More on Negotiation

“Negotiation is the process involving two or more people of either equal or unequal power, meeting to discuss shared/ apposed interest in relation to a particular area of mutual concern whereby they resolve dispute, agree upon courses of action, bargain for individual or collective advantage and/or attempt to craft outcomes which serve their mutual interest.”

We were asked to come up with a case from our work places which involved negotiation between more than two parties. After five hours of Economics on the previous day topped with successfully marking only one and half assignments and finally “Tears of the Sun” I was just not able to come up with any scenario. Besides, recalling objects from previous night’s dreams were even more interesting.

So the guy from SLT stated the problem - Consumers always ask for concessions on telephone connection, rental and call charges SLT however cannot make any changes due to the fact that prices changes are not approved by the TRC. The question is how does SLT make customers understand this fact and prevent them from switching to competitors.

As denoted, it was not complicated. But then we were divided into four teams. I was in the “Consumer” team. One other was TRC and the other was SLT and the fourth – eh… I don’t remember. Almost all teams had at least one guy fluent with background information on TRC and SLT.

So we made a list consisting of the “ideal”, the “must have” and the “loss leader” or what we are prepared to forego. After 15-20 mins of discussion, the presentations were a grand success. SLT was of course diplomatic. The final result was a win-loose and compromise situation where TRC and the consumers won. Strange combination.

Anyway the catchiest part was when the lecturer mentioned how we can use time as weapon for negotiation. For instance let’s take an institute which is not air-conditioned. Suppose students request for air-conditioning the management could negotiate with them that the matter would be brought to light in six months time. They could then continue this for a few more semesters until it is time for students to graduate. Then the institute sort of wins. This was now getting most of the people boiling up and after an outbreak of contrary argument the lecture was finally dismissed!