Job Offer Negotiation Essay Example

top of its market and will guarantee me longevity, stability, and growth. Incentives: Robust Routers offered a $10,000 signing bonus with a small relocation incentive. Although that was a respectable offer, their competition, FourCom, offered a $15,000 signing bonus with a generous relocation package. The reason I felt that this was an issue is because the average MBA graduate receives a $20,000 signing bonus. That is double what I was offered. Also the case did not discuss the specific amount offered by Robust in terms of a relocation incentive.

Therefore, I felt these were issues to explore during the negotiation. Another company, a start up internet company, offered even better incentives, surpassing both Robust and FourCom. However, because this company posed the most risk in stability and longevity I did not consider this position a potential choice of employment but rather as leverage in the initial negotiation. B. Identify your target point, resistance point, BATNA, and interests that were associated with each of these issues, and briefly describe/explain how you determined them.

In my preparations, I determined a target point, a resistance point, a BATNA, and interests associated to each issue. Below is an outline of that preparation: • Position: My target point for this issue was to be hired for the business development group and my resistance point was to take the associate product manager position with the promise of consideration later on. Regarding the BATNA I decided that for all issues in the negotiation, my BATNA would be to refuse the job offer from Robust Routers and take the offer with FourCom.

My interest regarding this issue is that I feel that I would be more

suited for the business development group position. Not only does the business development position pay more in salary but it is an all around better position. It meets my career goals. • Salary: My target point is to meet the salary offered by FourCom of $101,000 and my resistance point was $90,000. The interest, or motivation behind this issue, was that I felt that my workmanship is worth the high salary especially since another company, which is comparable to that of Robust, was willing to offer me 13,000 more than the offer made by Robust. Incentives: The incentives that I was interested in were relocation expenses and a signing bonus. Toward the relocation expenses, my target point was $10,000 and my resistance point was $5,000. Toward the signing bonus, my target point would be 10,000 and my resistance point 5,000. My interest toward this issue was that I would have to relocate for the position. I have a fiance and am planning to get married and start a family in the near future; therefore, I need a home that will be large enough to accommodate a family and a family life style. C.

Identify your estimate of the other party’s target point, resistance point, BATNA, and interests that were associated with each of these issues that you thought were the most important issues to be negotiated, an briefly describe/explain how you derived estimates. In terms of the opposing side, Robust, I estimated that the BATNA for the entire negotiation was to retract the job offer and possibly hire a different candidate. I felt that was the only alternative they had. Once again, the issues that I

felt were most important during this negotiation were the position, the salary, and the incentives.

To determine the target and resistance I did an indirect assessment. For the negotiation, I estimated that Leigh Bultema’s target point for this issue as for me, Joe Tech, to accept the associate product manager without any guarantee of consideration for the business development group position. Her resistance point was acceptance of the associate product manager position with possible consideration for development position after two years. Bultema’s interest in this is that she knows that I am a great employee and would make a valuable asset to her team.

Therefore, she would want to keep me in her department for as long as possible. The target point for the salary issue I estimated at $88,000 with a resistance point of $88,000 with a $2000 increase after six months. I made this inference during the negotiation. $88,000 was the initial offer given by Bultema this is why I assume that the offer was the target point. As for the resistance point, during the negotiation as were talking about the salary, offered me $88,000 with a $2000 increase after six months.

Her assertiveness to not go hire than that offer signaled to me her stake in the offer and to assume that the offer was her resistance point. According to Bultema, the interest behind this issue was that the salary offered was already higher than what is normally given to an entry level manager straight out of college. Therefore, to keep moral within the department, Bultema will try to offer the best salary that is closest to the median as possible. The last issues that

I estimated were the incentives. For both the relocation package and signing bonus, I estimated the target point at $0.

I estimated the resistance point $5000. I believe the interest behind this was the same as that for the salary. The department does not want to lose moral by having a person receiving incentives and salary higher than that of the average number employees in the department. D. Indicate which party had the most power, and briefly describe/explain how you determined. Going into the negotiation I felt that I had the most power. I felt that I had a lot of information to use to my advantage. This was due to the two lucrative alternative offers I received from FourCom and the start up nternet company. Also, I already had a relationship with Robust and the manager of the position. The company saw the type of work I was capable of so therefore I felt that I could use these components to my advantage. Also I did not have anyone to answer to. My opponent, however, was not her own boss. Throughout the negotiation she kept insisting that she had to speak with her manager before she could make certain decisions. 1. How did you negotiation this dispute? Why did you negotiate in this manner? A.

