Negotiation of Rabbi Ben Newman’s Employment Contract, The

SCENARIO:

 

This simulation provides an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the elements of negotiating a rabbi’s employment contract with a synagogue.

 

Beth El, a medium-sized, suburban, conservative synagogue in the Midwest United States, grew considerably under Rabbi Newman’s two and a half years of guidance. He is younger and more progressive than the previous rabbi who led Beth El for 32 years.

 

A new contract is necessary now that Rabbi Newman’s three-year probationary period is coming to an end. Though it was originally assumed that negotiating the new contract would be smooth and easily ratified by the General Board, it has proven to be difficult. Rabbi Newman ran into resistance from the second Vice President, Sy Katz, who represents older members of the congregation who don’t agree with the rabbi’s style and feel he is asking for too much.

 

The two men plan to sit down with the congregation’s president serving as mediator, to try to reach agreement for the terms of the new contract.

 

 

MECHANICS/LOGISTICS:

Timetable for the Exercise:

2.5 – 3.5 hrs:

Offline Preparation:               1-2 hours

Final Preparation and Class:   20 minutes

Conducting the Exercise:       40 minutes

Debrief:                                20 minutes

 

 

TEACHER’S PACKAGE INCLUDES:

Teaching Notes

General Instructions          

Confidential Instructions for:

     Rabbi Ben Newman

Second VP, Sy Katz

     President, Charlene Gold

Office Imbroglio

SCENARIO:

Integrated Strategy and Implementation, Inc. (ISI) is a consulting firm which expanded to incorporate small firms in specialized areas to help customers implement strategies. Fran Folkman was a partner in one of the small firms which merged with ISI. Along with Fran moved his/her right-hand person, Pat Purcell. Purcell has worked with Folkman, initially as an entry-level employee, and has become a competent professional. Of late, their relationship has soured as Folkman perceives Purcell as less than committed to the business and as having let certain areas of his job performance slide. Purcell has become dissatisfied with Folkman's efforts at control, lack of feedback, and difficult work habits. Fran has brought matters to a head by sending Purcell and HR form listing areas of substandard performance and demanding that he agree, in writing, to improve his job performance or resign. Both parties have agreed to work through their discontent with Chris Cahill, the vice-president to whom Folkman reports. (Note: You can give students in Cahill's role the option to assume a different identity, that of an outside neutral, or of someone in a different position at ISI.)

Overworked HR Professional

SCENARIO:

A group exercise designed to help participants plan ways to integrate skills of collaborative negotiation into their work setting.

This exercise is one of six modules in the "Collaborative Negotiation for Human Resource Professionals" curriculum package. For details, please see Collaborative Negotiation for Human Resource Professionals under "Curricula."

Powergraphics

SCENARIO:

Phoenix Software, Inc. is a small closely-held corporation that develops and markets software for microcomputers. The six-year-old company was founded by Dana Monosoff, a brilliant programmer who is responsible for the company's products and became its general manager and president, and Chris Hill, an accountant and computer hobbyist who provided the capital. Monosoff and Hill are each 50% owners. The company has done moderately well, but now faces a crisis resulting from a dispute between the partners over ownership and disposition of PowerGraphics, and new product developed by Monosoff, at least partly on his own time and definitely against Hill's wishes. Monosoff and Hill have agreed to discuss the problems. At issue is the ownership of PowerGraphics, the need to hire a management expert, and the future of Phoenix, Inc.

River Bend

SCENARIO:

Calgary Central Gas (‘CC Gas’) is planning to build a natural gas plant near the reserve of the native Canadian River Bend band (‘the Band’). 22 years ago, CC Gas laid a gas pipeline through the same reserve, for which it paid a standard right-of-way fee to the band. The currently selected site for the new plant would require the laying new pipeline to connect the new plant to the main pipeline. CC Gas has never paid any taxes or royalties to the River Bend band for the main pipeline. The band recently obtained the authority to collect property taxes on land within the reserve, and is in the process of establishing a property tax system.

Representatives of CC Gas and of the River Bend band, together with an advisor from the Federal Fair Tax Commission, are meeting to discuss the following four issues: (1) what CC Gas should pay the River Bend band for the right-of-way to construct the pipeline; (2) Whether CC Gas will provide any jobs or create economic development opportunities for the band; (3) whether and how the River Bend band will tax CC Gas for the main pipeline and the new pipeline; and (4) what steps will be taken to ensure the health and safety of the River Bend band members and the wildlife on the reserve.

 

MAJOR LESSONS:

  • The status of First Nations (i.e. aboriginal lands) in Canada is quite different from those of the Native America states in the United States of America.

