final research paper

Running head: CONFLICT & NEGOTIATION 1

CONFLICT & NEGOTIATION 9

Conflict & Negotiation: Job Offers, Salary, Promotion & Raises

This class has been one of the most beneficial classes I have completed in quite some time. Conflict and negotiations seem to be a part of our everyday life, whether we realize it or not. I have come to recognize the different types of negotiations I encounter daily because of this class. In my current position with BMW Financial Services North America I deal with negotiations constantly, however, I am currently considering an employment change and feel the information I learned from this class will be great guidance for me in negotiating new employment. In this paper, I will discuss the ways this class will assist me in making the decision to change positions with my current employer or change my employer all together and better prepare me for future negotiations. I have been with BMW Financial Services for a little over seven years and love the company. However, in my current position, where I have been for a year and half, I am not challenged enough. I am not satisfied in my current position and unfortunately, I do not feel there is room for movement with the company at this time. This is probably the only one reason I am considering looking at other companies, to continue my growth and development. I have started researching other companies, as well as other departments within BMW, so I am just in the beginning stages of a change, but hope to analyze the situation fully and confirm my professional short term and long term goals. This class and this paper will help me to walk through each step and come to the best decision for me personally and professionally. Research As I mentioned previously, I have started researching other companies and other departments within BMW Financial Services. Since I have a great passion for the company I currently work for, a lot of my focus has been looking for new opportunities within. I have determined that if I chose to stay with BMW, I would like to move into the New Business department; this would include our Funding, Retailer Communications Center (RCC) and Credit department. I have begun having these conversations with the management staff in that department and I have recently taken this research a step further. Each week I sit with a member for one of the departments (Funding, RCC, or Credit) and learn what they do daily and for each new deal, phone call or dealer request that crosses their desk. This has been a great learning experience for me and has confirmed that any of these departments would be a great move for me with BMW. I have also begun researching different companies that I may consider moving to and continuing my career. I have started a very general search as I am not sure what company I would like to work for. I have started just looking at open positions on different open job websites and forums. A few of the websites I have been monitoring are www.ohiomeansjob.com/omj/, www.monster.com and www.indeed.com. I start out by reviewing the open position and details of the daily responsibilities. If it is something that peaks my interest I will then look for the company’s website and begin looking into the company and what the company has to offer. Currently, I have not found anything that has been extremely interesting to me, and have only reviewed a few different companies, all of which I did not feel would be a good fit. I feel with the information I have obtained from this class, I am more prepared to make informative decisions that are the best fit for me. Defining Goals After I have completed almost two years in my current position I have realized that I need more. My career goals are slowly becoming more apparent to me and something that I want to strive towards each and every day. I am completely bored in my current role and have no sense of challenge. I work in an inbound call center and feel there are no mental challenges for me. There is nothing that requires me to think or actually put effort in. I enjoyed the experience and the knowledge this position has given me, however, I need to have challenge, and variance in my daily activities to stay focused, passionate and enjoy what I am doing. Unfortunately, this is something I lack completely at this time. Therefore, I know for my future short and long term goals, I want to be challenged daily; I want something that I can be passionate about all of the time, and something that I am proud of. I want to be with a company that allows me to give them my best and appreciates my involvement and contributions. I enjoy the type of business I am in now, however, I feel I have so much more to offer BMW Financial Services that what I currently contribute in my role. I know that I love this company and am passionate about our products and services, but I lose sight of this with my boredom and become frustrated. This frustration is sometimes present in my conversations and interactions with customers and colleagues and is something I wish I could avoid all together. I would consider staying in the same field, if I decided to leave BMW, however would have to make sure challenges, passion and focus would be present in the new position. Future Opportunities One of the most beneficial readings for me was Thompson (2012) chapter two, Preparation: What to Do Before Negotiation. Preparing for the negotiation before hand is of key importance to receiving a positive outcome. Preparation before negotiating allows for you to research and negotiate with your partners with confidence. Prior to this class, I had never actually prepared for a negotiation before I was in the negotiation. This was a great learning point for me and something that I enjoy doing at this point. If I am able to learn about my negotiation counterpart, what they are looking to resolve and what they goals are allows me to be more confident and build relationships and rapport with the others. This was something I really tried to focus on in the mock negotiations with this class. I always wanted to find a way to build some type of rapport with the others as well as make the first offer. I felt both of these always put me in a good position for the remainder of the discussion. Future opportunities will open up for me as I continue to grow and develop both personally and professionally. This course offers me a great deal of information that I can put to good use in both my personal and professional life to continue to make the best of what is given to me. Having the knowledge that I do now and the confidence to negotiate a situation I feel will open up even more doors. Prior to taking this class I would have never considered negotiating with an employer for salary or benefits, for fear of them walking away or taking back the original offer. Now, with the understanding of BATNAs, reservation points, target points and first offers, I feel that an employer will always leave room to negotiate. Employers are probably not putting their BATNA out on the table