Q & A Table of Contents
What Attitudes Should I Prepare For In Negotiation?
From: Kanis, Hong Kong
Question: I am working in an old age home as a manager. The working hours will be changed soon. Some health care assistants agree and some don't agree. Those who disagree will ask for their union to negotiate with our organisation. I have not handled this situation before, so I would like to know what attitudes the parties involved are likely to bring to the negotiation in order to achieve the objective of reaching a workable agreement.
Response: It is risky to make assumptions about the attitudes (or objectives, negotiation styles, or interests) of other stakeholders in any negotiation. Even when you know the individuals or organizations who will be involved, there can often be unexpected issues that arise which may change the way someone will negotiate. However, it is important to make assumptions and spend a good portion of your negotiating time finding out whether your assumptions are accurate. The information you gain in that reality-checking process will help you be more effective as the process moves forward.
So let’s make some assumptions about the interests that will underlie the attitudes different parties might be bringing into the negotiation about changes in working hours at your old age home:
Management may be interested in
- more effective use of employee time
- changing the ‘mix’ of employees working on a particular shift
- reduce conflicts within the staff or between staff members and residents or their families, or other similar issues.
Labor union representatives can come from two different directions: they can be staff members who are officers of the union for negotiation with the old age home — or they can be ‘employees’ of the union who are brought in from the outside to engage in the negotiation.
Union representatives from the staff may be interested in:
- their own personal working conditions
- keeping teams intact — or breaking up teams that don’t work well together
- protecting their fellow members from unwanted changes
- and perhaps getting different treatment for union members compared with people on the staff who are not members of the union.
All union representatives should have an interest in demonstrating that union membership is a good thing so they can attract new members.
Union representatives who come in from outside the old age home need to:
- prove their value as representatives to their members
- make sure the agreement that is reached is at least as favorable as agreements at other old age homes
- get a better agreement to strengthen their negotiation power when they are involved with negotiations at other old age homes after they work with yours.
You may also do a better job of preparation by looking at the interests of other stakeholders: old age home residents, their families, outside service providers (doctors, social workers, members of the clergy, etc.), government regulators, companies that sell goods and services to the old age home, potential new residents, etc.
Learning which of these interests is most important should have a great influence on how the issue is resolved. By focusing on these issues you will have a better sense of what kinds of attitudes are likely to be displayed by other negotiators — and why they have adopted those attitudes. If there has been a conflict about a particular party’s interests in the past, doing your homework to learn about such things will make you far better prepared.
If you consider the interests of stakeholders before the negotiation you are less likely to be surprised by their attitudes or issues they raise — and you are more likely to be able to contribute to the development of a solution that each party will willingly fulfill.
Good luck with your preparation,
Steve
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