Question 1
Tom was a part of the senior management team of a global hospitality group. He was regularly featured in the news as a “an aggressive businessman with a good eye for spotting business opportunities”. He had been posted to many countries to oversee the expansion of the group’s operations. In January 2014, Tom advertised his apartment, with all furniture included, for sale at S$1.3 million. It was a recently renovated apartment that was situated near various other housing estates and a primary school in the eastern part of Singapore.
He had instructed his property agent that he would not accept offers lower than S$1.25 million and stated that he could convince buyers of the value of the apartment. He told the agent that “in the worst case scenario… (he) will rent out the apartment, instead of selling it”. Tom also specified that the completion of the sale and purchase must take place no later than 30 May 2014.
Jason was a potential buyer. Together with his wife and five-year-old twins, he viewed Tom’s apartment on 1 February 2014. He was impressed with the renovations. However, he informed the property agent that he was only willing to pay S$1.15 million and did not believe in “overpaying”, based on recent transaction values of apartments in the vicinity. He was keen to “complete the sale and purchase quickly if the price was right”.
The property agent tried to recommend some smaller-sized apartments to Jason that might be suitable for his budget. Jason declined and mentioned that he had been viewing various similar-sized apartments in the east.
One of the key steps in the integrative negotiation process is to understand the problem fully by identifying interests of the negotiating parties.
(a)Explain how such interests are distinct from the positions taken by the parties. Describe the four (4) categories of interests that the negotiating parties may possess.
(6 marks) – (1page)
(b) Identify and discuss two (2) possible interests underlying the stated positions of (i) Tom and (ii) Jason, in the above scenario. For each interest that you examine, specify the category of interest in which it falls.
Provide reasons to support your analysis. You may make some assumptions based on the facts stated above. (12 marks) (a) Identify and discuss two (2) possible interests underlying the stated positions of (i) Tom and (ii) Jason, in the above scenario. For each interest that you examine, specify the category of interest in which it falls.
Provide reasons to support your analysis. You may make some assumptions based on the facts stated above. (12 marks) -(1.5pages)
(c) Using the Agreement Circumplex (P.J.D. Carnvale, 2006), examine and suggest two (2) possible solutions ( For this essay please use logrolling and cutting cost ) that may be acceptable to both Tom and Jason.
Each solution should come from a different segment of the Agreement Circumplex. You are encouraged to develop creative solutions that are feasible for implementation. Your solutions should be suffciently detailed (with amounts, if relevant) so that their feasibility may be assessed. (1.5 pages )