25 Role Plays to Teach Negotiation

Twenty-Five PlusRole Plays to

Teach NegotiationVolume Two

Ira G. Asherman and Sandy Vance Asherman

HRD Press, Inc. � Amherst, � Massachuset

© 2004 by Ira Asherman and Sandy Asherman

The materials that appear in this book, other than those quoted from priorsources, may be reproduced for educational/training activities. There is no require-ment to obtain special permission for such uses. We do, however, ask that the fol-lowing statement appear on all reproductions:

Reproduced from Twenty-Five Plus Role Plays to Teach Negotiation, byIra Asherman and Sandy Asherman, Amherst, Mass.: HRD Press, 2004.

This permission statement is limited to reproduction of materials for educationalor training events. Systematic or large-scale reproduction or distribution, or inclu-sion of items in publications for sale, may be carried out only with prior writtenpermission from the publisher.

Published by HRD Press22 Amherst RoadAmherst, MA 010021-800-822-2801

ISBN 0-87425-763-8Cover design by Eileen KlockarsTypeset by Pracharak Technologies (P) Ltd, Madras, IndiaEditorial services by Lisa Wood

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Section I: Internal Negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Chapter 1: Negotiating with Co-Workers—Auditing (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6The New Audit System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9The Plant Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Site Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23The Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29The Study Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 2: Negotiating with Co-Workers—Miscellaneous (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41The Subsidiary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43The Reporting System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49The Affiliate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55The Fisher Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Chapter 3: Negotiating with Co-Workers—Engineering (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67Division/Corporate Headquarters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69Engineering Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Chapter 4: Negotiating with Co-Workers—Teams (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81The New Project Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83The Co-Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89The Team Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95The Difficult Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101The Beta Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107The Difficult Discussion/Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

Section II: External Negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

Chapter 5: Negotiating with Vendors (10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120The Contract Manufacturer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123Bad News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129The Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135The Final Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

iii

The Market Research Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147New Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153Clean Data File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159The Late Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165Wrong Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171The Telephone Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177

Support Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183

Skill Identification Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187Planning Worksheet Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189Negotiation Planning Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191The Successful Negotiator Observer Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193Practice Negotiation Debriefing Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199

Twenty-Five Plus Role Plays to Teach Negotiation

iv

Introduction

This is our second book of role plays on the subject of negotiation. As with the ini-tial volume, this book has been designed for the management training and devel-opment specialist who needs one or two role plays to use in a negotiation program.

Most of the practice negotiations (role plays) in this book were originallydesigned for use in The Successful Negotiator, a program we have conducted overthe past twenty years for a variety of clients. We use role plays in the course to enable the participants to practice what they have learned—hence the term“practice negotiation.” We will use the terms role play and practice negotiationinterchangeably throughout this book. All of the role plays have been used in ourprograms; you won’t be the first to use them.

We have worked hard to provide you with practice negotiations in areas notcovered in the initial volume. We created two sections in this book: InternalNegotiations and External Negotiations. We placed the role plays in each sectionunder several headings in order to make them easier to identify and find. The roleplays in the section on Internal Negotiations are with co-workers in Auditing,Engineering, and Teams. In the External Negotiations section, the role plays arewith outside vendors in several fields. All role plays come from a variety of corpo-rate settings, including pharmaceutical, medical equipment, retail, publishing, andchemical. Each negotiation role play comes with a cover sheet containing informa-tion about the role play: the time necessary for completion, the objectives, andnotes about any special issues the trainer should be aware of. The “Time” designa-tion reflects only the time needed to conduct the negotiation; it does not cover thetime required for planning or debriefing. Feel free to change the time estimation tofit your program and its objectives. The Objectives section details the objectives thenegotiation is designed to address. Special issues that might come up during therole play are highlighted in the “Trainer Notes” section. Most of the practice nego-tiations are straightforward, although some of them will require special treatmentif they are to work properly. For example, several of the role plays are better suitedthan others for practicing the Issue Identification step in our negotiation process.This information is provided in the “Trainer’s Notes,” along with directions that tellyou how to frame the role play instructions.

1

Our Approach

These practice negotiations were designed to teach the SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATORapproach to negotiation. This approach incorporates four critical concepts:

• Successful negotiation is NOT an adversarial process, but one that estab-lishes a collaborative framework for creative problem-solving.

• The needs and interests of BOTH negotiating parties must be addressedif there is to be a long-term solution.

• Negotiation is an ongoing process. Today’s negotiation will affect thelong-term relationship between the parties.

• The negotiating process can be broken down into six distinct steps:1) Planning2) Climate Setting3) Issue Identification4) Bargaining5) Settlement6) Review

These six steps form the major units of the Successful Negotiator program; thepractice negotiations in this book are designed to illustrate these important steps.In more detail, these steps are:

1) PlanningThis step stresses the importance of planning, and discusses in detail the fac-tors to consider when preparing for a negotiation.

2) Climate SettingThe first few minutes of the negotiation set the stage for what is to follow. Willthe proceedings be formal, collaborative, business-like, or antagonistic? Thisstep places the control over the tone of the meeting in the hands of the nego-tiator, and discusses the steps to take in establishing an appropriate climate.

3) Issue IdentificationAll too frequently, negotiators move from a few words of greeting at the begin-ning of the negotiation to hammering out the details of the agreement, with-out first outlining the issues to be negotiated. This unit teaches participantshow to be clear about the objectives as well as the issues being negotiated.

4) BargainingThe major negotiating strategies and tactics are reviewed in this unit. Eachstrategy is discussed in a format that encourages an open, problem-solving


2

atmosphere. It is in this section that one can gain a firm understanding of thedifferent rituals involved in each strategy, their implications, and how they canbe most effectively used.

5) SettlementAfter agreement is reached, what then? Many deals fall apart because this laststep is not completed. This step summarizes the deal and ensures that bothparties meet their obligations.

6) ReviewThis step is designed to aid the negotiator in assessing how well he/she con-ducted the negotiation and the degree to which he/she practiced the skills ofthe Successful Negotiator.

Most of the practice negotiations in this book provide practice in Steps Twothrough Five. However, when you give participants time to plan and debrief, youare, in effect, practicing the entire six-step process. We urge you to give people suf-ficient time to plan. If the organization has its own planning documents use them.If not, use the ones provided in the Resource Section. You may tailor them to meetyour needs.

You will notice that some cover sheets direct you to use the role play only for Issue Identification, since there’s not enough information to warrant a full negotiation. Because we have found Issue Identification to be the most important and difficult step, we have provided more opportunities to practice it.

In addition to the six-step process, successful negotiators make use of severalspecific behaviors that we refer to as critical behaviors. They are described in theResource Section of this manual.

Debriefing Role Plays

You will notice that we do not spend much time discussing the content of the nego-tiations. This is because our primary concern in debriefing is to ensure that partic-ipants practice the specific skills and behaviors of the Successful Negotiator model.We believe that it is also helpful for participants to practice these skills, using sce-narios similar to their particular work situations. Some of the role plays weredesigned to look at the six-step model, as well as to raise specific content issues.We have indicated these issues in the Objectives section of each role play.Depending on your objectives, you might wish to discuss the content in greaterdetail. We have indicated which role plays warrant more in-depth discussion.

3

Introduction

Debriefing Methodology

Once the role play is completed, use the following procedure for debriefing;

• First, have the negotiators debrief with their observers. If you are usinggroups of four, have one observer for each negotiator, and have themdebrief in pairs.

• Then, have the entire group of four get together to discuss what went welland what went not-so-well, so that they can learn from it.

• In the large group, ask the observers to represent their group, reportingwhat went well and what went not-so-well, and what made the differencein the outcome.

• Go around the entire group again and ask if there is anything they believeshould have been done differently.

• Summarize the debriefing discussion.

Good luck!


4

SECTION ONE

Internal Negotiations

Negotiating with Co-Workers


Auditing

AUDITING

Introduction

Being an auditor is a difficult job. Auditors are frequently looked upon as outsiderswho get in the way, rather than as co-workers who play a valuable role in the organ-ization. Many auditors want to be seen as consultants—people who are there tohelp.

All of the role plays in this unit are designed for corporate auditors, and werewritten to provide a variety of situations auditors are likely to find themselves induring the course of their work.

Before you use these practice situations, we suggest that you hold a discus-sion about how the auditors believe they are viewed within the company, and howthey would like to be viewed. If there is any discrepancy between the two, have thegroup explore why the discrepancy exists and what steps they can take to close thegap. Sometimes the company or departmental philosophy and approach to audit-ing is not clear. If this is the case, the discussion should be quite useful. The roleplays can be put in context, thus increasing their relevancy.

Peter Block’s book Flawless Consulting, available from Jossey-Bass, is agood resource for helping people think about their role as an internal consultant.

7

Title: THE NEW AUDIT SYSTEM Role Play #1

Time: Thirty minutes

Objectives: To practice the six-step negotiation process.

To practice using a new audit system.

Trainer Notes: This role play is extremely helpful if you are introducing anew system or teaching others to explore issues of change—particularly when a new process is being introduced.Several questions usually arise in this situation: Should weinform people beforehand, or not? What are the implica-tions of each approach? Both issues are worth discussingwith the group.

Industry: Pharmaceutical

9

Melody Klein from Auditing called you earlier in the week to confirm yourappointment to review the audit findings on the study that Joan Morris recentlycompleted. You and Joan go back a lot of years; she has done a number of stud-ies for you in the past, both here at Acme and at your previous company. She has always done excellent work. Audits conducted early on in the studygenerally reveal problems, but Joan’s work is considered to be first-rate by thetime she finishes. This is the first major study that she has completed for youhere at Acme.

Several months into the current study, the company conducted an audit, andseveral problems were identified. You met with Joan and her study coordinator,and went over the numbers. As far as you can tell, everything was taken care of.Follow-up discussions with Joan confirmed your intuition. You’ve paid close atten-tion to this study because it’s so important.

You were very surprised when Melody called you to say that a number of prob-lems were identified in the latest audit. At your request, she sent over the findingsyesterday. You reviewed them in preparation for this meeting, and are very troubledand surprised. This looks like a totally different study than the one that wasaudited six months ago. You can’t believe that it is one of Joan’s studies. You heardthat a new system for field audits was being initiated. Of course, you’re not sure,but it sure sounds as if the rules were changed in the middle of the game. You won-dered why this audit was taking so long, so you called Melody’s office to find out.Melody explained, “Because of the study’s importance, the audits are more detailedand take longer.” To say you are annoyed is putting it mildly. This isn’t a way to dobusiness. Because this is a major study, you need accurate data in-house every fourmonths, and the plan calls for the final study report to be completed within threemonths after the data is in-house. All of these audit findings could set the wholeprocess back by six months.

You called Joan to find out what happened. She said, “They were very polite,but looked at everything. It felt like the IRS was here.” She went on to point outthat this was nothing like any other audit she had been through. “It was a verystrange experience. Neither my study coordinator nor I was prepared for whathappened. It caught us very much by surprise, and I must say that I resented howit was handled. The problems identified in the initial audit, while not immediatelyremedied, were eventually resolved.”

11

ROLE PLAY #1PAUL STONE

Study Monitor

You are to meet Melody soon, and you intend to find out what is happening.You don’t want to have this type of problem on a major study. Even more impor-tant, you are not anxious to have your boss discover what happened. If Auditing haschanged the rules, you expect that they’ll also help to solve the problems. It wouldbe nice if they told you this, so that you can inform the sites. Joan is too good aninvestigator and too important to the company. You don’t want to do anything thatwill jeopardize your relationship. This misunderstanding needs to be resolved—and soon!


12

Earlier this week you called Paul Stone, Ph.D., to arrange a review of Dr. JoanMorris’s audit. During the phone conversation, you indicated that there were someproblems. Paul asked you to get the findings to him before you meet so he canreview them and prepare for the meeting. This isn’t something you usually do, butbecause of your relationship with Paul, you decided to make an exception.

The audit findings were not good. A number of problems were identified, andyou are sure this won’t make Paul happy, since this is a major study and he needsaccurate data in-house as soon as possible. Your report will clearly slow theprocess down and delay the final report. You also know that Joan Morris has donestudies for Paul in the past, and your guess is that they have gone well. Morris hasan excellent reputation in the industry. She does a lot of studies and works for allthe major companies.

An audit was done several months into the study by one of your co-workers.There were problems, but from what you were told, they have all been cleared up.Paul and his staff worked with Dr. Morris to make certain that all would go well.This is the first of Paul’s studies to go through the new corporate audit procedure.Now that you think about it, sending him your findings beforehand was probablynot such a great idea. If you know Paul, he’s called Joan Morris and is panicking.However, what’s done is done.

This is the first audit study using the company’s new approach to major studies. It was an interesting experience. The audit turned up a number of findings—some similar to those you usually find, but also a significant number of new issues.Several were identified in the initial audit, but there are a few new ones. The audittook much longer than is typical; Paul, Dr. Morris, and her staff all asked severaltimes what was taking so long. The department made a very deliberate decision notto tell anyone that a new process was now being followed. This was probably a mis-take, but nothing can be done at this point.

Take the next several minutes to prepare for your meeting with Paul.

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ROLE PLAY #1MELODY KLEIN

Auditor

The initial audit was conducted approximately four months into the study. Itidentified the following problem areas:

• Inaccurate reporting of assay results.• Failure to implement protocol changes requested by the monitor via

formal amendment.• Documentation errors not noted in the inventory of the drug supply.

The current audit, conducted at the conclusion of the study, identified the follow-ing deficiencies:

• Protocol changes were made by the investigator without an officialamendment procedure.

• There are inconsistencies in how the drug use was recorded.• Almost one-third of the drug supply cannot be accounted for.• Dates of assays were inconsistent. If the data is accurate, half the study

began on the same day.• Source documentation was not available.• The audit took four days to complete.

15

ROLE PLAY #1KNOWN TO BOTH PARTIES

Title: THE PLANT MANAGER Role Play #2

Time: Twenty minutes

Objectives: To practice the six-step method of negotiation.

To review the issues critical to this type of audit.

Trainer Notes: This role play raises interesting issues about auditing theperformance of relatively new employees and how muchtime you give them to implement changes. If this is an issueyour auditors face, this role play should be helpful. It is alsouseful in situations where a company merges or buysanother firm that does things differently and changes mustbe made.

This role play has the potential of becoming quite problem-atic; it will depend on how the plant manager reacts andhow angry he/she gets. If the manager gets angry, payparticular attention in your discussion to how this behaviorwas handled. A follow-up discussion on handling difficultsituations might also be helpful.

Industry: Manufacturing

17

You are the Plant Manager in one of the company’s food-processing divisions. Yourformer position was as plant manager for a chemical company.

Last week, Matt Starr from the corporate office showed up unexpectedly toconduct a site audit, which identified several areas of concern. Matt conducted thesame type of audit six months ago, just after you joined the company, and some ofthe problems are the same ones he identified at the time. You’ve been working onthem, but there’s a limit as to how fast you can move! You are still new and youmust move carefully when making changes or you’ll lose everyone’s support.However, it probably makes things more difficult from an audit perspective. Overallproduction and quality have improved significantly since you began work, and thatwasn’t easy to accomplish.

Matt really bothers you; he acts as if he’s the government, not an employee ofthis company. He’s not being helpful. At your old company, the auditors understoodthat their job was to help.

Matt recently outlined his observations in a memo to you. They are:

• When more than one person performs work on a specific operation dur-ing manufacturing, the additional person(s) must place their signatureon the reverse side of the HR-12. Otherwise, the identity of the personresponsible for performing all operations will not be clear.

• One person was observed wearing a ring on her finger while handlingfood additives. This is in violation of the corporation’s operating proce-dures. In addition, there are no written policies posted that prohibit thewearing of jewelry in this area—and this is also corporate policy.

• The employee performing the sterile checks on PYC Electrode #312performed these checks prior to completion of the operation.

• People were talking in the hallways and in the men’s room about prob-lems they were having with several devices.

It’s not likely that the government will pick up on even half of these issues. It wasonly Matt’s familiarity with the plant that allowed him to see these things. Moreover,none of the items have any negative impact on product quality. When you left thechemical industry, you thought you left all the government stuff behind. If theywould let you run the plant the way you want, the government would take care of

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ROLE PLAY #2BILL PETERS

Plant Manager

itself. The company wouldn’t have any problems and the plant would be runningcorrectly and without incident, because everything would be okay.

You are also annoyed that this audit was done as a surprise. You don’t thinkthat was fair, especially since the findings will be seen by senior management, andwill reflect negatively on your performance review. At a minimum, you want achance to make the appropriate changes—or at least have a chance to respond.

Matt Starr is coming in now to discuss his findings in detail with you. Howcan or should you deal with him?


20

You are the company’s Government Compliance Manager. You have been in thisposition for the past two years. Prior to that, you worked for a pharmaceutical firmin its compliance department. For the most part, you enjoy your work, but yourleast-favorite type of activity is the meeting you will have shortly with Bill Peters,one of your new plant managers. People here don’t appreciate how difficult thegovernment can be if it conducts an audit and catches these kinds of issues. Thisjob is easy, compared to the pharmaceutical world.

Last week, you conducted a review of Bill Peters’ facility and identified severalareas of concern. Some of these same areas were identified six months ago duringthe mock inspection you conducted shortly after Bill joined the company as plantmanager. This has you very frustrated, since you know that these are areas thatgovernment auditors would cite if they were conducting the review. You wrote theobservations just as the government would have, and sent them to Bill. The observations are:

• When more than one person performs work on a specific operation dur-ing manufacturing, the additional person(s) must place their signature(s)on the reverse side of the HR-12. Otherwise, the identity of the personresponsible for performing all operations will not be clear.

• One person was observed wearing a ring on her finger while handlingfood additives. This is in violation of the corporation’s operating proce-dures. In addition, there are no written policies posted that prohibit thewearing of jewelry in this area.

• The employee performing the sterile checks on PYC Electrode #312 per-formed these checks prior to the completion of the operation. Theoperating guidelines specify that the operation must be completed beforethe sterile checks are conducted.

• People were talking in the halls and in the men’s room about problemsthey were having with several devices.