 

TEACHING MATERIALS:

Separate general instructions for CC Gas representatives and for River Bend representatives

 

Confidential instructions for:

  • CC Gas President D. Morins
  • CC Gas Vice President G. Lewis
  • Northland Partners (CC Gas' contractor) Project Manager M. Bunin
  • River Bend Chief P. Iron
  • River Bend member E. Drake
  • Federal Fair Taxation Commission Advisor T. McGill

 

Teaching note

  • Teaching/ Overheads

 

KEYWORDS/ THEMES:

environmental justice; multiparty negotiation; negotiating compensation; facility siting negotiation; cross-cultural negotiation

 

SIMILAR SIMULATIONS:

Siting an Asphalt Plant in the City of Madrona

Beaumont Incinerator Exercise

And other First Nations games

Robyn & Luis

Robyn & Luis, a short film written and produced by Jeswald W. Salacuse, presents a dramatized problem for use in courses on negotiation, conflict resolution, management, or leadership. Under the guidance of an instructor, students seek to resolve the problem through discussion. A dramatized problem tends to engage students actively in discussion and also helps develop students' perceptual skills — key assets for any negotiator, manager, or leader. In a further attempt to simulate reality in the classroom, the video seeks to encourage students to react and make decisions in real time.

The film viewer is placed in the position of the CEO of a publicly traded communication equipment manufacturer that has had low, stagnant profits for the past five years. Hired just six months ago, the CEO has been given 18 months by the firm's board chairman to turn the company around and increase its profitability. The CEO has been working energetically with the company's vice presidents to develop a plan of action to fix the problem. In order to control costs, the CEO has agreed with Vice-President for Finance Robyn Kendal to impose a 5% limit on budget increases in all departments in next year's budget. Kendal is to work with seven vice presidents to implement the budget cap. The CEO knows, however, that cutting costs alone will not achieve a sustained improvement in profitability. Company productivity must also be increased. Luis Molina, the company's Vice President for Human Resource Development, has proposed a new human resource development model that emphasizes employee training and evaluation as a way to improve productivity. Molina's plan is based on the human resources system in the company's Canadian subsidiary, the organization's most profitable unit. The CEO encourages Molina to develop a new human resources model based on the Canada system for the entire company

Two weeks later, on the day after the CEO returns from a two-week trip, Robyn Kendal and Luis Molina appear at the door of the CEO's office and ask for a meeting. They enter the office and sit opposite the CEO's desk, looking directly at the viewer. Remind the CEO of the directive to limit budget increases, Kendal reports that whereas all the other vice presidents have agreed to limit budget increases for their units to 5%, Molina has refused and is insisting on an 8% increase. Molina replies that he needs the additional 3% (i.e. $200,000) in order to implement the new human resources plan that he and the CEO had agreed upon. Kendal insists, as the CEO had previously agreed, on the need to reduce costs in order to improve company profitability, while Molina argues strongly fro the necessity of increasing productivity as the basic means of raising company profits on a sustained basis. The film ends as both face the CEO (i.e. the viewer) and say "well…?"

TEACHING POINTS INCLUDE:

  • Understanding and analyzing the nature and causes of interpersonal conflict in the work place
  • Understanding the various roles that a third party may play in the settlement of a conflict
  • Understanding and using strategies for mediation and other forms of third-party intervention in a conflict

Team Meeting

SCENARIO:

Three members of a newly-formed five-person work team at a factory are meeting with their supervisor and the union steward. Recently the team has taken on more responsibility for daily decisions about assignments, ordering supplies, and scheduling. This change has resulted in increased conflict as well as increased teamwork.

The meeting is scheduled for only forty minutes, and it includes a number of agenda items submitted by each of the participants. Each participant is responsible for presenting the item that s/he put on the agenda, for preparing to address the other agenda items, and for identifying desirable (or at least acceptable) outcomes for each of the agenda items.

Teaching points include agenda control, time management techniques, effect of time pressure on substantive outcome, balancing long- and short- term interests, impact of absent parties, and relationship maintenance skills.

 

Teacher's Pack includes:

Confidential instructions for:

  • Team Advisor
  • Team Leader
  • Union Steward
  • High seniority Manufacturing Technician
  • Low seniority Manufacturing Technician
  • No Teaching Note currently available.

Telemachus Technology

SCENARIO:

Telemachus Technology is a non-scoreable, three-party negotiation exercise set in a high technology business context. The simulation involves an African-American female compute consultant, her white male manager, and her white male assigned mentor. The three are meeting to discuss the consultant's role in an upcoming presentation to a large corporate client.

This exercise requires the participants to negotiate a solution to a business problem within the context of an ill-defined mentorship program and complex working relationships involving supervisors and direct reports. It raises a range of issues around workplace diversity (including identity and communication), integrative negotiation, and negotiation within a line of supervision.

 

Teacher's Pack includes:

  • General Instructions

 

Confidential Instructions for:

  • Shataya Davis (Mentee)
  • Bill Meese (Mentor)
  • Jack Youngblood (Manager)
  • Teaching Note

Tommy Koh And The United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement

A Case
The efforts of Singapore Ambassador-At-Large Tommy Koh to negotiate the United States-Singapore Free Trade agreement are explored with an in-depth focus on Koh’s management of various fronts of a multiparty negotiation over a sustained period. After briefly describing Ambassador Koh's background, this case describes the underlying reasons for Singapore's desire to reach a free trade agreement with the United States and the barriers to that agreement. Ambassador Koh received the 2014 Program on Negotiation "Great Negotiator" Award.

