CASE PROBLEM 4A: Katrina Wants Relief from the Open-Office Plan. Katrina has been working as a business development planner at Gold Medal, a telecommunications company, for three years. Gold Medal sells telephone and Internet services to residential and commercial customers. Considering that the telecommunications business is intensely competitive, business development is essential to Gold Medal. Another reason that business development is essential at Gold Medal is that large numbers of customers are dropping their landline telephones and shifting to mobile. A major part of Katrinas daily work routine is to identify potential customers who do not already have phone and Internet service or who are dissatisfied wither their current provider. In Katrinas words, I have to do a lot of heavy creative thinking. Three months ago, top-level management at Gold Medal decided to switch to an open-office plan. Individual managers and workers would no longer be able to work in cubicles or private offices. Instead, everybody would work out in the open, seated closely to one another at long work tables. A few closed-door conference rooms would be available for internal meetings and meetings with commercial customers. A private conference room could also be scheduled for performance reviews, sensitive discussions, and disciplinary meetings. Katrina took an immediate dislike to the open-office plan. At the top of her concerns was that sitting in close physical proximity to coworkers made concentrating on generating new ideas for business development very difficult. Katrina also thought that the noise from the constant chatter of coworkers was a stressor that interfered with creative thinking. Katrina scheduled a meeting with Branson, the marketing manager, to see if she could negotiate her way out of being assigned to an open-office plan. A partial transcript of her meeting with Brandon follows: Katrina: As I said in my e-mail, I cant stand the open-office plan. You cant expect me to do analytical work or think creatively when I feel that Im working in a subway or on a crowded bus. Brandon You sure do feel strongly about the new office plan. But a lot of companies are using open-office space to spark collaboration and creativity among their workers. At Gold Medal, we are buying into an important new movement. Katrina: I know that management has given a lot of thought to the new office layout. The problem is that it is a disaster for me and a few other workers I have spoken to. Brandon: Maybe you have to give the new office layout a little more time. Katrina: Ive got a better idea, Brandon. How about authorizing me three days a week to work remotely? When I work from home or some other quiet location, I could do all my analytical and creative work on those days. When I am at Gold Medal headquarters, I can take care of routine work. I know that I can take care of routine work amid noise and distractions. Brandon: You are asking for too big a change in company policy all at once. Maybe we can talk about this topic again in the near future. Katrina: Count on me to bug you again.

Case Questions 1. Which negotiating technique or techniques does Katrina appear to be using? 2. How effective is Katrina so far in negotiating for a favorable outcome for herself? DuBrin_Ch04.indd 61 12/07/19 10:23 AM Negotiation and Conflict Resolution in Organizations 62 Chapter 4 Basic Negotiation Tactics 3. To what extent is Brandon looking to find a negotiated solution to Katrinas demands? 4. What suggestions can you offer Brandon to do a better job of negotiating with Katrina?