Collaboration and Influencing Skills (5 cr)

Objective

The student is able to
• communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
• sell procurement’s business cases and apply the principles of change management within the organization.
• influence on decision-making by inspiring and motivating the procurement team and internal stakeholders.
• conduct a thorough need assessment through effective communication with relevant stakeholders and co-create specifications based on that and market knowledge.
• create supplier requirements, make supplier selection decisions and utilize the total cost of ownership model when evaluating procurement options.
• identify the position of his/her own company in the supplier negotiations as a customer.
• negotiate effective purchasing agreements.

Content

• Effective Communication skills
• Selling the Business case
• Change management
• Market positioning and need identification
• Selection of suppliers
• Negotiation skills

Location and time

Online lectures will be on Wednesdays at 17:00 - 20:00 on the following days:
25.10.
15.11.
29.11.
13.12

Materials

The learning materials will be available in Moodle during the course.

Teaching methods

Online lectures in Zoom or Teams.
Online learning material, individual and group assignments and tests via Moodle learning platform.
Link to Zoom/Teams and Moodle pages will be sent via email to the students once the enrolment is complete.

Content scheduling

The more detailed content of the course, assignments and assessment will be discussed during the first lesson.
The main content includes the following topics: Effective communication, selling the business case, change management, market positioning and need identification, selection of suppliers and negotiation skills.

The main objectives are that the students is able to:
- The student is able to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
- The student is able to sell procurement’s business cases and apply the principles of change management within the organization.
- The student is able to influence on decision-making by inspiring and motivating the procurement team and internal stakeholders.
- The student is able to conduct a thorough need assessment through effective communication with relevant stakeholders and co-create specifications based on that and market knowledge.
- The student is able to create supplier requirements, make supplier selection decisions and utilize the total cost of ownership model when evaluating procurement options.
- The student is able to identify the position of his/her own company in the supplier negotiations as a customer.
- The student is able to negotiate effective purchasing agreements.

Further information

Prerequisites of the participation:
This course is for Master level studies and part of the Procurement Master's program. Therefore you should have completed bachelor level studies already and having some prior knowledge of procurement is recommended.

The teacher of the course is Ms. Mari Hiljanen, mari.hiljanen@metropolia.fi

Evaluation scale

0-5

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

Sufficient performance: has completed basic requirements to pass the course and has made an attempt to apply and articulate concepts and information both verbally and in writing but has not made enough effort overall. The student has demonstrated little effort, interest and motivation for individual or team activities / assignments and the output is rather weak.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

Good overall performance: can apply and articulate concepts and information well both verbally and in writing, certain areas of individual or team output require further attention; shows appropriate level of interest and motivation in individual and team activities. Good presentation delivery and analysis.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

Excellent performance in all elements of the course: shows interest and motivation in individual and team activities and assignments, fully applies and clearly articulates concepts and information both verbally and in writing. The student is able to support his/her argument with references to the recommended reading and lecture content. Excellent presentation delivery and analysis.

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Sufficient performance: has completed basic requirements to pass the course and has made an attempt to apply and articulate concepts and information both verbally and in writing but has not made enough effort overall. The student has demonstrated little effort, interest and motivation for individual or team activities / assignments and the output is rather weak.

Assessment methods and criteria

Assignments/tests related to the course is informed by the lecturer when course starts.

Assessment scale used:
50 -59 = 1
60-69 = 2
70 - 79 = 3
80 - 89 = 4
90 -100 = 5

Qualifications

Completed Higher Education Degree

Further information

The language of tuition is English.