Identify the negotiating strategy that you used, and explain why you used it rather than other strategies. During this dispute I used a distributive strategy to negotiate this dispute. I used this strategy because I felt that I should be compensated for my work ethic and I that I had a strong alternative with FourCom. B. Describe the negotiating tactics that

you used in the beginning, middle, and end stages of the negotiation, respectively, including the tactics you used to break any impasses that developed. The negotiating tactics that I used throughout the negotiation were hardball tactics.

These tactics included the bogey tactic, an assertive tactic, and the snow job tactic. In the beginning of the negotiation I felt that I was rather assertive in my position. The first issue we discussed was the position. It seemed like this issue was more of an issue on my part rather than on the part of the opposition. I explained to Leigh Bultema that I was actually more interested in the development position. I stated my reasons for the interest and reasons for why I should be considered for the position. This is how I approached each issue we discussed during the negotiation.

In the middle of the negotiation, I notice that my opponent, like me, was not backing down form the issues, therefore I began using the snow job tactic. By using this tactic I began flooding my opponent with information. I began telling her about the other offers I received the competing companies FourCom and the internet company. I explained the average signing bonus given to a college graduate. I restated the agreements that had decided previously and tried restate the information in a more confusing manner in order to overwhelm my opponent.

At the end of the negotiation, I used the bogey tactic. In this tactic, I took an issue that I knew was more important to my opponent than to myself and made it look as if it were of equal importance to me. By showing that

this issue was important to me I could than use it as leverage to gain the upper hand on an issue that actually was important. The issue I used was the start date. After discussing with my opponent, it became obvious that the start date was a mitigating factor/issue in the negotiation.

Therefore, I used that issue to get more out of the salary issue. C. Identify and describe any of the common cognitive mistakes or biases that were committed by you and or the other party, and explain how they influenced the process and/or outcome of your negotiation. I think that the biggest mistake I made was divulging too much information. I divulged how interested I was in working for the Robust Company. I already knew before the negotiation that I wanted to work for Robust. My main purpose in negotiating was too get more out of the job offer.

I feel that by expressing so much interest in the company, I revealed my main underlining interest in the negotiation and ultimately influenced the outcome of the negotiation. I feel that I could have gotten more out of my opponent. Also I feel that maybe I should have bargained in a more integrative way. I already had a relationship with the company. I could have used that relationship to meet my needs and in turn possibly meet there needs. D. Describe the negotiating strategy and tactics used by the other party. My opponent definitely used a distributive bargaining strategy.

Throughout the entire negotiation she used hardball tactics. She did not back away from any of her issues. She seemed very aggressive in that her body language was

very stonewall and she wasn’t very compromising. She also used a nibble tactic by offering the stock option. To close the deal we negotiated stock options. This incentive really wasn’t that large of a concern to me because I am not very knowledgeable about the topic. However, her offer of stock options, to me, felt like that extra incentive in order to close the deal. 2.

Did you achieve your desired outcome? Why or why not? After the close of the deal, I got to really go over with myself the outcome of the negotiation. I feel that I achieved my desired outcome I the way that I got more out of the job offer than was initially offered. However, I don’t think that Joe Tech would agree with it because he could have gotten more out of the offer if I would have utilize other tactics. Also, even though Joe Tech held a great interest in the Robust Routers Company, he was still offered a great deal more from a comparable company.

Therefore, I do not feel that Joe Tech would have been likely to accept the final agreement. The terms of the agreement were as such: • Position: Associate Product Manager with the ability to apply for business development position at a later time • Salary: 90,000 • Relocation incentive: 6,000 • Signing Bonus: 10,000 • Stock options: 1,200 • Start date: June 1st I feel that Leigh Bultema would feel good about the agreement. She did not lose much in the agreement. All around it turns out good for her. She gained a valuable employee without have to sacrifice too much more than what

was offered.

In terms of the cost and benefits of this negotiation, I feel that the benefits in the long run out weigh the cost. The cost of this negotiation is that compared to the other offers presented, by choosing the offer given by Robust Routers I am getting substantially less in pay and incentives. Also I am not going to be perform the position I was originally offered. However, out of the three companies that issued me a job offer, Robust Routers was the best choice for stability and longevity, being the top company in its industry.

Both of the alternative companies even though comparable, they hold substantial risk in terms of longevity. FourCom has been losing market share for the past two years and the internet company is completely new to the industry. It has no establishment in the industry. These are very large circumstances to consider. If I was to take one of the alternative offers, the likelihood of me having a job two or three years down the road is slimmer compared to Robust Routers. Therefore, even though I could have gotten more out of the negotiation, the benefits of taking the offer out way the cost of declining it.