Negotiation Checklist

A. About You

1. Overall Goal- To get a new model of the JAC 36 ready soon, and for it to sell.

2. Issues- Price, portability, materials, processor. chip speed, voice commands, optical coupling, manufacturing efficiency

3. How important is each issue to you?- The issues are all important to me. I want to find the combination that will be best to the company. I do not fully know all of the facts of the issue, and developing a scoring system before talking to the other managers would be premature.

4. BATNA- There is no good alternative to a negotiated agreement in this scenario. We should all want what is best for the company and that is a new version of the JAC 37.

5. Resistance Point- The resistance point for the senior electrical engineer would be a portable unit. It would be better for the company to do a regular model first, but if the pressure is really there, I could settle for manufacturing the portable unit.

B. About the other side

1. How important is each issue to them?- It depends on their position. The vp of sales will obviously want lower prices. Manufacturing will want more time to develop the manufacturing process.

2. What is their BATNA?- I think all of them know that we cannot settle without having an agreement.

3. What is their resistance point?- I think it depends on the position. We should not have to get the that however, if we all work together.

4.What is your target?- The target is to get the best product at the cheapest price as soon as possible.

C.The Situation

1. What deadlines exist? Who is more impatient?- The deadline is a soft deadline set by the company president, who said he wants the new version "soon."

2. What fairness norms or reference points apply?- We are all co-workers working for the good of the company. Our negotiations should revolve around sharing information and problem solving to work for a common good.

3. What topic or questions do you want to avoid?- What will you do if they come up? Topics to avoid are mainly the issue of building a portable unit now. The portable unit should wait until this revision is complete. If it comes up, I will state that the issue has already been settled and we need to work on this revision.

D. The Relationship between the parties

1. Will negotiations be competitive?- If so, what are the future consequences of each strategy, tactic, and action you are considering? We work together, so we will probably have meetings about the project again. I'm using a cooperative strategy

2.a) Can you trust the other party? What do you know about them?- I think I can trust them. I'm sure they all have a few personal motives, but they should be working for the good of the organization.

b)Does the other party trust you?- They should. I am the authority on the technical aspects of the project. They think they know how it is put together, but I am the only one who really knows what is going on inside of these complex machines.

3. What do you know about the other parties style and tactics?- Nothing, except they should be using cooperative strategies too,

4. What are the limits to the other party's authority?- Mostly what they are vice president of.

5. Consult in advance with the other party about the agenda. 

Buying a phone

Tuesday evening, my phone died. I'm not sure why, but the phone stopped connecting to the charger. On Wednesday morning I went The Communication Connection, an authorized Verizon retailer, to discuss the issue. Let's call the salesman I worked with Jay. I explained the issue, and we learned that it was unfixable. I was expecting this. I needed a new phone. Since my contract with Verizon had been up for a while,  I had a few options to consider. I wanted a smartphone, and I was deciding between a phone with the Google Android OS or an iPhone. I also had the choice to switch to another carrier too. I looked at the prices of iPhones and their plans across Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and, Boost Mobile. Upon research, I ruled out Sprint. Although I like their unlimited data plan, it was out of my range at an $80 minimum monthly fee and a 2 year contract. I liked Boost mobiles monthly plan at only $55 a month with no contract, but had little faith in their coverage. AT&T had a $50/month data plan but that doesn't include talk or text. Because I was already with Verizon, if I could get a decent price on a data plan, I would stay with them.
Jay and I began our negotiation by discussing what I wanted in a phone and what the options were. Since I was already on a family plan, my bill for talk and text would stay the same.Once I learned that I could get four gigs of data a month on the droid for the same price as two gigs for the iPhone, thirty dollars, I was convinced to go with the Android OS. Many phones run Android though, and after browsing for a while, the Samsung Charge looked pretty good. It was a little pricey though, and since I had never used my upgrade from my previous phone, I was sure I could get some sort of discount. Jay was not immediately responsive, however once he talked to my mom on the phone, the account holder, he was able to drop the price of the phone by something like twenty five percent.
I also wanted a case for my new phone because my electronics tend to get tossed around a lot. The strongest case they had, the Otter Box, was fifty dollars though. I knew I could get one online for closer to twenty. That would take a couple days however, and I was willing to pay up to around thirty if I could get it in the store. I mentioned something to him about maybe just looking on the internet for a case and a soon as I did he offered to take off twenty five percent. That brought it down to about thirty three dollars which was acceptable.
I am pretty happy with the way the negotiation turned out. I got a new phone and case pretty quickly and at a good price. I am also with a reliable network. The only thing I do not like is being tied into a two year contract, but that is almost unavoidable. 

Negotiation in 30 Rock

30 Rock revolves around the day-to-day runnings of the show TGS, run by NBC out of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York. Negotiations happen on the show all the time. On the most recent episode, Today You Are A Man, Jack and Liz have formal a formal negotiation over Liz's contract.

Pete on negotiating with children: "When your kid throws a tantrum and holds his breath, you hold your breath too. When you regain consciousness, believe me, he's ready to leave the toy store."

The past three weeks of Negotiation 450

This is a bit late for a first post, but it will examine the first three weeks of in-class negotiation.

The first day of class we examined a version of the prisoners dilemma with ten rounds. I went with X in the first round, assuming everyone else would, and they did. This is unfortunate because when everybody picks X, everybody loses. After that I went with Y, hoping it would set a trend that others would follow. Round three had two other people join me in Y's, but still one hold out. We talked after round 4 however, and all agreed that for the most utility we would all vote Y. There was a little discussion about whether or not everyone could be trusted, but we agreed that any surprise disenters would receive a swift kick to the groin. Everyone followed the agreement and all four members of our group ended up with positive outcomes.

The next negotiation we did involved the sale of a used car, I being the seller. I managed to get $8,500 for it, which was equal to the down payment for the new car I wanted. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Our third negotiation involved the sale of a large quantity of pistons to an engine manufacturer. I was the buyer for the engine firm. The seller surprised me by high-balling right off the bat, asking for $800 per piston. I countered with $400, although in hind-sight I realized I should have gone lower, down to three or even two hundred. We ended up settling on $600 per piston which was right in the middle of both of our initial offers, and a 100% guarantee that the pistons won't fail. It was a bit high, but it was within the acceptable range.

The fourth in-class negotiation involved negotiation between two plant manager for the same computer company about quality control. I was the manager for the phillips plant, the one receiving faulty parts. We discussed the 95% standard and agreed that it should apply to all part lines, not oll the lines together. We ended up with an agreement that we though would be most beneficial and efficient for the company as a whole.

Got to run, but I'll to my best to keep this updated more regularly.

-Luke