Midterm Negotiation
So this week was our midterm negotiation and first group negotiation. The prep sheet for this negotiation was a long packet that took some time to do, but nothing too hard. This case consisted of three groups representing the general interest of the Connecticut Valley Boarding School, the Board of Trustees, the Headmaster, and the Faculty; I was part of the Board of Trustees. I met with my group to discuss some tactics and get a general idea of what we wanted from this case. As we were doing this, i saw a friend of mine who had just finished his case. He seemed rather frustrated. I inquired as to why he looked so ticked off. Much to my surprise, he told me that his negotiation had very tense conflicts and a heated argument, complete with yelling and interrupting, ensued. He gave me one bit of advice, "Assert your power early, or don't do it at all."
We entered the room to meet the other sides of this negotiation. As a tactic for this negotiation, we looked at what options were most profitable for the school now, as opposed to the most attractive ideas. We argued for the wood chip heating system, with a cost of 400,000, but bringing in an annual saving of $80,000 on the school's energy bill. This was the most logical idea and since there was still $10,000 left in our budget, just enough to cover 3 other smaller issues. Right away, the faculty completely agreed with our idea, but the headmaster, Steve F. was hesitant of this idea. He felt the swimming pools will be of the greatest asset to the school as an attractive device for perspective students. After about thirty mintues,the negotiation turned from a 3-sided one to a 2-sided one. To appease Steve, we came up with the idea that if we get the heating system, there will be enough revenue being brought to the school to undertake the pool project within the next 2 or 3 years. Steve, tired and still somewhat reluctant, agreed to our terms on the ground that the pool project will be a top priority project for next year. We then spent the next 20 minutes reflecting on the negotiation - what worked, what didnt- and filled out our debrief sheet.
In retrospect, i have to say, negotiating as a group has its advantages. For me, because of my nature, i tend to remain Quiet and im also not very pushy. My group members made up the lacking assertiveness in me to help us gain such a good deal. I feel that working on such negotiations as a group helps to cover weaknesses of each member and increase its overall effectiveness in obtaining their goals. However, one main weakness of working in a group is that if there is any conflict within the group, its complete negotation strength has wavered and its much easier for the opposing side to exploit that weakness. I'm looking forward to future group negotiations.
We entered the room to meet the other sides of this negotiation. As a tactic for this negotiation, we looked at what options were most profitable for the school now, as opposed to the most attractive ideas. We argued for the wood chip heating system, with a cost of 400,000, but bringing in an annual saving of $80,000 on the school's energy bill. This was the most logical idea and since there was still $10,000 left in our budget, just enough to cover 3 other smaller issues. Right away, the faculty completely agreed with our idea, but the headmaster, Steve F. was hesitant of this idea. He felt the swimming pools will be of the greatest asset to the school as an attractive device for perspective students. After about thirty mintues,the negotiation turned from a 3-sided one to a 2-sided one. To appease Steve, we came up with the idea that if we get the heating system, there will be enough revenue being brought to the school to undertake the pool project within the next 2 or 3 years. Steve, tired and still somewhat reluctant, agreed to our terms on the ground that the pool project will be a top priority project for next year. We then spent the next 20 minutes reflecting on the negotiation - what worked, what didnt- and filled out our debrief sheet.
In retrospect, i have to say, negotiating as a group has its advantages. For me, because of my nature, i tend to remain Quiet and im also not very pushy. My group members made up the lacking assertiveness in me to help us gain such a good deal. I feel that working on such negotiations as a group helps to cover weaknesses of each member and increase its overall effectiveness in obtaining their goals. However, one main weakness of working in a group is that if there is any conflict within the group, its complete negotation strength has wavered and its much easier for the opposing side to exploit that weakness. I'm looking forward to future group negotiations.