaždin and celebrating their final farewell dinner at a local restaurant in Zagreb. This was a great program! ”We did a lot in the time we had here, incorporating everything from city tours to museums and of course class and company visits,” said Tara Holz (UM student).
The 5th Cross-Cultural Negotiations program is scheduled to take place in May of 2019. Recommending the program to future participants, UM student Jazmin Mendoza stated, ” I had an absolutely amazing time learning about Croatian culture, about the people in my program, and about myself. I’ve made unforgettable memories in the classroom and on my own with the group, and would recommend this to anyone.”
Read more about the program and view videos of the program from previous years here: https://www.zsem.hr/en/international/short-programs/summer-negotiations/about/
The following news piece which was broadcasted on Croatian RadioTelevision (HRT) is in the Croatian language:
https://www.facebook.com/indekshrt/videos/1398952436875353/
