Have you ever experienced a so-called make or break moment, when you knew the outcome of the situation could change your life significantly? That is the way Jim, a Human Resource (HR) manager, felt as he sat anxiously by the telephone, waiting for a call from the union's lead negotiator. The union bargaining team was currently in a caucus meeting considering the "final proposal" Jim had made from the company to the union a few hours ago. As time passed, Jim didn't know whether to feel encouraged since the union team was obviously taking the time to seriously review the proposed contract terms or to feel worried because the longer the union team delayed giving a response, the more likely it could be that some union negotiating team members were having a problem with one or more terms of the proposed settlement. This wasn't Jim's first contract negotiation, but it is never easy, no matter how many times one has negotiated successfully in the past. Months of preparation that involved gathering detailed information about every bargaining subject and industry conditions, analyzing the data to determine the cost and operating implications of agreeing to proposed terms, developing a bargaining strategy for presenting and gaining the union's acceptance of the proposed terms - all of it came down to this final moment. Only in the past six months had the company begun to recover from the downturn in business caused by the recent recession. Employees had been required to make economic sacrifices in the form of age and benefit freezes, temporary layoffs, and increased uncertainty about future job security. Jim was concerned that union members saw the recent improvement in business operations as a sign that everything was good going forward and the company could afford to make up the past employee concessions. Will the company's proposal did contain some modest economic improvements for employees, it also contained proposals to increase management's flexibility to schedule work operations and redefine job descriptions to improve efficiency. What effect these changes might have on the total number of jobs available at the company in the future was difficult to predict at present, which caused some union negotiators to push for more job security guarantees in the proposed contract language. Would the compromises made at the bargaining table after weeks of face-to-face negotiations be enough to win final approval? Jim's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his telephone. The moment of truth had arrived! Answer ONE of the discussion questions below in the Module 6 Discussion Forum. As a management negotiator, would you be willing to offer bargaining unit members a monetary signing bonus if they agreed to approve proposed contract settlement terms, andi if so, how much money would you be willing to offer per bargaining unit member? Or Imagine you were Jim's supervisor. In conducting Jim's annual performance evaluation, what percentage of Him's evaluation score should be based upoon how the company fared in the outcome of contract negotiations that year