Consider the following scenario happening in the Belk family:

The Belk family has four members: parents George and Michelle and their two children, Adam (2 years old) and Katie (6 years old). They live in Fairfax, Virginia. George is a teacher in the public schools and commutes to Arlington, every day, about 30 minutes away. Michelle, his wife, is a marketing executive for a small consulting firm in Herndon, also about 30 minutes away. Michelle works in the office 4 days a week and works at home 1 day a week. Michelle has just recently gone back to work after caring for Adam at home since he was born.

The Belk family have found themselves in some conflict about what to do regarding childcare for Adam. Currently Katie, in kindergarten, is dropped off at school at 7:30 am and picked up by George at 4:30 pm. The conflict has arisen over how much to pay for childcare and where to send Adam, with Michelle willing to pay more than George.

In anticipation of talking with Michelle, George spoke to his parents in Florida, who told George that couples in their neighbourhood pay about $600 a month for childcare for a 2-year-old. George also spoke to a co-worker who lives close by in Maryland who has a neighbour providing day-care for $800 a month. Going to Maryland is too far for them to travel, however. Michelle, on the other hand, has researched one local day-care centre, KidTime, which charges $1,000 a month. To date, they have not found any neighbours who are currently offering day-care.

Michelle prefers KidTime because it is close to their house, so either one of them could take Adam in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon. George's target is $600, and he is willing to pay between $500 and $800. Michelle's target is $900, and she is willing to pay $700 to $1,000. She thinks they have to pay a minimum of $700 to get quality care for Adam. Here are the discussions between Michelle and George.

Michelle: We need to solve this childcare situation. My mom is leaving next week, and we have no childcare plan.

George: Yeah, I know. I've seen the KidTime brochures you've been leaving around the house. I just don't know how we can afford that.

Michelle: But it's everything we want! After seeing these awesome brochures, I went to visit the place on my way home from work and found it amazing! They have rubber mats everywhere, slides for the kids, even a pretend farm that the kids can play at! A farm! Just unbelievable!

George: Well, what snacks do they give?

Michelle: Uh, I don't know. I didn't ask.

George: Who works there? Are they college students, or are they more experienced providers?

Michelle: I'm not sure.

George: I'm just not comfortable spending our entire savings on $1,000 a month at KidTime. If we could just limit childcare expenses to $800, we'd be able to put more money into Adam's college fund.

Katie: Mommy, Adam put a raisin up his nose! Help!

George: Go help the kids. I'll do some research and let's talk tomorrow, okay?

(The next day)

George: So, I've looked around a bit and found another place, ToddlerCare, that is only $900 a month. I know it's more than I want to spend, but it will still save us $1,200 a year versus going to KidTime.

Michelle: Where is it?

George: It's about 20 minutes away, and it's on the way to your office. You could drop off Adam around 8:00 am and one of us could pick him up in the afternoon.

Michelle: What's it like?

George: Well, I went on their website to get all of the relevant information. They have a staff-to-student ratio of 6:1; they only give organic, non-sugary snacks; they have no staff under age 25; and everyone has at least 5 years of experience. They also do not have infants in the facility, which means more attention is paid to the kids. This is really important to me as I want Adam to get a lot of attention.

Michelle: Do they have a pretend farm?

George: Well, no, but they do have plenty of toys and an outside play area for when the weather is nice.

Michelle: I suppose we could go take a look. Thanks for doing that research.

(The next day)

Michelle: So, I've been thinking about this, and I have a bigger concern after talking to my friend Janice at work today. She kept talking about how her kid was sick all the time when he was in day care and I'm wondering whether a day care centre is a great situation or not.

George: Why didn't you say this before I did all this research?

Michelle: I'm just being honest.

George: But Janice is a hypochondriacsince she's always sick maybe her kid is always sick.

Michelle: Yeah, I know, I thought of that too, so I went online and found an article that says kids are twice as likely to get sick in day care centres as they are at home.

George: How could we keep him at home, though? You want to go back to work.

Michelle: Well, what if we get a nanny for 4 days and I keep him for the fifth.

George: Can we afford that?

Michelle: Well, I didn't think so, but I looked into it, and nanny prices for 4 days a week seem to range from $600 to $900 per month. With my flexible schedule, I should be able to make that work.

George: I don't know if I'm comfortable leaving my kid with a stranger.

Michelle: Well, we can get references and do interviews, and if we don't like the nanny, we can either switch or go to one of the day care centres.

George: How can I help find a good one?

Answer the following questions based on the scenario:

1. Who are the parties at the table?

2. Who are the background participants?

3. Who are the background nonparticipants?

4. How do the background participants and nonparticipants influence the negotiation?

5. What are Michelle's interests?

6. What are George's interests?

7. What are the obvious issues in the negotiation?

8. What are the potential issues in the negotiation?

9. What are the positions brought up in the negotiation?

10. What's the ZOPA?

Concept Application

11. Find a public dispute (one being written about in the media) and infer what the interests and the positions are. Report these to the class, along with the evidence for your inferences. State why it is important in this negotiation to separate out the interests from the positions.

12. Think back to a negotiation you were recently in. Answer the following questions and report your answers to the class.

13. What were your interests? How were they reflected in your desired positions?

14. What were the other party's interests? How were those interests reflected in their desired positions?

15. Why was it helpful in this negotiation to understand the distinction between interests and positions?

16. What were the issues negotiated in this negotiation? Of those issues, which were obvious issues, and which were potential issues?

17. If you negotiated over money or some other quantifiable item, did you have a positive ZOPA? A negative ZOPA? How do you know? How did this ZOPA impact the negotiation? Did you have to try various tactics in order to reach a resolution?