Post a cohesive response based on your analysis of the Learning Resources and your professional experience. Be sure to discuss the following: “See attachment for detailed instructions
Put Your Skills to Practical Use
In this week’s Discussion, you will practice the negotiation skills and strategies you have learned. Using the fictional scenario provided, role-play the conflict with a friend, family member, coworker, or anyone willing to participate.
To begin, you and your partner will each select one of the employees mentioned in the scenario below. Provide your partner with a copy of the scenario and try to work out your conflict using negotiation skills and strategies you have learned thus far. No experience or knowledge of conflict is needed for your partner’s character. Simply read the scenario and prepare to role-play.
Scenario
Two employees, Brian and Jon work in the same enclosed office and there are no other spaces available where either could be shifted. They are becoming increasingly frustrated about how to share the space and be productive. Brian likes to work with the door open, but Jon likes the door closed. Brian tends to shift tasks frequently, talking on his cell phone or speaking to people going by, while Jon prefers to do one task at a time. Jon tends to talk to himself as he is working. Jon also likes to put large sticky notes on the wall to visualize what he is working on, while Brian works primarily on his computer. Brian likes to spread a number of different items out to refer to as he is working and tends to leave them on the floor and all around his desk until he is finished. Both are claiming that each other’s work habits are preventing the other from working to full capacity.
After you have completed the role-playing activity, use the Discussion board to reflect upon the activity and discuss your experiences.
To prepare for this Discussion, pay particular attention to the following Learning Resources:
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Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:
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How to Negotiate Effectively? – Bing video
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Are You Ready to Negotiate? (harvard.edu)
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What is Negotiation? – Introduction to Negotiation | SkillsYouNeed
Assignment:
Post a cohesive response based on your analysis of the Learning Resources and your professional experience. Be sure to discuss the following:
· How did you prepare for this negotiation? Which parts of the Negotiation Preparation Worksheet (Negotiation, 2009) did you complete? What was your goal, BATNA, and what concessions were you prepared to make?
· Describe how the conversation went and what the outcome was. Did you use a competitive or cooperative stance? Why? Did you meet your objective, reach your BATNA, or make concessions? How did these strategies work?
· Assess how your conflict styles played a part in this role-playing activity? Did you learn anything new about your style and approach to conflict?
· Based on the interaction with your partner, assess what your partner’s conflict style might look like. How can your assessment of your partner’s style help you during the negotiation process?
· If you had to do this again with this person, what changes would you make pre-negotiation, during the negotiation and post-negotiation? Explain what you learned as a result of this activity and how that will shape your approach to negotiation in the future.
· 3 – 4 paragraphs
· No plagiarism
· APA citing
In this week’s Discussion, you will practice the negotiation skills and strategies you have learned. Using the fictional scenario provided, role-play the conflict with a friend, family member, coworker, or anyone willing to participate (including a classmate).
To begin, you and your partner will each select one of the employees mentioned in the scenario below. Provide your partner with a copy of the scenario and try to work out your conflict using negotiation skills and strategies you have learned thus far. No experience or knowledge of conflict is needed for your partner’s character. Simply read the scenario and prepare to role-play.
Scenario
Two employees, Brian and Jon work in the same enclosed office and there are no other spaces available where either could be shifted. They are becoming increasingly frustrated about how to share the space and be productive. Brian likes to work with the door open, but Jon likes the door closed. Brian tends to shift tasks frequently, talking on his cell phone or speaking to people going by, while Jon prefers to do one task at a time. Jon tends to talk to himself as he is working. Jon also likes to put large sticky notes on the wall to visualize what he is working on, while Brian works primarily on his computer. Brian likes to spread a number of different items out to refer to as he is working and tends to leave them on the floor and all around his desk until he is finished. Both are claiming that each other’s work habits are preventing the other from working to full capacity.
After you have completed the role-playing activity, use the Discussion board to reflect upon the activity and discuss your experiences.
Here’s an example of my Colleagues response to the discussion listed below:
Natasha Mills
Put Your Skills to Practical Use
During role play of the given scenario with a friend, I played Brian while my friend was Jon. The negotiation preparation process involved outlining the objectives of the negotiation, the best possible outcomes, and the concessions I was willing to make, as well as those that I would not. Therefore, I applied some of the key actions that
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van & Richardson (2010) present as pre-negotiation activities. Further, I analyzed and questioned my assumptions about Jon prior to the negotiation, which completed a part of the Negotiation Preparation Worksheet. During my preparation for the negotiation, the goal was to have a work space that was conducive for both of us. My BATNA was to involve a mediator because the issue needed to be resolved for us to meet our task objectives productively while working within the same space. The only concessions I was willing to make concerned my preference for an open door as opposed to Jon’s preference for a closed door, speaking to people passing by, and spreading items on the floor and leaving them there.
The conversation did not go well as expected because each of us was keen on pointing out the annoying behaviors of the other. Instead of finding solutions to make our workspace conducive for both of us, we reached an impasse and decided to involve a mediator. The inability to achieve mutually satisfying outcomes on our own was the result of the competitive stance that each of us took. More specifically, Jon was not as forthcoming about his position on the issue due to the perception that his behaviors were less annoying. “The competitive negotiator learns as much as possible about the other person’s position without giving away her or his own position” (Cahn & Abigail, 2014, p.231). From this, I learned that my conflict style of confronting was not applicable to all situations, particularly this situation. I needed to find a more effective conflict approach.
The conflict issue was caused by the identification of behaviors that each found annoying about the other. My most preferred conflict style is confronting or collaboration, followed by accommodating, and then avoiding. These conflict styles played a critical part in the role-play. I had initially adopted the confronting conflict style but the moment I learned that Jon was not forthcoming, I shifted to the avoiding conflict style and withdrew from the conflict, with an intention of seeking the help of a mediator. There was nothing new about my conflict style to this conflict because this is how I deal with conflict situations in the sense that I jump to another conflict style when one fails. On the other hand, my partner’s conflict style resembled that of competing. According to Cahn & Abigail (2014), a competitive conflict style is one where conflicting party view an argument as a competition. This was the case with Jon during the negotiation. This assessment can help me during the negotiation process by learning and implementing strategies that can turn the competition into collaboration.
If I had to do this again, I would consider different possible outcomes of the conflict situation during the pre-negotiation stage as opposed to limiting my focus on a certain outcome. A focus on one outcome led me to strategize my point on the issue to target one goal, which was to create a conducive workspace for Jon and I. As a result, I was not ready for the trajectory that the negotiation took. During the negotiation, I would improve my conflict communication, particularly listening skills. Communication is a core component of effective negotiation (Laureate Education (Producer), n.d). My poor listening skills significantly fueled Jon’s competitive conflict approach because my response sounded like attacks on Jon. Therefore, I would make changes to the communication strategies I used during the negotiation. Holistically, the activity led me to the realization that negotiations can be challenging if not approached strategically. This is a lesson that will shape any future negotiation processes I will find myself in.
Cahn, D. D., & Abigail, R. A. (2014). Managing conflict through communication (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Evans, C., & Richardson, M. (2010). How to negotiate effectively. British Journal of Administrative Management, 69, 32−33.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Introduction to negotiation [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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