SALT III: AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE TO HIGHLIGHT THE INTERPERSONAL DYNAMICS INVOLVED IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 347 SALT III: AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE TO HIGHLIGHT THE INTERPERSONAL DYNAMICS INVOLVED IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS Daniel C. Brenenstuhl, Northern Illinois University Much of a leader’s time is devoted to the negotiation process. He must negotiate with his superiors, his peers, and his subordinates at one time or another during his tenure with any organization. The negotiation process receives the most scrutiny in the area of collective bargaining but the process is much more generalizable. Thus, the ability to understand the interpersonal transactions that are inherent in the negotiation process becomes an important skill for managers at all levels. The following experiential exercise was designed for usage at various places and levels within the educational community. The exercise is perhaps most appropriate for those students planning to be managers of one stripe or another but should be equally revealing to any astute participant. The exercise is self-instructive and leaves the discussion phase of the write-up deliberately vague. This vagueness will provide the opportunity for the creative educator to use the exercise in any one of many areas, such as, Political Science, Labor Relations, Educational Administration, Public Administration, Social Psychology, Sociology, or International Relations. Purpose: (1) To explore and practice interpersonal skills involved in bargaining and negotiation. (2) To investigate the dynamics of interpersonal trust and suspicion in conflict prone situations. (3) To investigate role conflict in boundary role positions. Advance Preparation: None Group Size: Four to six person groups; two groups paired together. Time Required: Minimum of 50 minutes. Related Topics: Leadership; Small group processes; Group decision making; Intraorganizational bargaining; Communication patterns; Prisoner’s Dilemma game formats; Power; Influence processes. New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 348 4. These negotiation sessions will he conducted out in the hallway and will be limited to 2 minutes. Negotiations will be held before the 2nd, 4th, and 6th decisions are due. 5. Negotiators are free to say whatever they choose, and to make an agreement which is necessary to benefit themselves or their teams. They are not required to tell the truth. Each team is similarly not bound by agreements made by their negotiators, even though these agreements were made in good faith by the negotiators. C. The Negotiations Each team will meet for 5 minutes to formulate their overall strategy. (This strategy may change during the session.) Six decisions will be made by each team acting independently. The teams will either decide to increase their nuclear arsenal by 5 ICBM’s or to decrease their nuclear arsenal by 5 ICBM’s. No other choices are possible. The representatives of the teams will meet before the 2nd, 4th, and 6th decisions to negotiate favorable decisions. Teams will have only 3 minutes to make each decision. That means 3 minutes after their representative returns for decisions 2, 4, and 6. D. Scoring Round One 1. If both teams choose to decrease their arsenal, both teams will receive 5 points [cell 1 in figure 1] 2. If one nation decides to decrease their arsenal and the other nation increases their arsenal, the nation decreasing their arsenal shall lose 10 points and the nation increasing their arsenal shall gain 10 points [cells 2 and 3 in figure 1]. 3. If both teams decide to increase their arsenal--they will both lose 8 points [cell in figure 1] New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 349 I. ORIENTATION This experience will require you to work within the context of a small group involved in an important negotiation process with another small group. You will formulate an overall strategy for the negotiation process as well as making numerous tactical decisions designed to accomplish your overall strategy. Each group will make a series of decisions. The outcomes of these decisions will be determined by the choice that your group makes and by the choice that your opposing group makes at any one step in the process. The payoff to your team cannot be determined independently for any single decision. II. PROCEDURE A. Divide the class into an even number of groups. Each group should have from 4 to 6 persons. Pair the groups for the negotiation process, (5 minutes) . An umpire should he selected to keep score for each pair of groups. B. Read the following instructions carefully: Each of your groups represents a small Latin American country (example: Uruguay, Paraguay, Equador, etc.) with a nuclear capability. SALT Ill--represents the third round of your strategic arms limitation talks. Little progress has been recognized as the result of SALT I and SALT II. The high cost of the arms race is gradually forcing both countries into bankruptcy and is thus threatening the stability of the present government. You are representatives of the present government and you are meeting with representatives of your opponent’s government. Following, you will find the rules for the SALT III conference: 1. Your objective as a team is to accumulate as many points as possible. The group opposing you has the same objective. 