A Power Play for Howard in Many Acts - Assignment Example

A Power Play for Howard I. Overview NBA Star Juwan Howard, 6 ft. 9 inches tall, was in a moment in time, July 11, 1996, popular for his great performance with the Washington Bullet Team. Bill Brubaker and Mark Asher (1996) reported that he had been “averaging 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game” during 2 NBA seasons. The timing was ripe to negotiate for the best contract from NBA team executives. He was given the option to be a free agent after 2 seasons. Michael Jordan of Chicago Bulls ranked first on the list of in demand NBA players, followed by Shaquille O’Neal of Orlando Magic, and 3rd by Alonzo Mourning. Juwan Howard ranked 4th. Washington City never had the opportunity to become a winner in the NBA for already 9 years. Therefore, the basketball fans and the Bullet team members needed Juwan Howard to stay in Washington in order to possibly win the championship. West Unseld, Bullet General Manager, was the very first to offer Juwan Howard a $78.4 million 7-year contract and commended him for his loyalty. The NBA Star felt his market value was higher. He valued loyalty and would feel sad about leaving Washington. But he was considering that a much better offer would be worth the sacrifice. Bill Brubaker and Mark Asher (1996) reported that Miami Heat NBA Team bid $100.8 million + other benefits for a 7-year contract “with luxury hotel suites and limousine service” to win over Juwan Howard. II. Statement of the Problems / Opportunities The entire Washington NBA enthusiasts needed to see the Bullets win. People saw that Juwan Howard could make that happen because of his height, shooting, rebound, and assist averages, and his attitude of being polite, soft spoken, and charitable. However, his cash compensation from the viewpoint of the team’s General Manager was not satisfactory considering that he had been receiving better offers. Grant Hill of Detroit, Alonzo Mourning of Miami Heat, and Patrick Ewing of New York Knicks were inviting him to join their teams. So he tried asking for a much higher compensation. Five (5) problems can be identified in this case. (1) Taking the point of view of Washington Bullets, how can Juwan Howard be convinced to play for the team given the limited budget for total salaries of players? He was needed to give a high probability of Bullets winning the championship. (2) Taking the point of view of Miami Heat, how can Juwan Howard be convinced to take a stand for his decision to sign the first contract and be supportive for the arbitration contesting the results of bidding? (3) How can the basketball fans of the Bullets be satisfied with whatever will be the decision of Juwan Howard? (4) How can the NBA League officials and the Union appease all parties of the negotiation, including the fans? (5) How can Juwan Howard achieve his goal to get what he believes to be the market value of his basketball skills? III. Objectives Knowing it might be impossible to satisfy every party involved in the negotiation, the higher value of minimizing the negative impact of conflicts must be served in an amicable, fair, and acceptable way. The aim was to respect rights and rules as negotiating parties aimed to reach an acceptable outcome. And the best outcome was dependent on all the effort to achieve their negotiating objectives for as long as rights and rules are followed in fairness to all parties concerned. IV. Alternative Courses of Action General Manager West Unseld of Washington Bullets could have abandoned his effort to win over Juwan Howard after Juwan signed the contract with Miami Heat. His budget was tight. However, his popularity among Washington fans was already being ruined by the protests against losing the player that people believed would make the Washington Bullets win the NBA championship. Juwan Howard could have supported the Miami heat all the way during the arbitration. He had signed a contract and appeared legally bound to fulfil the contract. Listening to the NBA League officials and the Union decisions made a big difference. Pat Riley of Miami Heat could have filed a complaint against Juwan Howard for eventually turning his back on a signed legal contract. Instead, he wished Juwan well after Washington Bullets got Juwan back. V. Analysis and Recommended Solution There were two (2) strategies of negotiation that took place to maximize the benefits of Juwan Howard. The first part involved a distributive strategy. Two teams tried to outbid each other in order to get a top 4 NBA Star. Miami Heat and Washington Bullets had their respective plans involving Juwan Howard. Naturally, both teams wanted to win the NBA championship by having top performers in their respective team. Juwan Howard’s priority was the higher compensation package, although he wanted to play with Washington Bullets and be one of the loyalists. But there was a wide disparity in the offers between Miami Heat and Washington Bullets. The former offered $ 84 benefits for a 7-year contract while the latter’s early bid was only $ 78.4 million. Counter-offers increased from $ 84 to $ 91 + $ 3.5 million bonuses versus $ 78.4 million to $84 million. And so Juwan Howard favoured Miami Heat but asked for a higher bid before signing a contract. He tried going back and forth to GM West Unseld only to receive no further bid. Pat Riley, on the other hand, made his bid reach $ 100.8 million in cash plus other benefits. That made Juwan Howard favor Miami Heat. But David Falk notified West Unseld about the decision. Thus, on the following day, the Bullets announced the loss of its former team member. This was a requirement for Juwan Howard to be allowed to sign the new contract in favour of Miami Heat. Then came dissatisfied fans of the Washington Bullets who complained about the loss of one NBA Star who could make them win the championship. This prompted NBA investigators to find out how the bad news happened. Both NBA League and the Union came into the picture, because both would have to signify their approval based on rules. This is where the integrative strategy of negotiation took place. People were not satisfied. David Falk of FAME, who was a Washington lawyer, wanted to keep Juwan in Washington. And the roles of both NBA League and the Union were to satisfy people following rules. When investigations led to the discovery that Pat Riley had exceeded the budget per team, both disapproved of the first contract with Miami Heat. The simplest situation that could have happened was for an NBA Star to exercise self-sacrifice for the Washington Bullets. But it appears that everybody recognized the right of a talented player to get whatever he is worth. In the concern about outcome for self and others, there was definitely no inaction, no yielding to others’ desired outcome, no contending because the player did consider outcomes desired by others as he aimed to get what he desired, and no compromise. There was a decision and determination to achieve what the individual believed he was worth. The case was elevated to a problem solving situation for the best things to happen. All went well in the end of negotiations. The solutions of NBA League and the Union were proper. VI. Conclusion If the offer of Miami Heat was not flawed and disputable as a result of conditional offers made by Pat Reily, Juwan Howard would have been compelled to play for Miami Heat and receive what he agreed on according to the contract. Unfortunately, the NBA investigators discovered a practice that was not allowed in fairness to all teams, and that was in the matter of going over the budget of salaries per team. Pat Reilly made conditional promises which were also not allowed. However, those were verbal promises with no evidence to pin him down. There would have been an arbitration scenario over the allegations. And Juan Howard was placed in a dangerous position of realizing shame if Miami Heat would lose the arbitration. His value would have been diminished for siding with the wrong negotiating team, especially considering that there was information about the poor chances of the Miami Heat winning the arbitration. Therefore, Juwan Howard made the right decision to return to Washington Bullets. He also got what he wanted in terms of compensation in the last offer to have him in the Miami Heat Team. The NBA League officials and the Union exerted their influence to see that negotiations were completed following the rules. The Larry Bird Rule was applied to facilitate the re-entry of Juwan Howard into the Washington Bullets. Juwan Howard was allowed to receive a salary up to a maximum even if the total team budget was exceeded. Under the Larry Bird Rule which was permitted by the NBA League and CBA even after the Washington Heat had renounced him, this was possible. Reference Brubaker, B. and Asher, M. (1996, October 27). A Power Play for Howard in Many Acts. The Washington Post. Read More