MLDR 6175 Week 5 Negotiation Prep Plan Example

Five Issues Instead of One Date: Negotiation Preparation for a Theater's Production Manager, With Weighted Priorities, Opening, Target and Walk-Away Points, Both Sides' Alternatives and a Priced Concession Plan

Student Name

Walden University

MLDR 6175: Managing, Mediating, and Resolving Conflict

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Five Issues Instead of One Date: Negotiation Preparation for a Theater's Production Manager, With Weighted Priorities, Opening, Target and Walk-Away Points, Both Sides' Alternatives and a Priced Concession Plan

Situation

Meeting: production manager Owen Brandt and development director Celia Marsh of Lantern Hall Theater Company, Monday, August 17, with the general manager present to take notes. Decision required: a plan for the main stage during the week of October 12 that both heads accept, before gala invitations go to print on September 1. This document is Owen's preparation, written with the general manager's help. It is planning, not argument: nothing in it will be shared with development before the meeting.

Splitting the Issues

The dispute has been argued as one issue, the gala date, which makes it a contest one side must lose. Lewicki et al. (2020) note that adding issues allows parties to trade across them, giving up what matters less to gain what matters more. Production's preparation therefore splits the dispute into five issues and assigns each a weight, with weights summing to 100, so that every concession has a price.

Issues Table

Table 1

Production's Issues, Weights and Points

Composite theater. Weights reflect production's priorities only.

Alternatives on Both Sides

Fisher et al. (2011) urge each side to work out what it will do if talks fail, since a deal is worth taking only when it beats that fallback. Production's alternative, if the meeting fails, is to ask the managing director to rule. That alternative is weaker than it feels. Twice in three seasons the managing director has ruled on booking disputes, and once ruled against production. With an $85,000 sponsorship and the board chair involved, a ruling for the gala is likely. Development's alternative is the same ruling, which it has more reason to expect in its favor, though the managing director would prefer not to override his production manager two weeks before technical rehearsals. Development's alternative is stronger, but not overwhelming.

The likely zone of agreement therefore sits on production's side of the gala date question only if production gives development something it values on other issues.

Concession Plan

First, offer one donor open rehearsal at the final dress on October 21, in exchange for no gala event during technical rehearsal hours. This costs production little, since the final dress runs as a performance. Second, offer the lobby after 6 p.m. during tech week for sponsor signage, in exchange for development covering any crew overtime caused by the gala. Third, if development insists on the main stage on October 15, offer two hours on stage before 5 p.m. for a sponsor reception, with no scenery moved, in exchange for development's support for a single calendar owner from next season. Do not concede below the walk-away on stage closure: any event that requires striking scenery during tech week is off the table, because it raises safety risk at the riskiest point of the schedule.

Questions to Ask

Thompson (2020) emphasizes that asking questions about the other side's interests often reveals tradeoffs neither side anticipated. Production will ask: What does the sponsor most want from the gala: the date, the stage or the event itself? Would the sponsor's president value a preview performance more than a dinner? Is October 15 important to the board chair, or only the fact of the main stage? What would development need to tell the sponsor if the event moved? And would development support a single calendar owner if this season's gala were protected?

What Success Looks Like

A good outcome for production protects the technical week and the crew's safety, shares overtime costs and creates a process that prevents a repeat next season. A good outcome need not keep development entirely off the stage. If the meeting ends with an agreed plan and a commitment to a calendar owner, production will have done better than its alternative.

References

Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (2011). Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in (3rd ed.). Penguin Books.

Lewicki, R. J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D. M. (2020). Negotiation (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Thompson, L. L. (2020). The mind and heart of the negotiator (7th ed.). Pearson.