Business and Commercial Role-Play:

Software Return

$0.00$6.50

Bruce Patton

Two-party negotiation between a customer and a returns clerk about the return of a defective software package

Quantity

Please note: you must order a copy (a.k.a. license/usage fee) for every person participating in the simulation in your course. This simulation has multiple roles, so you will be unable to complete your purchase without meeting the minimum quantity requirement of copies per role.

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SCENARIO:

The complaints clerk in a retail software store sees a customer approaching, carrying a software package (without the box) that the store sold at a special price last week. The software cannot be returned to the manufacturer under these circumstances. The clerk has already exceeded their weekly returns budget. The customer has been unable to get the package to work.

 

MAJOR LESSONS:

  • The scenario makes it very easy to slip into an unprofitable negative mode of negotiation, based almost entirely on reaction. Unsatisfactory outcomes almost always result.
  • Those parties willing to consider the perceptions and interests of the other party as relevant can usually engage in mutually beneficial joint problem-solving.
  • The persuasive effects of threats, cajoling, anger, helplessness, looking pathetic, and other techniques can be explored.

Software Return Attributes

Time required: Less than 30 minutes
Number of participants: 2
Teams involved: No
Agent present: None
Neutral third party present: None
Scoreable: No
Teaching notes available: No
Non-English version available: German