Victoria Lann
COM 395- Baker
Final Live Negotiation Paper
April 28, 2013
Negotiating rationally, as stated in the textbook, means making the best decisions
to maximize my interests. The main premise of the textbook “Negotiating Rationally”
was that it is important to know when it is smart to reach an agreement and when it is not.
I felt that my negotiation was a perfect example of when you should not reach an
agreement. I also found that if I had not taken COM 395, that my outcome in this
negotiation could have gone very differently and would not have ended up working in my
favor. In my final live negotiation I chose to write about a negotiation between my boss
and myself negotiating how many shifts or hours per week that I would be working at my
hotel front desk job. At the time that I started my job an existing agreement between my
boss and me was apparent and it included that I would be a part time worker. This meant
that I would work three to four shifts a week or twenty-four to thirty-two hours per week.
The hotel business includes overnight shifts that include working the hours of eleven pm
to seven am. At the time of me being hired there was an understanding that I was a
student and could only work the above stated hours and overnight shifts only during the
weekend. After a few weeks into my job two of the five employees quit their jobs as front
desk employees. As a result of this situation I found that my boss had issued me to work
forty hours a week for the next two weeks. I found this out by going to work and looking
at the new schedules. Therefore, I felt that a negotiation was needed in order for me to
successfully juggle school and work.
The parties in this negotiation were my boss, the front desk manager and myself.
My ideal negotiation would have included all three parties sitting down at the same time,
face to face to negotiation this issue. My issues in this negotiation were that I felt that I
could not work forty hours a week during the weeks building up to finals. I also felt
unappreciated when my boss assumed I could work these hours without asking me if I
could. The fact that I could not work this many hours per week was previously discussed
with all three parties in the negotiation. Another issue that I had during this negotiation is
that the negotiation took place partially over the phone. I felt that this led to
miscommunication. Broad relational and long-term goals between the parties existed
because I was negotiating with my boss where I planned to work for the next year. My
concerns with this negotiation were that I would not be given enough time to negotiate
with my boss and that I would not be able to explain my thoughts as thoroughly as I
wanted to. Another concern that I had was that my boss would not care what my
thoughts and opinions were and would not do anything to negotiate a solution with me.
My BATNA in this situation was to quit my job and find somewhere else to work.
My target point was for my boss to reduce my schedule to what we originally agreed
upon (24/32 hours per week). My reservation point was to work the scheduled shifts and
to postpone the negotiation and find a later time to discuss with my boss. My preparation
that took place before the negotiation was to outline all the points I wanted to make in my
head and figure out the most effective way to express my expectations for the schedule
change.
After two shifts of not being able to meet with my boss in person I finally decided
that I needed to call him the day before I was supposed to work an overnight shift. I
discussed with him my concerns and he explained to me that two employees had quit and
that if I would work with him that week that he would figure out a solution for the
following weeks. This was my reservation point and I decided that I really needed a job
and that I could make this happen. Over the process of the next few weeks I found that
my boss was not “working with me” and I remained on the schedule for forty hours per
week. Later that week I spoke to the front desk manager and also explained to her that I
could not work that many hours per week. I made the decision to have another
negotiation over the phone with my boss when I found out that I had a test the morning
after I was scheduled to work an all night shift. After making five different calls over a
period of four hours I still could not successfully get any of the managers on the phone.
Eventually my boss called me back and I stated that I had tried to call to explain that I
could not work the overnight shift before a huge exam that I had scheduled for the next
morning. After a long discussion I eventually retreated to my BATNA and decided that it
would be in my best interest to remove myself from the situation because I realized that
my boss was not going to try and accommodate my needs as an employee.
As stated in the book, I realized that my boss suffered from the “winners curse”
and he did not even know it. This means that he assumed that I would work all of the
extra hours because he was an authority figure telling me to do so. Once I realized this
was the case, I thought back to the textbook stating that the winners curse could
eventually harm relationships. This made me realize that my boss had no interest in our
future relational goals and that even if we did make an agreement within the negotiation
that this would always be something that harmed our long term and relational goals. I
also considered chapter eight in the textbook. It states that a party that is overconfident in
a negotiation is much less likely to reach an agreement. This was absolutely the case in
my negotiation because my boss felt that no matter what he did that I would most likely
not quit my job. In this case he was very wrong. The textbook states that parties that take
into account the other parties interests usually get the most out of a negotiation. My boss
did not do this so I decided for myself that I personally do not want to have relational or
long-term goals with someone that would not take my interests into consideration.
