Introduction
General Motors (GM) is an American multinational corporation that deals with automotives. The corporation seeks labour services from the United Auto Workers (UAW). Consequently, the two companies get into agreements at various times to discuss the labour terms. Lately, General Motors and the United Auto Workers had to bargain on fresh labour terms to protect the GM Company from becoming insolvent.
The negotiation most probably entailed attempts by the General Motors to convince the United Auto workers on the need to make a few adjustments on their initial agreement. The company most likely complained on the high costs of labour services that could be placing their company at a risk of bankruptcy. The United Auto Workers on the other hand could be placing issues of concern regarding the labour terms to ensure that they benefit maximally from the agreement.
Framing is a very important negotiation skill that could best be applied in this scenario. Framing is usually used to build up a rationale for doing something or making certain choices. (Bazerman &Moore, 2009) In most cases, the framer describes the issue of concern in a manner to seal a deal, reach an agreement or succeed in an argument (Rossell, 1999). In this case, the General Motors could use framing to best achieve their goal in this negotiation. This, they could simply do by devising a way to convince the UAW of the need to adjust some of the labour agreement terms. They could emphasize their stain on the present agreement and stress on the importance of all parties being comfortable in any contract.
In order to reach an acceptable agreement, a number of issues might have been discussed between the two companies. Using the framing techniques, the General Motors could have convinced the United Auto Workers on the need to reduce labour cost. The two companies could have discussed on the importance of adjustments on the health-care coverage, the need for laying off some workers and moving some jobs offshore, the importance of reducing the starting wage for freshly hired employees and lastly the necessity of adopting a more liberal profit sharing mechanism.
References
Bazerman, M. H., & Moore, D. A. (2009). Judgment in managerial decision making. Hoboken,
NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Rossell, R. (1999). The effect of power and framing on negotiation outcome.
