Miami School District - Research Paper Example

? Miami School District Negotiation Paper Table of Contents Introduction 3 Brief analysis of the case 3 Stakeholders 4 Negotiation Strategy 5 Ethics and Culture 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 Introduction The Miami school district suddenly had an increase in the number of student enrollment. Such occurrence has forced the district to reassess the boundaries of the school in the forthcoming years. According to the new plan the existing students of the school will not be able to attend the same venue for the upcoming sessions. Thus the new formulated plan has created disappointments among the parents. The parents also raised their voices against it and tried to oppose the course of action. The report will mainly highlight the need for the new boundary and also the consequences if the new limits are not established. The report will draw attention to the stakeholders, the negotiation strategy for the school authorities in the context of enlargement of the boundaries. This will be accomplished by portraying the concerns of the stakeholders. Finally the report will analyze how ethics and culture affect the decision regarding the extension of the school boundaries. However in order to assess and present the aforementioned issues the case needs to be analyzed thoroughly. Hence a brief analysis of the case is presented below:- Brief analysis of the case The new plan would enforce many students to change in their schools that may lead to an increase in the travelling time. Thus the parents are also annoyed for various facts such as the fear that the quality of education may fall down and there will be an increase in the total time of travelling. Apart from this the parents were also bothered about the effect on the value of property, and the social distress on the children that can occur due to relocation. The students who belong to the higher income group will have the provision to move into the private schools, but the students belonging to the lower income families will be adversely affected. Also the local residents may decide to migrate to other places if the quality of education is sub standard. In addition this course of action may increase the property value. The parents also fear that their children may get indulged into some anti-social activities if they are not imparted proper education. Stakeholders Stakeholders are the group of person who hold a certain share in the business. A stakeholder can be an employee, a customer or anybody related to the organization. Hence a stakeholder has the responsibility towards the success of the organization (Cambridge Dictionaries Online, n.d.). In the context of the school stakeholders are the persons who hold a stake in the school. However the stakes could be direct or indirect. The people who will be highly affected by such decision are the students and their parents, teachers, officials of the school, school district, and other staffs of the school. Students from lower income families may get adversely affected. Due to this scenario the parents are now required to modify their work schedules as well as personal tasks. Parents are also required to assess whether the schools where there wards will be taking admission provides adequate education or not. Also they are supposed to assess the quality of education in these schools. However parents may choose to send their children in private school where the parents are required to pay high tuition fees. Hence students belonging to lower income group may face trouble in taking further education. The students may also find it difficult to adapt to the new situations, new teachers and new class mates which may eventually give rise to social problems. Students may also face problems in order to get fit into the new society. The school district plans to save money in the district by sending the students to various schools. Also problems may arise if the students belonging to lower income group are moved to lower quality schools. The staffs and teachers may also be transferred to other places for cost cutting purposes. Consequently the school officials need to deal with the protests and complaints of the parents while accommodating the students. Therefore it is important that the school authorities maintain a sound relationship with the stakeholders and smoothen the decision making process. Some stakeholders may hold more authority than others and may have high influence in the decision making process. Hence the school authority is also liable to address the various needs of the individual stakeholders. Negotiation Strategy The preamble of the board’s decision has given rise to a viable negotiation environment. The parents feel that they are unwillingly forced to a situation which is probably against the interest of maximum. They feel students should attend their lesson within the district and not migrate to other places for education. Therefore the negotiation strategy can be more flexible and transparent. In this context the board should ask the parents to get involved in the decision making process. Since the issue is related to the future of the students, the consultation of their parents is of much importance. However still there is a room for discussion, the school board should now initiate negotiations with the parents of the students. The parents should be valued and they must feel that their suggestions are important to the school authorities. Also the unfriendly environment needs to corrected and a friendly atmosphere needs to be created where all the parents gets a chance of portraying their views. Both the parties must also feel that they are on the negotiating on the same issue which will be mutually beneficial. As a result the school board must chalk out a plan which will help both the parties in the process of negotiation. In the planning process they are required to decide on the issues which will be discusses in the meeting. The school’s board needs to recognize the needs of the parents and other stake holders prior to any decision making activities. Apart from this the benefits of the parents due to change in the school boundaries should also be addressed. Moreover the best outcome is expected if the authorities explain the reasons for changing the school boundary. The negotiation meeting can also address the ways parents get adjusted with the alteration in school boundaries. The authority can specifically portray the boundary that is going to get altered by visually representing it in a map. The school can arrange for more transportation which can be used to drive the teachers to reach the students and impart education. They can also demonstrate that the present school is hugely overcrowded and thus could result in substandard education. The authority can illustrate parents that the values of their property may change and the new areas may witness an increase. The school panel should also attempt to encourage everyone that the changes will benefit both the parties concerned. Hence it will help to provide a quality education to the students. Finally the school board should listen to the suggestions or any other issues of the parents and if needed should comprise for the welfare of the students. Ethics and Culture Ethics is concerned about what is morally right and wrong (Souryal, 2010, p.58). The school authority needs to consider the ethical and cultural issues in the context of redesigning the school boundaries. According to the guardians, enlarging the boundary is an unethical practice on the part of the school. They also feel that cultural issues were also neglected. Hence it becomes very much important to ensure whether the school board is maintaining the principles of the society or not. The authorities will be under stress from the authoritative and wealthy parents of the district in order to ensure their children are sent to renowned schools. Thus an ethical issue comes forward in this matter as there will be a conflict between the higher income group and a lower income group. This may also give rise to biasness as higher income groups may get highly benefitted and also one school may be allotted more budgets in comparison to the other. Hence the rezoning should be in accordance with the students and which offers a superior learning environment. Apart from this the school should also promote diversity among the students so as create a mix of cultural backgrounds. Therefore it is recommended that the school district should remain fair and preserve the objective of imparting quality education to the students. The school board also must not favor the authoritative and rich families over the low income families. Therefore on a whole it can be concluded that the school should remain within the ethical zone and oppose biasness in order to remain free of legal issues. This will also ensure satisfaction among the parents as well as students. References Cambridge Dictionaries Online. (No Date). Stakeholder. Retrieved from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stakeholder_1. Souryal, S. S. (2010). Ethics in Criminal Justice: In Search of the Truth (5th ed.). Burlington: Elsevier. Bibliography Coltri, L. S. (2004). Conflict diagnosis and alternative dispute resolution. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Read More