I.
1. The most important issue in taking any form of employment is whether it will involve something that I am interested or was trained to do. Second, a salary that is reasonably related to the positon and/or the work performed is important. Third, having independence to work without constant supervision (as long as my responsibilities are satisfied) would be important. Fourth, the ability have a flexible work schedule. Fifth, training and development opportunities that allow me to get better at what I’m doing would important.
2. My BATNA would be the non-guaranteed offer I received prior to the holidays from another position. Although the salary (U.S. $3,000 per month) is the same as I am currently getting and it would require an hour longer commute; being a “new employee” again and having to relearn the company’s culture; the position is closer to what I’ve been trained in. Moreover, it does offers nine days of paid vacation, three weeks’ unpaid leave, some independence, as well as promotion, training and development opportunities. My target price for the negotiations is U.S. $5,000 per month; and my reservation price is U.S. $ 3,500 per month. My target and reservation price both include working a four-day week at twelve hours per day.
3. The source of my power would be my BATNA (Eisen, 2011). As long as the offer remains open, I have a good option that allows me to push as hard as I can to get what I want from my current employer. However, if the offer is taken away; my source of power would decrease significantly. In that case, my source of power would be years I’ve worked at my present employer including the experience I’ve gained, the work-product I’ve produced, my relationship with clients and customers, and they fact that I understand the goals of the company and have proven that I can assist the company in achieving those goals. Perhaps, however, the ultimate source of my power is that my interests are not completely focused on salary and that if I can achieve all of my other interests except for a salary than I will personally be successful.
4. Although I cannot know for certain but I can assume that in this negotiation my opponents five most important issues would be: (1) keep my salary the same or as close to the current amount that it is now, (2) increase the amount of work that I do without any or a significant increase in the salary that I am paid, (3) any increase in salary is mirrored with an equal increase in duties and responsibilities, (4) keeping the work circumstances as they presently are arranged; or more specifically keeping the status quo, and (5) decreasing my salary but keeping my work level the same or increasing it.
5. My opponent’s BATNA is keeping me in my present position. The position includes the following benefits: U.S. $3,000 per month; seven days paid vacation; supervised work for 40 hours per week (five days a week). Accordingly, my opponents target price is U.S. $3,000 per month. However, understanding the intangibles that are included in the duties and responsibilities of the position, they are will to set their reservation price is U.S. $4,000 per month as long as it would include a reasonable increase in the duties that are performed or the taking on of work that is a bit more complex and work-intensive.
6. Assuming that my opponent does not know about my other current offer of employment, their source of power is in that they assume that I want to stay employed especially in the current economic climate. Under that assumption, they could aggressively argue for no salary increase or schedule change, or at least as minimum changes to the current arrangement as possible. Their understanding would be backed by their belief that if I did not accept their offer or counter-offer and left the job; they would or could easily find a suitable replacement for the current salary and schedule in not an offer for slightly less that the current arrangements. In reality my opponent would definitely have considerable power in our negotiations. In essence, for all intents and purposes, if my other offer is taken off the table; my opponents BATNA is very attractive to them as they can feel comfortable, from a price perspective, by letting me go
7. As long as the other offer is open, my opening move would be to press as hard as possible for my demands, namely a salary raise of at least U.S. $4,000, per month and a four-day, 12-hour per day work week. This assumes that I know their BATNA. My justification for this, which my opponent would not know would be that I’m not really interested in keeping my current position because I have the chance to take another position that satisfies most of my interests. Accordingly, the only reason for me to stay at my present position is if it can satisfy at least some of my interests. Moreover, the demand would give my opponent some of what they are interested in, namely a salary increase attached with an increase in the amount of work. I would achieve this by working any extra eight hours (12 hours a day x 4 days = 48 hours) or a whole extra full day. If I did not get this than I would leave and take the other offer.
However, if the offer was taken away before I began negotiations with my opponent, then, my BATNA would become my present position. Accordingly, my first step would be to ask for a slightly lower raise, namely my reservation price of U.S. $ 3,500 and the 4-day work week. My justification to them in making this demand, still assuming that I know my opponent’s BATNA but they do not know mine; would focus on the intangibles that I bring to the position. These include, as mentioned, knowledge and experience that I have gained in the position and provide to the company, my relationship with clients and customer’s and the positive benefits that brings to the company, and my understanding of the company’s goals and how I’ve worked successfully to help the company achieve those goals. Secondly, as I would have done in the first scenario above, I would also emphasize the fact that the increase in pay also includes an increase in hours worked. Accordingly, it is less of a raise and more of a cost-of-living adjustment.
If this demand failed, I would lower my demand to between U.S. $ 3,100 - 3,200 per month at the current five-day, eight- hour work week, with the addition of getting to do more work that I am interested in or trained for; an increased amount of independent projects, and more access to training and development opportunities. While this option results in a demand for a raise that is closer to my reservation point and it eliminates my schedule demands; it would satisfy other interests that are as if not more important than salary or flexible schedule. In addition, it would also satisfy some of the interests that my opponent has determined that she would want to get out of any negotiated settlement.
II.
What this has proven is that the key to any successful negotiation is information or access to information. In consideration of the necessity of information in negotiations, it is important to understand that the information that must be obtained not only includes finding about as much as possible about your opponent but also finding out as much as possible about oneself and one’s own position. Indeed, while obtaining information about an opponent may be difficult; gaining information about oneself is not; and it is from there that any successful negotiation begins. Gaining information about one’s own position and desires, provides one with a powerful negotiating tool of knowing exactly what one wants and how far one is willing to go to get that. In short, it provides options to the negotiator so that the likelihood of getting results that are better than your BATNA are significantly higher (Fisher et al., 2011). On the other hand, self-awareness also allows a negotiator to understand that if all else fails, one’s BATNA is a viable alternative; and that improving one’s BATNA before going into a negotiation is a necessity.
In this case, the best way to gain power after self-analysis of what was important to me and my own BATNA; would be to get as much information as possible on my opponent’s BATNA and what she finds important to achieve in a negotiation. Understanding, that will allow me to adjust my own demands to get was much of what I want while at the same time providing my opponent with at least something that she wants. In this situation, we both “win” although my win might be considered more effective in that I was able to obtain more of my desires than my opponents. If I could not gain any more information about my opponent’s position, the next best method to gain power would be to keep my own position was secret as possible from my opponent. This would help in making them question their original BATNA and possible change it to one that would more aptly fit my desires.
References
Eisen, S. (2011). The best alternative to a negotiated agreement. Retrieved from http://culture.af.mil/NCVE/PDF/quicktip2.pdf
Fisher, R, Ury, W.L. & Patton, B. (2011). Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
