Facts: Nikki is the manager of a small-midsize call center that handles orders for a national chain of floral shops, InBloom Flowers. She recently implemented a policy change based on the needs of InBloom. Previously, employees worked from 9:00am-5:00pm, Monday through Friday. Due to an increase in orders, InBloom requested that the call center expand its hours and add Saturdays (Saturdays seem to be a high need day). In order to fulfill this request, Nikki changed the hours to 7:00 am-6:00 pm Monday through Friday, and to 8:00 am-4:00 pm on Saturdays. This change means that employees will be given a new schedule based on their seniority. Those with the most seniority were allowed to pick their shift first. Below are the shift options A: 7:00 am-3:00 pm M-F B: 10:00am-6:00pm M-F C: 7:00am-3:00 pm Tuesday-Saturday (8:00-4:00pm on Saturdays) D: 10:00am-6:00 pm Tuesday-Saturday (8:00-4:00pm on Saturdays) Obviously, those with seniority were able to pick their ideal shift while those with less seniority were left with less options. One of those who felt that she received a less than ideal shift was Michelle. Even though she has worked for the call center for over two years and is a stellar employee, because of the longevity and lack of turnover in the call center, she ranked around the bottom 20% for picking a shift. Michelle ended up with Shift D: 10:00am-6:00 pm TuesdaySaturday (8:00-4:00pm on Saturdays). Furious with this shift assignment she wants to meet with Nikki and demand that she get a shift that better fits her home life responsibilities. Michelle is a single mom and has an ideal daycare provider who only has hours from 8:30-5:30 Monday through Friday. Running Head: THE CONFLICT GETS PERSONAL 1 THE CONFLICT GETS PERSONAL 2 The interests approach considers the things that the parties to a negotiation desire to be fulfilled. Identifying the interests leads to cooperation because everyone’s interest will be considered (Fisher, 2011). The issues from Michelle’s perspective are that she will not be able to attend to her other responsibilities once the new schedules have been implemented. If the schedules are changed in such a way that she will still be able to attend to her other responsibilities, she is willing to work for the company following a schedule that does not bar her from attending to her other responsibilities. The issues from Nikki’s perspectives are that she is willing to see the company make more profits and this can only happen when the company opens its doors on Saturdays because there are many customers on this day. She is also interested to have the senior people who have contributed more to the company’s success and who work hard to choose their preferred schedules first because she is interested in creating organizational commitment amongst the most effective employees in the company. One of the biases that Michelle had against Nikki is that Nikki is more concerned about making more profits in the company than she is for the employees. Another bias that Michelle might have is that Nikki is biased against woman. Nikki might be biased against Michelle in that, she is non-cooperating person and that is why she is resistant to this change in the schedules. Another bias Nikki might have against Michelle is that Michelle is affected by groupthink. By this, Nikki might feel that Michelle is only acting according to what the group of her fellow workmates feel should be done. Her actions are because she is representing her workmates. THE CONFLICT GETS PERSONAL According to Ricardo (2009), in the workplaces, most biases happen when the subordinates feel that the manager is acting to please his bosses instead of considering them in decision making. This bias is what Michelle is feeling about Nikki. Another bias that takes place in the workplaces is when the manager feels that the employees fear change because of the uncertainty that comes with change. This is what Nikki feels about Michelle in the scenario. Using calming and non-verbal behaviors is one of the strategies. This strategy can be utilized in ensuring that Michelle calms down in order to listen to Nikki’s concerns. Another strategy is pausing and saying nothing. This strategy will be utilized to help the situation to calm down and it is also effective because in the process Nikki could be thinking of what to say next. Another strategy is to know your hot buttons. When Nikki is well aware of the topics that once touched makes her aggravated she could be in control by knowing them such that even if Michelle may touch on them during the negotiation, she will not be aggravated. Calling time out: Whenever Nikki feels that the situation is too tense, she can always call a time out and they would come back when the situation changes for the better. The other thing is agreeing at a point: Nikki should agree with Michelle when she makes a good point during their negotiation process. This will help calm the situation because Michelle would see that Nikki is willing to negotiate. Nikki could also utilize extreme demands followed up by small and slow concessions. Nikki could utilize this so that she could use the concessions to have Michelle concede on other aspects too. Finally is the use of the feel-felt-found method: Nikki can make Michelle feel that other employees also had issues with the schedule but together they were able to reach a level ground and so her case is not unique ad they would still arrive at a level ground. 3 THE CONFLICT GETS PERSONAL 4 References Fisher R, U. W. (2011). Getting to yes: Negotiatimg Agreeement without Giving in. New York: Penguin Books publishers. Ricardo, J. (2009). principles and tactics of negotiation. Journal of Oncology Practise , 102-105.
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