2. Your country has only 50 points in its central bank and you will go bankrupt if you lose more than 50 points in SALT III. 3. Each team will decide on a representative, who will from time to time, negotiate directly with a representative from the opposing team. New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 350 E. Value for Each Round Round two and three--shall be scored the same as round one. Round four--shall be scored as double the values in round one. Round five--shall be scored the same as round one. Round six--shall be scored as triple the values in round one. New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 351 F. Time Table Break-up into groups 5 minutes Read information and develop strategy 5 minutes Round 1--Decision-making 3 minutes Tabulation of decisions 1 minute Joint negotiations in hall 2 minutes Round 2--Decision-making 3 minutes Tabulation of decisions 1 minute Round 3--Decision-making 3 minutes Tabulation of decisions 1 minute Joint negotiations in hall 2 minutes Round 4--Decision-making 3 minutes Tabulation of decisions 1 minute Round 5--Decision-making 3 minutes Tabulation of decisions 1 minute Final joint negotiation in hall 2 minutes Round 6--Decision-making 3 minutes Tabulation of decisions 1 minute Group discussion of the exercise 10 minutes (minimum) New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 352 III. EVALUATION ANT) DISCUSSION Evaluate the negotiation process that you have just experienced and discuss the effectiveness of the strategy that your team chose. (10 minutes minimum to several hours.) Suggested Discussion Questions 1. Did your team make maximum use of the available information? Did the team members really listen to each other? Were the opinions of the less vocal members sought? Did the team really try to obtain valuable information from the negotiators? 2. What happened to your team’s morale and decision-making structure when it won? When it lost? 3. How were the negotiators chosen--by delegation? by vote? by qualifications? by volunteering? How committed were you to your negotiator? Were you willing to stand by him! her through thick or thin? 4. How did your team react to co-operation and competition? Why is co-operation so difficult to achieve? What barriers stand in the way of developing interpersonal trust between your teams? Table of Contents Volume 4, 1977 Double Play for Gaming Effectiveness Adaptive Rule Changes in Computer Simulation Gaming Œ A Means of Pedagogical Reactive Interchange Monte Carlo Simulation in Personnel Management Training Teaching About the Implementation of Job Redesign Using Simulation and Group Discussions An Interactive Simulation of Private Sector Collective Bargaining Leadership Evaluation and training through Behavioral Simulations: Method, Results and Future An assessment of the Effect of Experiential, Simulation and Discussion Pedagologies Used in Laboratory Sections of an Introductory Management Course An Experiential Understanding of the Trust Dimension Using Consulting Cases to teach Business Policy An Experimental Testing of Teaching Methodologies in Marketing Interpersonal Skill Development: The Experiential Training Unit (ETU) and Transfer of Training An Analysis of the Relationship between Personality characteristics and Preferred Styles of Learning Analysis of Effective Communication Skill Development in Graduate Business and Engineering Experiential Education Changing Perceptions of Learning in a Simulated Environment Student Perceptions: Simulation and the Corporate Policy Course Degree of Uniformity in Achievement Motivation Levels of Team Member: Its Effect on Team Performance in a Simulation Game Channel Conflict, Cooperation and Control: an Experiential Learning Exercise Differences in Experiential and Non-Experiential Learners' Reactions to Conflict between Individual and Organizations Behavior The Evolution and Evaluation of a Required, Senior-Level Course in Experiential Business Applications Building Management Skills through Problem Solving A Live-Case Approach to the Business and Society Course Experiential Learning: Toward the Development of a Theoretical Base and the Identification of Variables and the Hypotheses to Guide Research The Role of the Administrator in Experiential Learning and Simulations Some Thoughts on a Theory of the Use of Games and Experiential Exercises Three Applications of the Management of Learning Grid An Analysis of ABSEL: Its Past Achievements and Future Prospects New Horizons in Simulation Research Prediction of Academic Achievement in a Simulation Mode via Personality Constructs Sex Differences in a Bargaining Simulation COM-GAME: A Commodity Trading Game for Use in an Introductory Business Statistics Course A Financial Institution Management Game with Direct Participant Interactions A Non-Computerized Marketing Planning and Strategy Game Delphi in the Classroom: A Demonstration of Forecasting Economic Activity The Potential of Programmable Calculators for Processing Small Business Simulations Can a Small Predominantly Clack University Incorporate the Computer Simulation Gaming Teaching Methodology into it Curriculum Measuring the Effect of an Experiential Exercise Experiential Learning - Analysis of a Partial Success Predicting Participants' Performance and Reactions in an Experiential Learning Setting: An Empirical Investigation A Simplified, Non-Computerized Marketing Channels Game Manufacturers and Retailers: A Negotiation Game for Beginning Management Students Petroleum Management Game A Securities Dealer Simulator SIM ECO SOC with Business Curriculum Modules: A Simulation for Business Ethics and Morals The Picnic: A Perceptual Errors Exercise Salt III; an Experiential Exercise to Highlight the Interpersonal Dynamics Involved in the Negotiation Process Experiential Exercise on Values, Attitudes and Conflict Resolution in Organizational Behavior Kick'N Go: A Product Management and Social Responsibility Dilemma The Use of Self-Assessment Work-shops in a school of Business Administration The Dilemma of Self-Perception