Case Study: Salary Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Rapid Golf

This case study analyzes a salary negotiation scenario at Rapid Golf Equipment Company, focusing on the roles of the Marketing Vice President (employer) and the Director of Mail Order Sales (employee). The employee seeks a salary increase, highlighting successful projects like Slingshot, Fireball, and Thunderhead, while acknowledging the lack of progress on the Phoenix line. The employer acknowledges the employee's successes but also the underperformance of the Phoenix line. The case explores traditional competitive bargaining tactics, including the use of alternatives, understanding bargaining power, and mirroring behavior to influence the negotiation outcome. The employee provides options to the employer, such as considering hiring another inexperienced person, addressing grievances, or dissolving the department and merging it with others. The analysis delves into the importance of understanding the manager's perspective, using the manager’s language, and demonstrating how the employee has fulfilled the company's needs, while also employing mirroring techniques to establish a "we" mentality. The case references several academic sources on negotiation and conflict resolution to support the analysis. This case provides a comprehensive understanding of negotiation strategies and conflict resolution in a professional setting.

Running Head: NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION 1
NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
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Traditional Competitive Bargaining
Confidential Role Information for Employer Position 3A
When a stage magician has one of its audience pick one of the provided cards, he
ensure that he has multiple ways of making the audience pick a certain card of his choice.
This is known as “forcing card” .Such kind of techniques is used by employees when they
want something from their employers. They come up with a number of alternatives in order
to make the boss see that there are choices, but in the real sense none of the provided
approaches make any sense. Traditional competitive bargaining is typically an argumentative
process in which an employer and the employee provide direct negotiations by meeting
physically to discuss their proposals as to the best wages, working hours or the working
conditions of the employee are supposed to be (Al-Khatib, et.al., 2011).
As a Vice President of the Rapid Golf Equipment Company, the essence of this
technique would be the fact that it would be easier to assume an adversarial association
between me and my employer. This won't necessarily mean that we hold hostile feeling
towards each other. It simply implies that the company and the employee carry themselves
solely to advance their own interest with little regard about the interests of the other party.
The assumption, in this case, is that both the employer and the employee are equal in power
(Lee, & Saez, 2012).
It is important to note that the development of positions between me and my
employers is not just a matter of choosing what we specifically need or want. In this type of
negotiations, it is probable that the management will take an opposite position to my wage
propositions and that the final agreement would be achieved through compromise of our
initial proposal which was $ 10,000 wage increase. In this case, I have provided a
significantly more favourable proposal to the management. Cohen, (2010) indicates that , “in

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traditional competitive bargaining , an employee bargaining with an employer may propose
that salaries be increased by 9%, based on a simple understanding that most of the other
comparable employers are providing a 4-5% annual salary increase”(P.149). The Assumption
in this case, is that the management will propose a much lower salary increment, and that the
final agreement would only be made through a compromise of around 5-7%. I would also
hope that I might get lucky and convince the management through the results of my services
to compromise at a 7% annual increase.
The company’s management might well respond to the demand I have put forward
with a proposal of as low as 1%.Irrespective of the fact that the management is well aware
that 4% if the amount is given by other comparable employers, the company might argue that
1% is much better due to budgetary constraints, reduced productivity of other employees or
even resistance from the taxpayer. This can be countered by arguing that some of the most
comparable employers are actually giving a 6% wage hike. The amount that we eventually
agree on will possibly be determined by which party has higher bargaining power and how
great a job each party does in providing a much persuasive argument to the other.
Confidential Role Information for Employee Position 3B
As the director of mail-order sales, I would provide my employer with a set of
options: 1) consider employing another inexperienced person, 2) considering my grievances
and 3) dissolving the department and merging it with others. This would mean that I am in a
better position of understanding the choices that would be made by my employer. With such
choices, I will be directly motivating or influencing the choices made by the manager
(Campbell, et al., 2012). Recent studies show that being cognitively intelligence helps an
employee to be deeply embedded in an organisation’s social network. This provides such

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kind of employees with a lot of information and a better understanding of the entire
workforce and in turn, makes things easier when negotiating for higher salaries.
First, it is important to develop a strong understanding of the manager’s bargaining
power. This can be achieved by being mindful of the thoughts of the employer as well as his/
her reaction to my proposal. Second, I would make an effort by taking part in group roles at
work that involve close social interaction. This will open more opportunities for empathy
from other employees. If social interactions are difficult, then it would be better to deal with
individuals (Dickinson, & Sommers, 2012).
Another fundamental framework of competitive bargaining is the use of the
manager’s own language to demonstrate how I have fulfilled the needs of the company
(Erkuş, & Banai, 2011). For instance, in this case, I am seeking a salary increase .As a good
negotiator, I have to highlight the simplicity of my products and services in the sale
department. By understanding the priorities of the company I can weave such aspects of my
services into my request in order to make them as genuine as possible. If the management
mentions that the company has challenges meeting the current wage bill, it would be easy
pushing my suggestions by pointing out that “I understand that you’ve been having
challenges with our social media presence, and here is how I have helped to push our
products in the past two years.” In this case, I am demonstrating familiarity with the
organisation, and at the same time providing evidence that I am supporting the company’s
growth, and thus, tapping into the thought process of the employer – all pointing in my favor
(Banai, et al., 2014).
Mirror behavior. Part of discussing my salary increase with the management is to
create a sense of “we” rather than “me against the company”, this can only be achieved by
mirroring my boss’s behavior. Such includes body language and speech intonations.

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(Chevalier-Roignant, & Trigeorgis, 2011). By paying attention to such clues about his
communication I’ll be able to choose the best way of discussing my issues without pushing
him to a corner. For instance, if he uses a lot of gesture, it would be best for me to use visual
presentation such as graphs and charts to sell my ideas. This will show that I am in
accordance with the boss’s nonverbal communication as well as the needs of the company.

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References
Al-Khatib, J. A., Malshe, A., Sailors, J. J., & Clark III, I. (2011). The impact of deceitful
tendencies, relativism and opportunism on negotiation tactics: a comparative study of
US and Belgian managers. European Journal of Marketing, 45(1/2), 133-152.
Banai, M., Stefanidis, A., Shetach, A., & Özbek, M. F. (2014). Attitudes toward ethically
questionable negotiation tactics: a two-country study. Journal of business
ethics, 123(4), 669-685.
Cohen, T. R. (2010). Moral emotions and unethical bargaining: The differential effects of
empathy and perspective taking in deterring deceitful negotiation. Journal of Business
Ethics, 94(4), 569-579.
Chevalier-Roignant, B., & Trigeorgis, L. (2011). Competitive strategy: Options and games.
MIT Press.
Campbell, B. A., Coff, R., & Kryscynski, D. (2012). Rethinking sustained competitive
advantage from human capital. Academy of Management Review, 37(3), 376-395.
Dickinson, V., & Sommers, G. A. (2012). Which competitive efforts lead to future abnormal
economic rents? Using accounting ratios to assess competitive advantage. Journal of
Business Finance & Accounting, 39(3‐4), 360-398.
Erkuş, A., & Banai, M. (2011). Attitudes towards questionable negotiation tactics in
Turkey. International Journal of Conflict Management, 22(3), 239-263.
Lee, D., & Saez, E. (2012). Optimal minimum wage policy in competitive labor
markets. Journal of Public Economics, 96(9-10), 739-749.