ACTIVITY: NEGOTIATING SKILLS

CLASS WARMING PARTY

Purpose

This is a team building exercise suitable for all ages and both the academic and professional world. The aim is
to get a number of teams to work together (discuss and negotiate) on a common task and understand the
importance of working towards a particular target.

The main task in this exercise involves creating a menu for a class warming party. Groups get to create, share
and defend their choices which allow you to explore topics such as teamwork, leadership, problem solving, goal
setting, cooperation, negotiation and persuasion.

Objective

Conduct a group discussion at different levels displaying good communication skills learnt so far to complete
the following task.

Create a menu for the above event based on the criteria provided.

What You Need

A group leader

A secretary

Active members

A clear plan : Mahjong paper, markers, pictures etc.

Part 1:
Work in groups of 4 or 5.
Each group is tasked to create part of a menu for the party.
Your group leader will decide which would like to make a certain dish. The groups have to decide amongst
themselves which course they want to focus on.

For example,
Group A can design the main course while group B can design the dessert and so on. Groups must declare to
the LDV subject rep what they are working on so no two groups get to work on the same course.
Part 2: Teams

Allocate 30 minutes for groups to embark on this task. They must discuss, negotiate, design and then record
their menus on paper.
After the allocated time, ask them to provide and share their menus.
In this part, get all groups to work together to finalise a menu.
Observe them as they go through this task. Consider the following:
Each group has already designed a part of the menu, but simply putting these parts together to create a final
menu may not be appropriate.
Therefore, all team leaders will meet and have a discussion in Part 3.

Part 3: Team leaders

Team leaders must therefore work together to design the final menu based on what they have already
designed.
It also means they must harmonise their success criteria, which would require negotiation, persuasion and
cooperation.
Now that all teams are working together, it can quickly lead to a lot of debate with few results as more people
express more opinions. They can approach this chaos in a number of ways such as the following:
Set up a rule so that only each group’s nominated leader can talk.
One person can be assigned as a facilitator to coordinate the brainstorming and decision making process.
Members must adhere to the rules of participating in a discussion.
Make note of your observations so you can provide feedback during debriefing.

DEBRIEFING SESSION

For Part 1:

When designing your menu initially, did you consider how to measure its success?
When you considered the criteria, did you have to change your menu? If so what does this suggest?
How did you approach the task as a team?
Did you nominate a leader to facilitate communication?
Did you spend time researching or finding out more about the event (such as by asking questions from the
tutor) before creating a menu?
Did you end up selecting food that you like yourself rather than targeting a particular audience and setting? For
example, spaghetti might be nice, but can be inappropriate for a high profile VIP dinner where everyone is
wearing their nice suits.

For Part 2:

How did you approach the task?

Did you setup a system so that the brainstorming session does not get out of hand and remain productive?
Did you use any systematic group decision making?
On what basis are you all now confident that your overall menu would work?

Each group must sent in neatly typed reflection of your group’s experience after the debriefing session to your
respective lecturers