CONFLICT RESOLUTION NEGOTIATION: A FAITHFUL CONVERSATION
Confidential Role Information for Workaholic (David)
Davids Perspective
David believes that his actions and behaviors are justified and required to maintain his position at work. He holds a high-level position as sales director within his company that requires additional work time and is proud of his status. He is dedicated to his career and enjoys the financial rewards he receives. He loves his family but expresses that he needs alone time to release the stress he feels from the work pressure. Additionally, he believes he must be on call all the time to provide the best service to his customers and if that means he takes business calls home or in the car, he expects the family to be understanding and adjust to his needs. He relies on his wife to manage the children and household and has requested that she not contact him during his work hours or travel time as he finds it distracting from his work. He is the sole financial provider for the family and as so, must have the freedom and flexibility to manage his work responsibilities.
Throughout this role-play conversation, the reaction by David will be defensive and will justify the actions and behaviors. You will explain your dedication to career and financial responsibilities as justification for workaholic tendencies. Listen actively to the issues of the concerned friend and be open to hearing the concerns and arguments without interruption. Acknowledge the concerns raised and express understanding of their perspective. Last, decide whether to resist the advice and continue with the workaholic behavior or be open to reconsidering the current behavior and actions. If you choose to accept the advice, express your willingness to work on changing your behavior and identify specific behavioral changes you will make.Directions: Please check your Canvas email on Monday (will be sent to you before 5:00 pm) for your CONFIDENTIAL role information and further detailed instructions. Remember, do not share your goals/objectives during the negotiation but rather strive to achieve them. You will have until Saturday night to complete the negotiation and upload the Negotiation Settlement State of Agreement and Negotiation Discussion Questions. The Negotiation Settlement State of Agreement is available on the syllabus and in the course resources. The Negotiation Discussion Questions are at the end of this assignment.
Introduction: In this role-play, you will have the opportunity to negotiate a serious problem–a conflict between a mining company and the government of a small city regarding an environmental cleanup. Conflicts among community, government, and industry groups are very common, particularly around environmental management issues. The issues in this simulation may be similar to environmental cleanup, development, or management problems ongoing in your own community.
Directions: Please check your Canvas email on Monday (will be sent to you before 5:00 pm) for your CONFIDENTIAL role information and further detailed instructions. Remember, do not share your goals/objectives during the negotiation but rather strive to achieve them. You will have until Sunday night to complete the negotiation and complete the analysis questions that will be included in these instructions.
Background Information
The largest regional office of the Twin Lakes Mining Company is located in Tamarack, Minnesota, in the northern part of the state. It was established there in 1941. The city of Tamarack has a population of approximately 18,000. Although there is a growing revenue that accrues to the city as a result of heavy summer tourism (summer homes, fishing, etc.) and several cottage industries, Tamarack is basically a one-industry city. Two thousand five hundred people, 60 percent of whom live within city limits, work for the Twin Lakes Mining Company; 33 percent of the city’s real estate tax base consists of Twin Lakes property and operations. Both in terms of direct tax revenue and indirect contribution to the economic stability of the local population, Tamarack is strongly dependent on the continuous success of the Twin Lakes Mining Company.
The primary activity of the Twin Lakes Mining Company consists of mining iron ore from open-pit mines. Open-pit mining consists of stripping the topsoil from the ore deposit with the use of a power shovel. Train rails are then laid, and most of the ore is loaded into railroad cars for transportation to a central collecting point for rail or water shipment. As mining operations progress, rails are re-laid, or roads are constructed to haul ore by truck. The ore is transported to a plant located on the outskirts of Tamarack, where it is crushed, washed, concentrated, blended, and agglomerated into larger lumps or pellets. After the ore proceeds through this process of cleaning and agglomerating, it is shipped by railroad car to steel mills throughout the Midwest. Rejected materials are returned to parts of the mine where the mining process has been completed. Mines that are no longer in use are called consumed mines.
