Negotiation Role Play & Reflection

This article provides a reflection on a negotiation role play exercise, focusing on the role of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) consultant. It discusses the strategies used during the negotiation process and the lessons learned from the simulation. The article also highlights the importance of effective conflict management and the skills required for successful negotiation.

MGT5ERN: ASSIGNMENT 3
NEGOTIATION ROLE PLAY & REFLECTION
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Reflection of Member 1: Role- Employee Assistance Program Consultant
During the dispute resolution and negotiation simulation role-play, I was given the role of the
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) consultant, Jamie Joiner. As the EAP consultant, I was
working with the People Matter program for the last 2 years and has been a part of the human
resource department for the last 20 years. My job as an EAP consultant is to develop a work-
based intervention program for identifying and assisting employees with their personal
problems. The People Matter program also offers services that are marital, financial or
emotional in nature and deals with family issues, alcohol and drug abuse and other matters
that can affect the performance of the employees. Services like legal assistance, adoption
assistance, elder care, etc. are provided by People Matters program to the employee as well as
their families (Attridge, Herlihy & Maiden, 2013). Presently, I have been working with the
Bundoora Bus Company, which is one of the subscribers of our services.
During the dispute resolution and negotiation role play, I was suddenly called by the HR
Manager of Bundoora Bus Company, Sam Smiley played by another student, and I was
informed that one of Sam's employees has tested positive for the random drug test which was
conducted every month to test employees. According to the roleplay script, I checked the
Bundoora Bus Company's file before reaching their office, and I found that the random drug
test provision was introduced in the latest enterprise bargaining negotiation. I clearly
understood that all these regulations and policies were part of the new strategy by Bundoora
Bus Company to get rid of unionised labour and hire cheaper non-union labour.
After reaching the bus company office, I found out that Casey Connor is the accused bus
driver who has tested positive in the drug test and required my assistance for negotiating with
the HR manager. However, upon reaching the office, the first thing the struck me was the ill-
behaviour the HR manager has displayed against Casey. He had been made to sit in the office
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for almost 90 minutes prior to my arrival without letting him know about the situation. The
EBA clause makes it compulsory for all employees to give consent for the drug test and upon
the positive outcome, can be dismissed directly from the company. However, on special
cases, if mitigation procedures are possible, a second chance is given to the employee under
which they should undergo a residential treatment therapy and on completing it successfully
can re-join the service. In my presence, Sam explained the protocol to Casey, and I was
surprised to know that Casey should pay for his own residential treatment, which can cost up
to $10,000.
As an EAP consultant, it is my duty to provide assistant to the employees in case of any drug
or alcohol abuse. Therefore, I planned my strategies accordingly and decided to negotiate on
behalf of Casey. As negotiation strategies work best in private, I wanted to speak with Sam
alone. I thought as I would be pointing out the flaws in EBA policies, speaking in front of
Casey might hurt the ego of Sam and disrupt the negotiation process (McCarthy & Hay,
2015). I pointed out the significant issues in the EBA policies and the way they are
implemented in the office. The very first point that I argued was that it is completely
unreasonable to make Casey wait for more than an hour without briefing him the details
about the situation. This is directly in violation of his human rights, and he has the right to
know why he is being detained. Moreover, during the residential treatment facility, it is
inconvenient to expect the employee to pay for the additional $10,000. The company should
take the responsibility to pay for these charges if they really want to help their employees and
give them a second chance to join their services (Taute&Taute, 2012). I also pointed out to
Sam that Casey had a good track record as an employee and the company should be arranging
for an outpatient program which is way cheaper than residential treatment and does not
require Casey to be away from his friends and family. As an EAP consultant, it is my
responsibility to take care of the employees in such cases, and on a personal level, I felt bad
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for Casey as he was waiting for a long time without any protest and has been a good
employee for the company. Therefore, I used this private negotiation technique with Sam to
convince her to give a second chance to Casey and provide the additional treatment cost for
Casey’s rehabilitation.
This dispute resolution and negotiation simulation exercise has been really helpful for me in
my own professional career as well. It is a well-known fact that effective conflict
management and dispute resolution is considered an art form and requires special skills to
master. The nature of negotiation is also very dynamic and must be presented according to
the situation. Similar to the role-play scenario, if I plan to join HR department or work as an
EAP consultant in my professional life in the future, this simulation exercise has certainly
helped me a lot in terms of experience and gaining knowledge and techniques about handling
conflict situations. The major things that I learned from this simulation are that a detailed
understanding of company policies is necessary to determine what is morally and legally
correct. Additionally, judgement in a negotiation and conflict resolution scenario should
always be made from a neutral and unbiased ground. Moreover, when negotiating with high-
ranked officers in a company, instead of negotiating in front of their employees, it is better to
speak with them in private so that their ego is not hurt and it is easy to convince them about
the requirements of the employees (Goldberg et al., 2014).
This simulation also helped me in self-assessment by pointing out my own strengths and
weaknesses. According to me, my greatest strengths are my habit of background information
collection and presence of mind. I was able to confront Sam about the implementation of
company policies as I read the Bundoora Bus company file before meeting him and was
quick to provide the best possible solution for Casey to mitigate the situation based on the
intention of Sam. However, my greatest weakness lies in the fact that my communication
skill is not yet up to the mark and requires more practice to easily and clearly interact and
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communicate with people and convince them quicker. I was quite surprised to see that my
fellow teammates played their part very well to give the simulation a real feeling and were
quite happy about my own performance as an EAP consultant.
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Reference List
Attridge, M., Herlihy, P. A., & Maiden, R. P. (Eds.). (2013). The integration of employee
assistance, work/life, and wellness services. Routledge.
Goldberg, S. B., Sander, F. E., Rogers, N. H., & Cole, S. R. (2014). Dispute resolution:
Negotiation, mediation and other processes. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
McCarthy, A., & Hay, S. (2015). Advanced negotiation techniques. Apress.
Taute, W., &Taute, F. (2012). Organizational development: A supplement for an effective
organization. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 27(2), 63-78.
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