Week 3 Negotiation
TEXOIL
My counterpart was Marc Chan. The negotiation was smoother than during Week 2. Chan stated his position early but I did not fight it. I just mentioned that I have not locked into a position as yet but was willing to discuss his interests behind his position. Then he did not bring up positions until at the end. So I think I am beginning to learn negotiation jujitsu. I asked some questions to find out why he is selling the station. So I was able to find out his motivation. However I realized that he did not reveal all his interests or the details of his interest. I should have asked more probing questions. That was I may have been able to find out about how he was going to take his vacation. That way I may have been in a position to help him take his vacation and get a better deal for me also. So I realized that asking the right questions is very important for effecting an elegant solution.
We explored some options and I made them clear this time that they were options, not positions. From these options we were able to craft a solution. He wanted more vacation time yet he wanted to work after the vacation. I wanted good management. I offered him a job back when he finished his vacation. He needed money. I needed his station. He needed 580,000. I wanted 500,000. So I told him to give me back the 80,000 over a period of 7 yrs on monthly installments. That way I would keep within my budget and he has money to pay for debts. Also also said he would come back to work 6 months per year, 24 hrs/day co-managing the store. That way he could train up the other manager at least to his caliber.
I received feedback that I was good at inventing options and allowed him to explore more options. I did not receive any negative feedback.
We could improve the negotiation by asking more questions and exploring interests, and more options.
We learned that it is necessary to explored the interests early in the negotiation and avoid talking about positions.
The other people in the class came up with some elegant solutions similar to ours. However some people came out without an agreement.
PERFORMANCE INTERVIEW
We learned that we should take a break between negotiation so we can re-group our thoughts. The negotiation was very realistic. I felt as though I was really the Product Manager. Marc Chan really did a good role play on the Brand Manager. I was surprised that he came out from the start indicating that he knew about the letter I had written and thrown in the thrash can concerning my having a good time outside the conference during conference hours in San Diego with my girlfriend from Boston. I think his mannerisms and tone indicated that he understood my position but he could not condone it. That is when I felt we could make an agreement.
When I admitted that I wrote the letter and apologized then things calmed down. I was able to listen and also to give my point of view and indicate my interests and listen to his interests. We came up with some options for how to resolve the issues that would be mutually beneficial to our roles and the company. He did not try to penalize me for the letter so that was a good thing. I said that he could send the other product managers to the same conference with me so that we could foster a good working relationship and good company morale, which is what he wanted. So I also gave him some leeway in trying to get better vacation packages and flexible working hours for employees. Even though I did not get anything concrete he did promise to work out a deal next time if things did not change within human resources to effect an improvement.
Others negotiated by asking questions and creating elegant options.
I could have improved by anticipating that he would still want to keep me on as an employee. Maybe I would have tried to get more out of the negotiation. I may have been more creative. Need to control emotions. I need to formulate better BATNAs. Need more practice in this area so I can go into the negotiation with more confidence.
I gave feedback that he was willing to discuss options, was very realistic in the role playing. There was no negative feedback.
I received feedback that I was clear about interests but my emotions could have caught him off-guard.
We learned that it is good to have mutual interests - it makes negotiation easier. It is good also to create flexible solutions to seemingly inflexible situations. Creating options is requires a lot of imagination and thought, but it is well worth the time and effort.
My counterpart was Marc Chan. The negotiation was smoother than during Week 2. Chan stated his position early but I did not fight it. I just mentioned that I have not locked into a position as yet but was willing to discuss his interests behind his position. Then he did not bring up positions until at the end. So I think I am beginning to learn negotiation jujitsu. I asked some questions to find out why he is selling the station. So I was able to find out his motivation. However I realized that he did not reveal all his interests or the details of his interest. I should have asked more probing questions. That was I may have been able to find out about how he was going to take his vacation. That way I may have been in a position to help him take his vacation and get a better deal for me also. So I realized that asking the right questions is very important for effecting an elegant solution.
We explored some options and I made them clear this time that they were options, not positions. From these options we were able to craft a solution. He wanted more vacation time yet he wanted to work after the vacation. I wanted good management. I offered him a job back when he finished his vacation. He needed money. I needed his station. He needed 580,000. I wanted 500,000. So I told him to give me back the 80,000 over a period of 7 yrs on monthly installments. That way I would keep within my budget and he has money to pay for debts. Also also said he would come back to work 6 months per year, 24 hrs/day co-managing the store. That way he could train up the other manager at least to his caliber.
I received feedback that I was good at inventing options and allowed him to explore more options. I did not receive any negative feedback.
We could improve the negotiation by asking more questions and exploring interests, and more options.
We learned that it is necessary to explored the interests early in the negotiation and avoid talking about positions.
The other people in the class came up with some elegant solutions similar to ours. However some people came out without an agreement.
PERFORMANCE INTERVIEW
We learned that we should take a break between negotiation so we can re-group our thoughts. The negotiation was very realistic. I felt as though I was really the Product Manager. Marc Chan really did a good role play on the Brand Manager. I was surprised that he came out from the start indicating that he knew about the letter I had written and thrown in the thrash can concerning my having a good time outside the conference during conference hours in San Diego with my girlfriend from Boston. I think his mannerisms and tone indicated that he understood my position but he could not condone it. That is when I felt we could make an agreement.
When I admitted that I wrote the letter and apologized then things calmed down. I was able to listen and also to give my point of view and indicate my interests and listen to his interests. We came up with some options for how to resolve the issues that would be mutually beneficial to our roles and the company. He did not try to penalize me for the letter so that was a good thing. I said that he could send the other product managers to the same conference with me so that we could foster a good working relationship and good company morale, which is what he wanted. So I also gave him some leeway in trying to get better vacation packages and flexible working hours for employees. Even though I did not get anything concrete he did promise to work out a deal next time if things did not change within human resources to effect an improvement.
Others negotiated by asking questions and creating elegant options.
I could have improved by anticipating that he would still want to keep me on as an employee. Maybe I would have tried to get more out of the negotiation. I may have been more creative. Need to control emotions. I need to formulate better BATNAs. Need more practice in this area so I can go into the negotiation with more confidence.
I gave feedback that he was willing to discuss options, was very realistic in the role playing. There was no negative feedback.
I received feedback that I was clear about interests but my emotions could have caught him off-guard.
We learned that it is good to have mutual interests - it makes negotiation easier. It is good also to create flexible solutions to seemingly inflexible situations. Creating options is requires a lot of imagination and thought, but it is well worth the time and effort.