Newtown Schools

The Newtown school negotiation was without a doubt the most difficult negotiation that I have participated in this course. There was a wide variety of issues that needed to be addressed, each of which had a different form of value. Another aspect that brought challenges to this negotiation is the team aspect. This is the first time that I have truly got to participate in a team atmosphere due to absences in the class. If there were two things that I can take away from this negotiation it is that things that initially seemed irrelevant in the planning process may end up being a turning point in the negotiation, and things may be escalate in the negotiation even if good intentions are the plan.
When my group and I planned out what we would discuss we all assumed that wages and downsizing would be the biggest talking points. This is typically a large issue in most negotiations. However, we seemed to hit a stoppage when we reached the arbitration aspect of the negotiation. Things got fairly heated with this topic as was evidenced in the tone of the discussion. I feel that this was the case due to the fact this was the third or fourth topic that we discussed. I think that the emotions began to bubble up from before the topic was reached. I could tell that both sides, myself included, were getting frustrated with the other side. This than led to my second thing that I took away from this negotiation is the fact that things became mildly ill tempered. I feel that both sides did not want to go into this to situation with difficulty. However, as mentioned previously this was not the case. The further we went into the negotiation the more angry both sides seemed to be. The best way we felt to calm the tension was to take a break in the discussion. We had planned a five minute caucus at around a half hour in, however we ended up taking this early in hopes to come back with level heads. This seemed to be the best strategy as both sides began to listen to the other sides more and didn't try to "beat" the other side. We started to listen to each side and a deal was struck as time ran out.

Negotiating with teams

Last week we were assigned with the task of negotiating in teams. Unfortunately, due to absences I was forced to negotiate alone. Fortunately, our group had met the class before so I had some guidelines for what the team wanted. In the reading "How to Manage Your Negotiating Team" there is a section on aligning my teams interests. This was a challenging aspect with the Connecticut Valley Schools negotiation. The reading states that it is common to wrestle with internal conflicts. During the negotiation it was tempting to promote my own personal agenda. This can also be known as the principal agent theory. This theory states that it may be difficult for a person representing someone to act in the other parties best interest. Although it was tempting for me to do this, I stuck with the teams plans and negotiated with them in mind.
I feel that team negotiations are a good idea when the issues at hand are difficult in nature. It can be difficult to address every issue on the agenda which is when a partner is essential. Teammates may notice these issues that are missed and bring them up at the appropriate time. This can lead to a better deal for the team in the end. Team negotiations may also allow for subcommittees which focus on certain areas of the large scale issue. These subcommittee members are experts in the area they are assigned to and use this knowledge to negotiate a deal.
Team negotiations can also be negative in nature if the team is not well prepared. If a team member is in the process of negotiating a fellow team member may bring up an issue that was not addressed earlier. This can lead to the team getting weighed down with issues that are not relevant taking away from the larger scope. This can be a risky move that could determine the final deal to not be favorable.

The final offer reaction.

I will have to admit that when I first heard we were watching the movie "The Final Offer" I did not know what to expect. I was surprised to find it a fairly entertaining movie that pertained to a lot of the things that we have discussed in class. I feel that the way both parties initially approached this idea was with the dual concern model. Both parties seemed to want to complete the negotiation in a timely manner with a strong relationship still intact. However, this was not the case which led to a very nasty back and forth between both sides of the table.
General Motors wanted to introduce profit sharing to the Canadian branch of the UAW, which was a concept that was already adopted by the American branch of the union. The Canadians did not want this, and instead preferred annual cost of living raises over the life of the contract. They claimed this is what the majority of the union wanted and would not be able to get a contract ratified with profit sharing on the table.
I agree that the Canadian union should have fought for what the union truly wanted. I feel that if they would have settled for something just to achieve a quick resolution this would have led to a disgruntled workforce who in turn could decertify the union.
In the end, the union was able to achieve what it wanted after a hard fought battle. After this deal was struck the union ratified the contract, and a process was put into motion to break away from the UAW. This plan eventually came to fruition, and the Canadians were able to separate for the UAW. They were able to create their own union which still stands to this day.

Negotiating with emotion

On Tuesday 11/15 I will be participating in a mock labor negation for my Labor Relations course. This is a crucial aspect of the course worth a large portion of my final grade. It is important to utilize the skills that I have learned in our negotiation course so far in order to get the best deal. After reading over the article "Negotiating with Emotion" I hope to use the six steps listed in the section to achieve this goal. 

1) How do I want to feel going into this negotiation?- I want to go into this negotiation with the right mindset. The book mentions that I should go into this task almost on edge which is how I will approach this. I say this in regards to my preparedness. If I can anticipate what the other party will offer I can be ready to counter it and throw the other party off guard. This in turn will keep my emotions at bay and will help me avoid irrational decisions. 

2) Why? By achieving the goals listed above, I will be able to achieve the best outcome possible. This will lead to a better grade for my group and increase my confidence for the real world negotiation activity that I will be doing later this week. 