The problem is in getting manufacturing to make the necessary changes. Whilesome change has occurred since your initial review, it doesn’t appear as if Bill hasmade much of an effort. If these guys would only listen to you about what thegovernment expects, your life would be much easier and so would theirs. That’s

21

ROLE PLAY #2MATT STARR

Corporate Compliance

why you were hired. You heard from others that Bill has done a great job improvingproductivity and quality.

Bill was a former plant manager in a chemical company. You know that he hadto deal with the government there, so he knows how tough the government can be.You also heard that he is unhappy with the “surprise nature of the review,” espe-cially since the results are seen by senior management. The “surprise nature” is atechnique that you strongly believe works. Bill is difficult at best, and always looksfor every edge.

You are meeting with Bill shortly to review your findings and to see that thenecessary changes are made.


22

Title: SITE AUDIT Role Play #3



To practice reporting on a third-party audit.

Trainer Notes: This role play is designed for auditors and clinical researchpersonnel in the pharmaceutical industry. It raises the issueof facts and feelings; auditors frequently want to focus onthe facts while the monitor is concerned with his/herfeelings and those of the investigator.

Pay particular attention to how the auditor dealt with thefeelings issue. Did the auditor acknowledge the feelings, ordid he/she just go to the facts? You might want to add a sec-tion about feelings to your observer sheet to pick up on this.It would also be helpful to precede the role play with a dis-cussion of the importance of feelings and how to addressthem.


23

You recently completed a fairly routine site audit. What was particularly troublingto you was the disparity between the field monitor’s site visit reports and what youfound. Based on the reports, you didn’t expect to find any problems. Not only werethere a number of audit findings, but the behavior of the site administrator and theinvestigator confused you. Except for a quick hello and a “I know you’ll find every-thing okay,” the investigator was not to be seen. While very pleasant, the studycoordinator seemed hesitant about sharing information. When you asked her aboutsome of the things you were discovering, she indicated that she knew about thembut had no more information, since she was relatively new. You got the feeling thatthere had been problems between her and the investigator, but you weren’t able toidentify anything specific. She seemed to be in a very difficult position and wasobviously uncomfortable with what she should or shouldn’t say.

The problems you identified were the following:

• There were a number of study exceptions, for which there was nodocumentation. The coordinator indicated that these exceptions wereapproved by the medical monitor.

• A number of Adverse Events were identified, but the only ones reportedwere those that the investigator felt were directly related to the compound.

• Drug (pill) counts were off.• There were discrepancies in dates as to when patients began the study.• The signatures on the CRFs are not clear. You are not sure if the investi-

gator has signed them or if someone else has.

At the conclusion of the audit, you discussed your findings with the coordinatorand let her know about the issues you identified. You attempted to meet with theinvestigator, but he only made a brief appearance, saying he had another appoint-ment. He said that he would be back shortly, and indicated that if there are anyproblems, you should wait.

Your meeting with the coordinator took approximately thirty minutes. Youwaited another forty-five minutes for the investigator. When he did not return, youleft. You told the coordinator that either the monitor or one of her staff memberswould get back to them. You called the monitor to schedule a meeting so that youcan report your findings. It will be held shortly.

25

ROLE PLAY #3MAX McCARTHY

Auditor

The compliance group recently completed an audit at one of your sites. As is fre-quently the case, the team raised issues that you don’t believe are either importantor that will have a very serious impact on the overall study. Moreover, the compli-ance team typically fails to consider the broader context—the importance of theinvestigator to the company, the study itself, and the site’s history. However, beforeyou had a chance to call the investigator with the findings, he called you and wasclearly upset. He pointed out a few things:

• “These are typical start-up problems, and they’ll be taken care of. It’s still early.”

• “My administrator is relatively new and they shouldn’t have put herunder this type of pressure. If there were concerns, they should haveinsisted that I be there. It wasn’t the right way to handle this type of issue—or a new person. I’m really surprised at your people.”

• “If there were problems, your people should have said something to meat the conclusion of the visit. I came by while they were meeting with mycoordinator, and I figured everything was okay.”

• “Based on the initial conversation, I wasn’t clear about what they neededor would be looking for. I know they sent a letter, but again, they shouldhave spoken with me.”

He went on to point out that he has conducted many studies, and always comesthrough. You know that he’s right. In fact, you have heard that when the study iscompleted, his work is usually first-rate. He has never previously done a study foryou. However, he has done work for several of your associates.

In your own mind, you’re not clear about the importance or purpose of theseaudits. It’s really the end result that counts. You were once a research scientistyourself and you know how time-consuming and difficult these site audits are. It’sa real problem at some of the better sites, where there might be several studiesgoing on. As for the problems identified, you see most as pretty minor. The inves-tigator is someone you trust, and you are not looking to create problems. Besides,he’s considered a leading person in the field, and Marketing will need his supportto help with the product launch.

27

ROLE PLAY #3PAM RICHARDSMedical Monitor

You haven’t yet seen the actual report. Basically, you know what the investigatortold you: the problems were minor, his coordinator is new, and not to worry, the studywill be fine.

You are troubled, not only by the possible findings, but how the audit washandled, You think to yourself, We need to treat people with some degree ofrespect and care.


28

Title: THE INSPECTION Role Play #4



To practice dealing with a person higher up in the organiza-tion who has more academic credentials.

Trainer Notes: Once the role play has been completed and discussed,survey the group to see how many people have dealt withsimilar situations. Brainstorm approaches to addressingthe problem. Pay particular attention to Issue Identificationand how well it was handled.

In conducting the debriefing, spend time looking at whycertain people succeeded and others did not. Also ask thepeople who played Dr. Stone for their reactions to the differ-ent auditors. Pay particular attention to what worked andwhat did not.

This is a difficult negotiation for auditors who must workwith people who have far more academic training than theydo and who use their position and prestige to intimidateand put them down.

Industry: Chemical/Pharmaceutical

29

You are Fred James, biologist and you have been at Good Chemicals for two years,having previously worked for four years at Foods Plus (in their Quality Assurancedepartment).

Your company recently submitted several products that are now awaitinggovernment approval. The authorities have become more aggressive in conductingpre-product release inspections at corporate processing laboratories. Because ofthe government’s increased activity, your department has become more active inauditing all company labs.

You called Dr. John Stone, Processing Lab director, to arrange an audit, andyou were left with a very uncomfortable feeling—almost one of hostility. Although Dr. Stone didn’t say so directly, you know he wasn’t happy with the idea of yourcoming in to conduct an audit. This in itself isn’t unusual, since no one is happywhen they get audited—least of all someone who is so well known and who holdsso many degrees. He’s headed this lab for the past three years. Since you had neveraudited this facility before, you asked a lot of questions about methods andapproaches. At the conclusion of the audit, these are your concerns:

• Notebooks are incomplete. They do not indicate methods or proceduresused.

• Instruments used to perform analyses were not listed.• There were two sets of data for one sample, but there was no explana-

tion as to why the sample was tested twice.

Because of all this, you aren’t sure that people are following standard operatingprocedures. Although the company has no written guidelines about these issues,the practices and procedures outlined do not comply with governmental proce-dures. Notebooks should be specific as to what and how things were done; it isn’tsufficient to list only the results. Your own experience tells you that if a governmentauditor became aware of this lapse, he/she would become very concerned and suspicious. It would serve as a red flag: government auditors would start lookingat everything Stone and his people do. From your perspective, this kind of record-keeping needs to end immediately. In fact, all the notebooks for the study you just audited need to be completely reconstructed. You don’t see any other option.You tried to talk with Dr. Stone on two occasions during the audit, but he wasn’t

31

ROLE PLAY #4FRED JAMES, Ph.D.

Auditing

free—something came up both times. Stone is not easy. You now understand whateveryone meant when they said that this particular audit would be difficult.

You are about to meet with Dr. Stone to discuss your findings and develop anaction plan to address your concerns.


32

You are John Stone, an analytical chemist. You have been with Good Chemicals,Inc. for five years, and for the past three years have headed the processing lab. Noone has ever complained about the quality of your lab’s work or found fault withany of the work you have done personally. In fact, you received several corporatecommendations for your department’s work on two recent government submis-sions. You have never been reviewed by a government agency.

Your lab was recently audited by Fred James, a member of the company’sQuality Assurance group. Fred is a biologist by training, and you found yourselfexplaining every single procedure and approach to him. He asked many questionsthat seemed to be unnecessary, if not inappropriate. In fact, he didn’t seem to knowhow an analytical lab works, and asked to see all sorts of documentation, particu-larly the notebooks. He asked to meet with you twice during the audit, but youdidn’t have the time. In fact, your group is so overworked that just having him herewas a major inconvenience.

Fred completed his audit late yesterday, and asked to meet with you today toreview his findings. You have some concerns about his audit:

• You are not doing anything new or different in your lab, and no one hasever complained about your practices or procedures.

• You are following department policy; the issues Fred James asked aboutare detailed in the department’s Approved Methods Handbook.

• Having Fred here for two weeks was very disruptive. It also limited theamount of work your department got out.

• You are following the spirit of the law, if not the exact letter.

Most importantly, you are a scientist—and a very good one. Your lab is staffed withsome top-notch people, all of whom are excellent scientists. If the authoritiesneeded to conduct a spot-check, they’d probably send a scientist who understandsthe work of your lab and who wouldn’t have to ask all the questions that Fred did.

Your meeting with Fred is about to begin. You hope to conclude the meetingas quickly as possible, since you have several important meetings later on today.

Your meeting with Fred will be held in fifteen minutes.

33

ROLE PLAY #4J. STONE, Ph.D

Processing Lab Director

Title: THE STUDY REPORT Role Play #5



To learn how to deal with an individual higher up in theorganization—a person who has more academic credentialsor who is “difficult.”

Trainer Notes: This is a difficult negotiation for auditors, who must dealfrom time to time with individuals who have more academictraining and who try to intimidate others by using theirposition and prestige to put them down. One variation onthis theme is to design the role play around people who hold“key” positions and use their position as a source of power.

Once the role play has been completed and discussed,survey the group to see how many people have been in sim-ilar situations. Brainstorm approaches to addressing theproblem. Pay particular attention to Issue Identification andhow well it was handled.

Industry: Engineering

35

You are a relatively new member of the Quality Assurance auditing group. As anauditor, it is your responsibility to review engineering reports for accuracy and con-sistency and then get the authors to make the necessary changes. Most authors areprofessional in this regard, and will make the changes you point out. Other audi-tors seem to resolve these issues easily with their teams. Of course, they’ve beenworking with their teams for a long time.

When you were trying to learn this job, much of the jargon in these reportsmade little or no sense to you. However, as time goes on, you have learned a greatdeal by doing, listening, and working with several of the senior people in the depart-ment. In the last few weeks, you have become much more confident, and you havea clearer understanding of your role as auditor.

Several days ago, you reviewed a report written by Dr. Margaret Fish and founda number of errors. You’re anxious about having to talk about these errors with Dr. Fish, because she’s known to be difficult—if not rude. You’ve sat in meetings she’sconducted and she doesn’t appear to know or care who you are. When you ask aquestion in a team meeting, Dr. Fish ignores it or provides a very cursory answer.Then she proceeds with the meeting as if nothing was ever asked. You’re not sure howmuch of her behavior is because you are new.

Dr. Fish is the director of Engineering R&D, and has been with the companyfor six years. She has two Ph.D.s, and her degrees and licenses are framed and hungon the walls in her office. In the first report you reviewed, she wrote in response toone question, “You’re not a Ph.D. If you want to question my judgment, get a post-graduate degree.” She did, however, make most of the changes you requested, butchose to discuss several of them with your boss before making the changes.Yesterday, as you were waiting downstairs to talk with another engineer about a dif-ferent report, Dr. Fish walked by and saw you standing next to the file cabinets. Yousmiled and said, “Hello, Dr. Fish.” Her only response to you was a cursory nod.

You’re very confident that the issues you noted in your audit are legitimate,but you’re worried about Dr. Fish accepting your comments and refusing tochange the specifics because of her defensiveness. You also don’t want to spenda lot of time on personality issues; you just want to get Dr. Fish to make thesechanges, and then get out of there as soon as possible. Dr. Fish is not fully awareof your auditing concerns; she only knows that you have several questions youneed to discuss with her. The issues you intend to discuss with Dr. Fish are:

37

ROLE PLAY #5DANA ADAMS

Quality Assurance

1. You discovered that Dr. Fish incorrectly calculated the means for exer-cise duration on one of the tables in an engineering report.

2. When the means are correctly calculated using weighted means, theresult is much higher than previously reported. This might be a statisti-cally significant result.

3. You suspect that Dr. Fish will push for your approval or sign-off on thispreliminary review, but it is department policy not to sign-off until acorrected, retyped copy is seen, changes are made, and the document isverified as correct.

You have several minutes to prepare for your meeting.


38

Dana Adams of Quality Assurance asked to meet with you. In your brief telephoneconversation, he indicated that he had some questions about the report you for-warded to him last week. Because of other pressing business and the fact that youare about to leave on a business trip, you wrote this report rather quickly. Youdidn’t even review it after it was typed.

QA can be very difficult to deal with at times—especially the newer people inthe department. It really bothers you when new people are sent to represent thedepartment on the project team. They frequently raise issues that experiencedauditors let go by because they understand the realities of the drug-developmentprocess and the pressures you are under. They also know how to work with you sothat all the objectives are achieved.

In one of your reports that Dana reviewed, you had to take several issues tohis boss before they were resolved. You eventually did what they requested, but onlyafter it was explained in a more professional manner to you. These younger peoplejust don’t have the necessary experience. You’re not sure what Dana has discovered,but you are busy and don’t have the time to make changes. You are scheduled toleave on another trip in three days, and you intend to get the auditor’s sign-offbefore you leave.

You have several minutes to prepare for your meeting with Dana.

39

ROLE PLAY #5DR. MARGARET FISH

Clinical Research

Negotiations with Co-Workers

Miscellaneous

Title: THE SUBSIDIARY Role Play #6

Time: Forty-five minutes


To explore issues of boundary-role management.

Trainer Notes: This is an ideal role play to use if you are interested in look-ing at boundary-role issues. This role play is one we use toexplore internal boundary-role questions. It can be particu-larly effective in looking at issues that arise between a corporate office and subsidiaries. It can easily be tailoredfor use in any environment.

In addition to looking at how the negotiation was handled,you should also explore issues related to the subsidiaries.Consider having people from the subsidiaries come in totalk about how they view corporate, how corporate viewsthem, and about how to work together effectively.

Some of the groups will talk solely about the compound,while others will broaden the discussion and look at therelationship and Tom’s perceptions. Explore the implica-tions of this discussion.

If you need additional information on boundary roles, seethe following articles:

• Inter-organizational Negotiation and Accoun-tability: An Examination of the Adams’ Paradox,by Cynthia Fobian (1987). The article can be pur-chased from the National Institute of DisputeResolution, 1900 L Street N.W., Washington, D.C.,20030.

• “The Structure and Dynamics of Behavior inOrganizational Boundary Roles,” by J. S. Adams(1976) in M.E. Dunette (ed.), Handbook ofIndustrial and Organizational Psychology.Chicago: Rand McNally.


43

You are Betty Fielder, the corporation’s government affairs manager, dealing with ahighly visible chemical product that senior management considers to be a top priority. In fact, the project team has been told to go full-speed-ahead, and a greatdeal of money has already been spent on field studies. Since this compound is oneof a new class of chemical additives, you contacted all the subsidiaries and askedeach of the supervisors to speak informally with the governmental agency there tofind out as much as possible about the likely requirements for approval.

Most of the subsidiary supervisors have gotten back to you. All of them reportthat their agency’s projected requirements are fairly reasonable—all, that is, exceptThomas Hensen, the manager for Fenwick (a small but influential country). Hensenreports that Fenwick’s agency will require three or four more critical studies thanthe team has planned, and want some of the studies to take place in Fenwick. Hisinterpretation of their requirements is, “These guys are really concerned about theimpact on human safety. I know this agency: these people simply will not acceptwhat you’re proposing without additional studies.” Tom is not an assertive person,and you believe that he doesn’t always state the company position strongly enoughwhen dealing with the agency. Tom worked for the agency seven years ago beforejoining the company; this is helpful in most cases, but you suspect that he over-identifies with his former employer from time to time. The written regulations ofmost countries are fairly general, and you have to depend on the local people toaccurately interpret them. Fenwick is even more of a problem, since its officialsdon’t like to talk until they see data.

You are being pushed by the team to get Fenwick’s requirements so that theycan get moving. Marketing believes that Fenwick is extremely important to thecompany because it carries worldwide influence regarding this type of com-pound. In fact, when Tom described the agency’s likely requirements, the teamleader suggested that he and a medical representative travel to Fenwick with youto meet with the agency—to explain the importance of this new additive, and todiscuss how to address their concerns without doing all the additional safetystudies. This will not make Tom very happy. You believe that he might be over-stating his agency’s needs, and that he should be able to persuade the agency tobe more reasonable.

Tom is in town on another matter, and you will be meeting with him inapproximately ten minutes.

45

ROLE PLAY #6BETTY FIELDER

Government Affairs

You are Thomas Hensen, registration manager for the corporation’s Fenwick sub-sidiary. A small but influential country, Fenwick is known for its rigorous govern-mental approval process and the quality of its agency’s science. The Fenwickagency’s written requirements are fairly general; reviewers usually interpret the reg-ulations as they see fit and as they relate to the compound in question.

You have been in your position for about seven years now, and have gotten toknow your counterpart at the agency very well. You worked for the agency beforejoining the company, and some of the people you worked with are still there. Theagency is generally very easy to work with, except when it comes to acceptingresearch data from countries other than Fenwick.

