7924IBA Negotiation Strategy and Skill Online Tutoring

Department of Business Strategy and Innovation

7924IBA – Negotiation Strategy and Skill

1) Managing negotiation and power

You work at a large Data Centre. Although you are treated like an employee, your position as a technical service provider is based on a three-year service agreement. Your contract is up for renewal next year. You hope to renew this contract, as the Data Centre is currently your only client. Your direct supervisor is a bit of a bully. You normally get on just fine on a day-to-day basis but on a bad day she seems to have some anger management problems. Furthermore, Human Resource Management (HRM) seems too busy to spend time on complicated supervisory issues. Shortly after you arrived at the Data Centre, you learned that the person that used to sit at your desk also had some problems with your supervisor and sought help via HRM (and even hired a lawyer) but then his contract was not renewed and that was the end of that problem. You are not going to make that mistake. You have heard that other technical service contractors at your company have been forced to accept fewer hours and lower hourly compensation during contract renewal negotiations. Your immediate concern is preparing for your contract renewal negotiations, as you are very specialised and so it is difficult to find another employer. You have six-months to plan your negotiation strategy.

In responding to this situation, only use Finding and Using Negotiation Power (found at Lewicki, Chapter 8). In your answer include sources of power and dealing with others that have more power.

2) Managing negotiation and ethics

As you departed your Australian office for the airport, your supervisor took you aside and gave you some instructions about managing a major commercial problem. When you arrive, tell our joint-venture partner that the problem is solved but we need a couple more months for implementation. You responded to this obvious lie by asking your supervisor how to explain the nature of this solution (when your company is still uncertain about the specific cause of the problem). Your supervisor winked and said you’re smart; you will find a creditable explanation that will buy us some more time. Overall, you have had a pretty good relationship with your supervisor and so this brief exchange has aggravated you. During your eight-hour flight to North Asia you have thought a lot about the dilemma that your supervisor has created. Fortunately, this is but one of six agenda items you are required to discuss with you partner.

In responding to this situation only use Ethical Issues in ICBN – Intercultural Business Negotiations (found at L@G). Analyse and explain this situation from each of three perspectives ethical universalism, cultural relativism and moral pragmatism, but do not limit yourself to these three perspectives only, rather use these perspectives as the start not the end of your answer.

3) Managing environmental negotiations

You have accepted a position at a Geneva-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) to work as a Negotiation Analyst and Planner to assist this NGO to more effectively engage in the Conference of the Parties (COP) annual United Nations Climate Change Conferences. The agenda of the next 10-day conference includes first, global stocktaking to allow all COP members to report on their nation’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and second, discussions on where to go next based on the stocktaking. COP members (190+ national governments) typically form coalitions. The major COP coalitions include (a) parties with historic and contemporary greenhouse gas emissions (coalition of developed countries), (b) parties with contemporary greenhouse gas emissions only (coalition of emerging economies), parties with no greenhouse gas emissions, which include (c) some developing countries, (d) all least developing countries and (e) the Alliance of Small Island States. Other coalitions typically present at these annual conferences include (f) associations of corporations and (g) associations of environmental groups, which are each represented by an NGO usually. There are around 1,000 NGO that attend the annual conference as observers but many of these NGO’s play a strategic role in supporting COP members and various coalitions.

Demonstrate your knowledge of managing negotiation complexity by planning to conduct strategic behaviour in a multilateral environmental conference setting. Begin your answer by (1) decide which coalition your NGO will support (choose one: a – g above), as it will be your task to assist this coalition to negotiate more effectively, then (2) establish a goals or set of goals and an action plan that involves building coalitions and blocking coalitions, (3) construct, frame and re-frame issues and/or the agenda, and (4) plan how to engage in information management and the use of negotiation process and procedures to achieve your established goals. Use Understanding Climate Change Negotiations (found at L@G) and any other required reading from this course in preparing your answer.

4) Managing international negotiations

You began working 2-years ago in international sales for an Australian company that produces a broad range of dried organic fruit products. You were hired because of your international experience in America and Europe. You have had some success in these Western markets but now your company has decided to investigate opportunity in China. Recently, your company president told you to move quickly to secure sales in China and asked when you can begin meeting with new Chinese customers. She said that initially you will work on your own but other sales staff can be added to the negotiations if you confirm that there is a market in China. Establish a plan to manage all these negotiations.  In your plan include your knowledge about (a) China and the West especially as it pertains to differences in cultural values and business interactions, and how these forces influence negotiation process, (b) building and maintaining relationships, and (c) establishing and managing relations with a potential business partner. (d) How can you learn Chinese governmental views on your business operations in China.

In answering this question, use two readings only: (a) International and Cross-Cultural Negotiation (found at Lewicki, Chapter 11) and (b) Negotiating and Dealing with Chinese Business Partners (found at L@G).

5) Managing digital negotiations

You have been employed as a professional for the past ten years and now you have decided to establish your own business. To achieve your business objectives, you need a strong online presence that communicates your knowledge and skill plus reliability, maturity and what else? How will you present and preserve your online reputation especially when considering that during your university years you regularly posted messages on Twitter, Tic Toc and Facebook that distracts from the online image you wish to present now (posts that appear in any online search of your name).

Select the economic sector that your business will operate in and then respond to the multiple challenges presented by your current circumstance: (a) Briefly, what achievements do you hope to realise in the future, (b) How can you manage your past online carelessness, (c) How can you present and preserve your reputation online, (d) Include principles and guidance for building your professional website, and (e) Outline your social network strategy and how you can use it to support your business goals.

In answering this question, only use: Chapter 9: Present and Future Trends – E-Negotiations: Networking and Cross-Cultural Business Transactions (found in L@G).

6) Managing negotiation complexity

On 2 August 2012, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan announced that he was resigning as a UN meditator in seeking peace to the conflict in Syria. Peaceful protests in 2011 had evolved into a civil war, while Annan had been going back-and-forth speaking to the rebel groups and the Syrian government led by President Bashar Assad. The two sides accepted Annan’s proposal: the rebels would give-up their weapons and the government would withdraw heavy weapons and troops from urban areas. In addition, Annan’s proposal included a political transition to replace Assad as Syrian President. Assad said that he would accept the peace plan but his government did not take steps to implement the plan, and the rebels did not put down their weapons. Annan had received unanimous approval from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to proceed with his mediation plan. Additional proposals, submitted to the Security Council, were opposed by China and Russia that would have supported coercive (forceful) plans to make Assad resign through foreign military action. The United States, Britain, and France had argued with Russia and China on this latter proposal.

Begin your analysis of this brief scenario by (a) listing all the parties, individually and collectively (for example: The UN Security Council, as presented here, has six parties – five nation governments and the collective known as the permanent members of the UN Security Council) and (b) then list and very brief describe all the negotiations found with this scenario. In responding to this situation only use Wakins Negotiating in a Complex World (found at L@G) to (c) analyse and explain the dynamics found in this set of events and negotiations.

Start writing your answers on this page and continue until you have finished.