Case Study

Read and analyse the case study given below and answer the questions that follow.

Summi and Michal recently moved to a new house and were very excited. They had stretched their financial limits to afford his house and were keenly looking forward to the possession of their flat. The flat was in a reputed residential township which had $15$ towers with double basement parking space connected for all the towers. The tower in which Summi and michal had shifted was the most recent and luxurious tower in the whole township. Parking spaces to the residents were allotted one month after they shifted. Summi and the whole township. Parking spaces to the residents were allotted one month after they shifted. Sumi and Michal realized that they had been allotted a parking space which was $500$ meters away from the lift and was located under some other tower. Since Sumi was academician and had to carry laptop bag, books and other stuff to her workplace, she founded it difficult to walk this distance with all baggage because of her spondylitis problem. As an interim arrangement, she started parking the car in open parking on the ground floor but was often harassed by others for using their parking space.

Another problem was that both their cars $($Toyota corolla and Honda City$)$ did not fit un the two back$-$to$-$back parking space allotted to them. At the time of booking, they had been informed by the sales Manager of the company that two single parking spaces were not available and hence back$-$to$-$back parking spaces, which could accommodate two sedan cars, would be allotted. Michal had some apprehensions about the issue at the time of booking but the sales manager assured that there was plenty of space in the designated car parking and both their vehicles could be parked easily. Michal had booked the flat based on the assurance received that there would be no parking trouble.

Michal was not able to park his car anywhere due to stringent car parking norms which Michal truly appreciated. However due to inconvenience relate to parking his car in the allotted parking, he decided to take up the matter with the Residents welfare Association $($RWA$).$ He was informed by the RWA officials that the parking space had been allotted based on the date of booking, that is$,$ the buyers who booked early got parking near to the lift. Moreover, during discussions with higher officials, the RWA was informed that no more parking space was available and that the builder was not concerned what the executive had promised at the time of booking.

Michal realized that the RWA did not have powers to resolve the issue; hence he decided to escalate the matter to the senior authorities of the builder. He wrote repeated mails regarding

The issue but received no acknowledgement or response. Michal felt cheated since no one from the builder$$s office was willing to discuss or take responsibility for the problem.

Later on$,$ in an interaction with other residents of the same tower Michal got to know that there were three more families who were allotted their car parking space far away from the lift, although they had booked flat in the initial stage. All these four families decided to collectively take up the issue with the higher authorities of the builder to negotiate for a possible amicable solution to the issue.

Questions

$1.$ From the viewpoint of both the parties$-$ concerned residents and the builder $$ identify the issues that have led to this impasse.

$2.$ Discuss the communication barriers that may have led to the current situation.

$3.$ Discuss the instances indicating various stages of conflict and how they might have led to the current crises.

$4.$ Discuss the conflict resolution strategy that may be most effective to resolve the current situation. Justify your answer.

$5.$ Identify the builder$$s and residents$$ BATNA, WATNA, ZOPA that may be useful for effective negotiation.