Several weeks ago, you received a request from Betty Fielder, registrationmanager at corporate headquarters. The company is developing a new food addi-tive and has what looks like a real winner. Betty asked you to find out from theFenwick agency what its requirements would be for this new class of compound.You went to your contact at the agency (with whom you have a good relationship)and talked with him about the general plans for testing this compound. He told youthat the government will not consider accepting this new class of compounds with-out extensive human safety data, and that some of the testing should be conductedin Fenwick. Although you agree with him on the need for such studies, you put forththe company’s argument that adequate safety data will be available from studiesthat are being conducted in the United States and Europe, and that there is no needfor further studies. As usual, he remained adamant and said that there is littlechance of approval without the additional studies. While he wouldn’t give you anexact number, you guess that at least three studies of twenty-five people each inFenwick will be required. He did point out that he might be willing to talk with you after seeing some of the initial data. When you spoke with Betty, you told herthat you figure three or four additional studies will be needed. Betty was not happy.She asked to speak with you in person the next time you are in town, since the company doesn’t want to do that many additional studies.

You feel that you are being pressured to produce results that you don’t thinkyou can deliver. However, Betty told you that the team leader and an R&D staff per-son are proposing that they come to meet with the agency. You don’t want to see thathappen, because it will look as if you aren’t able to do the job. It won’t do much foryour reputation, either within the company or with the agency. On the other hand,

47

ROLE PLAY #6THOMAS HENSEN

Registration Manager

you could probably use their help in moving the agency along, but you need to con-trol the process. You feel that you’ve done a good job in this position; your approachhas always been to work with the agency to build solid working relationships. Youbelieve you have accomplished this because you are not challenging them, butrather simply presenting the company’s position within the framework of how theagency functions. Bringing company people in to meet with the agency might bemisinterpreted and could even have a long-term impact on your relationship withthe agency.

You are now at the corporate headquarters, having flown in for an internationalconference. Betty asked you to stop by her office so that you can talk about thismatter. You will meet with her in about ten minutes.


48

Title: THE REPORTING SYSTEM Role Play #7



To practice solving a problem between co-workers.

Trainer Notes: This role play is particularly useful for situations in whichone person is held responsible for an ongoing task that heor she does only on an as-needed basis. This individualdoes not think the task is terribly important, but the co-worker does.

Explore the differences between individuals who are successful at their work and those who are not. If the legalpeople take time to listen to the technical-operations per-son, this negotiation will go well. If they try to use theirpower to impose a settlement, the negotiations will proba-bly be difficult.

As a follow-up to this role play, try to brainstorm approachesto dealing with this type of situation. Encourage people totalk about similar experiences and share how they handledthem. If you are working with a homogeneous group, havethe participants identify any other groups they have prob-lems with, and use that as the basis of a discussion.

Industry: General

49

You work in Technical Operations. You just received a call from Marjorie Parks inthe Legal department, who wants to talk to you about something. One of yourresponsibilities here is to make sure that the people who require access to the con-sumer-complaint reporting system are placed on the system in a timely manner.This is not something you initiate on your own, nor do people come asking to beplaced on the system. Instead, they go to someone in Legal, who sends you arequest to place them on the system. When you’re not very busy, you can get thework done in about two days—sometimes less. Once in a while, it might be threedays before you can get to it, but never more.

Once people are on the system, you must complete the process by returningthe original request form to Legal, indicating precisely when access was establishedand for what data. You also must show that you conducted the appropriate tests tomake sure that a password was established and that there are no discrepancies. Asfrequently as not, you forget to complete and return the form to Legal. It’s not thatyou don’t care, but in all honesty, you aren’t clear about why this has to be done.The names of those who are put into the system will eventually show up on thecomputer in the weekly summary, so Legal will certainly know that the request hasbeen taken care of. This should be enough.

People here think you have nothing else to do. This task is only a small partof your work, but it’s a real pain, since it’s not something you can schedule.Whenever a request is received, you’re expected to respond in no more thanthree days—regardless of what else is happening. The work is not complicated,but it does involve several hours of your time and only serves to interrupt whatever else you might be doing. You’ve been thinking of proposing to yourboss that the system be changed so that you can take care of the entire processand do it all by computer. In fact, you are going to mention it when you meetnext week.

This whole system makes little or no sense to you. You’re not sure why thesystem is the way it is. No one ever explained the why—only that one of your tasksis to do it. Companies install computer systems to reduce paperwork. All this sys-tem has done is increase the amount of paperwork and the number of peopleinvolved. From your perspective, the entire process would be improved if peoplesimply came directly to you with their request. You would place them on the sys-tem, and that’s it. Quick and simple!

51

ROLE PLAY #7MARC PFIEFER

Tech Operations

The real problems are with the folks in Legal. They act as if this is the mostimportant thing you have to do. They get real upset if you’re late in getting some-one on the system or you forget to complete the paperwork. That’s probably what’sgiven rise to Marjorie’s request to talk with you. You forgot to report that severalpeople were placed on the system. In fact, you got them on the system almostimmediately but forgot to tell her, because several other important issues came upthat required your time and immediate attention. You were lucky to get them on thesystem as quickly as you did. Marjorie is on her way over to see you, and you expecther any minute.

Known to Both Parties

Marc Pfiefer from Tech Operations is relatively new to the company—in fact, he hasonly been here for six months. (He replaced someone who quit unexpectedly).

A meeting was held with Marc Pfiefer soon after he arrived, and the AdverseImpact reporting process was reviewed at this meeting. There have been no conver-sations since that time.


52

Your job is to keep the consumer complaint reporting system current. As part ofyour responsibilities, you also make sure that people who need access to the sys-tem get it. You are not involved in doing the computer work—you send that on tothe people in Tech Operations, who complete the actual work and let you knowwhen it’s been completed. Company policy requires that the process take no morethan three days to complete. You are not sure why, but that’s the policy.The correct procedure is as follows:

• You receive a written request to be placed on the system. • You send that request to Tech Operations. • In three days or less, you receive written notification that the person now

has access to the system.

For a variety of reasons, the process is not working as it should. You are often notnotified by Tech Operations that people are on the system. This has proved to beembarrassing, since people frequently call you with a problem or a question thatrequires system access, and sometimes you don’t even know that they have beenput on the system. On several occasions, you’ve been able to pick up the informa-tion from the weekly summary on the computer, but you should have received writ-ten notification. It’s embarrassing when this happens. Not everyone is permittedaccess to everything and your job is to monitor the process. In addition, the government requires that these requests be written and that the entire process bedocumented in writing—a clear paper trail. Quality Assurance audits your work,and if you don’t have the appropriate documentation, they will write you up. Thishas never happened, and you don’t want it to happen!

The person handling this process is relatively new, but he should know whatneeds to be done and how to do it. His predecessor not only got everyone on thesystem quickly, but got the documentation to you immediately. You need to have agood working relationship if the process is to work.

Early last week you sent in two requests for system access, and nobody hasgotten back to you as to when or if the people were put on the system. You receivedcalls from both people asking when they would be on. When you called to inquire,you learned that they were already on and had actually been on for several days.You called the person in Tech Operations who is responsible for the process and

53

ROLE PLAY #7MARJORIE PARKSLegal Department

asked for a meeting. You’re not looking forward to this meeting, since it is not yourjob to train their people.


Marc Pfiefer from Tech Operations is relatively new to the company—in fact, he hasonly been here for six months. (He replaced someone who quit unexpectedly.)

A meeting was held with Marc Pfiefer soon after he arrived, and the AdverseImpact reporting process was reviewed at this meeting. There have been no conver-sations since that time.


54

Title: THE AFFILIATE Role Play #8


Objectives: To identify and address issues of concern to home officeand subsidiaries.

To illustrate the Successful Negotiator model.

Trainer Notes: This role play is ideal if your company is dealing with issuesconcerning your home office and local affiliates. It can alsospark discussion on how the company determines the priority of its projects.

If you have non-U.S.-based affiliates, you might want to lookat the impact cultural differences have on the relationshipbetween affiliates and headquarters. Explore the problemsat your company, the impact they are having on operationsand production, and what can be done to resolve them.

Resources: The bibliography in the Resources section includes a num-ber of published works on the subject of cultural diversity.We have also found the following book of exercises to bevery helpful:

Global Competence: 50 Training Activities for Succeedingin International Business, by Lambert, Myers, and Simons(HRD Press, 2000).

We have found two additional resources that are extremelyhelpful: The David M. Kennedy Center at Brigham YoungUniversity, and Intercultural Press (which can be reached atwww.intercultural press.com).


55

You have been at Additives Inc. for five years, having previously worked for another chemical company. You are presently assigned to the company’s facility inSweden.

Things never seem to change here. Although everyone talks about this beinga global company, it always seems that it’s the U.S. affiliates and their needs thatcome first. The needs of our affiliates in Europe and Asia are never given seriousconsideration. You get the feeling that the folks in the U.S. don’t trust us or ourcapabilities. It’s as if they are the only ones who can do good research. If we ask forassistance or comments, they assume that we don’t know anything. The mostrecent example happened only last week.

We are almost ready to file for product approval on a new compound inEurope, but we need the data from two environmental studies completed in theU.S. Unfortunately, the U.S. people don’t have the resources (money) to completethe review of the data and prepare the reports. At least that’s what they say. You’vedone everything necessary—you’ve reviewed the literature, completed your ownstudies, and prepared all the data, but you need the U.S. data before you can file.When you spoke to your associates in the U.S., their response was that the projectis a low-priority one. It might be low-priority for them, but it’s high-priority for you!You made that clear at the beginning of the year, but no one seems to rememberthat. Either it’s high priority, or it isn’t—it can’t be both.

This isn’t the first time this has happened with this project or with others. Youwere ready to file last year, but the U.S. environmental studies had not been com-pleted. Now all the studies are done, but the U.S. people won’t prepare the reports.When you last asked why, the response was that our research people here inEurope should do the reports. This isn’t something you should do. It’s their studyand their data, and it should be their report. Let them hire consultants to completethe work. There always seems to be money available to hire one when they feel theissues are critical. You know that setting priorities is an issue that senior manage-ment is looking at, but this project can’t wait until that decision is made.

You spoke with your boss, and she said that you should do whatever is nec-essary. When you asked if we had any money available, she said that some couldbe made available, but added, “I don’t want to get in the habit of doing this, since the U.S. will never do anything if we pay.” She did say that she would support whatever decision you make.

57

ROLE PLAY #8IAN SMITHSON

Developmental Research (Europe)

You are now in the U.S. for a series of meetings, and intend to meet withProject Management to see if this issue can be resolved. You’re not quite sure whatthe answer is, but you know you will look good if you can work this out.

You have fifteen minutes to prepare for your meeting with ProjectManagement.


58

You work for Additives Inc. here in the United States. You have been with the com-pany for the past seven years. You are now faced with a difficult situation: The folksin Europe want you to complete the reports of two environmental studies that wereconducted in the U.S. and completed several months ago. The problem is that whileyou would like to complete the reports, you just don’t have the resources, people,or money to do it.

The position of the folks in Europe is that they are ready to file for approval,but before they can file, they need completed reports from these two studies.They’ve already completed their own studies, done a complete literature search,and are ready to move ahead.

When you last spoke with your associates here in the U.S., everyone wasquite clear that they don’t have the resources. They say to let Europe have theirown people or a consultant complete the analysis if they need it so quickly. Thisattitude won’t sit well with the folks in Europe; Their position is very clear. ForEurope, this is a high-priority study; it should also be a high priority for the U.S.—not the low priority that we say it is. As several of these people said at a recentmeeting, “If we are truly a global company doing global product development, thenwe need to consider everyone’s needs. We can’t call a project ‘high priority’ in partof the world and ‘low priority’ somewhere else. Either it is a high priority, or itisn’t. It can’t be both.”

The people in Europe are very upset about this. They believe that this is anongoing problem—their needs always seem to come second, and we act like wedon’t trust them. What makes them even more upset is that they were ready tofile last year, but we held them up because our studies were not yet completed.You don’t ever remember hearing about the importance of these two reports.They might have been talked about, but no one remembers hearing that theywere so critical.

You spoke with your boss and the folks in Research and learned that somemoney is available to hire a consultant, but it’s not something they want to dobecause it sets a bad precedent. To quote your boss, “This is their high-priorityproject—they should cover the costs.” He did say that he would support whateveragreement you worked out, even it meant making some money available. He alsosaid that he was not anxious to set a precedent by making money available.

You will meet with your colleague from Europe in about fifteen minutes.

59

ROLE PLAY #8CHARLOTTE CHASE

Project Management (U.S.)

Title: THE FISHER HOTEL Role Play #9



To practice negotiating with a co-worker when commit-ments have been made.

Trainer Notes: This role play is particularly useful when you are dealingwith internal negotiations. However, it can easily be used asa good example of position bargaining. In this role play, peo-ple frequently become very focused on their positions andget annoyed with each other, thus limiting their ability tofind a creative solution. If this happens, lead a discussionabout which solutions are available after you have debriefedthe negotiation. The same can be accomplished by compar-ing settlements among groups and trying to identify whysome groups get a deal and others do not.

Industry: Magazine publishing

61

You have worked with New Age Honeymoon magazine for the past five years andworked with its parent company for close to ten. You are one of the company’stop salespeople, responsible for bringing in significant dollars on an annualbasis. One of your accounts is the Fisher hotel company, which owns a chain ofsmall, romantic hotels in the Caribbean and South Pacific—all called “TheFisher.” You’ve been after the Fisher people for the past ten months to increasethe number of pages the company buys for advertising, but you have not beenable to get them to increase their ad space more than a few pages. They’veplaced their biggest ads with another publication—Modern Honeymoons.However, The Fisher was recently purchased by New Destinations, a very largehotel chain. New Destinations is already a client, and they’ve placed a good num-ber of pages over the past several years. Now it looks like the prospects forincreased business will be even better.

Someone at New Destinations contacted you last week to ask if the magazineis planning any articles on Bali. They are interested in promoting The Fisher-Balias a honeymoon spot.

You remembered a memo from Sue Lyons several months ago announcingan upcoming issue on Bali, so you told them that you are sure that somethingcan be worked out. The Fisher would be perfect for this issue; it’s one of themost attractive spots in Bali. You stayed there on your honeymoon, and found itfabulous. When you spoke further with The Fisher, your contact told you thatmanagement has offered to supply all the hotel rooms and even dinners duringthe shoot. They clearly want to get the word out about The Fisher. You called Sueand told her that you have the perfect hotel to be featured in the issue. She hes-itated before telling you that The Regency has already been selected as the fea-tured hotel. and that all arrangements have been made. Regency is also a bigaccount for the magazine—not one of yours, but an important one to the com-pany. Sue agreed to meet with you to discuss it further, but offered you no realhope of changing hotels. This Fisher deal is especially attractive to you, sincemany of the hotels run by this chain are located in great honeymoon spots. It’sa big opportunity—one that could lead to a lot of business. This is an opportu-nity to make a current client real happy, which would probably increase thebusiness they give us. We shouldn’t pass it up.

You have ten minutes to prepare your case.

63

ROLE PLAY #9TOM BLACKAdvertising

You are Sue Lyons, Travel Editor for New Age Honeymoon magazine. Threemonths ago, the decision was made to feature Bali in an upcoming issue. You sentout a memo advising all staff of the decision, and have been deliberating about thephotographers and the resort you’ll feature for the past three months. You settledon The Regency, an old, established hotel in central Bali. You contacted them, andthey offered to supply at least some of the hotel rooms for the shoot. The photog-rapher you hired is Marcy McLaren, who lived and worked in Bali for several years.Marcy is very familiar with the Regency, having used it several times for fashionshoots. She thinks the Regency is far and away the best choice for this issue, sinceit is physically spectacular and romantic—the ideal honeymoon retreat.

You have just spoken by phone with Tom Black in Advertising. Tom kept youon the phone for what seemed to be an eternity, and then talked you into meetingwith him to discuss something you told him can’t happen. Tom wants you to giveup The Regency Hotel in Bali, in favor of another resort. You sent a memo to staffthree months ago, advising them of the Bali issue. That was plenty of notice. Butnow that all the plans have been just about finalized, Tom wants you to shoot atThe Fisher, a hotel he says is new and beautiful. It’s where he recently went on hishoneymoon. He also says that the location and beaches around it are beyond com-parison. The fact of the matter is that Tom wants to get The Fisher as an importantaccount. You can see his point, since The Fisher was just purchased by a huge hotelchain, New Destinations, and they could potentially be a very large account. Tom isno fool—getting the Fisher as a client would make a real difference.

This isn’t the first time that Advertising has done this. You do everything in plentyof time, and then they spring something on you at the last minute. You could changehotels at this point, but it would be a lot of work. All arrangements have been made withThe Regency and they’ve made a real effort to accommodate us. This isn’t how you dobusiness. It’s not right. We wouldn’t be happy if someone did this to us, and it is clearlybad business. Others will find out, and it will have an impact. In this business, every-one knows everyone. It would be embarrassing. In your mind, it is almost unethical.

You spoke with your boss about the problem, and she suggested that you tryto work something out with Tom. She will support whatever you decide, but shereminded you that the Regency group also operates a big chain of hotels. Tom isgoing to have to do some fast talking.

You will meet with Tom in ten minutes.

65

ROLE PLAY #9SUE LYONS

Travel Editor


Engineering

Title: DIVISION/CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Role Play#10


Objectives: To explore the relationship between corporate headquartersand local engineering groups.

To practice the complete six-step model for negotiation.

Trainer Notes: This is an ideal role play for exploring the relationshipsbetween corporate headquarters and the company’s localdivisions. Because of the nature of this negotiation, we sug-gest that you use it to look at the entire six-step negotiationprocess. If there are problems between the divisions, youshould expect that this role play will bring them to the sur-face. Spend the time necessary to discuss each issue that israised.

In groups performing this role play, Corporate Managementwill let the division keep the work. Explore why thatoccurred, as well as what made the difference. If there areproblems between corporate headquarters and local engi-neering groups, the ideal situation is to have company rep-resentatives from both groups in the room when the roleplay is being performed.

Industry: Engineering

69

You are D.D. Smith, division engineer, and you need a project completed as soon aspossible. This job involves the renovation of the pilot plant. The contractor youwant to use on this project is Mutual Magic, Inc., a firm you’ve worked with before,so you know they do high quality work. They’re truly professional engineers whoalways meet their obligations.

