Web Services Negotiation

Business Services Manager

You are the project manager of the Business Services Group at Toronto Computing, a technology

consulting firm that creates custom accounting software solutions for businesses, local governments,

and retail banks. The firm is made up of three engineering groups: Business Services, Government

Services, and Financial Services. With 50 engineers, the Business Services group has the largest staff

and brings in the majority of the firm's revenue. The Government Services and Financial Services

group both have 20 employees and a more narrow focus. The engineers in Business Services develop

applications for all types of small- and mid-sized businesses, while the engineers in Government

Services and Financial Services specialize in local governments and retail banks respectively.

Toronto Computing has enjoyed record profits over the last seven years, but the competitive

landscape of the technology services industry is changing. Demand for custom desktop applications

has decreased precipitously as software-as-a-service platforms (SAAS) such as salesforce.com and

Amazon Web Services have become more popular.

To remain competitive, the COO of Toronto Computing has asked the engineers in Government

Services to merge with the engineers in Business Services. This newly created Web Services Group

will be responsible for driving growth in the company. Following the merger, the engineers who now

work in Financial Services will manage older accounts as a Legacy Services Group. You will meet

with the project manager of the Government Services Group to negotiate the details of this merger.

As you go into this negotiation, your over-arching goal is to grow the business. The Business

Services group is a profit-oriented machine. Your employees work tirelessly to maximize revenues.

You want the new corporate structure to produce a more efficient operation, which will let you both

drive down costs and increase profits.

You have identified three issues that you want to discuss during the negotiation: team leadership plan,

compensation scheme, and engineer redundancy plan. Your negotiation is not complete until you reach

an agreement on all three of these issues.

As part of your negotiation preparation, you created a points schedule that reflects your preferences.

Your goal is to reach an agreement that provides you with as many points as possible. THE MORE

POINTS YOU EARN, THE BETTER YOUR AGREEMENT.

Should you and the other project manager fail to reach an agreement, the COO will create the new

Web Services Group by merging the Business Services with the Financial Services group. The

engineers in Government Services will then be transitioned into Legacy Services. Financial Services

has a similar culture to the engineers in Business Services, but the project manager in Financial

Services is famous for playing politics and a bit of a jerk. When you informally discussed a potential

merger with Financial Services, the project manager offered you a deal worth 3,700 points.Identify the criteria that your team will use for the negotiation and create criteria statements.

use this text book (The Negotiation Fieldbook 2ndEdition Simple Strategies to Help You Negotiate Everything- Grande Lum)

Create Closure Strategies Worksheet: (like below)

Closure Strategy ______________________

Sample Dialogue ______________________

Decide Checklist (answer like below)

1. Aim for the Best Possible Agreement (BPA)

a) What is the Best Possible Agreement?

b) What is your Minimum Possible Agreement?

2. Make tentative agreements

a) What tentative agreements might you offer or accept in this meeting?

3. Take the next steps

a) What are the next steps that will get you closer to an agreement on substance?

4. Get both parties on the same side

a) What steps will you take to ensure that you and the other party are on the same side?