Week of 2/27/2012

This week in class we participated in a group negotiation.  For this negotiation I was apart of the board of educators.  I felt that we did not have enough time as a group to prepare.  The group preparation is a negotiation within itself.  When actually negotiating I noticed that preparation would have been appreciated for us as well as the other group.  I saw the other group struggling because they weren't on the same page. 
To start off the negotiation, we decided to share our interests with the other group in exchange for their interest.  We were hoping that we could log roll the whole process and give a little to them if they gave a little to us.  In the beginning the teachers let us know that if they were not happy with what we had to say then they would strike.  We let them know that there was no way to settle this dispute.  We are ultimately here for the kids.  We made the teachers aware that if they did strike we would eventually end back at the negotiation table and the only people we would be hurting was the kids.  I felt that this was a great tool because it allowed our negotiation to be as unaggressive as possible. 
In the end I felt that we as the board ended up with a deal that met our needs.  I felt that the teachers also ended with a deal that met their needs.  I believed that we created value for each side and we were able to build a relationship.