There is no question in your mind that Mutual Magic can do the job anddo it well. In addition, while the cost of the project is above the $2.5 millioncorporate cut-off (where corporate keeps the work), it’s a relatively small job—$3,750,000 at the very most. Even though Mutual hasn’t worked on this large aproject before, both you and your boss believe that it deserves the opportunity.The job isn’t urgent, but it’s one that you both want completed as soon as pos-sible. The job was postponed before for a variety of reasons, and now you’d liketo get it done quickly because there are several other proposals you need tocomplete later in the year. You and your boss have already spoken with Mutualabout the project, since the firm is finishing up a small job for you. Mutual offi-cials assured you that they can get the job done quickly, since they already havemen on site. They believe that the size of the project is not a problem, and havegiven you an estimate of between $3,000,000–$3,750,000 to complete the work.Your own estimate is in the same range.

You are concerned that Corporate Engineering might want to manage thisproject, since it’s above the $2,500,000 threshold that company policy says consti-tutes a Corporate Engineering project. However, you want the division to managethe project because you find it personally challenging and know it would takeCorporate Engineering too long to get up-to-speed. In addition, they’ll want to sendit out for bids, which will add anywhere from three to six months to the project.This will delay completion by at least six months.

You called Naomi Edwards in Corporate Engineering to talk about the proj-ect. You discussed the job with her and mentioned the company you want to workon it. She didn’t say no, and suggested that you get together to discuss the situa-tion. Corporate has the freedom to give you the project if they want to do so.

That meeting will be held shortly.

71

ROLE PLAY #10D.D. SMITH

Division Engineering


The corporate cut-off is $2.5 million. Projects coming in with estimates of less than$2.5 million become Corporate Engineering’s responsibility.


72

D.D. Smith of Division Engineering called and asked to meet with you about a proj-ect he needs completed. You’re not sure exactly what he has in mind, but in a briefconversation last week, he said that his division needs a renovation completed onthe pilot plant. They would like to use Mutual Magic, a firm they’ve used severaltimes in the past. Your own experience with Mutual Magic has been positive, but allof their work has been on relatively small jobs of $2 million or less— jobs that don’trequire great project-management skills. This job is significantly larger than any-thing Mutual Magic has done in the past. Because of its size, the work will requirenot only strong engineering skills, but equally strong skills in project management.Mutual Magic might have all the necessary engineering skills, but there’s no realevidence of project management—nothing the company has done in the past hasdemonstrated it. You think this job will be a big leap for Mutual Magic. A numberof firms you have worked with previously have both sets of skills, and could easilydo this project. The Engineering Division has a history of underestimating the costof the project so that it can remain under their control. You’re concerned that thisproject might end up being a $4–5 million project, which is way beyond the policylimits and is too big for Mutual Magic to handle. Also, the workload in CorporateEngineering has lightened, and you know that the VP wants more projects in orderto keep his staff busy. You spoke with the VP; while he indicated a preference forkeeping the work in Corporate, he did tell you to feel free to work something out ifit seems appropriate. Corporate does have the authority to allow the assignment toremain with the division. Smith didn’t say much more than that he preferred to useMutual Magic, but he did indicate that he would bring you up-to-date when youmeet. That meeting will be held shortly.


The corporate cut-off is $2.5 million. Projects coming in with estimates of less than$2.5 million become Corporate Engineering’s responsibility.

73

ROLE PLAY #10NAOMI EDWARDS

Corporate Engineering

Title: ENGINEERING CHANGES Role Play #11


Objectives: To illustrate either the Issue Identification step or the entiresix-step Successful Negotiator model.

To learn how to deal with changes to an already agreed-upon plan.

Trainer Notes: This negotiation role play is ideal for internal project engi-neers. It focuses on how to work with clients, and can beparticularly helpful in surfacing client-specific issues. It isgeneral enough so that it can be used with any group.

The nature of the discussion will depend primarily on howeffective people believe they have been in dealing with clientsand on whether or not there have been any recent problems.Any job-related issues should be discussed at this point.This role play can be used in two ways:

• It can serve as a stimulus for additional discussion.

• It can serve as the end point after discussions havebeen held on the types of problems people haveencountered.

Industry: General

75

You knew it would happen—it always does: The client tells you what he wants, youshow him the drawings, he approves them, and you get the work done. Then, all ofa sudden, the client realizes that he doesn’t like what was already approved. Thisalways happens when the project nears completion and the client begins to see theactual work.

This happened most recently with Tom Stone in Research. It had to do withsomething real simple—windows. Tom wanted them flush, and that’s what you did.Now he’s decided that flush isn’t what he wants. He wants all the windows changedto recessed because he thinks that aesthetically they look much better that way. Theidea is interesting, but expensive. Recessed was your original suggestion, and youtook a great deal of time explaining this and several other issues to him becauseyou know that drawings can be confusing and difficult to understand. This changewill cost us at least $65,000—money that just isn’t in the budget. Except for per-sonal taste, there’s no reason to make the change. Moreover, you know that eventhough you are now a bit under budget, this project, like all the others, will even-tually go over budget and you’ll need the contingency fund. Your boss wants everyproject, including this one, to stay on budget. Your boss wants to prove that we canbring projects in on time and on budget.

You also don’t want people to think that making these kinds of changes isokay: They create all sorts of problems. Clients always think that when the firstcontracts are below budget, they have extra money to spend. Tom is a difficult clientbecause he’s a very successful engineer who has managed a number of verysuccessful programs. Several corporate patents are in his name, and he’s well-respected within the company and in the industry. In fact, he’s a featured speakerat many industry conferences. In the past, management has always catered to TomStone, and he probably expects that you also will do what he wants. In fact, thatwould be the easy way, but it’s not something you think is right—particularly not atthis stage.

You will meet with Tom in a few minutes.

77

ROLE PLAY #11BRENDA WILDON

Corporate Engineering

Corporate Engineering is involved in building a new research facility for yourdepartment. You’ve dreamed about this facility for a long time, and you want it tobe exactly what you imagined. You’ve earned a great facility; you’ve developedseveral very successful products for the company that have made a lot of money.It’s the least they can do.

Last week, when you were in the new building, you realized that all thewindows were flush and looked uninteresting. You called Brenda Wildon inCorporate Engineering and told her that you want the windows changed fromflush to recessed. Her first reaction was silence, but then she told you it would bevery expensive, since almost all the windows were already installed. She alsopointed out that flush windows were what you had approved—not recessed. Youknow that, but you still want to make the change. In the total scheme of things itcan’t be very much—after all, this is your dream. As for having approved the draw-ings, you had no idea what you were approving. There were dozens of drawings,and unless you’re an engineer, it’s not likely that you would understand them.Besides, the contracts awarded thus far have been below budget, so there shouldbe plenty of money left over. The project is at least $75,000 under budget, and youdoubt that the changes will add very much. The project will still come in on timeand on budget, and even if it doesn’t, what’s the big deal? No one expects projectsto be on budget.

In addition to the windows, you also want to discuss several other smallchanges—changes that you only now appreciate, with the building coming to life.The offices would look much nicer with glass instead of wooden walls facing thecentral core, and it would be nice if a few murals could be painted on the otherwalls. Neither of these are big issues, but they will make the building a much moreenjoyable place to work—more human. You will meet with Brenda to discuss thisin a few minutes.

79

ROLE PLAY #11TOM STONE

Basic Research


Teams

TEAMS

Introduction

All of the role plays in this unit relate to team-based issues. All work particularlywell when they are incorporated into team leader and team member trainingprograms.

Each role play is sufficiently complex to illustrate the entire six-step negotia-tion methodology, or just the issue-identification phase. It is important that all roleplays be placed in the context of your company’s situation and the training you havealready conducted. The goal is to help team leaders and team members address therange of interpersonal problems common to teams. The materials are not designedto address issues of team building, but rather to enhance the skills of team leadersand team members.

Resources

There have been a number of books written about teams and teamwork. Among theresources we have found to be most helpful are:

Team Players and Teamwork: The New Competitive Business Strategy, byGlenn Parker (Jossey-Bass, 1990).

Cross-Functional Teams: Working with Allies, Enemies, and otherStrangers, by Glenn Parker (Jossey-Bass, 1994).

How to Lead Work Teams, by Fran Rees (Pfeiffer & Company, 1991).

25 Activities for Teams, by Fran Rees (HRD Press).

Team Building for the Future: Beyond the Basics, by R. L. Elledge and S. L.Phillips (HRD Press).

These books can be purchased from HRD Press, 22 Amherst Rd., Amherst, MA,01002. HRD can be reached at (800) 822-2800 or on the Web at: www.hrdpress.com.There is also an extensive bibliography on teams and teamwork on our Web site:www.asherman.com.

82

Title: THE NEW PROJECT MANAGER Role Play #12


Objectives: To illustrate the Successful Negotiator six-step model.

To illustrate the specifics of a contracting discussionbetween a team leader and a new project manager.

Trainer Notes: In addition to covering the specific behavior used during thenegotiation process, this role play will usually stimulate afair amount of discussion about the interaction of a newproject manager and a difficult team leader. Depending onyour own objectives, both subjects are important and worthexploring. If the project manager and the team leader areboth involved in the workshop, try having them conduct acontracting discussion after the role play. Have this discus-sion focus on how well they have been working together andwhat they might do differently.

At the conclusion of the role play, refocus the discussion on your own company and how new leaders and projectmanagers begin their working relationships. If there isenough time, you might want to have the group develop achecklist for this type of discussion.


83

You are Bob Michaels, the leader of the DRU-666 project team. You have been theDRU-666 team leader for the past year, but you joined Drugs-R-Us five years ago.Working for Drugs-R-Us (and even working at a major pharmaceutical firm, for thatmatter) is something you never anticipated. You were a very successful surgeonuntil you seriously injured your hand in a skiing accident. When you couldn’treturn to the operating room, you taught surgery for two years at a major midwest-ern medical school. That proved to be much too frustrating. This job hasn’t exactlybeen a perfect fit, but it’s a lot better than you thought it would be. Things have beengoing well, and you are very satisfied with your team’s progress—as is senior man-agement. Most of your teams go well. Last week, your boss indicated that she wasquite pleased with how the team is functioning.

However, you are somewhat annoyed. Approximately three weeks ago, youwere informed that your project manager would change. You had just reached apoint where you had finally gotten this one trained, and she was working with youin the only way you find acceptable: putting out agendas, taking minutes, trackingthe critical target dates, and identifying problems before they become serious—basically not bothering you and letting you do your job while she did hers. You don’tunderstand why the change is being made, since everyone agrees that this is a crit-ical project. You know the new project manager, but you’ve never worked togetherbefore.

Your new project manager has asked to meet with you “to talk about how wecan work together,” to quote your secretary. You’re not clear why that involves a for-mal conversation; if anything, e-mail would be enough. Better yet, she should talkwith the person being replaced to find out how you like to work. This would saveboth of you a great deal of time and effort.

Your boss encouraged you to have the meeting, but said you should be clearabout your own needs and concerns. She said, “Whatever you work out is up toyou.” The meeting will take place in ten minutes.

85

ROLE PLAY #12BOB MICHAELS

Team Leader

You have been at Drugs-R-Us, Inc. for eleven years—the last seven in ProjectManagement. You really like your work. Prior to that, you worked for seven yearsin the marketing department of another company. You were just told by your bossthat you are to assume responsibility for the DRU-666 project team. This team hasbeen in operation for the past year, and is moving along fairly well. The currentproject manager is being assigned to a start-up project, so you were asked to takeover. Your understanding is that you were asked to take this assignment because ofthe project’s importance to the company.

The team leader, Bob Michaels, was a surgeon who had to give up his prac-tice some years ago because of a serious hand injury. Before coming to Drugs-R-Us,he was a professor in the medical school of a major midwestern university. Bob ishighly regarded, and no one will be surprised if he becomes a company vice presi-dent someday. He has been at Drugs-R-Us a total of five years.

You have not worked with Bob before and you don’t really know him, but theperson you are replacing told you the following: “Bob is quite busy, and rarely hastime to meet before or after meetings. Getting on his schedule is a major event and,as frequently as not, he cancels meetings at the last minute.”

She went to say that Bob doesn’t see Project Management as a real partner inthe process. “His view is that he is the leader of the team and the project, and hetakes care of the science. He thinks Project Management’s job is to get the agendasprepared, do the minutes, and to make sure we don’t fall behind schedule.Sometimes he behaves as if he were still in the OR. To keep the peace and makelife easier for myself, I basically did what he wanted and we got along okay.”

Fortunately (or unfortunately), you don’t see the world the same way. You’vealways worked with your leader as a partner. Exactly what that means is open fordiscussion, but you don’t see yourself as a secretary or a clerk—you see yourself asa partner, working closely with the team leader.

You asked to meet with Bob, and much to your surprise, his secretary put youon today’s schedule. She did make it clear that you will only have 30 minutes becausehe’s “very busy.” To prepare yourself, you talked with another manager, who said,“He’s mellowed somewhat, but still sees the world from his own unique perspec-tive.” You also spoke with your boss; she indicated that you should be sensitive toBob’s needs, but that you’re free to work out whatever you feel will work.

Your meeting is in ten minutes.

87

ROLE PLAY #12BARBARA LANEProject Manager

Title: THE CO-LEADERS Role Play #13

Time: Fifteen minutes

Objective: To illustrate the six-step Successful Negotiator model.

Trainer Notes: After you discuss how the participants conducted the negoti-ation, engage them in a discussion about how these prob-lems can be avoided. In this negotiation, it is critical that you clearly state and outline the issues. Because of thenature of the issue, people often fail to be direct, so the prob-lem doesn’t get resolved. An agreement might be reached,but it is frequently based on general promises for the future.

This is an excellent role play to use when training teamleaders. When you introduce the role play, it is importantthat you indicate that all co-leaders will run into problems,and this is a way to address them. This role play can be par-ticularly valuable if you have actual co-leaders participatingin the program. If you do, have them do this role playtogether. Then talk about their own working relationship. Ifthey are new to working together, have them develop a wayto address problems when they do arise. If you have suffi-cient time, have several groups report on the approachesthey have developed.

Industry: General

89

You are the co-leader of the Cable I team; your partner is T.J. Stone. You and T.J.have been co-leaders since the team was organized, but you barely knew oneanother before joining the team because your only interaction was at various meet-ings. While this is your first opportunity to serve as a co-leader, T.J. has led severalother teams. She has been with the company much longer than you have, andworked at several other firms before coming to the company. The opportunity towork together as co-leaders is one you have looked forward to for some time.

Things seemed to go well between the two of you for the first several months.You were learning a lot from T.J. The last several months, however, have been quitedifferent: T.J. has missed deadlines for several tasks she was handling, and shemissed the last three meetings. More importantly, she has not been available tomeet with you for any length of time to discuss how the team is doing. This is a rad-ical departure from the first three months, when the two of you met before andafter the meetings and during lunch to discuss the team. You were working welltogether and making a real difference.

T.J.’s lack of involvement has been noticed by the other team members.Several people spoke to you about her lack of attendance and failure to completeher assignments. One of them went so far as to suggest that maybe she shouldresign. In addition, T.J. has not responded to any of your calls and to only one ofyour e-mails. Her response to the e-mail was so brief as to be of no help. If you areto work well together and this project is to succeed, there needs to be a real com-mitment from both of you. You don’t see that coming from T.J., and you don’t feelthat you can trust her to meet her obligations to the team. You are left with the feel-ing that she doesn’t really care about the project and that she thinks you are theone to take care of everything. This is not how you view the situation. You don’tintend to do all the work while T.J. takes care of some other project.

You spoke with your boss about the problem, and he suggested that you talkwith T.J. He said that he would support you, and agreed that it is important thatthe problem be resolved if the team is to succeed. He does not want to get involved.To quote him, “You need to work with T.J., and the two of you need to solve theproblem.” You e-mailed T.J. and asked to meet to discuss “the team and yourinvolvement.”

That meeting is to begin shortly.

91

ROLE PLAY #13DALE CLARK

Co-Leader

You are T.J. Stone, co-leader with Dale Clark of the Cable I team. Prior to becom-ing co-leaders, you and Dale spent very little time together. You saw one another atmeetings, but you had little interaction before the team began.

During the first three months the team was in existence, you and Dale metprior to and after each meeting. You had lunch together on several occasions to dis-cuss team issues, and Dale seemed really interested in the project and in being ateam leader—typical of an individual leading their first team. This is the third proj-ect on which you are the co-leader. You headed up several projects at your old com-pany, so leading a team is nothing new to you. It’s just one more job to be done.Your boss views things pretty much the same way.

In recent months, the company has been involved in evaluating several newproducts for licensing. Your boss has had you actively involved in the process.Several new projects have recently been initiated, and she asked you to help getthem started. The problem of time is further complicated because there have beenseveral recent retirements in the department. All of this extra work has kept youfrom working with the Cable team. You have just not been able to give it the timeand attention you did in the early weeks. You have missed several meetings, andyou have not always responded to Dale’s calls and e-mails as quickly as you wouldhave liked.

You have, however, been following the team’s progress through the minutes.You believe that Dale is doing a really good job. You spoke with your boss, and youanticipate that your schedule should lighten up in the next 4–6 months. You will beable to start getting more involved once that happens.

Dale asked to meet with you “to talk about the team and your involvement.”Dale is probably upset, and it will take some effort to calm him down.

That meeting is to begin shortly.

93

ROLE PLAY #13T.J. STONECo-Leader

Title: THE TEAM MEMBER Role Play #14


Objectives: To practice the six-step Successful Negotiator method.

Trainer Notes: This is a good role play to use if team selection is an issuein your firm. It’s also useful to discuss how members areselected for teams.

Debriefing Notes: At the end of the role play, it will be useful to discuss howmembers are selected for teams and what can be done if youwant a particular individual on your team. If functional areamanagers are present, get them to describe their reactionswhen people ask for the inclusion or participation of certaindepartment members. If some people get who they wantedand others do not, explore why some people are successfuland others are not.


