Power Play for Howard

Case Study Analysis Part A: Power Play for Howard

Myra Holmes

MGT/445 Organizational Negotiations

December 3, 2012

Don Price

Case Study Analysis Part A: Power Play for Howard

The success or failure negotiating for a $100 million dollar Bullet takes bargaining with a little Heat. In essence, the best way to flourish in the negotiation process is to first identify and specify the goals and objectives (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006). In doing so, the negotiating parties can remain focus on aligning priorities and alternatives in an anticipation for success.

In this case study analysis, team T-JAM will summarize the case and include evaluations on tangible and intangible benefits; the costs, and the risks in connection with negotiating the free agent contract from the perspective of the basketball player, Juwan Howard, Washington Bullets' general manager, Wes Unseld, and the Miami Heat's general manager, Pat Riley (University of Phoenix, 2012).

Case Summary

The $100 million dollar pro basketball player, Juwan Howard lands a lucrative deal with the Washington Bullets, but not without going through a lengthy painstaking negotiation saga.

After his rookie season in 1996, Juwan Howard was caught in the middle of a bidding war between the Miami Heat and the Bullets (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006). The negotiating parties include the Washington Bullets' general manager, Wes Unseld, the Miami Heat's general manager, Pat Riley, and Juwan Howard. Near the end of the negotiation process, the Miami Heat was winning, but the National Basketball Association decides to void the contract because the deal with Howard exceeds the league's salary cap rules (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006). The process negotiating the free agent contract not only reveals the tangible and intangible benefits, but also exposes the costs and risks for each negotiating participant.

Benefits

Costs

Negotiation preparation should delineate the cost and resistance point for individuals engaged. "The resistance point is recognized by the value expected from a particular result, which in turn is the product of the value and expenditures of an effect," (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006, P. 39). Recognizing the concerns, costs, and resistance point of individuals involved will present insight into potential resolutions and support in creating a successful negotiation arrangement.

Costs of Positional Bargaining

* "Often damages relationships

* Stops options examination (preventing tailor-made resolutions)

* Endorses inflexible adherence to positions

* Creates ambiguous focus on interests by offering impulsive promises to resolutions

* Generates compromise when enhanced solutions may be obtainable," (Negotiation, 2012, p, 1).

Cost of Interest-Based Bargaining

* "Involves some trust

* Entails negotiators to release information and interests

* Possibly will uncover opposing values or interests," (Negotiation, 2012, p, 1).

According to Business of Sports, "a team general manager can calculate approximately the resistance point the team would compensate a player," (Rosner, Shropshire, 2010, p. 339). The salary estimation computed by evaluating

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