Negotiating Win-Win Solutions

Session Four

Explain the role-play.

• Display an overhead transparency or distribute a copy of Develop a Plan to each student. Read aloud the scenario where students are to represent five stakeholder groups trying to negotiate a development plan for an area of the Brazilian rain forest. Explain the three phases of the role-play:
  • develop with other representatives from own stakeholder group two proposals for improving the conditions in the rain forest region
  • negotiate with representatives from the four other stakeholder groups a common plan that will be presented to the class
  • individually decide on the best (win-win) plan for the rain forest area.
• Explain that students will role-play the stakeholder group they represented at the press conference in the previous challenge. Point out that the goal is to reach a settlement on the use of the rain forest that provides the best solution for all involved. Remind students they should "think win-win" in order to reach this decision.

Explain self-evaluation of role-play.

• Before students join with their stakeholder groups, explain that they will be asked to self-evaluate their performance at the planning and the negotiating meetings. Place a transparency of Self-evaluation on the overhead. Review the five questions and the format for rating the performance during the role-play. Remind students to stay in the role assigned to them and to represent the interests of their stakeholder group when offering comments and agreeing to proposed solutions.

Introduce the first critical task.

• Organize students into the stakeholder groups they represented at the press conference and present the following critical task:

Propose a plan for your assigned stakeholder group and engage in a role-play to negotiate with other groups.

Distribute a copy of Initial Planning chart to each stakeholder group. Within their stakeholder groups, students are to discuss possible proposals for developing the region that their stakeholder group could support, but that would also serve other groups' interests. Each group is to record, on the chart, possible solutions and the advantages to themselves and to other groups. Remind students that they will individually represent their stakeholder group at the negotiation meetings so they must understand and be able to present and defend their group's proposals in a convincing and informed manner.

Discuss criteria for initial proposal.

Before students decide on the two proposals their group will bring to the negotiations, discuss with the class the following criteria:

• the proposals should meet their own group's interests
• the proposals' implications for other groups must be clearly understood
• the proposals must accommodate, to some extent, other groups' interests.

Decide on two proposals.

• After each group has selected two proposals, distribute a copy of Implications of Proposals to each student. In completing this sheet, students are to work with their group members to identify how other stakeholder groups might be affected by their proposals. Encourage students to review the press releases from the other groups for more information on their interests and positions. Students should also consult the class- or student-generated Web of Interests. Each student should record possible modifications that might make the proposed actions more accommodating of other stakeholder interests. Explain that you will randomly assess only one Implications of Proposals sheet from each group to use as the basis for the group mark, so all students must fully complete all sections.