95

You have just been appointed to head the new AVN-56 team. The compound islicensed by one of the new European firms. All the basic research has been com-pleted, and your company’s job is to take the compound into the clinic and to filethe NDA in the United States and the dossier in Europe. Senior management isexcited about the compound, and it has been fast-tracked; everyone considers it toppriority.

The team is just now being organized, and because of the special issuesinvolved, there are several people whom you would like to have on this team. Thereal critical person is the clinical representative: You need someone with a strongclinical background who knows how to write a protocol and design case reportforms, and who can also move this process along. The timelines are really tight. Youcannot have someone who lacks real experience in this area and who has notworked under this kind of time pressure. This just isn’t the time to train one oftheir new people.

You would like to have Enid Johnson serve as the clinical representative. Enidhas been through this process and has been through it with high-profile com-pounds. In addition, the two of you get along well, and working with Enid wouldmake your life a whole lot easier. You doubt that Clinical will want to assign her, butmaybe you will get lucky. You heard that they will probably want to assign GeorgeNewt. George isn’t bad, but he has never worked on such a high-profile compound,and you’re not sure about his skills. Moreover, George has never been the clinicalrepresentative on one of your projects. When you checked with a few colleagues,they all agreed that George is smart but is not in Enid’s class.

Yesterday, you called Therapeutic Area Director J.J. Stone to tell him that youwould like to meet with him. When J.J. asked the reason, you said it was to dis-cuss the new AVN-56 project and who “you will assign.” He didn’t ask for and youdidn’t volunteer any more details. You will meet with J.J. in half an hour.

97

ROLE PLAY #14B.G. HAMILTON

Project Management

The company has just licensed in a new compound, and from what you’ve heard,it is a good one—a real complement to our current portfolio. You are not familiarwith all the details, since you were not involved in any of the actual negotiations.However, when the compound was first evaluated, you were asked your opinion.From what you know, all the basic research has been completed. The team’s job willbe to get all the clinical work done, and then to file in the United States and Europe.

You will have to assign someone to the project team. This sounds like a goodassignment for George Newt, who has been with the company for several years.George has never worked on this type of project and it will be an excellent develop-mental activity for him. It fits in perfectly with what you and he discussed duringhis recent performance appraisal: a new, high priority compound with a tight time-line and a lot of pressure.

B.G. Hamilton of Project Management has asked to meet with you. When youasked what it was about, she said it related to the new AVN-56 team. You didn’t askfor more information and she didn’t volunteer any, but you expect she will ask youto assign Enid Johnson to the team. B.G. and Enid are good friends and haveworked together on other projects. However, Enid is working on other teams, aswell as on a special project for you. You know that George can do the job, andassigning him will satisfy additional personal and departmental needs. Moreover,you can’t let Project Management dictate whom you assign to teams. It would set aterrible precedent: Everyone will push for friends or people they know, and otherpeople will never get an opportunity. B.G. wouldn’t like it if you asked for a specificproject manager. You are the head of the department. You spoke with your boss about the issue, and she said, “Whatever is best for the department and the com-pany.”

You will meet with B.G. in about half an hour.

99

ROLE PLAY #14J.J. STONE

Therapeutic Area Director

Title: THE DIFFICULT MEMBER Role Play #15



To practice Issue Identification.

Trainer Notes: This role play can stimulate a good discussion about diffi-cult people and how to deal with them. After the role play,try to brainstorm a list of problem situations. Once a listhas been developed, select several situations for discussionand review. The role play can be repeated following the dis-cussion, providing a framework for individuals in theirfuture dealing with difficult people and situations.

If you use this as a complete role play, you can easily set upan argument: The Difficult Individual raises very sensitiveissues, and many people are having difficulty clarifying what the issues are. They do not want to offend Lee. Payparticular attention to how clearly the issues were stated.Explore why this might or might not have happened.

References: See the Resources section for additional books on thistopic.

Industry: Computers

101

Your name is Bev Smith, and you work for a major computer-hardware manufac-turer. Approximately six months ago, you were asked to head up a new task forcecharged with developing a new company product—a product that everyone agreedwas critical to the company’s future success. The market is extremely competitive,and it is critical that the company introduce new products to the marketplace on aregular basis if it is to remain competitive.

This is a nine-month project, and for the first three months, everything wentquite well. Objectives had been developed and action plans were agreed to by every-one. The meetings during this initial period were interesting, with almost everyoneactively participating. But things have changed. Colin Edwards is the most seniormember on the team. He has been with the company about ten years. Colin is ques-tioning everything that comes up, and seems not to agree with anything. In fact, hechallenges everyone. Several of the team members have responded to his chal-lenges; as a result, the conversations have become very difficult and confusing.

This happened again at last week’s meeting. Colin interrupted a presentationbeing made by Lee Matthews and began to ask very difficult questions. He even crit-icized her slides. Although the questions were important, the manner and style ofasking them bothered everyone. Colin was very judgmental and condescending,and treated Lee like a student. Lee became angry, and responded in a very aggres-sive manner. It was not pleasant, and you had to call a break to calm everyonedown. Several other members have made comments to you about Colin’s behavior,and it is clear that you have to talk with him. You don’t look forward to this, butyou have no choice—it’s clearly affecting the team.

As you think about Colin’s behavior, you realize that you don’t know him verywell. You worked with him on several task forces before, and he always seems topush and challenge people. To quote him, “You need to make people think.”

You called Colin earlier this morning and asked if you could get together. Heagreed, and asked what you want to talk about. You were vague, but you did tellhim that you would like to talk about the team and his role on it.

You will meet with him in fifteen minutes.

103

ROLE PLAY #15BEV SMITH

Team Leader

You are Colin Edwards, and you work for a major manufacturer of computer hard-ware. Four months ago, you were asked to be part of a task force charged withdeveloping a new product—a product that everyone agrees is critical to the com-pany’s future. This project has a nine-month timeline. You are the most seniormember of the team, having worked at the company for almost ten years. You prob-ably should be chairing the group, but the company asked one of its new, youngerpeople to chair the team. A number of people who are relatively new to the com-pany were put on the team. They frequently come up with ideas that are not prac-tical and that have little chance of succeeding in today’s marketplace.

A good example was Lee Edwards’ presentation last week. It was not focusedand not on target. Even her slides were second-rate. Everybody just sat and lis-tened, until you started asking questions and focusing the discussion. Lee clearlywas not happy, but you’re sure she learned. She responded in a very aggressivemanner, and the team leader took a break to, in her words, “calm everyone down.”This is a team; people have to accept all feedback. If not, the team will never achieveits objective.

For the first three months on this team, you kept quiet and didn’t say verymuch. It’s recently become impossible to do that; these people come up with ideasthat make no sense at all. If you are not there to challenge and point out how fool-ish some of their ideas are, who knows what they would come up with?

Bev Smith, the team leader, called you earlier today to ask if she can meetwith you. You’re really busy, but she said it was about the team and your role. Whenyou asked for more detail, she said that she would prefer to talk about it in per-son. This probably won’t be pleasant, but Bev needs to understand how you seeyour role and the concerns you have about the team members. Your meeting is infifteen minutes.

105

ROLE PLAY #15COLIN EDWARDS

Team Member

Title: THE BETA PROJECT Role Play #16

Time: Forty-five minutes


To practice how to deal with a difficult situation involvingmembers of a team and leaders.

Trainer Notes: This is an expanded version of a role play that appeared inthe first volume of our role play book, which looked only atIssue Identification. In this version, we have addedadditional issues to make the role play more complex and,we hope, more interesting. We have tested this version in anumber of workshops and it works well. It can be particu-larly useful if you have people on the same team who workat different sites.

When you debrief The Beta Project, go over the entire six-step negotiation process. It will be helpful to discuss thegroup’s experiences dealing with a team whose memberswork at several different locations. If you are working withteam leaders, talk about the unique issues presented byhaving to lead a geographically diverse team, and discusshow they have been addressed.

Industry: General

107

You and Chris Burns have been working on the same project team for the pasteighteen months. You represent Internal Audit.

You and Chris are at the same organizational level, but Chris is the teamleader. While you generally like Chris and have enjoyed working with her in thepast, you think her appointment as team leader was a mistake. A number of otherpeople would have been better choices. This project involves the launch of a newsoftware program that might have a significant impact on how quickly you getproducts to market.

You are not happy with the way Chris has treated you. Namely:

• She has made several major changes to your section of the quarterlyreport without asking for or getting your approval. You were away on atrip, but she could have reached you with a little effort.

• Chris has been meeting informally with other members of the team, butfor some reason, she never informs you of the meetings or the results.

• She has embarrassed you at several meetings by asking you to respondto questions you were not prepared to discuss.

You also heard that Chris believes that you were responsible for the team’s late sub-missions of the last two monthly reports. She never even talked about this withyou!

Chris has asked to meet with you, probably because you missed the last meet-ing because of a field visit. In addition, you had your secretary call to say that youmight have to miss next week’s meeting because of another trip. This is not the firstmeeting you have missed, and since you were recently assigned to a second project, you will probably miss others. In the past six months, you have missed atotal of three meetings. In fact, because you are so short-staffed, you haven’t evensent replacements. This is not typical, but you had no choice in the matter.

This is not an easy problem. Chris behaves as if your department has noth-ing to do but work on this project. Your department is very short-staffed. Severalpeople recently retired and were not replaced. As a result, your boss has gotten youinvolved in several other projects. As he said to you recently, “We need you to coverat least two other teams that need our input. Do what you have to do to keep ontop of the Beta Project, but don’t let these other projects slip.” When you mentioned

109

ROLE PLAY #16JIM HOLBROOKThe Beta Project

the importance of the Beta Project, he indicated that he thought its potential wasbeing overrated and added, “Anyway, we have no choice. We just have to do the bestwe can.”

There is a lot more to do on the project: select bidders, develop an implemen-tation plan, and eventually select the prime contractor. These are all things you’vehad experience with over the years, but you just don’t have a lot of time. Severalnew people are about to be hired in your department, and it’s possible that one ofthem can be assigned to this project, such as Janet Miles. She worked at High Bankseveral years ago, but left to start her own consulting practice. You know that shehas some experience with these issues—a big plus, since High Bank uses a similarsystem. You were very impressed with Janet when you interviewed her. The nega-tive part is that she has no experience at your firm, and no experience with theunique issues that you face in implementing such a system. You would like toassign Janet to this project, and your boss will probably agree.

This situation really bothers you. You don’t want this project to fail or Christo fail, but you don’t see any real options. You are glad Chris asked to meet, sinceyou have wanted to get these issues settled. The problem is further complicated bythe department’s recent move to another site approximately ten miles away. Whilethe distance is not great, you won’t be around, so you will miss out on all the infor-mal conversations that will take place. Everyone else is at the main facility, and theyjust seem to forget about you. Chris needs to find a way to keep you involved andcurrent about all that is happening. Then, even if you miss meetings, it wouldn’t besuch a problem. That’s the only way you or anyone else can play a meaningful roleon the team.


Chris heads a very important project team. Jim represents Internal Audit. Both areat the same organizational level.


110

You were very excited when your boss asked you to chair the Beta Project teameighteen months ago. You never chaired a team before, and you think this couldhave a positive effect on your career. The project involves implementing a newcorporate software program that could make a real difference to the company.Jim from Internal Audit is one of the team members. You have worked with himseveral times during the past several years, and you generally find him respon-sive and easy to work with. However, he missed last month’s team meeting, andjust this morning called your secretary to say that he won’t be available for nextweek’s meeting. This is not typical of him. You’re not happy with Jim’s lack ofinvolvement; you feel that he is ignoring his responsibilities to the team. His par-ticipation has been complicated by his department’s recent move to thecompany’s new facility, which is about ten miles away. It could be a thousandmiles away, for all of the difference it is making. It’s just not easy to contact Jim;in the past, you could just meet him in the cafeteria or walk over to his office.Now it’s an event. Everything has to be by e-mail. He has to find a way to solvethe problem. It’s not your fault. You feel that he is ignoring his responsibilitiesto the team. Namely:

• Jim has missed three meetings already, all in the last six months, and hehasn’t sent anyone in his place. Prior to that time, he attended everymeeting.

• Jim’s unavailability for meetings has resulted in your team being latewith its last two monthly status reports.

• Several weeks ago, you had to make major revisions in Jim’s section ofthe quarterly report because the piece he turned in was inadequate. If hehad submitted a draft of the report to you like everyone else had, theproblem could have easily been solved. You were in such a rush to getthe work done that you didn’t even mention it to him until after the fact,when you e-mailed him the changes. You were under a lot of pressurefrom your boss at that time.

• You have called ad-hoc meetings several times in the past threemonths, but you weren’t able to reach Jim. It would have been helpfulif he’d been available, since these were issues he was knowledgeableabout.

111

ROLE PLAY #16CHRIS BURNS

The Beta Project

Jim’s performance is negatively affecting the team, and you cannot afford to let himdamage your reputation. What makes the problem worse is that several team mem-bers have commented to you about Jim’s performance and the effect it is having onthe team. As one member said, “We need his department’s involvement, and if Jimcan’t participate, then we need someone who can.” You are reaching the same con-clusion.

You spoke with your boss about the problem. He agreed that it should beresolved, but suggested that you try to work it out with Jim before he gets involved.You really don’t want your boss to intervene, since this would look like you can’thandle tough problems. He did make it very clear that he is concerned and wantsyou to get the problem resolved—how you do this is up to you. Both of you believethat this project is critical.

You have asked to meet with Jim in an effort to let him know how you feel andto see if these problems can be resolved and put behind you. You have not talkedto Jim about your concerns before today, but there is an urgent need to solve theproblem, since the project is far from finished. The team is moving into a criticalphase; we’re about to select bidders, and we need people with the type of experi-ence that Jim can bring to the process. In addition, once the bidders are identified,we will have to select the prime contractor. This will be a lot of work, and it willrequire a great deal of everyone’s time. You really don’t want any of their new peo-ple, since you doubt that any of them have Jim’s experience in this area or with theissues the company faces in implementing such a complex program. One of the rea-sons you pushed to get Jim on the team was that he has experience with theseissues.

Now, with his department’s recent move to the new facility, any advantage tohaving Jim on the team has been lost.


Chris heads an ad-hoc committee for a very important project. Jim representsInternal Audit. Both are at the same organizational level.


112

Title: THE DIFFICULT DISCUSSION/MEETING Role Play #17

Time: Thirty to forty-five minutes

Objectives: To explore the issues involved in having a difficult conversa-tion with a co-worker.

Training Notes: Pay particular attention to how much people talked aboutthe past during the role play, and how well the issues wereclarified. Issue Identification will influence the remainder ofthe negotiation.

Were the people playing Lee clear about their concerns as towhy Dana asked for this meeting.? If they are not, it is likelythat the people playing Dana will be equally vague inresponding.

If people are vague and you confront them, they will fre-quently talk about not wanting to hurt the other person’sfeelings, even though they are still upset. You need to helpthem understand the consequences of not being clear, par-ticularly if problems resurface.

Many people find this kind of situation very difficult to nego-tiate; some will skip the “history” and go directly to the“future.” It is important to help people understand that it isdifficult, if not impossible, to effectively plan future actionsif the problems of the past are not dealt with.

Resource: If you need additional lecture material on the subject of dif-ficult or confrontational conversations, refer to the bookDifficult Conversations by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton,and Sheila Heen (Viking, 1999).

Industry: General

113

You have a problem. You were assigned to a task force to help rewrite the company’sStandard Operating Procedures, and you have been asked to chair the subcommittee on new-product development. You are anxious to be part of thisassignment, since it will give you a great deal of exposure (particularly to seniormanagement), as well as provide an opportunity to work with people from a num-ber of different departments. The problem is Lee Krueger—you really don’t wanthim on the team.

You and Lee have not worked closely on any project for at least two years, ifnot more. Lee is someone you feel you cannot depend on. On the two previous proj-ects you worked on together, Lee failed to meet his commitments. In bothinstances, data analysis he was to complete by a particular date was not done. Thisdirectly affected your department and made it difficult to complete work for otherpeople. To make matters worse, Lee didn’t inform anyone about the delay until thelast minute, when it was too late to make any adjustments. When the problemswere discovered, he wouldn’t take any responsibility for his actions, but insteadblamed others. This is something you just can’t tolerate. If someone made a mis-take, they should take responsibility, not blame others. How can you trust some-one who avoids responsibility?

When you spoke with co-workers about the problem, they all said that this istypical of Lee. Now you have him on your subcommittee. You tried to get himassigned to another one, but with no luck. When you spoke with your boss aboutthe problem, she said that there is nothing she can do and you will just have to dealwith Lee. She suggested that you sit down and talk with him. This is not somethingyou want to do. You really hoped she would talk with Lee’s boss and solve the prob-lem for you. You eventually decided that the only way to deal with Lee was to talkwith him.

You have fifteen minutes to prepare for that meeting.

115

ROLE PLAY #17DANA LOWETeam Leader

You are not happy. You were just assigned to the company task force to rewrite theStandard Operating Procedures. You have been assigned to the subcommitteechaired by Dana Lowe that will focus on new product development.

You have never gotten along with Dana. You served on several task forces withhim in the past, and something always left him unhappy. You are not sure exactlywhat it is, but you heard that he doesn’t want you on his subcommittee. You didn’tthink things were that bad, but whatever the problem, you will have to work withDana on this task force. You discussed the problem with your boss, and she saidthat she also heard that Dana did not want you on his committee and that you hadbetter get it straightened out quickly. You are annoyed that Dana did not call you,but instead talked to others. How can you trust people who do things like that?Your approach has always been to talk directly to people when you have a problem.This allows problems to get solved quickly, without everyone finding out aboutthem. It also serves to build a good working relationship.

