Business English- Negotiating for points game

Negotiating workload negotiating for points game

Student A

You and your partner are going to take part in a negotiation with another company together. Half of the jobs that need to be done to prepare for the negotiation are written below with the time that each will take, and your partner has the other half of the jobs with how long each job needs. Without telling your partner the (exact) time needed, persuade your partner to do some of the jobs below and accept doing some of their jobs in return.

When you finish your negotiation or your teacher stops the game, your total time is the time of the jobs that are still left on your sheet plus the time of the jobs you have volunteered to do from your partner’s sheet. If you have agreed to do something together or to split it fifty-fifty, you should add the times with that in mind. The person with the least total time at the end of the negotiation is the winner (because they will have less work to do, and have shown stronger negotiating skills).

1. Agree the agenda with our side and the other side (60 minutes)
2. Arrange a feedback meeting on how well the negotiation went (10 minutes)
3. Arrange for the cafeteria to deliver drinks and snacks (5 minutes)
4. Arrange an internal pre-meeting meeting with the negotiating team (20 minutes)
5. Arrange the meeting with the other side (25 minutes)
6. Brainstorm things that they might say and possible responses, then share that with the rest of our team by email (45 minutes)
7. Contact other people in our company/ group companies who do business with the same company (70 minutes)
8. Get instructions from our bosses before the negotiation (agreeing initial offers and fallback/ final positions – 120 minutes)
9. Get people from our side to attend (80 minutes)
10. Get quotes from the other company’s competitors (180 minutes)
11. Prepare a brief PowerPoint with details of your needs (technical needs, final uses, etc – 150 minutes)

When you finish, discuss how you could have negotiated better, and which things from both lists you think you will have to do the next time that you take part in a negotiation. 

What order is it best to do those things in? How long will each one really take?

Draw up a negotiations checklist for yourself.

Draw up a similar checklist for another purpose, for example:

• preparing a presentation
• writing a report
• employing new staff

Then roleplay a similar negotiation on splitting those jobs up. When you finish, tell other students how you split the jobs and see who they think negotiated a better workload.

 

Student B

You and your partner are going to take part in a negotiation with another company together. Half of the jobs that need to be done to prepare for the negotiation are written below with the time that each will take, and your partner has the other half of the jobs with how long each job needs. Without telling your partner the (exact) time needed, persuade your partner to do some of the jobs below and accept doing some of their jobs in return.

When you finish your negotiation or your teacher stops the game, your total time is the time of the jobs that are still left on your sheet plus the time of the jobs you have volunteered to do from your partner’s sheet. If you have agreed to do something together or to split it fifty-fifty, you should add the times with that in mind. The person with the least total time at the end of the negotiation is the winner (because they will have less work to do, and have shown stronger negotiating skills).

12. Draw up the draft contract (120 minutes)
13. Draw up the final contract (75 minutes)
14. Find previous contracts with the same company (50 minutes)
15. Find the minutes from the last meeting with the same company (5 minutes)
16. Send a follow-up email to our side (10 minutes)
17. Send a follow-up email to the other company (35 minutes)
18. Book a venue for the meeting (10 minutes)
19. Go into the venue before the meeting to get it ready (projector etc – 15 minutes)
20. Read up on the kinds of products/ services which you might want to buy from the company (technical information, online reviews, etc – 120 minutes)
21. Report to our superiors after the meeting (face to face – 80 minutes)
22. Research the business cultures of the nationalities that we will be negotiating with (35 minutes)
23. Research the other company and its products (60 minutes)
24. Research the participants from the other side (via LinkedIn etc – 25 minutes)
25. Write and send an email with advice on specific and general negotiating tactics, with links to more relevant resources online and on the company intranet (65 minutes)
26. Take and type up the minutes of the meeting (60 minutes)

When you finish, discuss how you could have negotiated better, and which things from both lists you think you will have to do the next time that you take part in a negotiation.

What order is it best to do those things in? How long will each one really take?

Draw up a negotiations checklist for yourself.

Draw up a similar checklist for another purpose, for example:

• preparing a presentation
• writing a report
• employing new staff

Then roleplay a similar negotiation on splitting those jobs up. When you finish, tell other students how you split the jobs and see who they think negotiated a better workload.