Team Management of a Car-Manufacturing Organisation - Assignment Example

Assessment- Questions Name Institution Course Tutor Date Assessment 1 In questions 1–4, you will be performing the role of a mid-level manager at a large mechanical parts manufacturing organisation. 1. a) How and why would you encourage members to raise any issues they have? I would encourage member to raise issues through involving them in decision-making because this allows members to raise their interests and contribute using their skills and experience. b) Identify some key pieces of legislation relating to industrial relations, vocational education and training, occupational health and safety, discrimination and equal employment opportunity that affect or are affected by a negotiation process. Provide at least two clauses (sub-sections/divisions) for each of piece of legislation. Human rights and interests act; clause 1. This covers the basic legal rights that should be enjoyed by all employees in the mechanical parts manufacturing organisation. Clause 2. The act protects all people from employment discrimination and supports maintenance of occupational safety and health. Job and growth act; Clause 1. The act allows availability of health working environment as it encourages vocational education and training. Clause 2. The act allows the organization to be competitive in the entire economy and encourages environmental protection. 2. Your company has recently received a huge order from a new client. In light of this, management has decided to cancel all annual leave for the next two months and has asked you to break the news to the employees. Management has also indicated that they are open to some sort of financial compromise and flexible work arrangements as long as employees agree to forgo their annual leave. Management has also told you that certain situations can be assessed on a case-by-case basis. a) How would you analyse this situation (provide a summary of the situation)? The huge order received from the new client made the management to cancel the two months annual leave with some financial compromise to the agreeing employee. b) How would you present the main issue during negotiation with employees? I would allow all employees to come into a joint meeting, make the employees understand the issue under negotiation, as well as their positions in the negotiation process. c) What can you do to obtain additional information from members that you might require to fine tune your negotiation position? I would engage adjournment session and give chances to the give their views regarding the canceling of the annual leave. I would also try to understand how they make use of their leaves and how the canceling would affect them. 3. Who would you consult to determine the purpose, position, objective and approach to be taken for the organisation during negotiations? How would you ensure that the purpose, position, objective and approach that are identified are in accordance with organisational requirements? I would consult the team leaders since they are supposed to be aware of the purpose, position, objective together with approaches taken by the organisation during negotiations. I would also consult a party involved in the organizational negotiation in the past for more information. To ensure that the purpose, objective, position, and approaches are in accordance with the organisational requirements, I would look at the organisational mission statement, vision, aims and objectives. 4. Why is it crucial to identify and establish priorities for negotiation? What things can you and should you consider that would help you in identifying priorities for negotiation? It allows covering all the negotiation issues according to their urgency and necessity. It becomes possible to identify and establish some common grounds. One should consider the goals, viewpoints, discussion and interests of the both sides in the negotiation. 5. Research and prepare before you dive into a negotiation. Do you agree with the above statement? Yes Make sure you address the aspects of assessing a position for strengths and weaknesses. Research and preparation before negotiation allows one to carry out the negotiation at the right place and time of meeting. It becomes possible to assess the facts of the situation together with their strengths and weaknesses and it allows avoidance of further conflicts and wasting to time. 6. In your position as a team leader, what can you do to identify your organisation’s arguments and the other party’s main arguments? What could be the possible consequences of not reaching an agreement? I would allow the two parties to raise their opinions regarding the issue in order to understand the two arguments and try coming to an agreement. I would give each party a chance to give the side of their issues and compare the two. For not reaching an agreement, it would lead to the need of more meetings, and this might require involvement of mediator. 7. Provide examples of some situations where different negotiation styles can be used. How can the position be presented during a negotiation? Different negotiation styles can be used in situations like bargaining when the two parties are in great conflict. Competing style when one is sure that his/her is right, Collaborating style when cooperation is essential, and compromising style when finding some solution. Accommodating style is useful when a party realises that he/she is wrong, while avoiding style is used when there is no enough time and there is necessity of a decision. 8. Give an example of a document that will be used as part of the negotiation process to make/prepare/gather information. Provide a layout (contents) of the document you have mentioned. Settlement agreements; these are documents used to support the position of the parties in negotiation. They remain unchanged and only the most significant points are negotiated. Assessment 2 You are a team leader for a car-manufacturing organisation. Some of your team members have approached you with regards to a few changes in the current employee work group rules. 