As your boss suggested, you spent the last several days thinking about whatDana might be annoyed about. For the last year or so, the two of you have had noreal contact, except to attend several meetings together. As you think back to thelast task force the two of you served on (which was at least two years ago), yourecall that you had problems getting your data analysis completed as quickly as youshould have. There were problems in the department at the time, and although youworked on it until the last minute, the analysis just didn’t get completed on time.It wasn’t something you could do anything about. People who were to get you thedata just did not meet their commitments, which complicated the problem. Youwere very upset, and so were the other team members, but there was nothing any-one could do. Something similar happened on a second project, for pretty muchthe same reason. In both instances, you explained the problem to the team; every-one, including the team leader, was very understanding. No one seemed to hold youpersonally accountable. Everyone knows that things like this always happen; we allhave to learn to be understanding, because the next problem might be ours.

You will meet with Dana in fifteen minutes.

117

ROLE PLAY #17LEE KRUEGERTeam Member

SECTION TWO

External Negotiations

Negotiating with Vendors

VENDOR RELATIONSHIPS

Introduction

All of the role plays in the following section look at relationships a company mighthave with its vendors. The role plays do not cover the initial negotiation, but ratherissues that are likely to arise once a contract has been signed.

Each of these tightly drawn role plays explores specific issues, as well as the general process of negotiation. Each one can be used to clarify and discuss onlythe issues raised by the content, or used as part of an overall vendor-negotiationprogram.

If you are going to use the role plays as part of an overall program, we suggestthat you include a discussion about what the company thinks of its relationshipswith its vendors and what vendors think about their relationships with the com-pany. We usually suggest that participants rate the company using a continuum(going from “very competitive” to “very collaborative.” This exercise works particu-larly well if half the participants play the company role and half play the vendorrole. Problems that are identified should be listed and discussed by the entiregroup. It is critical that you take this to the next step: have the group explore pos-sible solutions. If you have collected data from vendors that might be particularlyhelpful, present this to the group for discussion.

These role plays can also work if your firm is itself a vendor. They will giveyour people an opportunity to practice dealing with the range of problems thatcome up when working with the same clients over an extended period of time.

In the Trainers Notes for each role play, we indicate how we have used theactivity ourselves, and provide suggestions that will make it more effective.

121

Title: THE CONTRACT MANUFACTURER Role Play #18



To learn how to deal with a contractor who has failed tomeet his/her obligations.

Trainer Notes: In addition to looking at how well participants handled theproblem presented by the role play, be sure you talk aboutthe company’s process for approving sites prior to signing acontract and starting work.

We suggest that you also explore how internal pressures can be handled in order to move things along and avoid problems.

This is a complex role play involving a difficult situation.There is usually a great deal of annoyance and frustrationexpressed by the auditor. This frustration usually centerson the fact that the auditor took a risk and approved the sitewithout having seen the changes that were made. Havingtaken the risk, he now has a problem.


123

You are the plant manager of a chemical manufacturing facility that has recentlybeen updated to provide specialized manufacturing services to specialty chemicalcompanies. Yours is one of the few plants in this part of the country that can quicklymanufacture very complex compounds—compounds that would take other facili-ties much longer to manufacture. Management invested a great deal of money inupgrading the facility, and it is now paying dividends.

BIM Chemicals is one of the companies you hope will use your plant more fre-quently. BIM is a small (but growing) firm in the specialty-chemicals field. Severalmonths ago, you began talking with BIM about manufacturing one of their newproducts: Alfa B. BIM’s researchers spent a considerable amount of time assessingyour facility, and seem to be satisfied. Shortly thereafter, Fred Gray, one of theirauditors, came by to check out the plant. During the exit interview, he pointed outwhat he called “several GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) deviations.” These areproblems you already know about and don’t find terribly important. Your facilitymight not follow the letter of the law when it comes to government regulations, butyou’re very close. In fact, no other company has ever pointed them out as problems.Fred recommended an action plan to address the deviations, and you get theimpression that it wouldn’t take too long to meet the standard. You agreed to seethat the areas are immediately addressed. He, in turn, said he would recommendapproval of the facility to BIM management.

You received a letter from Fred outlining the exit interview and spelling out theactions you agreed to during the meeting. When you saw them in print and dis-cussed them with your staff, they somehow looked much harder to accomplish. Infact, you’re sure you won’t be able to get them all completed by the time the manu-facture of Alfa B is scheduled to begin. Several new contracts and other internalprojects have limited your ability to complete everything. You sent Fred a letter say-ing that you wouldn’t be able to meet all of your commitments to BIM because ofother corporate commitments. You were deliberately vague in the letter, since youdon’t want to be pinned down to a specific schedule if you can avoid it. The devia-tions don’t seem terribly important or far off standard; you are sure that he will stillapprove your site, even though he won’t be happy about the deviations.

Fred called you yesterday, after he received your letter. He sounded very upsetand said that he would be here today to speak to you. You know there is no way to make the required GMP upgrades within the present time frame. It would

125

ROLE PLAY #18BETSY REDDEN

Plant Manager

mean shutting down some other manufacturing areas, and would certainly impactthe deadlines of other customers—customers who are not concerned with the GMPdeficiencies noted by Fred. Still, you are somewhat uncomfortable, because you didagree at the exit interview to make the changes. Everyone would like BIM’s busi-ness. This company has the potential to provide several million dollars’ worth ofbusiness each year. More, if everything goes well.

You are scheduled to meet with Fred in a few minutes.


Here are the items that Fred referred to during the exit interview and in his letter:

• Temperature and humidity are not monitored in the compounding area.Alfa B is very sensitive to minor fluctuations in humidity.

• There is no system for tracking equipment-calibration due dates. Frednoted that several pieces of equipment are past due calibration.

• There is no master plan for equipment-cleaning validation. Most clean-ing processes have not been validated. The chemicals are water-soluble,so that is not an issue of concern.

• There are no procedures for investigating failures.• A new segment was added to the USP water system, but there has been

no formal validation of the entire system after this change was made.There have been serious occasions of off-limit microbial counts in theUSP water that have gone uninvestigated.


126

You are Fred Gray, auditor, and have worked at BIM Chemicals for about five years.You just audited an outside manufacturing facility that is scheduled to produce oneof BIM’s most-important new products, Alfa B. The company’s scientific researchstaff assessed the capabilities of the operations several weeks ago and found themto be acceptable. In fact, they recommended that the company use this facility. Toquote their report, “This is an excellent, well-run facility.”

The time line for this compound is extremely tight, but the facility has someunique systems that enable its staff to meet tight manufacturing requirements.However, when you audited the facility, you found some significant GMP deviationsthat you reviewed during the exit interview. The facility’s management acknowl-edged the situation and assured you that your findings and recommendationswould be addressed immediately. They did say that no one else had ever raisedthese issues and that they could not understand why they are of such concern.

You documented your exit interview, including all audit comments and recom-mendations agreed to by the plant manager, Betsy Redden. You requested an imme-diate response confirming the actions to be taken, even though you hadn’t receivedthe written response. You recommended approval of this facility because of Ms. Redden’s strong assurances during the exit interview.

Today, a week later, you received a letter from Ms. Redden. You are very sur-prised to read that the “confirmation” does not adequately address the findings orthe agreed-to actions. In fact, the entire letter was vague and general. You are furi-ous; the actions were very clearly stated and agreed to in the exit interview. You can’tstart looking for a new facility now; production of Alfa B is scheduled to begin nextmonth! You need to meet with Betsy to come up with an acceptable resolution to thisproblem right away. GMP standards must be met, and the production of Alfa B sim-ply cannot be delayed. In your mind, the GMP issues could be resolved if Betsystarts to address them immediately. However, you realize that this might affect someof their other commitments. If Betsy had started to address the deviations when shesaid she would, the problems would be well on their way to being resolved.

You called Betsy to set up an appointment, and indicated your annoyance. Youspoke with your management and everyone was very clear: “We have no real options.This needs to get resolved so that production can begin and we can stay on sched-ule.” Everyone agreed that you have the authority to work out the problem.

You will meet Betsy at the facility in the next few minutes.

127

ROLE PLAY #18FRED GRAY

Auditor for BIM Chemicals


Here are the items that Fred referred to during the exit interview and in his letter:

• Temperature and humidity are not monitored in the compounding area.Alfa B is very sensitive to minor fluctuations in humidity.

• There is no system for tracking equipment-calibration due dates. Frednoted that several pieces of equipment are past due calibration.

• There is no master plan for equipment-cleaning validation. Most clean-ing processes have not been validated. The chemicals are water-soluble,so that is not an issue of concern.

• There are no procedures for investigating failures.• A new segment was added to the USP water system, but there has been

no formal validation of the entire system after this change was made.There have been serious occasions of off-limit microbial counts in theUSP water that have gone uninvestigated.


128

Title: BAD NEWS Role Play #19


Objectives: To practice the six-step method of effective negotiation.

To learn how to deal with “bad news.”

Trainer Notes: This is a good role play to help members focus on relation-ship and content issues. The supplier has clearly been agood vendor, but internal problems have arisen that willaffect a potential contract. In addition to looking at theissues, pay particular attention to what people said and howthey said it. Many people believe that talking directly aboutthis problem will destroy their relationship with the otherparty. As a result, they tend to make promises they can’tkeep.

In your discussion, explore the implications of asking or notasking for compensation. The vendors will at times decidenot to ask for any compensation in order to avoid offendinganyone and to maintain the relationship. This is important,since the company is prepared to make some payment, andit is particularly important if your company is the vendor.As a follow-up discussion, it can be helpful to talk abouthow to maintain relationships in the face of these situations.

Industry: Consumer products

129

For the past several months, you have been meeting with Eric Sloan at Meta Corpabout Meta’s upcoming “Toothpaste and Teens” study. While Eric never made anydirect promises, it was clear (at least in your mind) that some of the work wouldgo to your company, if not all of it. You have done a fair amount of work for Metaand for Eric. You helped him with the initial questionnaire, as well as with the over-all format of the study. You were willing to spend the time because your companywants to move into this area, and this was an ideal way to do so. You don’t usuallyspend this much time up front with a client, but you felt in this case that it wasworth the investment. In fact, you recently hired someone with skills in the field toenhance the company’s capability. This person worked for one of your competitorsand is well respected in the field. Eric knew this, and told you that he thinks it wasa great idea.

Several weeks ago, Eric asked you to submit a proposal. You did this, expect-ing that you would get the contract. He called earlier today, saying that there aresome problems that he needs to discuss with you. Knowing Eric, your proposal isin trouble. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have suggested a meeting—e-mail and telephoneare his preferred ways of communicating. He should have just told you what wasbothering him. You budgeted this project at $65,000, which you think is very rea-sonable. It doesn’t even cover all the work you already did with Eric these past sev-eral months. That time alone (if it were billable) would come to another $10,000 atthe very minimum, bringing the overall cost of the study to $75,000. While therewere never any discussions about fees for your work, you believe that you shouldbe compensated if you’re not going to be awarded the contract. You did the workbecause you expected the contract would go to you. It was an investment.

You have several minutes to prepare.

131

ROLE PLAY #19ED MICHAELS

MAF, Inc.

You have an interesting problem. Several months ago, at the suggestion of one ofyour internal customers, you began work on a “Toothpaste and Teens” study thatMarketing was going to need. You identified a market research vendor, MAF, Inc.,to begin working with you. MAF hasn’t yet done a great deal of work on this proj-ect, but their sales rep, Ed Michaels, clearly helped you with the format and thedesign of the questionnaire, and helped you think through the manner in whichthe work could be completed. MAF has done a fair amount of work for the com-pany, and for you personally. While you didn’t make any promises, you know thatEd expects to get this project. Although the field is not one that MAF has workedin before, they’re clearly knowledgeable and capable of doing the work. In fact,Ed let you know that they recently hired someone with expertise in teen surveys.

In reality, you expected to give Ed the work, or you wouldn’t have begun working with him. You asked for a proposal, and he submitted one for$65,000—a price you feel is a bit high, but not unreasonable. Your guess is thatEd really wants this business. However, last week your boss asked to talk withyou about the project. She said that since this was such an important, high-priority project, she feels we should go with one of the more-established marketresearch vendors—vendors who have a history of doing work with teens. Toquote her, “This project is too important to give to someone who hasn’t donework in this area before.” When you mentioned your work with Ed Michaels atMAF and the work he has already completed, she said, “I know about that andI know how you feel about Ed, but I strongly feel that we can’t take the risk.” Shewent on to say that if Ed asks for compensation for the week’s worth of work,you can work something out.

You now have to meet with Ed to discuss this. You called him shortly aftermeeting with your boss and told him that there are some problems on the project.He has probably figured out that it’s serious, since you usually communicate byphone or e-mail. You are not at all happy with this, since you really wanted to workwith Ed and MAF.

You have the next fifteen minutes to plan for your meeting.

133

ROLE PLAY #19ERIC SLOAN

Purchasing Representative

Title: THE PHOTOGRAPHER Role Play #20



To practice dealing with difficult individuals.

Trainer Notes: This role play will work particularly well if you have given peo-ple a model to work with. If this is the case, your observersheet should be tailored to reflect your model. The “difficult”person in the scenario, the photographer, is older and widelyrespected, and he knows it. He is capable of using his powerand his prestige for personal advantage.

The exercise works particularly well with groups of peoplewho must interact with temperamental or difficult individu-als. If this role play is part of a longer program on how todeal with difficult people, it can be particularly helpful tocomplete only the Issue Identification step.

In debriefing this role play, pay particular attention to howclearly the issues are articulated. People are often veryuncomfortable talking to this type of person and tend to beso careful about what they say and how they say it that themessage gets confused. This makes bargaining a lot moredifficult.

If you need additional information on how to deal with dif-ficult people, refer to the Bibliography. One book we havefound particularly helpful is Difficult Conversations, byDouglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen.

Industry: Publishing

135

You have been a fashion photographer for the past fifteen years, and you know yourbusiness. You are well respected in the field, and have more assignments than youcan handle. One of the reasons that you’re so good is that you insist on having com-plete control over what happens at the shoot. You know what must happen to makethings work, and you won’t allow anyone to get in your way. Models love workingwith you because you really take care of them. You know that this has earned youa reputation for being difficult, but that can’t be helped. You are also considered thebest in the field, and the two things go together. People pay top dollar for you, andyou’re going to give them the best.

Next week you have a shoot for Teen Brides magazine, and you’re not lookingforward to it. You’ve never worked for Teen Brides, and you doubt that they under-stand how you work. In addition, you’ve decided that you don’t really like bridalgowns—they’re boring—but it’s an important market. This shoot is one you don’twant to miss; it’s to be held in St. Bart’s, at a hotel you love. This is a big marketand it’s one you want a piece of. You’ve heard that Teen Brides is way too concernedwith detail; they want to control what’s going on, and everyone is given a say in howthings are done. They don’t understand that if you listen to everyone’s opinions, thepictures will look like something out of a first-year photography class. They shouldjust let you alone to do what they pay you to do.

Taylor Butler, the fashion editor at Teen Brides, has asked to meet with youthis afternoon to prepare for the shoot. You know Taylor well, having worked withher at several other magazines. You’ve always found her easy to work with, sinceshe leaves you alone. You wonder what’s up. However, you’re glad for the chance tomeet today so that you can get a few things straight about how you want to workon the set. Maybe it will help speed things along so you’ll have more time to enjoySt. Bart’s.

137

ROLE PLAY #20RICHARD MASON

Photographer

You are dreading the next week. You’ve got a very important and expensive shootcoming up with Richard Mason. Mason is one of the foremost photographers in thefield, and his photos are spectacular. You have worked with Richard in the past andlike him. He has a way with models, and brings out their very best. However, hemight be wonderful with models, but he’s just dreadful with everyone else at thelocation. He insists that someone be available to do his bidding at all times. Heinsists on having absolute control over every aspect of what’s going on. If he does-n’t like the way something has been handled, he yells and screams at the peopleinvolved. In fact, you’ve never heard him speak nicely to anyone, except the modelshe works with.

You want to use Mason as much as possible, but you don’t know how to han-dle him. You also don’t know how to handle the anger and tears of the people heyells and screams at. In fact, several people who worked with him at other compa-nies have already told you that they don’t want to work with Richard again. Thereare six people involved in next week’s shoot, which will be held on St. Bart’s.Somehow, you have to get his behavior under control. In fact, two of the six peopleinvolved didn’t even want to go to St. Bart’s—you had to use all your persuasiveskills to get them to agree to go.

You have a meeting set up with Richard in half an hour to talk with him abouthis behavior on the set. As you think about him, you remember that he can be quitecharming—it’s at the shoot that he becomes so difficult.

139

ROLE PLAY #20TAYLOR BUTLER

Fashion Editor

Title: THE FINAL REPORT Role Play #21



To explore what options are available when a contractor wehave engaged fails to meet commitments.

To practice clearly describing our feelings and concerns.

Trainer Notes: This role play has a lot of potential anger in it, so it isimportant to look at how people handled their anger. Werethey able to use it productively, or did it get the best ofthem? Look also at its impact on the overall relationship.This role play is a good one for looking at the entire six-stepnegotiation process.

If your company has a procedure for handling this type ofsituation, present it and have the group discuss it. In addi-tion, if any of the participants have had similar problems, itwould be useful for the group to hear how the problemswere handled.

Industry: General

141

Approximately six months ago, you gave a small but important contract to JPA, amid-sized consulting firm. This is the first time you have worked with JPA, but youexpected them to do good work and complete everything on time. Others told youthat JPA is a good outfit and that you can trust them.

Yesterday you received a call from Jim Callahan, JPA’s project manager foryour project. He told you that JPA will not complete the project on time. In fact, hesaid, they will probably be three months late. He didn’t indicate what the delay is—only that he needs to meet with you.

As you think about this project, you realize that you didn’t give it your fullattention. You were so busy with other things, and you were so sure that JPA woulddo a good job that you really didn’t manage this project the way you usually do. Inthe early stages, everything seemed to be going well—all the early milestones wereachieved. As a result, you didn’t meet with them as frequently as before, since youwere busy with other work. You spoke with your boss about what to do, and he saidthat his primary concern is to see how much time can be made up. He wasn’t happyabout your request for additional money, but he agreed that if money is what it willtake to get the project done, you can have it. However, he clearly doesn’t want tocover all their costs, since the problem was of their making, not yours. You could-n’t agree more; JPA deserves to be penalized. Just because you were not micro-managing their every activity is no excuse for falling this far behind. They’resupposed to be professionals. There is nothing in the contract about penalties, butthis is probably a good time to raise the issue. You will meet with the JPA personin ten minutes.

