This week, you are asked to engage in a new negotiation event and utilize your growing skill set. In other words, negotiate the purchase of something, the restaurant for dinner, time off at work, household chores with your children, or any other situation that works well for you and that you can complete in the first part of the week (before the initial post is due). Of course, the earlier in the week you start, the better prepared you can be for the negotiation. Whatever negotiation you try, challenge yourself. Make it something both meaningful and worthwhile for strategic negotiation.

For the first paragraph of your initial post, describe the negotiation event that you are using for this week’s discussion, including the participants, the key issues, and the outcome.

For the second part of your initial post, evaluate any one of the following starter bullet points, using research on course concepts to support your analysis:

• Negotiations most often occur between two people having a meaningful relationship, such as spouses, coworkers, and suppliers and customers. Therefore, relationships tend to influence present and future interactions, however cordial or adversarial they might be. The dynamics of a relationship and its importance to each party also affect the strategies used and the outcomes reached in a negotiation. How did the relationship impact the negotiation event? How did it influence your preparation, your choice of strategy, and the outcome?
• Relationship is only one type of interest that might surface in a negotiation. Our course material also notes that substantive and process interests affect negotiations. Evaluate the various types of interests that existed in the negotiation (could be expressed or implied interests). How did those interests contribute to the outcome?
• Present negotiations often set precedents for future negotiations. Evaluate the influence your negotiation might have on future negotiations with the same party and different parties. Explain what precedent has been set for the process, for the relationship, and for the styles and strategies.
• Reputation, trust, and fairness are the key considerations in a negotiation when a long-term relationship is at stake. How did reputation, trust, and justice or fairness impact the way you negotiated with that person? If the relationship was already strong, how did the negotiation further enhance the relationship? If the relationship was not a good one, how might the way you negotiated repair or further harm it?
• Coalitions preserve or increase an individual’s resources. There is, typically, a gain in leverage, power, or resources or the likelihood of reaching a goal when forces are joined. Examples of coalitions include political alliances, two children agreeing to work together to gain parental permission, and a buying group in a professional association where the higher number of members can get added member discounts. What coalitions were present in your negotiation? If a coalition was not present, what coalition might have been possible to create greater advantage? Evaluate whether the coalition (present or possible) is likely to be long term or short term. How could the coalition be broken, and what would be the effect on the negotiation?
• Negotiations can sometimes include multiple parties. For instance, in addition to a buyer and a seller, a real estate transaction may include a real estate broker, a financial source, an insurance agent, a surveyor, and property inspectors. What multiple parties were evident in your negotiation? Describe what challenges were presented by the increased number of negotiators in your multiparty negotiation. How did having multiple parties influence the outcome?
• Conclude your post with a summary paragraph that synthesizes one or two key issues or points of your initial post. 

 

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Introduction to Public Administration – Week 3 Assignment

Public Administrator Interview

For this assignment you will need to find a public administrator to interview. You may want to reach out to your local government and ask if you can interview your local City Manager or even the Parks & Recreation Manager. The interview could take anywhere from 15-60 minutes depending on the level of detail discussed.

Below is a list of sample questions that you will want to ask in your interview. You will also need to develop your own questions to add to this list. Once the interview is complete you will submit a 3-4 page summary and reflection of the interview including a list of the questions discussed and a record of your interviewee’s answers. You may want to record the interview in order to provide an accurate record of your participant’s responses.

In writing your reflection, consider what you learned from this experience and how it applies to your interests in public administration.

Questions you will want to ask:

1.  Describe your current position. 

2.  What are your organizations goals, values, and/or mission statement? 

3.  How did you come to work as a public administrator?

4.  What is the most challenging aspect of your role?

5.  What do you find most enjoyable about this line of work?

6.  What do you find it the least enjoyable thing about this line of work?

7.  What are the typical issues/conflicts that you must deal with on a regular basis?

8.  We have discussed intergovernmental relations in class.  How does your agency work with other governmental agencies?

9.  How do you approach decision-making in your role?  Are there specific models or guidelines that your organization endorses? 

10.  How is your organization held accountable?  What happens if the organizational goals are not met?

If you were to give any advice to someone considering a career in public administration, what would you tell them?

 

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