1. What should be the basis for assigning different roles in the negotiating party? How and why are you going to brief them regarding the negotiation? One should consider the strengths and interests of team members. As a team leader, it is necessary to use the team leaders, listen to them raise their opinions, and adjust strategy using the team’s resources. To brief the team members regarding negotiation, I would develop a disciplined bargaining strategy in order to uncover all the conflicting interests between them. I would provide the necessary data regarding time and resources used by the team in order to allow them understand the figures and facts demonstrating their efforts. 2. Whose support would you require in order to formulate an approach to the negotiations? I would require support of psychologist and physician in order to understand the interests and strengths of team members. I would also require the support of the team members whereby they are supposed to listen and talk when it is necessary or when they are requested to do so because team members have different priorities and they imagine different ideal results. 3. How will you ensure that all relevant facts regarding a particular issue are clearly presented and communicated? I would plan for all the relevant issues by putting them down and going through them one by one in order to ensure that by the end of negotiations, all the facts of a particular issue are communicated and presented. I would assign different team members the responsibility of handling different facts in order to ensure that every member handled his or her fact in relation to a particular issue. 4. Do we need to explain the strength of the agreed position to be taken during negotiation to certain relevant parties? If so why? Yes. This is because not all the team members in the car-manufacturing organisation can play all roles required in all positions. Team members have different interests and they require understanding everything about negotiated position in order to know their responsibilities. Communication of strength of the position would allow team members to give out their opinions and share what they think should be involved in the position. This allows the team members to catch up with the discussion and understand the new information regarding the position under negotiation. 5. Why must we identify all negotiating positions and alternative offers, before and during negotiations? All negotiating positions and alternative offers should be identified before and during negotiations in order to accommodate all interests and strengths of all team members and avoid conflicts among the members. It saves time whereby a team leader manages to plan well for the negotiation process and to cover all issues raised by the team members regarding a particular position, as well as alternative offers. The team will manage to resolve the internal conflicts regarding members’ interests on all negotiating positions at once. 6. What type of communication techniques would be suitable in a negotiation? How would this communication technique help you in dealing with conflicts and deadlocks? The technique of eye-to-eye contact would help to know if the listeners are paying the require attention. One should also listen actively in order to understand the conflicts and deadlocks among the team members. It is necessary to observe the non-verbal behavior of the team members during negotiation in order to understand the intended message. When talking, it is good to use silence in order to figure out the inner thoughts and feelings required to facilitate communication. It is necessary to use the language that is understood by all team members for effective negotiation. The use of open-ended questions helps in dealing with conflicts and deadlocks because members are able to give their opinions as they give out answers. One should call a third party, restate and reframe the position, clarify the position of both parties in the negotiation, and prepare an alternative position. It is necessary to refer back to other members and undertake an industrial action. 7. a) Explain the importance of monitoring discussions, note taking and consulting with others during negotiations. Monitoring discussions, note taking, and consultation with others during negotiations helps in meeting all interests of the team members and ensuring that the necessary information and facts regarding particular issues are covered. b) How would you ensure that your chosen positions and options during negotiation are consistent with organisational objectives and policies? I would first be conversant with the organizational policies and objectives and ensure that the positions and options are consistent with the requirements of the car-manufacturing organisation. I would ensure that all the positions chosen are useful in the organisation and they are relevant for car manufacturing activities. I would ensure that all chosen positions and options are affordable to the organisation in terms of payments and maintenance to avoid making the organisation run at a loss. 8. Why must we confirm all agreed positions and outcomes in writing? Confirmation of all the agreed positions together with outcomes in the form of writing allows in having future reference in case of issues coming up in future, regarding the same positions, as well as outcomes. It gives room for other interested people to have a look at the position issues and outcomes and it is not possible for someone to later the information written and kept safely. 