Midwestern::Contemporary Art case

Today I’m going to look at the “Midwestern::Contemporary Art” case which can be found in the book “Negotiation” by Lewicki

Part (A) Who is in charge?

I won’t cite the case as it is available in the book, thus I give only my personal conclusions and answers to the questions:

As we could see, both Smith and Schmidt were trying to show their power  and rights in the MCA. They didn’t want to cooperate, reconcile, nor negotiate. This led to the wasted time, lack of satisfaction and senseless disputes. For me it seemed like Peter Smith was trying to micromanage Keith Schmidt. Although I cannot tell the difference in their responsibilities, it’s clear that they forgot about their interests as MCA co-workers. It was a strong, power-based conflict in which any of the parties wanted to withdraw. As they both spoke to their fellow board friends, they should have received one, simple advice: “You better work TOGETHER”. The truth is, trying to have better results as a company, they should have negotiated with more collaborative (interest-based), not completely competitive manner.

It was also organization’s responsibility to structurally reduce conflict resulting from the role ambiguity. What they should have done was to set one man as a CEO and second as a representative. It seems to me that Keith was a better person as a manager, and Peter had more into creating good relationships with customers.

But it’s all gone. Peter Smith’s reaction (avoiding) was unexpected and simply stupid. In my opinion, best thing he could do was to rethink the situation, take a look at the finances and start cooperation with his team.

Part (B) The Decision

Peggy Fischer not only had these two ways to resolve the situation. She could alternatively ask banks to take a loan, ask people to donate money for that noble goal, which was building new MCA’s building, or at least ask pleasantly Smiths to fulfil their pledge in smaller parts. In my opinion, suing Smiths was the least worth action that could have been taken. As a non-profit organization, MCA should worry much more about their relationships than their outcomes.

For me it seems like Fischer should take an accommodating strategy (Lose to win) or collaborative (Win-win), which will let MCA create stronger relationship with Smiths AND future donators. Although time is the enemy, she shouldn’t rush to get this money. Fischer should involve the board in further discussions, but filing a lawsuit shouldn’t be taken as a possibility.