Research Paper on Negotiation

1st Log on negotiation Presented To : Dr. Hassan wageih Presented By : Mahmoud Ahmed EL-Etriby Program : MIBA 38 A Date : 3 December 2011 Mr. Essam Sharaf in Qena ,The full crime of Soft Negotiator Locals in Qena continue protesting against their governor In respect for Easter, protesters demonstrated against the new governor in silence. Negotiations early today to open the railway failed. Ahram Online, Sunday 24 Apr 2011

Sharaf fails to calm crowds in Qena Egypt’s prime minister visits Qena where protesters had brought the city to a standstill following the appointment last month of a Coptic governor but his words do little to ease sectarian sentiments Ahram Online, Tuesday 3 May 2011 Egypt’s Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Tuesday visited Qena where demonstrations erupted on 15 April following the appointment of Emad Shehata Mikhail as governor.

Protesters objected to a Christian being governor for the second time in succession. Sharaf addressed an audience saying that although he had prepared a written speech he would rather speak to them “from his heart” and added that his government will pay attention to the development of Upper Egypt and appraised religious unity in Qena. While Sharaf had meant to discuss the crisis in Qena over a Christian governor, he instead stated “all of your demands will be met. The crowds, in turn, chanted its demand of a Muslim governor to which Sharaf only repeated that demands will be met. Life has returned to normal in Qena after Sharaf announced last week that he will freeze the activity of Mikhail for three months. The protesters had been further angered by Mikhail’s past as a police officer. During the peak of the protests, both the Eastern and Western highways leading into the governorate were blocked as well as train tracks, stopping trains coming from Luxor and Aswan as well as Cairo.

As we can see in the above headlines from Ahram Online the famous problem of Qena and the protesting of the people against the governor, the saddest part of the story is the complete failure of Mr. Essam Sharaf as a prime minister and a negotiator in handling and solving the problem. Mr. Essam in this negotiation operation was actually a full and complete example of what we called Soft Negotiator, a negotiator that is very weak in response and too much delayed because he gets panic to the threat of the protesters . Imagine that the problem initiated in the 15 th of April and he only went to the spot of the drama 3 weeks later.

After he went there he continues all the sins of soft negotiator again by being so fragile and reasonable instead of being resilient and cognitive , telling them” I am speaking to you from my heart ” was completely a weak and non suitable phrase to the revolution inside the protesters as he gives them too much trust actually not in its place which made him appears very weak in front of them and give them the upper hand to move the negotiation in one way direction towards their request only without discussing the fact that they have violate the law by blocking the highway to Upper Egypt and the cutting the railways as well which would give him a chance on a win-win situation in this adversative situation.

Moreover he completes the sins of the soft negotiator by being so concessionary telling the crowd in public that “all your demands will be met” so what’s the role of the negotiation skills that you must have Mr. Essam in such problems if any time you face a problem or a protest you will simply choose Satisficing and settle for something much more less than you could otherwise has, which reflects clearly a self-Reinforcing Incompetence that hinders you from leveraging your power and strengths. Finally being so soft and weak in negotiations creates a cycle in which the lack of the principled negotiator skills will deprive you not only the ability to produce correct response but also the expertise necessary to know that you have produced a wrong one.

Being fair only is not what we need in our prime minister , its being Fair and Firm is what we need and what make him actually a successful prime minister. It’s the Principled negotiator skills that we wanted from you at that time and every time in this era which Egypt is facing , Principled negotiators are the men of the new era , those who are not hard as nails or soft as pudding, those who have chess player mentality , who are Fair and Firm, who have strong personality and role profiles , who are always improving their power and strengths and face threats firmly with hidden strong threats that suits the adversative era and with an integrative and cognitive way that ensure the fairness rule to everyone. *******************************************************