Introduction to Negotiation Strategy
At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Negotiation Strategy and other business case study solution. BET: The Edge on Talent case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Erika H. James, Martin N. Davidson, Gerry Yemen. The BET: The Edge on Talent (referred as “Bet Johnson” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Leadership & Managing People. It also touches upon business topics such as - negotiation strategy , negotiation framework, Leadership, Organizational culture.
Negotiation strategy solution for case study BET: The Edge on Talent ” provides a comprehensive framework to analyse all issues at hand and reach a unambiguous negotiated agreement. At Oak Spring University, we provide comprehensive negotiation strategies that have proven their worth both in the academic sphere and corporate world.
What’s my BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) – my walkaway option if the deal fails?
What are my most important interests, in ranked order?
What is the other side’s BATNA, and what are his interests?
This case explores the significance of people management in creating a competitive advantage for organizations. Robert L. Johnson's desire not to work for someone else led him to become founder and chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television (BET), the first African-American-owned cable network in 1980. Under Johnson's leadership, BET became publicly owned in 1991, returned to the private sector seven years later, and in 2001 was sold to Viacom at a $3 billion valuation. Amid success, Johnson never lost sight of one of his original goals: to provide people of color the opportunity to be successful business leaders. Debra Lee joined Johnson in 1986 as the firm continued to accomplish the vision. Not only was BET black-owned but most of the executives, entertainment talent, and employees were African American and the firm's products were targeted to the African-American community. When BET was sold, questions were raised about changes that might occur after a dominantly white-controlled media company took over this predominantly African-American firm. They faced a challenge: What would happen if and when Johnson left BET? How could Johnson and Lee continue to pursue the original vision and goals for BET and sustain the culture, leadership style, and human resources approach to managing people once it became a division of Viacom? Was change inevitable? If so, what should they change, and more importantly, how were they going to get their employees on board? Although BET had made it to the top, would opportunities for people of color be put aside? A teaching note is available to registered faculty, along with a video supplement to enhance student learning.
By interests, we do not mean the preconceived demands or positions that you or the other party may have, but rather the underlying needs, aims, fears, and concerns that shape what you want. Negotiation is more than getting what you want. It is not winning at all cost. Number of times Win-Win is better option that outright winning or getting what you want.
Options are the solutions you generate that could meet your and your counterpart’s interests . Often people come to negotiations with very fixed ideas and things they want to achieve. This strategy leaves unexplored options which might be even better than the one that one party wanted to achieve. So always try to provide as many options as possible during the negotiation process . The best outcome should be out of many options rather than few options.
When soft bargainers meet hard bargainers there is always the danger of soft bargainers ceding more than what is necessary. To avoid this scenario you should always focus on legitimate standards or expectations, clearly understanding the arbitrage . Standards are often external and objective measures to assess the fairness such as rules and regulations, financial values & resources , market prices etc. If the negotiated agreement is going beyond the industry norms or established standards of fairness then it is prudent to get out of the negotiation.
Every negotiators going into the negotiations should always work out the “what if” scenario. The negotiating parties in the “BET: The Edge on Talent” has three to four plausible scenarios. The negotiating protagonist needs to have clear idea of – what will happen if the negotiations fail. To put it in the negotiating literature – BATNA - Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. If the negotiated agreement is not better than BATNA (Negotiations options), then there is no point in accepting the negotiated solution.
One of the biggest problems in implementing the negotiated agreements in corporate world is – the ambiguity in the negotiated agreement. Sometimes the negotiated agreements are not realistic or various parties interpret the outcomes based on their understanding of the situation. It is critical to do negotiations as water tight as possible so that there is less scope for ambiguity.
Many negotiators make the mistake of focusing only on the substance of the negotiation (interests, options, standards, and so on). How you communicate about that substance, however, can make all the difference. The language you use and the way that you build understanding, jointly solve problems, and together determine the process of the negotiation with your counterpart make your negotiation more efficient, yield clear agreements that each party understands, and help you build better relationships.
Another critical factor in the success of your negotiation is how you manage your relationship with your counterpart and other people doing the mediation. According to “Erika H. James, Martin N. Davidson, Gerry Yemen”, the protagonist may want to establish a new connection or repair a damaged one; in any case, you want to build a strong working relationship built on mutual respect, well-established trust, and a side-by-side problem- solving approach.
According to
Harvard Business Review
, there are three types of negotiators – Hard Bargainers, Soft Bargainers, and Principled Bargainers.
Hard Bargainers – These people see negotiations as an activity that they need to win. They are less focused less on the real objectives of the negotiations but more on winning. In the “BET: The Edge on Talent ”, do you think a hard bargaining strategy will deliver desired results? Hard bargainers are easy to negotiate with as they often have a very
predictable strategy
Soft Bargainers – These people are focused on relationship rather than hard outcomes of the negotiations. It doesn’t mean they are pushovers. These negotiators often scribe to long term relationship rather than immediate bargain.
Principled Bargainers – As explained in the seven elemental tools of negotiations above, these negotiators are more concern about the standards and norms of fairness. They often have inclusive approach to negotiations and like to work on numerous solutions that can improve the BATNA of both parties.
Open lines of communication between parties in the case study “BET: The Edge on Talent” can make for an effective negotiation strategy and will make it easier to negotiate with this party the next time as well.
Erika H. James, Martin N. Davidson, Gerry Yemen (2018), "BET: The Edge on Talent Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.
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