Twin Lakes’ plant is located approximately five miles outside Tamarack. As a result of the expansion of the residential areas of the city, summer home development, and various Twin Lakes operations, the plant has become an environmental problem for local citizens. The primary problem is that the mining operations pollute the air with dust. For years, the Tamarack City Council has been pressing the company to clean up the most problematic operations. Although several discussions between the city and the company have occurred, Twin Lakes has done little to remedy the major concerns. Now, as a result of more stringent environmental regulations, Twin Lakes has been under pressure from the state of Minnesota and the federal government for environmental cleanup. Both the state and the federal Environmental Protection Agency have informed Twin Lakes that it is in major violation of air pollution quality standards and that immediate action must be taken. Because Twin Lakes is now mining relatively low-grade ore and because foreign competition in the steel market has significantly eroded the demand for ore, the high cost of environmental compliance might force the company to shut down its Tamarack operations. Many local citizens as individuals and through the local chapter of the United Mineworkers Union, are putting significant pressure on the City Council to help the Twin Lakes Company in its environmental cleanup operations.
The imposition of the environmental controls on Twin Lakes, and the resulting pressure from all segments of the community, have led to renewed discussions between company and city officials about the future of Twin Lakes in the Tamarack area. As a result of these discussions, the following major issues, including environmental issues and others, have emerged:
Air Quality/Paving Dirt Roads: The entire process of mining, transporting, and crushing ore generates large amounts of dust. This has significantly increased the levels of particulates in the air. During the dry summer months, the operation of many large trucks along dirt roads intensifies the problem considerably. Twin Lakes believes that it can control a great deal of the dust generated immediately around the plant and is planning to incur this expense without help from Tamarack. The most significant debate within the city has been over a series of roads around the outskirts of the city. They need to be paved to reduce the dust in the air to acceptable levels. Many of the roads are city-owned, and some have been specially constructed by the company for the transportation of ore and material. Almost all of the roads, including those constructed by the company, are used frequently by tourists. All of the roads have to be paved for Twin Lakes to comply with the environmental regulations and stay in business.
Air Quality/Road Maintenance: The roads in question currently require a minimal amount of maintenance. They will require a much higher degree of maintenance if they are paved, however, especially because the harsh winters tend to break up paved roads. To keep the roads in an acceptable condition, the city and company will have to agree on who will maintain them.
Site of Next Mine: Twin Lakes has been testing several locations in the Tamarack area to determine the extent of iron ore deposits. Several of the locations have enough ore to be profitable, and Twin Lakes would like to open a new mine. Although the actual mining may not begin immediately, the decision concerning the location of a new site has to be made now to allow time for both the company to plan for a new mine and the city to plan its expansion around any new mining site.
Restoration of Consumed Mines: The consumed mines that are no longer used by the company are outside city limits. Some of these mines lie alongside main roads leading into the city from the most popular resort areas on local lakes. The city considers the consumed mines unsightly and is afraid that tourists may be repelled by the mines. The company has restored the land to the extent required by law, but the city would like to see further restoration.
Tax Rate on Company Land: The land for the mine currently in operation is outside city limits. However, the plant lies within city boundaries, and Twin Lakes pays a substantial amount of money in taxes. The company has always felt that the Tamarack taxation rate is excessive.
Both the company and the city believe that if some resolution could be obtained on these major issues, the remaining problems could be easily resolved, and Twin Lakes would agree to keep its operations in the Tamarack area in business. Toward this end, a formal negotiation has been arranged between the City of Tamarack and the Twin Lakes Mining Company.
City of Tamarack
Discussion Questions:
Instructions:
Please answer the following questions and include the negotiated agreement. This can be written
in any style. Work with all parties to develop this agreement but each person must upload.
Next, work with your teammate(s) to answer the questions. Each person must submit their individual assignment for grading.
1. What were your strategies and tactics that were planned prior to the negotiations?
2. What strategy and tactics were actually used as negotiation progressed?
3. What were your target points and resistance points? What were their impact on the
settlement?
4. How did the negotiation begin? What happened next?
5. Was this negotiation integrative or distributive? Why?
6. Did one side have more power in the negotiation? Why?
7. What were the important ethical dimensions in this negotiation? How did they influence
the strategy and tactics of the City Council and the Company?
8. If your group reached an integrative solution, how could these tactics and strategies be
applied to other negotiation situations?
9. If your group reached a suboptimal outcome, what happened? What could you have done
differently?
10. Any team participation issues? Recardo will serve in the role of City of Tamarack
Requirements: 15
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