Romania took hold of my heart in 2015 and since then has consumed my mind and soul. As with any genuine commitment, my relationship with this beautiful, complex country has grown and deepened over time as I have learned of its many tragedies, as well as its many triumphs. I have surrendered myself to Romania. [...] As I continue my Romanian journey, I marvel over the resiliency and fortitude of the people. I am fortunate to have developed close relationships, familial in many ways, with many Romanians. And I am eternally grateful to have been granted a Fulbright and honored to become part of this amazing community.
Cross-Atlantic Romania – U.S. Student Negotiation Exercise
November 26, 2020
Dr. E. Patrick McDermott, Professor of Legal Studies and Management at Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, Salisbury University, and Fulbright Scholar in Romania in 2018-2019, has continued the collaboration with his Romanian host university and has recently completed a joint online class with his colleague at the University of Bucharest School of Law, Professor Adriana Almășan.
Here is Dr. McDermott’s account of the joint exercise: “We paired my Perdue School of Business Negotiation class with her Law School Negotiation class for our first Annual Cross-Atlantic Negotiation Competition. We paired one Romanian student with a U.S. student for one Team and they negotiated with another separate U.S. – Romanian team. We did this so the students worked on the same team (cross-cultural collaboration) and also competed (cross-cultural competition in negotiation problem solving). Using Zoom for the real-time negotiations, with other students observing, we had 7 rooms of negotiation and students moving from room to room to watch. We also used Google to gather immediate student feedback.
Our fact pattern was a Vaccine negotiation between supplier and distributor – so timely. There were also confidential instructions for each team strategy. The best team was awarded a $25 Starbucks gift certificate per member – courtesy of the Law Office of E. Patrick McDermott LLC and the TAMC Law Group of Bucharest.
From the student feedback, we can report that the negotiation was a rousing success. Without Fulbright Romania, this could never have happened.”