from the beginning, meaning what their first offer is regarding my salary, they are actually probably willing to pay me more, and just want to see what I will accept. This puts me in a better position to understand this when the time comes to negotiate my salary and in turn, should give me a better outcome financially. Challenges Challenges for me during this process are more of personal and emotional challenges. I really enjoy the atmosphere and the people I work with currently at BMW Financial Services. Unfortunately, it is just the job duties that I am unhappy with. Given the lack of movement at BMW currently, this has lead me to the decision of considering the option of leaving the company. To leave the friendships and connections I have made with people at BMW, would be a challenge for me. This is one of the biggest reasons I continue to delay looking at other places. I have recently realized that the ones that are truly friends will still be there even if we are not working together and that my happiness has to outweigh the worry of losing friendships. I am becoming more and more removed and frustrated as each day passes and I need to makes moves to better this for me personally. There are two challenges that I feel would be present for me when actually negotiating with an employer. The first one would be one of the most common negotiation traps; settling for too little and leaving money on the table (Thompson, 2012, p. 5). This is something that is very common with me because I have a great fear of missing out on something because I pushed “too hard” or making the other party mad. This is something that I have really tried to teach myself over the last eight weeks, the other party is not going to put their top offer on the table first, when in an actual negotiation, there should always be remove for negotiation; the bargaining zone (p. 39). This is easy for me to understand but hard for me to act on. I tried to push back and counter offer several different ways during this class to get comfortable with this thought, even when there were offers on the table better than my BATNA, I wanted to see opportunities where I could overcome each of these common traps. My counterparties’ BATNAs are another challenge I could see for me in the future. Thompson (2012) explains this is probably the most important piece of information one can have in a negotiation, however, it is unlikely the counterparty will just reveal their BATNA (p. 27). Without the appropriate amount of research this would be hard information to find. Using this in the situation of my employment, I would have to do extensive research on the average salary of someone with my education level and experience in my field. I would have to have an understanding of what is typically offered, and if possible what the company I am discussing this with typically offers. This to me seems like a big challenge. Without asking the company directly, I am not sure how to find this information. I would have to do extensive research on the company and it might still be something I have no information on going into the salary negotiation. BATNAs, Reservations Points, Walk-away Points, and my Future Decisions Before taking this class, I did not know what any of the following were: BATNAs, Reservation Points or Walk-away Points. Now after completing this class I am fully aware of each of these topics, how they affect any negotiation and what benefits or challenges each can have. BATNAs were a completely new concept for me to think about during this class. I never thought of a negotiation as something that you can prepare for ahead of time. I know this was something I did somewhat unconsciously, but never with real thought or research to confirm I was making the best decision. As Thompson (2012) explains, BATNAs (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) are to serve as a guide for what you are willing to accept as an outcome for your negotiation and act as a reference point to evaluate the actual outcome (p. 22). The BATNA is something that will be very beneficial for me once I decide on my next career move, with BMW or not, compensation, pay and benefits will need to be discussed. I know what I currently have and in order for me to accept something new, it will have to at least have my current compensation. This would then be my BATNA to negotiate my salary for my next position. The reservation point was also a new concept for me. This leads right along with BATNA but is not a guess or how you feel personally. The reservation point must be based on facts and it has the most direct influence on the outcome of the negotiation (Thompson, 2012, p. 16-17). The reservation point would be what I would determine once I have reviewed and evaluated my alternative options, attempted to improve my BATNA, and researched the new position thoroughly (Thompson, 2012, p. 17). Once my reservation point is determined and supported by facts, this sets the scenario for the negotiation and how I want to proceed. My reservation point or the lowest I will accept for my salary is set. If this is not met, then I must look to my walk-away point. The walk-away point is a mixture of both my BATNA and reservation point; it is the point where I must decide I am not happy with what is being offered. If the company I am working with is not willing to compromise and offer what I am requesting, then I must make a decision. I am left with the decision to either give in or accept what they are offering, even if this means giving up my requests and accepting something lower than my BATNA or Reservation point. However, the only other option would be to walk-away from the position or company and remove the position as an opportunity for myself. All three of these points are great knowledge to hold and have truly helped to prepare me for any negotiation situation. I feel these will be three of the most beneficial things I take away from this class. This allow me to remain focused on what I want, but also allow the flexibility to receive and accept an offer better than what I originally planned. I feel all three will be something I use in the near future with the decision I need to make regarding my career. Conclusion Overall, I feel this was an awesome class to complete with Ohio Dominican University and every ounce of the information and knowledge I gained in this class can be used in both my personal and professional life. I look forward to completing a real negotiation that truly has a personal affect on me and my future. I feel this class has better prepared me for my future negotiations and will assist me in making one of the biggest decisions in my life yet. I am excited for what the future holds for me and I look forward to completing my MBA, and moving on to bigger and better things with the company I choose. This is the first time I feel that my future is actually in my own hands and I am comfortable and confident enough to make these decisions.

References

Thompson, L. L. (2015). The mind and heart of the negotiator. Boston: Pearson.