Known to Both Parties:

This is a one-year project. Six months have already elapsed.

143

ROLE PLAY #21EDUARDO LOPEZ

Alpha-Beta Project Manager

Approximately six months ago, you received a small contract from Alpha-Beta, Inc.This is the first contract you’ve signed with them, and everyone wants it to go espe-cially well because it might open the door to additional work. Everything went greatfor the first several months—all the milestones were achieved. You had severalmeetings early on with their project manager, but you’ve heard almost nothing fromhim for several months. You assumed that he felt comfortable with how things weregoing and that you had the project under control, which you did.

However, yesterday you had to call to tell him that the project would be at leastthree months late. You’re not sure exactly what happened, except that during thelast several weeks you received a number of new contracts, several of which arequite large. In fact, one of them is the largest contract the company has everreceived. While you didn’t think these new contracts would create a problem, itappears that the Alpha-Beta project got pushed aside. This isn’t something youwant to tell them, but it’s the reality.

You spoke with your boss about the problem, and she said, “We need to getthe Alpha-Beta project finished as soon as possible. We can’t lose that account;Alpha-Beta is too important. It would be ideal if you can get an extension or moremoney. Do whatever you have to.”

You can probably make up some of the time, especially if Alpha-Beta helpsout. In fact, the more they help, the more time you can make up. This would allowyou to hire several contractors. It isn’t likely, however, that you can make up all thetime that has been lost.

You have ten minutes before your meeting with Alpha-Beta’s project manager,Eduardo Lopez.

Known to Both Parties:

This is a one-year project. Six months have already elapsed.

145

ROLE PLAY #21JIM CALLAHAN

JPA Project Manager

Title: THE MARKET RESEARCH STUDY Role Play #22



To practice Issue Identification.

To practice dealing with a problem situation.

Trainer Notes: This role play is ideal for use with marketing research people.It is most effective when used to focus on Issue Identification.

If the role play is used only for Issue Identification, partici-pants should be instructed to stop as soon as each personhas talked about the things he/she wishes to cover. One per-son in each pair should summarize both parties’ issues,and then they will be finished. In the debriefing, discusswhether each party allowed the other to get all of his/herissues out before responding.

If the role play is used as a complete negotiation activity, discuss how the vendor addressed the problem. Were theclient’s needs met? What was the impact on the relation-ship?

Industry: General

147

You have a problem with a report (if you can call it that) delivered by Ace, Inc., oneof your vendors. Although you inherited this project from someone else, you haveworked with Ace in the past. They’re a small company and they’re very good at whatthey do, but they know it. You’ve never enjoyed working with them, but that’sanother story. Ace was contracted to do a study and create concepts for a new prod-uct. The study consisted of forty-five to fifty in-depth interviews and a summaryreport of the findings.

Earlier this week, the company president came in to present the findings. TheProject Manager was not present. The presentation of the findings was very profes-sional, but when you asked for the back-up data and a detailed report, Ace’s pres-ident explained that none was available. What he presented was a first-ratePowerPoint show. When you asked about the report, he said, “There was nothing inthe contract about a report. We’ve done what was required. The final results werepresented, which is what the contract calls for and what your associate and I dis-cussed. No one said they wanted a written report.”

The associate you inherited the project from is no longer with the company,and his notes are not very clear. While the PowerPoint presentation was a good one,you need the raw data and the detailed tabulations to make your decisions about theproduct. His interpretation of the data is not enough; you cannot rely on just hisword. When you looked at the contract, you noticed that the language isn’t clear; itonly says that a report will be presented. Ace’s president should know that the tab-ulations and a written report are necessary requirements—after all, he’s been in thebusiness long enough. Your view is that Ace should provide all the data, as well as acomplete report about what they did and how they went about it—especially for whatthey’re charging. You need this material as quickly as possible. PowerPoint slides arenot enough.

You set up a meeting with the president of Ace for today to discuss the mat-ter. You tried to reach your former co-worker for more information, but he’s out ofthe country and won’t be available for at least a week.

You spoke with your boss about the problem and asked about paying addi-tional money; she said she would rather not, but would leave it up to you. She gaveyou full authority to work something out.

The actual cost of the study is $25,000, which you believe warrants a writtenreport.

149

ROLE PLAY #22G.W. STAR

Vehicles, Inc.

You are the president of a small market-research firm that has been in business forclose to a dozen years. Your company does good work, and you have an excellentreputation. You recently completed a project for Vehicles, Inc. The Vehicles man-ager is G.W. Star, who took over the project after it was well underway. For somereason, G.W. and you have never gotten along. You are not sure why.

You made a presentation on the project earlier this week to several people atVehicles. If you say so yourself, it was a very good presentation. However, after youfinished, B.D. asked for the raw data “to support your calculations” and a copy ofthe complete written report—not just the PowerPoint slides. You told her that thecontract did not require a written report—only the presentation that you just com-pleted. Nothing was said about preparing and presenting all the tabulations. Whenthe work was originally discussed with G.W.’s predecessor, there was no mentionof the raw data or a complete report. In fact, one of the ways you kept the cost downwas by not doing all the tabulations or preparing a written report. B.D. indicatedthat the two of you need to talk.

As you think about this, you realize that writing a final report will require sev-eral additional days of work, not to mention an employee’s time and that of a sen-ior project director to review and critique the report. The report is a big problem;writing one takes time and care, and it will cost at least $6,000 over and above the$25,000 cost of the actual study. Moreover, it will be several weeks before you caneven get to the work, because of other commitments. It’s the report that’s the bigconsumer of time—the raw data and the tabulations are not that much of a prob-lem. You really would prefer not to have to do the work.

You will meet with B.D. in ten minutes.

151

ROLE PLAY #22GEORGE M. CRAVENPresident of Ace, Inc.

Title: NEW STAFF Role Play #23



Trainer Notes: This role play provides an excellent opportunity to look atdifferent perceptions of the same situation.

Be sure that you explore how the company person handledthe situation. He has very strong feelings about the issue.Did he indicate how he felt? Participants usually focus onthe facts of the situation rather than on the feelings, andtend to be much more punitive in terms of the future andtheir expectations. However, when they discuss feelings and the feelings are acknowledged by the other party, theoutcome is far more positive, as are the long-term implica-tions. Pay particular attention to what the vendor does toclarify the problem. Too frequently, vendors become verydefensive; as a result, the full nature of the problem is notexplored.

If your company is a vendor and you have done previoustraining or have a particular model you wish participants touse, be sure that a discussion of that model precedes thisrole play.

Industry: Software

153

You are ABC’s project director for the Acme-33 development project. It is now sixmonths into the project, and you are generally satisfied with how things have beengoing. You would have liked (and still would like) a closer working relationship withthe Acme project manager, who hasn’t been easy to work with. You’ve tried to sched-ule meetings with him, but he is frequently not available. However, some meetingsdo get scheduled, and they are usually productive.

Yesterday, you received a call from the project manager’s secretary, askingabout scheduling a meeting for today. You are not sure what the meeting is allabout, but your statistician called and mentioned a conversation with his Acmecounterpart, Anne Bennet. During their conversation, he mentioned that he was nolonger going to be working on the project. He said that Anne seemed quite annoyed.You don’t understand why. You almost always change team members when newprojects come in-house. This is something Acme should realize—they’ve workedwith consulting firms before. It’s the only way a company like ours can operate.

However, you are sure that once you review the skills of the new person, itwon’t be a problem. While the new person is new to ABC, he isn’t new to the indus-try, and he’s extremely capable. Acme is probably aware that the technical writerhas also changed, but he, too, has been replaced with an excellent person—a sen-ior company employee who just returned from medical leave who is outstanding. Ifanything, she will enhance the project. From your perspective, the project probablyhas better people now than it had when it was started, and they are people you arepersonally more comfortable with. You hope that Acme will see it the same way.

Take the next several minutes to prepare for this meeting with the Acme project manager, Sam Lindsay.

155

ROLE PLAY #23MICHAEL CHAN

Project Director, ABC

You are the project manager for a contract project your company, Acme Software,has with ABC and Associates. You asked to meet today with Michael Chan, projectdirector for ABC, whom you’ve met with several times since the project began. Youhave several concerns with how ABC is handling the project, and you would like todiscuss them.

When the project first began, you were quite happy with how it was being han-dled. It’s now six months into the project, and things have happened recently thatconcern you—namely, that several members of the ABC project team have beenreassigned. This was done without anyone informing you or anyone else at Acme.The only way you found out about it was when your statistician Anne called hercounterpart at ABC, who told her that he is no longer on the project and that hisreplacement will call her back later. During that conversation, he mentioned thatone of the writers had also been assigned to another project. These changes canonly serve to create problems. The people involved developed good working rela-tionships with your people. To say the least, you are very concerned. So are yourstatistician and writer; they both called to express their displeasure. To make mat-ters worse, the ABC people don’t appreciate how this leaves you feeling. This isn’thow you do business. At the very least, they should let you know that changes areneeded before they make them. Ideally, they should ask if a change is acceptable.You suspect that they will continue to switch people as they see fit. You are left withthe feeling that this project isn’t very important to them, and this is bound to havean impact on the success of the project. This is probably the first of many changesABC will make.

You would like to have both people back on the project, or at least plan for amore orderly transition. You clearly don’t want this to happen again. You will meetwith Michael Chan, the project director, in a few minutes.

157

ROLE PLAY #23SAM LINDSAY

Project Director for Acme

Title: CLEAN DATA FILE Role Play #24

Time: Ten minutes

Objectives: To practice Issue Identification.

Trainer Notes: In debriefing this role play, discuss whether the vendor asksquestions. Does the vendor listen to the client and clarify,when appropriate? Does the vendor make sure all of theclient’s concerns are on the table before he/she responds?Many times, people will begin bargaining before all theissues are clear. Discuss the possible consequences of doingthis.

This is a brief role play that we use to illustrate the IssueIdentification step in negotiations. It was written with thatobjective in mind, so there will not be enough material tomake this into a complete role play. Don’t use it for anythingmore than Issue Identification.

Industry: Software or General

159

You are a project manager at a leading software consulting firm. Two days ago, youdelivered the final data file to Software Inc. on the beta test of their new software.Everyone felt really good about getting it done on time, since Software Inc. is animportant new client. You have a lot riding on this project, and when you broughtthe report to them, everyone was very pleased.

You were away all of last week, so you didn’t have a chance to check any ofthe data before it was delivered. Yesterday, however, the Software Inc. project man-ager, Meg Stone, called and said, “When we reviewed the data, we found a numberof inconsistencies and missing data points.” You couldn’t believe what you werehearing—this has never happened before! Meg asked to meet with you later today.

After reviewing the data, it is clear that Software is right. There are someproblems that won’t be easy to fix, and this will take a fair amount of time. SoftwareInc. has to be furious, since they already paid an amount equal to the project cost,and won’t be happy about paying any more. In fact, they advanced monies whenyour company was having cash-flow problems—not many companies will do that.They basically paid for the project before it was completed. And now, because ofseveral new contracts, you don’t have anyone readily available to address theseproblems. You could hire several contractors; that will cost money, but it willquickly solve the problem. One person you have in mind is a former companyemployee who could straighten things out quickly. It would be great if you could geta one-month extension.

You spoke with your boss about this, who said, “Do what you have to do.They’re too important—just don’t give away too much.” You’re not sure exactly whatthat means, but you have another ten minutes before the meeting with Meg Stone,Software Inc.’s project manager, to figure it out.

161

ROLE PLAY #24BOB WALSH

Morgan Consultants

Last week Morgan Consultants, the firm working on the beta test of your new soft-ware, delivered what was supposed to be the clean data file. If this is a clean datafile, then they need to go back to school. Just a brief check revealed a number ofinconsistencies and missing data points. It appears that Morgan didn’t do even themost basic quality assurance review before bringing the data to you. This really sur-prises you, since up until now, their work has been more than acceptable. It’s clearthat a lot of data clean-up will be needed. Unless something can be done and donequickly, the product release will be significantly delayed. However, if Morganassigns enough people to the project, they should be able to make up most of thetime.

This isn’t going to sit well with your management. To further complicatematters, you already paid Morgan an amount that equals the total project costbecause the company was having cash-flow problems. You advanced them money,which is something we never do and something no one else would do. It was a bigfavor.

You spoke with your boss about the problem, and she, too, was very unhappy. She told you that you have complete authority to work the situation out,but she doesn’t want to pay Morgan any more money. “The problem is theirs to fix,and it has to be fixed quickly. You need to make that very clear. We have too muchriding on the testing, and people here have been waiting for the data. I thought theywere a good company. I won’t want to send any more business their way if they don’tdo the right thing.” You set up a meeting with their project manager, Bob Walsh, todeal with this issue.

You have ten minutes to think things through before you meet with Bob Walsh.

163

ROLE PLAY #24MEG STONE

Software, Inc.

Title: THE LATE REPORTS Role Play #25


Objectives: To practice dealing with poor vendor performance.

To practice either the complete six-step negotiation methodor the Issue Identification step.

Trainer Note: This role play can help the group learn to deal with poorvendor performance. If it is being used only for the IssueIdentification step, participants should be instructed tonegotiate only until each person has laid out the thingshe/she wishes to cover in the negotiation. Once this is done,one of the two players should summarize both parties’issues to complete the role play.

In the full role play, some role players will ask for theirmoney back, which can raise very difficult issues. Youshould explore what this might do to the relationship. See ifanyone has been involved in this type of situation, and askhim/her to talk about what happened. You should also beaware of your company’s general position on this issue.

Industry: General

165

You are furious with Lopez & Associates. You just received a phone call from KathyWitkowski, the project director at Lopez, who said that they will be at least twoweeks late with their final report. What really bothers you is that the deadline wasn’t a surprise. You discussed this date with their Business Development peoplewhen the project was originally discussed, and again with the project director whenyou met with her at the start of the project. Everyone assured you that time wasn’ta problem and that Lopez fully understood the importance of the date and the needto file on time with the government. It’s clear to you now that this was just talk—talk to get the contract.

What makes you even angrier is that when it looked as if the date might be aproblem two months ago, you spoke with Kathy and told her that if there is a prob-lem with the deadline, you will assign additional people to help out. You had peo-ple available at the time, but now that’s no longer the case. Lopez was aware of theimportance of the project and the deadline for the final report, and assured youthat they wouldn’t miss the date. If necessary, she said, Lopez would assign addi-tional people. You are so annoyed that you want to ask for a refund. Your last con-versation with the project director was about three weeks ago; you were assured atthe time that everything was okay and that there were no problems.

Lopez shouldn’t make promises knowing that they can’t be kept. You’ve heardthis about them, they over-promise. That’s why you watched this project so closely.And now, your boss and senior management are annoyed with you for “not doingyour job.” As your boss said, “You knew this project was important. Why weren’t youspending more time with them? Weren’t you watching this project?” She went on tosay that you should do what is necessary to solve the problem and get the report in-house as quickly as possible.

Take the next several minutes to prepare for the meeting with Kathy fromLopez Associates.

167

ROLE PLAY #25DONALD SAWYER

Project Manager for Tiger, Inc.

You are the project director for a contract with Tiger, Inc. The project managerheading up the project for Tiger has asked to meet with you. This won’t be a pleas-ant meeting, because he is furious. We’re going to be at least two weeks late gettingthe final report to them, which will probably delay their filing with the governmentby at least three weeks, if not more.

Getting the reports on time was critical. The people at Tiger made that veryclear at all the initial meetings. We knew it would be difficult, but everyone believedthat we could make it if we pushed. We really wanted to impress them. Everyoneknew the importance of the reports to Tiger and worked overtime in an effort to getthe job done on time. What probably made the project manager even more upset isthat he told us that Tiger would put their own people on the project if the deadlinebecomes a problem, just to make sure it is met. We refused, and assured them thatthe deadline wouldn’t be a problem—that we would get the job done. You last dis-cussed dates with him about three weeks ago, and everything seemed to be onschedule then. You assured him that you were on schedule, and that they wouldhave the report on time.

The situation became complicated because one of the key computer people wasinjured while on a skiing vacation and didn’t return to work when anticipated. In addi-tion, we received several new contracts, and had to hold the initial meetings and doproject plan development. Everybody was just stretched too thin. We gave it our verybest efforts, but the bottom line is that we will be two weeks late. You spoke with yourboss about the matter, and she said to do whatever is necessary to solve the problem.She went on to say, “Tiger is an important client, and we don’t want to do any moredamage to the relationship than we already have.”

Take the next several minutes to prepare for the meeting with Don.

169

ROLE PLAY #25KATHY WITKOWSKI

Project Director, Lopez & Associates

Title: WRONG WORK Role Play #26



To practice dealing with incorrectly completed work.

Trainer Notes: This negotiation role play is good to use for IssueIdentification. If you use it as a complete role play, pay par-ticular attention to how clear the META person is on theissues. If he/she stays focused and assertive, the needs willusually get met.

This is another role play that can help you examine howyour company handles poor vendor performance.

Industry: General

171

You just completed an assignment for Meta, Inc. in which you did much more thanwas required. Meta asked you to provide a nationwide RN database by state andcounty (place of work and years as a nurse—a fairly simple task). What you pro-vided was a database that included nurses, LPNs, social workers, and dentalhygienists, all mixed together. It was a comprehensive database and certainly morethan they asked for, but now they’re upset. In a brief conversation, Barbara Metcalf,the client, indicated in no uncertain terms that the database is not what sheordered and is of no value in its current form. She said Meta can use it only if itjust lists the RNs. They made it quite clear that more is not better.

