Negotiation and Conflict Management
Chapters covered: Chapter 5 – Ethics in Negotiation
Chapter 6– Perception, Cognition, and Emotions
Chapter 10 – Relationships in Negotiation
Chapter 15 – Individual differences.
Name
University ID No.
1. Alpha Ltd, a French company deals with the network safety. This company enters into agreement with Company X to organize files and protect sensitive data from hacking. The French company appoints two experienced software engineers to work in the premises of the Company X. Going through the files of Company X, both engineers (Ben and Tom), looked at some information that was harmful to French Government. The information was about a special rocket to be dropped over Paris. If this would have happened the estimated number of people killed would reach 300,000 in the first two hours. According to both rules of Company X and contract, engineers were bound to not disclose any information to public or third parties.
Engineer Ben was thinking to immediately inform French government about this information although this could cost him and his company a lot. Saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people is more important than saving the interest of one company. Therefore, Ben decided to report this information to French government. Engineer Tom had a very good offer by Company X to continue to work for them even after the contract with Alpha Ltd will finish. After hearing the concern of Ben, Tom thought that the information they saw was just an information and was unclear whether it was serious. According to his moral beliefs someone should be very cautious to jump into conclusion. On top of that, Tom has a contract with Alpha Ltd which requires him to maintain confidentially and not reveal any sensitive information of the company to third parties during his job with Company X. Tom argued further that their job is only to keep safe the network of Company X and nothing more than that. So, Tom disagrees with Ben.
Referring to pp.163-180:
A) Ben and Tom had a dispute about the information about launching of the rocket over Paris. In a hot discussion Ben challenged Tom and asked him whether he looked at the plan and whether understood the risk it entails to French people and humanity generally. Tom’s reaction was that Ben always like conspiracy theories and this is because he reads a lot of espionage books. Which deceptive tactic Tom used to trick Ben and reason why? (5 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B) Tom told to his wife what happened between him and Ben. He explained to her the way he replied to Ben. She disagreed with the Tom’s reply and asked him why he behaved in this way. Tom’s answer was that the offer he received by Company X was five times higher than his current salary he gets from Alpha Ltd. At the end of the day what he cares most is his career. In addition, Tom told his wife that Ben deserved that answer. Tom continued saying that Ben always wants to make things look dramatic. And, with Ben it is is very difficult to speak differently. It is the only way to stop Ben from continuing his conspiracy theory-like behaviour with his workmates. What justifications/rationalizations did Tom use to convince his wife? And what is the factor that shaped Tom’s predisposition to use an unethical technique? Discuss your answer. (15 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. A) Explain the main differences between Stereotyping and Halo effects and justify your answer with examples please. (5 points)
B) Refer to Chp.6, pp. 205-216 show and explain which of the cognitive biases applies to the following examples:
B1) In a salary negotiation, job applicant, Bob, who assumes that salary is the only issue insists on $55, 000 when the employer is offering $52, 000. Only when the two parties discuss the possibilities further, they discover that Bob’s moving expenses and starting date can be also negotiated, which may facilitate resolution of the salary issue. (5 points)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B2) After investigation and analysis of Tom before surgery, doctor said that Tom has 10% chance of death after the surgery. Tom became very nervous. He changed his doctor. His new doctor said that the surgery has %90 survival rate. Then he decided to have the surgery. (5 points)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B3) In an antique store Helena saw a clock that she and her husband fell in love with. After spending the afternoon in the neighborhood deciding a negotiation strategy (opening offer, bottom line, timing) she and her husband returned to the store to enact their strategy. The store owner accepted their first offer. Upon arriving home, suffering from the purchase, they left the clock in the garage, where it remains collecting dust. (5 points)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. A) Explain the importance of ‘Reputation’ in managing negotiations within relationships. (10 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B) On February 14, 2007 (Valentine’s day in the US) airline JetBlue suffered a major crisis. Two inches of snow and ice at JFK airport led to 1,000 flight cancellations, massive delays, and passengers stranded on planes for up to nine hours. JetBlue founder and CEO David Neeleman was faced with the challenge of how to repair the public’s trust in a way that would strengthen the strong brand identity that the company had created. In the week following the crisis, he appeared in every local and national news media. He accepted responsibility for bad decisions and organizational problems. He apologized repeatedly, promised refunds for stranded passengers, and promised to fix the problems that created the disaster. He also introduced a customer ‘bill of rights’. Two weeks after meltdown, 43 percent of a sample of people visiting JetBlue’s website said the airline was still their number-one favorite.
After using which strategies, did Neeleman become successful to repair the passenger’s trust. Please justify your answer. (20 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. A) Write three results according to theories and empirical findings about gender differences in negotiation. Please explain your answer by giving examples. (10 points)
B) Please explain what Conflict Management Style is. Discuss which conflict management style do ‘Pro-self’ and ‘Pro-social’ people in Social Value Orientations prefer? Discuss which conflict management style do ‘internals’ and ‘externals’ in the Locus of control prefer? Justify your answer please. (20 points)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