B Case
This case details the efforts of Singapore Ambassador-At-Large Tommy Koh to forge a free trade agreement between Singapore and the United States following both nations' support for the initiation of negotiations on a USSFTA. Examining the various barriers and fronts of the negotiation, the case details Koh's successful actions to overcome the significant challenges presented by trade negotiations with the United States.

Both case studies are designed to help students examine complex multi-party negotiations across multiple fronts, exploring strategies for sustained assessment of barriers in a negotiation campaign. The A case establishes the background for a negotiation and the B case discusses Koh's efforts to reach an agreement.

What To Do With Hexiglass?

Scenario:

Cremtech Corporation, considered for many years the industry leader in product and innovation, develops and manufactures leading edge glass and ceramic products, and generates profits of $50M. It also championed a collaborative approach to management that has brought steady profits and kept employee turnover low.

Over the last five years, however, faced with mounting competition, profits have slipped. Cremtech business leaders were advised to reduce products that generate the least profits. Technologies without significant markets or applications drain production capacity and require small, expensive runs to produce. Fewer products will mean less handling, shipping, and customer support costs.

Hexiglass is one of Cremtech’s materials that retains tremendous strength and flexibility at very thin diameters. Though Cremtech recognizes the drain on manufacturing floor time that it represents, a competitor offered to buy or license their Hexiglass technology. The offer expires in seven days.

The three Cremtech business leaders must decide to sell, license, or mothball Hexiglass while maintaining their collaborative leadership style and preserving their working relationships.


Logistics

Time:

  • 5 minutes to set up
  • 25-35 minutes to read all the instructions
  • 20-25 minutes to prepare with others playing the same role
  • 75 minutes to do the simulation
  • 45 minutes to debrief

 

Major Lessons:

This game teaches the benefits of managing communication and trust in the context of a technology negotiation. Each participant has conflicting interests to manage. By working collaboratively to find mutual gains, participants see that building trust between parties can lead to increased gains, and that differences in the valuation of certain issues is often what makes it possible to reach an acceptable agreement for all parties.

There can be trade-offs between short and long-term gains.

Parties often have “second tables” or “internal stakeholders.”

Convincing standards or criteria are important when seeking to divide potential gains.

Effective negotiation often involves:

• Addressing multiple issues together rather than singularly

• Disclosing or discovering sufficient information to find mutually beneficial options

• Creating value before claiming it

 

Materials Included:

For all parties:

General Instructions

Memo from Legal

Settlement Worksheet

 

Role-specific instructions for:

P. Riley Confidential and Grid for ranking (Product Line Manager for Specialty Ceramics at Cremtech)

J. Lee Confidential and Grid for ranking (Vice President of Research and Development who invented Hexiglass)

T. Weston Confidential and Grid for ranking (Plant Manager where Hexiglass was developed and is still manufactured)

Williams Medical Center

SCENARIO:

Williams Medical Center is a 1,000-bed, university-affiliated, non-profit facility located in a large metropolitan area. It is currently reeling from its second large malpractice suit this year. Adverse drug effects were the source of both incidents, and this time the press coverage was brutal. In an effort to restore the hospital's reputation, the Board of Trustees has publicly committed the Center to develop a comprehensive drug prescription policy.

The Board asked the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee (P&TC) to submit policy recommendations for the next Board meeting. Each member has been given a strong opening position from which they must back down if they are to create a drug policy that will convince the press and the public that the Center is still in the forefront of its field.

 

MAJOR LESSONS:

  • It is important for each participant to understand his/her BATNA. This will provide a way to evaluate options or packages developed during the bargaining process.
  • In this exercise it is particularly important to separate the personalities of players from the problems that confront them. Participants must prevent their prescribed personalities from clashing with those of the other Committee members.
  • This case introduces the possibility for contingent agreements. Contingent agreements provide a way for two directly opposing parties to find common ground.
  • This exercise exposes participants to a two-tiered negotiation situation. Players must explore the interests of those working as allies behind the table as well as those working across the table.

 

TEACHING MATERIALS:

For all parties:

  • General Instructions
  • Summary of Issues and Options

 

Role Specific Confidential Instructions for:

  • Bradley Moore
  • Patricia De Vecchio
  • Robert Macomber
  • Stewart Fein
  • Susan Sanchez

 

Teacher's Package:

  • All of the above
  • Teaching Note
  • Outline for Teaching Note

 

KEYWORDS:

Multi-party negotiation; health care negotiation; managing conflict inside the organization; inside-outside negotiation

 

SIMILAR SIMULATIONS:

St. Francis Hospital and the Managed Medical Model