Post #8: Roleplay CPA.Inc + Hiring A Newtonian

Roleplay CPA. Inc

This time the roleplay was about management conflict. 

Someone in CPA.Inc stole and cashed payroll checks. While handwriting experts and other investigators from City-Wade Forensic Services were conducting investigation, Roo Smith and Dana Petski, long-term employees of the company, accused new employee Sandy Brown of wrongdoing and wanted her to be fired. The CPA manager, J.T. wanted to resolve conflict and called co-workers for an appointment. 

Thus, I played the role of Roo Smith and Dana Petski. According to my instructions I was very loyal to CPA and its image and reputation were very important to me. I was absolutely convinced that Sandy was guilty and should be immediately fired. During the appointment, I had to show considerable righteous anger and to be very emotional interrupting the manager. 

I had not any prepared strategy, there were only emotions controlling and ruling everything during the meeting. My arguments were very subjective and did not prove Sandy’s culpability. The main arguments I was screaming again and again were: 

* Sandy has just bought a house, although she has been working for the company for a few months only;

* She has been staying late working alone, why?

* I grew up in that company and know everyone in CPA.Inc

After a hard and noisy discussion, we decided to call another investigator to make an examination again. Moreover, I said I would quit the company if they confirm that Sandy was still not culpable. 

I think that this roleplay taught us how to manage emotions during conflict while working collaboratively. The main role in that play role was actually the one of CPA manager who had to keep empathy, emotional intelligence and patience. In fact, guilty or not it did not matter. The most important was to eliminate conflict inside the company, to keep the CPA’s reputation and to find solutions. That roleplay was also about finding the compromise and how to handle angry public (previous post of November 25).

Hiring A Newtonian

I played the role of a computer programmer from Newtonia who had a job interview with the HR director of one company. According to my instructions I had to negotiate on three following issues:

* Salary: I could accept only a salary with odd numbers and above $53,000; moreover, it was very uncomfortable to talk about salary first.

* Benefits: I expected to get paid holidays in Newton’s birthday, my birthday and my mother’s birthday. 

Start date: I wanted to start the job on Friday but not on Monday (bad luck in Newtonia). 

Actually, I had a strong belief in good and bad luck. But I should not have spoken of this much since speaking of luck might invite bad luck. Moreover, I could not reveal the reasons for my decisions and needs to the HR director. 

Honestly it was hard to follow all those instructions. I was confused and seemed to be very stupid because I could not to explain any reasons of my requests. To my surprise my negotiator quickly agreed to all of them. 

Indeed, this exercise highlighted the cultural elements of negotiation and helped sensitize negotiators to potential cultural differences. This exercise also highlighted the potential discrepancy between intent by one party and impact on another party. Thus, for the Newtonian programmer apathy to his family and personal life from the director would be considered as a bad manner which is not the case for the director’s culture. In negotiation regarding cultural differences it is very important to pay attention to all habits and traditions of the culture of your negotiator. Every single detail is important and might offend your negotiator. If we manage cultural differences, it is important to move beyond stereotypes.