I thought back to the seven pervasive decision making biases. In my situation
almost every pervasive decision-making bias was relevant. First, I found that in order to
reach an agreement at all it would cause me to irrationally escalate my commitment to an
initial course of action even though it would not be the most beneficial decision for me.
Secondly, it is best not to go forward with an agreement if the other parties own selfinterest outweighs your own interests. In my situation I found that the only interest that
my boss had was his own self-interest. He had no intent on trade-offs or bargaining with
me to make myself feel that I was getting even the smallest piece of the pie. As stated in
our textbook, Competitive Irrationality is when parties act in an irrational manner in
terms of expected outcomes. I found that this was the case in my outcome. There were
expected outcomes from me before the original negotiation even took place. Another
flaw that was present in my negotiation was the fixed pie theory. In this negotiation I
found that the “fixed pie” theory was something present and that it was something that I
could not get rid of no matter how hard I tried. I found that because my boss was in-fact
“my boss” that his authoritative perceptions on the situation put him in a bad position to
negotiate because he was not willing to trade-off anything in the slightest to give me any
portion of the pie. After I realized that the “fixed pie” was inevitably “fixed” for good in
my boss’s eyes, that this negotiation was not going to sway my way at all. Because of the
fixed pie I realized that it was not going to be possible to reach any kind of an agreement
with my boss. Eventually I decided that our goals were too far apart on the grid an that
there was no way that my boss would be willing to move even an inch in my direction.
His anchors were strong in his view and he had no interest in re-anchoring in order to
satisfy me. Not very far into the negotiation I leaned that if an integrative agreement
could be reached that it would eventually not work out in the future because I did not
trust the other party to hold to their word down the road. I chose to go with my BATNA
because I felt that I would be put in this situation again in the future if I settled for an
agreement.
I learned many things from this negotiation and experience about myself and
about others. I learned that in order for a negotiation to work that the parties must make a
trade-off in order to reach middle ground. I have had four jobs since high school and I
found that this situation was one of the worst situations I have been in in a business
setting. I am glad that the situation happened because I think that it is very important to
know how to deal with conflict in the workplace. Once I am in a business setting where I
cannot have a BATNA like the one that I had in this situation, I will feel more
comfortable handling situations that may tend to be awkward. I will need to work in other
ways to find resolutions to conflicts when I am in a situation where I cannot fully take
myself out of the picture. This experience will definitely give me light into how I will
handle conflicts and resolutions in my future career. I also found that in order to handle
emotion that you are feeling when you have a negotiation is a very important thing to
think about. For example, if you are in such a situation where you get angry or sad it is
important to keep your focus on the main issue at hand and what will be in the best
interest of the two parties within the negotiation. As long as emotions do not sway what
is the best interest of the two parties, then the negotiation will be successful and I will
feel good about the outcome in the end.
I found that I negotiate in a collaborative way. I try to make the other person feel
like they are getting just as much from the negotiated agreement as I feel that I am
receiving from it. I try to work with the other in order to reach an agreement that both of
us feel comfortable about and that we are both satisfied with the outcome and with what
we traded-off. In this specific situation I was willing to trade-off a few weeks of working
extra hours that were not realistic for me to work. If my boss would be willing to work
with me in the future I would have stuck to my reservation point. My boss proved that he
was not going to do that. One of my weaknesses was that I was extremely nervous to
confront my boss about this situation because I get nervous when I have to handle a
conflict with someone in an authoritative position. One of my strengths was that I had
clear guidelines that I wanted to follow throughout the negotiation and had previously set
a reservation point for myself and I would not let myself go beyond that. Since my boss
was not willing to even meet me at my reservation point I felt that the best thing for my
situation was to choose my BATNA. I came to this conclusion because I thought that me
quitting my job would end up working out for the both of us in the end. I would not have
to be put in this situation again and I would not have to compromise my schoolwork. My
boss would not have to deal with making a schedule around an employee that cannot be
flexible with their schedule. In conclusion, I found that because of these two facts I
thought this would be the best outcome for both of our situations. Even though this was a
very awkward negotiation to take place, I am glad it happened because I learned multiple
things about my negotiation styles along with how I should handle conflicting situations.