Business Negotiations

 

COBA- BUSI 3331 Business Negotiations- Section (203)

 

Guidelines for Negotiations Role-Playing Round 2 (Worth 15 marks)

 

It is important to be prepared for every business negotiation. To ensure you are ready for your team negotiation, answer the following questions and submit your completed Pre-Negotiation Checklist in typed hard copy to the instructor the day of your negotiation.

1. You will need to submit your plan in writing via Black Board and a provide a hard copy for the instructor on the day of the negotiation session before you start (APA Style).
2. Grading structure:

• 10 marks for the preparation document (Pre-negotiations checklist). Each section is worth 2.5 marks (2.5 About you, 2.5 About the other side, 2.5 About the situation and 2.5 the relationship between the parties).
• 5 marks for your role play and effective reflection of negotiations elements (personality, culture, communication and negotiating strategies (apply at least 10 of the strategies you learned). 1= Very low performance, 2= Low performance, 3= Moderate or average performance, 4= Good performance and 5= Excellent performance.

3. This is an individual assignment. Check the table included in this document to see which scenario and what role you are assigned to play.
4. Your negotiations will last for approximately 10 minutes, so plan accordingly.

 

Pre-Negotiation Checklist (Can be found in detail in the text book- pp. 34-46)

 

About you (2.5):

1. What is your overall goal? (p. 34)
2. What are the issues? (p. 36)
3. How important is each issue to you? (p. 37)
4. What is your best alternative to a negotiated agreement? (BATNA) (p. 40)
5. What is your resistance point (i.e. the worst agreement you are willing to accept before ending negotiations)? If your BATNA is not clear, you should identify the minimum terms you can possibly accept before you may need to gather more information. (p. 41)
6. What are the negotiation strategies that you plan to use? (PowerPoint Slides on BB)

About the other side (2.5):

1. How important do you think each issue is to them? (p. 41)
2. What do you think their BATNA is?(p. 41)
3. What do you think their resistance point is?(p. 41)
4. Based on your answers to questions 1-3 above, what is your target? (P. 41)

About the situation (2.5):

1. What deadlines exist? Which side do you think is more impatient? (p. 44)
2. What norms for fairness apply in this situation? Are there any reference points? (p. 44)
3. What topics or questions do you want to avoid (if any)? How will you respond if they bring them up? (p. 44)

The relationship between the parties (2.5):

1. Do you want to continue to have a business relationship with the other party? If so, what might be the future consequences of each strategy, tactic or action you are considering in this negotiation?(p. 45)
2. Do you trust the other party? What do you know about them? Do they trust you? (p. 45)
3. What do you know, if anything, about the other party’s styles and tactics? (p. 46)
4. What are the limits to the other party’s authority? (p. 46)

 

 

 

 

Scenarios for Negotiations Role-Playing

 

Scenario 1: Big N Tall Construction Company.

 

Role 1: Maha Al Dossary, HR Manager

 

You are Maha Al Dossary, the HR Manager of Big N Tall Construction Company. Big N Tall is a Saudi-based international company that undertakes major commercial and marine construction projects in the KSA and around the world. The company employs 1200 people in the KSA and 5000 in the other countries in which it operates. Of the 1200 employees in the KSA, 350 are women.

Recently, your CEO, Mohammad Al Abbas, made an executive decision that female employees would not be permitted to wear their abeyas while at work. Headscarves are acceptable but employees may not cover their faces with a niqab. Some male and female employees are very upset by the decision and have asked you to speak to the CEO about it. You, personally, choose not to wear an abeya or a headscarf at work. However, as an HR person, you are concerned about the effect this policy might have on the company’s ability to recruit good people. You feel this policy could discourage many women from seeking work with the company, thus depriving the company of an entire pool of talented women. In your estimation, the policy could also negatively affect the commitment and productivity of some existing employees. You strongly believe all employees should be allowed to decide for themselves how they will dress for work provided what they wear complies with the casual dress policy.

 

As soon as the policy was issued, you called Mr. Mohammad’s secretary and made an appointment to meet with him. You want to convince him to reverse this policy.

 

Role 2: Mohammad Al Abbas, Owner and CEO

 

You are Mohammad Al Abbas, the Owner and CEO of Big N Tall Construction Company. Big N Tall is a Saudi-based international company that your family started 40 years ago that undertakes major commercial and marine construction projects in the KSA and around the world. The company employs 1200 people in the KSA and 5000 in the other countries in which it operates. Of the 1200 employees in the KSA, 350 are women.

You recently made an executive decision to forbid the wearing of abeyas in your workplace as well as anything that covers the face. Big N Tall was the first construction company in the KSA to employ female managers and engineers and this practice has assisted the company to win large contracts in countries such as Australia and the US where diverse workforces are valued and expected. Your decision to ban the wearing of abeyas was motivated by your need to position your company competitively in the world construction market. Wearing the abeya and the niqab is viewed in most Western countries as oppressive and dehumanizing to women and you don’t want to lose business because your clients and potential business partners view your organization as backward. When you issued the policy, you knew it would be unpopular with some employees but you are committed to making it work. Your company has a casual dress policy and you hope that in the future employees will come to appreciate the freedom of dress it allows.