You can see why they are upset. You gave the assignment to one of your new people, and you didn’t watch him very closely because you were involved inseveral larger, more-complex assignments. He assumed that if RNs were good, thenputting in everyone else would make it even better. An interesting assumption, butfrom a client’s perspective, not accurate. You really don’t want to spend the timecleaning up the problem, since several new projects have just started and you don’thave any staff people available. You want the client to accept the list as it currentlyis—it would make your life a whole lot easier! The report is by state and county,but it is not sorted by job title, place of work, and length of service.

Meta has already paid you 75% of the fee. The problem probably would neverhave happened if Meta had been more involved, but they paid no attention to it (neither did you), and now they’re upset. Meta is a good client, but cleaning up theproblem will cost more than the 25% they still owe you. You could probably get theproblem solved without it costing extra money, if Meta could extend the time byabout two weeks. You also would like them to pay the rest of the fee before you com-plete the job.

You spoke with your partner about the problem; she agrees with your assess-ment, and will support whatever decision you make.


This is the third project this vendor has completed for Meta; the previous two wereboth done on time and are accurate.

The project requirements were clearly spelled out in the project engagementletter.

173

ROLE PLAY #26JONATHAN HARRIS

Harris Consulting, Vendor

You have a problem with a vendor who just finished (so he thinks) an assignmentfor you. Harris Consulting was asked to prepare a nationwide database ofRegistered Nurses, selected by state, county, place of service, and year of service. Youreceived the database earlier this week. You’ve reviewed it and you are truly upset.The database that Harris prepared includes LPNs, social workers, and even somedental hygienists. It in no way represents the specificity that you asked for. It looksas if they had some intern go through databases and print out everything that evenremotely resembled your requirements. It’s of no value to you in its current form.

Your internal customer in the Marketing department happened to be in youroffice when the material arrived. After a quick review, she made it quite clear thatthe database was unacceptable. She said the vendor has to remedy the problemand do it quickly, since the data is needed shortly. She was really angry, but yourguess is that she has a bit more flexibility than she implied.

The problem is really complicated, since you already paid Harris almost 75%of their fee. You never asked them to send you a sample, since you thought therequirements were clearly spelled out in the project engagement letter that youdrafted and sent to them. Because your schedule was hectic, you didn’t take thetime to monitor what they were doing—you just assumed that everything would bedone accurately and on time, as in the past. Time wasn’t an issue, but the accuracyof the information in the database left a good deal to be desired. You would like toask them to return the fee if they can’t remedy the problem.

When you called Jonathan Harris and indicated your concern, his responsewas essentially, “You got more than you asked for. What’s the problem?” Ratherthan have a protracted discussion over the phone, you suggested a meeting. It willbegin in 15 minutes. You are clearly not going to pay any additional money, and willnot pay the final 25% until you get what you ordered. Your boss has given you com-plete authority to solve the problem.


This is the third project Harris Consulting has completed for Meta; the previoustwo were done on time and are accurate.

The project requirements were clearly spelled out in the project engagementletter.

175

ROLE PLAY #26BARBARA METCALF

Meta, Inc.

Title: THE TELEPHONE CALL Role Play #27


Objective: To practice Issue Identification.

Trainer Notes: This role play should be used only for Issue Identification,since the amount of information is limited. In debriefing,pay particular attention to the research coordinator. Didhe/she ask questions and listen, in an effort to understandthe nature of the problem? When this goes poorly, theresearch coordinator doesn’t listen and attempts to pushthe investigator to talk with the CRO.

In your discussion, focus on the investigator—how she/hefeels, and why.


177

You are a research coordinator at Silva Pharmaceuticals—a position you have heldfor a number of years. You like and enjoy your work. Recent years have seen a bigchange in how company research is conducted; contract research organizations(CROs) play an ever-increasing role in pharmaceutical research, and Silva has beenno exception. Until recently, however, your division contracted out only two relativelysmall studies to CROs.

Two months ago, you contracted out a large multi-site study to ResearchMagicians, a large CRO. This is a major study, and you just didn’t have the peopleto cover all the work. Research Magicians has done other work for the company,and everyone has felt comfortable working with them. In fact, when you suggestedseveral possible sites to your colleagues, they told you that they would contact themand, if at all possible, would use them. All the sites are good ones that you expectyou will use again.

This morning, Dr. Goodfellow at the State University Medical Center calledyou. Goodfellow is one of the investigators you suggested that Research Magicianscontact. He has been a good investigator; he always meets all the study criteria, andthere are rarely any problems at his site. When you weren’t available to take hiscall, Dr. Goodfellow left a message that he wants to discuss the Research Magiciansprotocol with you. You are surprised that he didn’t call the folks at R.M., but that’sthe way it goes. Since you’re not sure you should even be taking the call, you onlywant to clarify the reason for it. The study is Research Magicians’ responsibility, notyours. That‘s why we‘re paying them.

You are about to call Dr. Goodfellow.

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ROLE PLAY #27FRANK LYSIK

Research Coordinator at Silva Pharmaceuticals

You are a research scientist at State University, and you enjoy your work. It isn’teasy, but you and your staff have been involved in some interesting projects formost of the major chemical/pharmaceutical firms. Money from these projects hashelped build up the department over the years, as well as purchase equipment andallow you and your staff to attend a variety of professional workshops and conferences.

The world of clinical research has been changing dramatically. Companies areusing contract research organizations (CROs) more and more, and this has createdserious concerns for everyone. Your group has been fortunate. Up until now, you’vedone only one study through a CRO—a relatively small one. Recently, however, youagreed to participate in a large multi-center study sponsored by Silva Pharmaceuticalsand run by Research Magicians, Inc., a large CRO. The compound is an interestingone and you want to be included, but the budget that Research Magicians offered isreally minimal; you don’t see how you can get the study done and make any money.You spoke with two other potential investigators, who are also troubled by the budget. As one said, “We now have a wholesaler between us and the company, andthey’re taking the profits.”

Your staff urged you to call Frank Lysik, the company’s research coordinator.Although you’re not great friends with him, you decided to make the call to see ifanything can be done about the budget. You called earlier today, but he wasn’t avail-able. Your message indicated the general nature of the problem; the budget for theupcoming study. Your staff has made it very clear that they don’t believe the studycan be successfully completed at the current price. They want you to withdraw yourcommitment. This isn’t something you want to do, but your staff feels that thedepartment will have continual problems with this type of budget.

You will talk with the research coordinator in a few minutes.

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ROLE PLAY #27DR. GOODFELLOW

Investigator

Support Materials

Support Materials

The worksheets in this unit are designed to help participants prepare for anddebrief the role plays. Included are the following:

Skill Identification Worksheet

The worksheet is to be completed prior to the negotiation. It is designed tohelp the participants identify the behaviors they want to practice. These behaviorsshould be reviewed with the observer, so he/she knows what to watch for. Thesebehaviors then serve as a critical part of the debriefing.

Planning Worksheet

This worksheet is designed to help people plan for the negotiation. Its primaryfocus is on objectives. Encourage people to fill it out completely.

Observer Worksheet

These two sheets are designed to help the observer follow the negotiation’sprocess and monitor the behavior being used. If you used the Skill IdentificationWorksheet, ask the observers to highlight the behaviors their partners shouldpractice.

Debriefing Worksheet

At the conclusion of a role play, observers tend to immediately begin telling the participants how they did. This worksheet should be completed priorto any discussion. It will encourage participants to reflect on how they did before the discussion begins. Only when it is completed should the debriefingbegin.

It will help the process if the observer also completes the worksheet, since itis better for the observer to bring all his/her ideas together before sharing themwith the negotiators.

Feel free to modify these materials to meet your own needs.

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Directions

In the space below, describe each of the skills you want to practice in the upcom-ing negotiation. Be as specific as possible.

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SKILL IDENTIFICATIONWORKSHEET

PLANNING WORKSHEET SUMMARY

ME OTHER PARTY

ISSUES

OBJECTIVES

PERCEIVED

NEEDS AND

INTERESTS

POTENTIAL

CONCESSIONS

SETTLEMENT

OPTIONS

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Directions

1) What are your objectives for the upcoming negotiation? Be as specific as possible. What are your . . . ?

HOPE-to-gets

INTEND-to-gets

MUST-gets

2) What do you think are the other party’s . . . ?

HOPE-to-gets

INTEND-to-gets

MUST-gets

3) What do you think the other party needs so that he/she can say yes to you?

4) What questions do you need to ask?

5) What questions do you think the other party will ask you?

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NEGOTIATION PLANNINGWORKSHEET

THE SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATOR

OBSERVER WORKSHEET

Selected Behaviors

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BEHAVIORClimateSetting

IssueIdentification Bargaining Settlement

Asked questions

Clarified– positions– needs and

interests

Summarized– during the

negotiation– at the conclusion

Checked for understanding

Actively listened

Made contingentconcessions

Shared needs andinterests

Proposed solutions

Established commonground

Solicited solutions

Focused on theproblem

THE SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATOR

OBSERVER WORKSHEET

Selected Behaviors

* Was creative in solutions, thought “outside the box”

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BEHAVIORClimateSetting

IssueIdentification Bargaining Settlement

Acknowledgedefforts

Expanded the pie*

Made judgments orthreats, or criticized

Fixed blame, inter-rupted, or changedthe subject

Used irritatingwords and phrases,a patronizing tone,or a generally hos-tile tone

1) How satisfied are you with your performance?

Very Satisfied Very Dissatisfied5 4 3 2 1

Please explain:

2) What do you feel most satisfied about?

3) How well did you practice your “critical behaviors”?

4) What would you like to have done differently?

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PRACTICE NEGOTIATIONDEBRIEFING WORKSHEET

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Asherman, Ira G., and Sandra Vanee Asherman 2001. The Negotiation Sourcebook.Amherst, Mass.: Human Resource Development Press.

Barlow, C. Wayne, and Glenn P. Eisen. 1983. Purchasing Negotiations. Boston: CBIPublishing.

Bell, Robert. 1977. Having It Your Way: The Strategy of Settling EverydayConflicts. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.

Brooks, Earl, and George Odiorne. 1984. Managing by Negotiations. New York:Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Calero, Henry H. Winning the Negotiation. New York: Hawthorn Books Inc.Cohen, Herb. 1981. You Can Negotiate Anything. Secaucus, New Jersey: Lyle

Stuart, Inc.Fisher, Roger, and William Ury, with Bruce Patton. 1981. Getting to Yes:

Negotiating Agreements Without Giving In. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.Greenburger, Francis, with Thomas Kieran. 1978. How to Ask for More

and Get It: The Art of Creative Negotiation. Garden City, New York:Doubleday & Co.

Harris, Charles E. 1983. Business Negotiating Power. New York: Van NostrandReinhold.

Illich, John. 1973. The Art and Skill of Successful Negotiation. Englewood Cliffs,New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Jandt, Fred E. 1980. Win-Win Negotiating: Turning Conflict into Agreement. NewYork: Fawcett Columbine.

Karrass, Chester L. 1974. The Negotiating Game. New York: Thomas Y. CrowellPublishers.

Ibid. 1974. Give and Take: The Complete Guide to Negotiating Strategies andTactics. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Publishers.

Kennedy, Benson, and McMillan. 1982. Managing Negotiations: A Guide forManagers, Labor Leaders, Politicians, and Everyone Else Who Wants to Win.Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Lax, David A., and James K. Sebenius. 1987. The Manager as Negotiator. New York: The Free Press, A Division of Macmillan Inc.

Leon, Burke and Stephanie Leon. The Insider’s Guide to Buying a New or UsedCar. (Betterway Books, an imprint of F & W Publications, Inc., 1507 DanaAvenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45207 (800) 289–0963).

Levin, Edward. 1980. Negotiating Tactics: Bargaining Your Way to Winning. New York: Fawcett Columbine.

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Lewicki, Roy J., and Joseph Litterer. 1985. Negotiation. Homewood, Illinois:Richard D. Irwin, Inc.

Ibid. 1985. Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases. Homewood, Illinois:Richard D. Irwin, Inc.

Nierenberg, Gerard I. 1968. The Art of Negotiating. New York: Simon and Schuster.Ibid. 1973. Fundamentals of Negotiating New York: Hawthorn Books Inc.Raiffa, Howard. 1982. The Art and Science of Negotiating. Cambridge, Mass.:

Harvard University Press.Seltz, David D. and Alfred J. Modica. 1980. Negotiate Your Way to Success. New

York: Farnsworth Publishing.Scott, Bill. 1981. The Skills of Negotiating. Hampshire, England: Gower

Publishing Co.Skopec, Eric W. and Laree S. Kiely. 1994. Everything’s Negotiable When You Know

How to Play the Game. New York: AMACOM.Tarrant, John J. 1976. How to Negotiate a Raise. New York: Simon & Schuster.Zartman, I. William, and Maureen R. Berman. 1982. The Practical Negotiator. New

Haven: Yale University Press.

GENDER ISSUES

Gilligan, C. 1992. In A Different Voice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UniversityPress.

Greenhalgh. L. and R. W. Gilkey. 1985. Our Game, Your Rules: DevelopingEffective Negotiating Approaches, edited by L. Moore. Lexington, Mass.:Lexington Books.

Helgesen, S. 1990. The Female Advantage: Women’s Ways of Leadership. New York: Doubleday.

Kolb, D. M. and G. C. Coolidge. 1988. Her Place at the Table: A Consideration ofGender Issues in Negotiation. Working Paper 88–5; Program on Negotiation atHarvard Law School. Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reardon, K. K. 1995. They Don’t Get It, Do They? Communication in theWorkplace: Closing the Gap between Women and Men. New York: Little,Brown & Company.

St. John, A. W. 1996. The Gender and Power Mix for Managers as Negotiators:Negotiation Journal: Vol. 12, Number 4 October, pp. 367–370.

Tannen, D. 1995. The Power of Talk Harvard Business Review (September-October).

Tannen, D. 1990. You Just Don’t Understand. New York: Ballentine Books.


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Tannen. D. 1995. Talking from 9 to 5—Women and Men in the Workplace:Language, Sex, and Power. New York: Avon Books.

Watson. C. and B. Kasten. Separate Strengths? How Men and Women Negotiate.Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution: Rutgers Working Paper Series.(The address for this paper is: CNCR Rutgers University, 15 WashingtonStreet, Newark, NJ 07102).

Watson. C. 1994. Gender Versus Power as a Predictor of Negotiation Behavior andOutcomes. Negotiation Journal, Vol 10, Number 2 (April), pp. 117–128.

INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATION

Chesanow, Roger. 1985. The World Class Executive: How to Do Business Like aPro around the World. New York: Rawson Associates.

Deutsch, Mitchell F. 1983. Doing Business with the Japanese. New York: The NewAmerican Library.

Foster, Dean. 1992. Bargaining across Borders: How to Negotiate BusinessSuccessfully Anywhere in The World. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Hendon, Donald W., Rebecca Angeles Hendon, and Paul Herbig 1996. Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations. Westport, Conn.: Quorum Books.

Kennedy, Gavin, 1985. Doing Business Abroad. New York: Simon & Schuster.Moran, Robert T. 1985. Getting Your Yen’s Worth: How to Negotiate with Japan,

Inc. Houston, Texas: Gulf.Morrison, Terri, Wayne A. Conaway, and George A. Borden. 1994. Kiss, Bow, or

Shake Hands. Holbrook, Mass.: Bob Adams, Inc.O’Hare-Devereaux, Mary, and Robert Johansen. 1985. Global Work: Bridging

Distance, Culture, and Time. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass Publishers.Salacuse, Jeswald. 1991. Making Global Deals: Negotiating in The International

Marketplace. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Company.Schneiter, Fred. Getting Along with the Chinese For Fun and Profit: Asia 2000

LTD.: Suite 302 Seabird House, 22-28, Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong.Phone: (852) 2530–1409; Fax: (852) 2824–2005 or (852) 2526–1107.

Vossestein, Jacob. Dealing with the Dutch. Amsterdam, Royal Tropical Institute.

ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST

Boss, R. W. 1978. Trust and Managerial Problem Solving Revisited. Group andOrganizational Studies, 331 (September).

203

Bibliography

Driscoll, J. W. 1973. Trust and Participation in Organizational Decision-Making AsPredictors of Satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 21(1); 44.

Schoorman, F. D., R. C. Mayer, and J. H. Davis. 1996. Organizational Trust:Philosophical Perspectives and Conceptual Definitions. Academy ofManagement Journal, 38(1); 24–59.

Sinetar, M. 1988. Building Trust into Corporate Relationships. OrganizationalDynamics, 16(3); 73–79.

Taylor, R. G., Jr. 1990. Trust and Influence in the Workplace. OrganizationalDevelopment Journal (Fall), 33–36.

Zand, D. 1972. Trust and Managerial Problem Solving. Administrative ScienceQuarterly, 229 (June).

Zand, D. 1997. The Leadership Triad: Knowledge, Trust, and Power. OxfordUniversity Press.

HOW TO DEAL WITH A DIFFICULT PERSON

Bernstein, Albert J., and Sydney Craft Rozen. 1989. Dinosaur Brains: DealingWith All Those Impossible People At Work. New York: Ballantine Books.

Bernstein, Albert J., and Sydney Craft Rozen. 1992. Neanderthals at Work: HowPeople and Politics Can Drive You Crazy. . .And What You Can Do AboutThem. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Bramson, Robert M. 1992. Coping With Difficult Bosses. New York: Fireside.Bramson, Robert M. 1981. Coping With Difficult People. New York: Ballantine

Books.Brinkman, Rick, and Rick Kirschner. 1994. Dealing With People You Can’t Stand:

New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.Cava, Roberta. 1990. Difficult People: How to Deal With Impossible Clients,

Bosses and Employees. Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books.Friedman, Paul. 1994. How to Deal With Difficult People. Mission, Kansas:

SkillPath Publications, Inc.Robert, Marc. 1982. Managing Conflict: From the Inside Out. San Diego,

California: University Associates, Inc.Heen, Sheila, Bruce Patton, and Douglas Stone. 1999. Difficult Conversations:

How to Discuss What Matters Most. New York: Viking Books.Ury, William. 1991. Getting Past No: Negotiating With Difficult People. New York:

Bantam Books.


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Documents

25 Role Plays to Teach Negotiation