3)What can I do beforehand to put myself in an ideal emotional state? I feel that the best way to put myself in this state is to prepare by knowing the key issues. I need to know what the key issues for my group will be and focus the majority of my time on them. If our group spends to much time trying reach agreements on the less critical issues, the critical ones may fall through the cracks. If I know what these issues are and how to prepare for them, this will put me in the best situation to do this. 

4)What can throw off my balance during a negotiation? I feel that I can be thrown off balance if the other side uses the same strategy as myself. If I expect a negotiation to go a certain way and it does not, I may loose focus on the large scale issues. This could turn the table in the other sides favor which may be hard to recover from. 

5) What can I do in the midst of a negotiation to gain my balance? The best way to gain the balance back on my side is to bring the focus back to the key issues. This will keep me from loosing focus and conceding on issues that should be the main focus of the negotiation. 

6) How do I want to feel when I am finished? I want to feel that both sides were able to achieve something that they wanted. I feel the best way to deal with any negotiation is to have a win-win mentality. This will create a good attitude towards future negotiations. I also want to feel that I did the best for my group. This negotiation deals with more than one party and requires different parties to be happy. This can be achieved by a win-win strategy. As long as I can keep my emotions in check during this negotiation using these steps I can use emotion to my advantage. 

Sources of Power

After reading section 2.8 I learned about where power can be derived from. I currently have an internship at Volvo CE. This, like many other jobs, has a strong use of structural power. In my internship I have a large deal of duties in which I am responsible for. However, at the end of the day I am still only an intern. When it comes to the structure within the organization I am towards the bottom of the list. I am not considered an employee so I do not get to receive employee benefits or have a say in work place decisions. This does not mean that what I do is not important, it simply means that I do not have the conventional form of power within the structure. I could not simply walk up to a blue collar full time worker and tell him or her what to do. Even though in some instances I may have a higher education than most of these workers, and do more internal business work I do not have the power to tell them what to do. At the same time, I can not tell a fellow intern what to do either. In regards to the environment of my department we are all on the same playing field. Regardless the amount of time that an intern has been in the position they do not have a higher rank or title above a less experienced intern. The book mentioned that is that in order to possess power one must simply be in the right place, by being in a position of authority, in a place to broker amount various subunits all regardless of an individuals characteristics. While sometimes I like to think that I have power at my internship, according to these facts I do not appear to have much power.
I have had power in previous jobs however. Before I worked at Volvo I worked at Texas Roadhouse where I had a great deal of power. This fit more into situational and and personal traits. I thrived in this environment because the more skills that someone had, the more power they were granted. I never became a manager at this position due to my school schedules but I was able to dictate decisions about when and what position i worked. I was able to this by my personality and built a strong relationship with the owner of the business. This allowed me to position myself within a position of power. It has been very interesting to experience both of these types of power.

Women Don't Ask

After reading the article "Women Don't Ask" there were a lot of facts that i knew. However, i did not know the reason as to why these numbers occurred. Statistics have been thrown around in quite a few of my business classes, and even the recent presidential election that women tend to earn last. I was fairly surprised to find that it is mostly because they simply don't seem to be asking. I found it very interesting when the survey was conducted in regards to paying students to play Boggle. The monetary amount was so little in retrospect. The fact that both men and women complained about the situation, men seemed to be the only ones who said something about it. This appears to happen in everyday life which can lead to major differences life time in pay.
I think that it is hard to negotiate for a job offer. I feel like has always been a taboo thing to do is to talk about money that your future employer is planning on paying you. I feel that I may come off as to greedy and may have the offer revoked. As i have a few job opportunities lined up upon graduation I hope that i will be offered the starting salary that I am looking for. If not, I hope that i can use the tactics and skills that I have learned and will learn from this class to receive a fair competitive salary.

3 schools of negotiation ethics

When reading over the three schools of ethics I felt that I associated into the "its all a game poker ethics school". Before I began this course I thought that I would never have fell into this school. I fell  that I would fall into the "do the right thing school". During my first negotiation, I felt that if I did not get the exact deal that I wanted I lost. This was a bit of a rush, playing the negotiation as a game. When using this school, deception is key in order to gain the best possible outcome. When reading the synopsis of this school it is mentioned that bluffing is a part of this game. It is also mentioned that both sides may very well use this ideology. When I am in a negotiation I have the tendency to think that the other side is bluffing. This can either harm or help my negotiation. If I assume that everyone is bluffing I may be able to catch my opponent off guard and be able to find a more favorable deal. On the other hand, if I continue to try and catch people in a bluff I may miss out on key areas of the negotiation.
Like the poker school, I believe in the rule of law. I would not find it ethical to lie about things that may cause my counterpart harm. I find it perfectly ethical to bluff about price and other aspects in this regard. If it was something that may cause my counterpart physical or emotional harm I would be truthful. This school of ethics makes the negotiation more fun in my opinion and may lead to better results. I feel that this is the most useful as well in terms of the real world. I think that i will continue to use this approach in my future negotiations in both class, and the real world.