Your HR Manager, Maha Al Dossary, immediately requested a meeting with you the day the policy was issued. You do not know what she wants but assume it has something to do with the new policy.

 

Scenario 2: Khobar Promotions Company

 

Role1: Facilities Manager (Nora Khalid)

 

You work for Khobar Promotions, an advertising company. Your job is to take care of everything having to do with the office: air conditioning, furniture, office supplies, art work for the walls, interior decorating, and general office ambience. Lately, the company has hired a lot of new people so there are 50 people (40 account managers and 10 finance and administrative people) working in a space that was designed for 20. This has meant that up to three people are sharing each small office. The CEO has asked you to redesign and redecorate the corporate office space so it is tasteful and yet comfortable for everyone to work in. You have come up with an innovative design that involves a lot of open space. No one will have offices but desks will be artfully arranged in three large, light-filled rooms. The only rooms with doors will be the three meeting rooms where employees can have meetings with each other or with clients. You are very proud of your design and feel it makes excellent use of the limited space and will enable everyone to work productively. You are meeting with the General Manager, (a competent but older woman who is set in her ways), to whom all of the employees report, to show her your plan and get her approval to begin reconstruction.

 

Role 2: General Manager (Deema Alrasheed)

 

You work for Khobar Promotions, an advertising company. Your job is to manage most of the company’s 50 employees (40 account managers and 10 finance and administrative support people).  Lately, the company has hired a lot of new people so there are 50 people working in a space that was designed for 20. This has meant that up to three people are sharing each small office. The CEO has asked the Facilities Manager to redesign the office space so it is a visually pleasing and comfortable place to work for all of your 50 employees. You agree something needs to be done. Right now, it is just too cramped. You are afraid, however, the Facilities Manager (a fashionable young woman in her late 20’s) will come up with some far-out ideas for the space. Some innovative ideas are fine, you think, but you are extremely against the concept of open office space. You have always worked in your own office with a door you can close. You do not want to work out in the open and neither do you think your employees should have to put up with open space either. Everyone needs to have their own offices with doors they can close for privacy and quiet. The Facilities Manager is on her way over to see you to show you her plans and get your approval to go ahead with them.

 

Scenario 3: Harvard University Roommates

Role 1: Roommate One (Fatima Alsowailem)

You have just arrived at Harvard where you will be studying for your MBA for the next two years. You have been assigned to two-bedroom suite with another woman about the same age as yourself who is from California. She has already claimed the sunnier bedroom but yours is ok. It’ll look fine once you put up your family pictures and a few keepsakes from home. Your roommate greets you wearing only a thong and a tank top which makes you feel extremely uncomfortable. (You are dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved top and a headscarf.) She has littered the common living room with her things: healing crystals, stacks of books about New Age healing techniques and lava lamps. The couch is covered with a bedspread featuring scantily clad men. She has taken up the whole refrigerator in the kitchen with her “sprout gardens,” large trays containing green sprouts in various stages of development. There is no room for you to put any of your food which you brought with you. To top it off, as soon as you walked in, she opened the living room window and it is freezing outside. You are uncomfortable talking to someone with so few clothes on, horrified by the tasteless couch cover, ticked off she has taken over the living room with all her New Age paraphernalia, annoyed by her hogging the whole refrigerator and freezing because of the open window.

This is going to be a challenging year living with this strange Californian woman. Maybe you should get some things settled up front so you can live harmoniously together.

Role 2: Roommate Two (Joana Green)

You have just arrived at Harvard where you will be studying for your MBA for the next two years. You have been assigned to two-bedroom suite with another woman about the same age as yourself who is from Saudi Arabia. Thankfully, you arrived before she did so you could claim the sunnier bedroom. But the bedroom is too small for all your belongings so you’ve put your healing crystals, stacks of books on New Age healing techniques and precious lava lamps in the living room. Actually, the living room now looks cozy especially with the new cover you’ve put on the couch that features scantily clad men prancing around. Cool! You are just getting comfortable when your new roommate arrives. She is clearly a bit shocked by your attire, or lack of attire. You are used to hanging around your home in nothing but a thong and a tank top. You find clothing too constricting to relax in. Your new roommate is dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved top and a headscarf. What a prude! It is a good thing she doesn’t have too much stuff because there isn’t really any room in the living room for anything else. But she has a bag full of groceries. The overwhelming smell of the strange spices coming from the bag make you open the window even though it is freezing outside. You hope she doesn’t want to put anything in the fridge because you have your alfalfa seeds growing in there. These are an essential part of your healthy, vegetarian diet.

This is going to be a challenging year living with this strange Muslim woman. Maybe you should get some things settled up front so you can live harmoniously together.