9. What is the importance of identifying relevant precedents and supporting arguments while conducting negotiations? What do you need to consider in order to successfully identify relevant precedents and supporting arguments? Identifying relevant precedents and supporting arguments allows in carrying out of the negotiation process in legally acceptable manner. It becomes possible for one to meet the organisational conditions and rights during negotiation. to identify relevant precedents and supporting arguments, one has to consider the legal requirements of a negotiation process, the past organisational disputes and agreements, and organisational conditions 10. Does adjournment have any importance during the negotiation process and how can you identify if adjournment is required during the negotiation? Adjournment is important during the negotiation process because it allows in gathering the necessary information and re-opens the immediate negotiations. It allows every party to have something to do during the breaks. It is possible to identify if adjournment is required during the negotiation when parties are supposed to bargain and hold joint meetings of negotiations. Assessment 3 You are a team leader for a car-manufacturing organisation. Some of your team members have approached you with regards to a few changes in the current employee work group rules. The negotiation process had been undertaken and it is the outcome is to be communicated to the respective parties. 1. What is a contract, what are some of its characteristics and how is it used in the interview? A contract is an agreement between the employee and the employer and it sets out the rights, responsibilities, and conditions of employment. A contract must involve offer together with acceptance and there have to be two parties having legal capacity t enter into agreement. There has to be consideration, must be legal, not misrepresentation, or force, and there must be an intention to carry out a legal relationship. In interview, contract is used to train the applicants and there are contract negotiations. 2. Why does the team member need to confirm negotiated agreements with the relevant authority before signing it? How do we ensure the negotiated agreement is filed appropriately? Confirmation helps in the negotiation agreement to be legally carried out. The authority also signs the negotiation agreement and provides relevant guide on the requirements of the negotiation agreement. One has to ensure that the authority signs the negotiation agreement, should honour all legal and organisational conditions of a negotiation. 3. How can the team leader report to members on the outcomes of the negotiations and ensure that the agreement is implemented and monitored? Team leaders should call for a meeting, write an internal memo, send emails, or write letters to all members about the outcomes of the negotiations. To ensure that the agreement is effectively monitored and implemented, team leader should assess the performance of the members and monitor their activities in the organisation. 4. You have two team members in your team who always seem to be at odds regarding work responsibilities and working style. Member A feels that member B is not honestly doing their share of work, while member B feels that they have a larger scope of work and they cannot get everything done in the given time. Seeing this, you decide to mediate and are able to negotiate a new work arrangement that suits both members. Identify some mechanisms that can be put into place to ensure the negotiated agreement is implemented and the implementation process is monitored? There should be continuous time assessment of the work done by the two-team members, sharing resources and machine controlling, self-motivated agents, and communication with the parties. There should also be security mechanisms whereby security is provided to the two parties as they work together. 5. What do you understand by a ‘post-negotiation review’ and why should one be conducted? This is the process of analyzing each negotiation, whereby one examines the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches and files them away. Post-negotiation review helps in determining the reasons of having success or failure and it is valuable information for future negotiations. 6. Why might the team leader need to debrief the negotiating participants and take follow-up action? This allows the negotiation exercise to develop and reinforce its goals from the planning stage. It is necessary because it helps the team leader to anticipate what they are supposed to do in future. It also helps the team leaders to make sense of their arguments and have understanding of future negotiation agreements. 7. How would the team leader evaluate the effectiveness of negotiation against objectives and relevant policies? The team leader would assess the working together of the team members in the conflict. One should use and track more effective negotiating strategies. The team leader should analyse the advantageous situation, and evaluate the outcomes against the objective standards. 8. How would the team leader deal with time wasting and avoidance tactics of the opposition during a negotiation process? The team leader should ensure prior planning of all facts of the issues under negotiation and prioritise them, as well as planning on how the parties would present their opinions. It is necessary to begin by explaining to the parties under negotiation how the process would be and what is expected of them in order to allow them be prepared in advance and carry out the negotiation agreement efficiently. 9. Write a report as the team leader briefing top management on the unfavourable outcome of a negotiation and the reasons behind it. The negotiation resulted to unfavourable outcomes whereby the negotiating parties did not come to an agreement on the arguments. This is because one of the parties failed to agree with the final decision that was necessary for the two. There were some emotions in the negotiation meeting that lead to the parties having frustrations because of the contentious issues coming up in the negotiation agreement. 10. How would the team leader make sure, in his personal capacity, that the team members receive appropriate support in developing relevant skills and knowledge? The team leader would ensure that the team members have all required resources and provides them with the necessary funding support. The team leader would use relevant negotiation strategies and provide the right information and relevant training, as well as engaging them in development activities. Reference Grimm, W. A., Baker, H. K., & Kiymaz, H. (2011). Negotiation Process, Bargaining Area, and Contingent Payments. The Art of Capital Restructuring: Creating Shareholder Value through Mergers and Acquisitions, 243-259. Read More