Question

Case: Impact of Personality, gender and culture on negotiation Robi Axiata, a Malaysia based firm, started operations in 1997 under the brand name of Aktel. Airtel, an India based firm, entered BD in 2010 by acquiring a 70% stake in Warid Telecom. In BD, Robi employed 1800 people and Airtel 800. Since Airtel was poor in network coverage and had lacking in resources, they wanted to collaborate with Robi in the form of merger. They wanted to improve mobile phone service with the widest coverage across BD. To share resources. To be the 2nd Largest mobile operator. Robi and Airtel opened talks on a possible merger at the end of August 2015. But the top management of Airtel found conflicts among the employees.

• Some says, “the merging may give little benefit to us”. • Some says, “Robi is our competitor and so they will never think of our wellbeing”.

• Some of the employees threaten to resign from job if merging decision is implemented. Then the management of Airtel arranged a meeting with the complainer and aggrieved parties. The CEO explained the benefits of merging. He assured the aggrieved employees that

• 25% stakes will be owned by Airtel in the new company. • No deterioration in position and in salaries.

• Ensuring no downsizing will be made. • Will go through cultural alignment. But even then, some people seemed to be unhappy and were opposing the decision.

• The female advisor of Airtel said to the CEO not to go for merger to avoid the conflict of the employees.

• But the CEO is very hopeful to reap the benefit by merging. He dreams of making an environment of collaboration with Robi and widening the area of service.

• He knew that some people have the habit of criticizing though the idea is good. So, he simply avoided the oppose.

Questions: Q1. Find the factors involved in this case and how can they affect the negotiation style?

Q2. How many kinds of personalities do you find in Airtel and how they influence the negotiation? How can you manage those personalities individually?

Answer 1

1. In this situation, the merger is between two firms that are a rival and are already in the same industry. Both have almost the same tactics in their respective ways and combining the company for business expansion can pose a threat to the small share company because it will combine in them, the threat of takeover, rules and regulations may be unique, cultural issues, etc. There are some internal as well as external factors that may influence agreements between these two components. Factors are as follows:

Credibility - It is a very important factor in the negotiation process, including trust, credibility provides the justification for agreements and faith in any transactions. From the Robi hand, the company's Airtel CEO had a trust in good business. Business strategy is based entirely on uncertainty and trust. Social conflicts-A significant part was played by the cultural gap between the two firms and the two nations. The danger of the organization's cultural gap was because employees of the company are reluctant to pressure them to embrace their own culture as each group followed specific shared values. Also nations are unique, and customs and race, racism were the things that influenced them.

Authority - The leverage will be in the Robi's eyes because Airtel will only have 25 percent of the stock. If its workers are in danger, the management won't have full power. The new authority must agree on the policies.
Time factor-The opportunity of business expansion was the vision of Aitel CEO. They were the 2nd largest in this company as missing capital, but he can achieve his vision because of the potential of the moment.

CommunicationGap-Negotiations are always from both sides, so they are in danger of having more rights and more power to lobby for their own policies. Management won't understand the problems of labour or society.
Downsizing-The control of the business will be in the possession of the shareholders in order to change the risk of downsizing, downsizing, changing positions, wage structure, etc.
Revenue / Benefit - Airtel will be squeezed by the other organization and less profit margin will be distributed impacting the entire company and its employees.
Labor issue — Any type of change in the company makes labor uncomfortable about their work, and they protest and refuse to accept it. The problem here is the integration because laws, systems, jurisdiction would alter everything.
Negotiations emphasis is very obvious that the CEO needs its staff to support the company's decision to combine with the company that runs a profitable business as opposed to them. The growth of industry would address the lack of resources and other problems. But if the workers who are against this judgment are clarified further research and analysis, they may be happy. There will be the guarantee of no downsizing and other structure-related issues. It should be made clear that the intention is just to increase profit.

2. Generally speaking, the first class is very good. They said, "Merging can offer us little profit." They will not tell "NO" to anything explicitly. All forms of attitudes can be managed by talking to them and concentrating as much as possible on problems.

The second category is the egg. We talk in faith whether we understand the problem or not. To deal with them, it is important to listen to them and process fictitious information. Their point of view must be said not to be genuine. Once this is known by the bubbles, in conjunction with others, they immediately try to save their head.

The third category belongs to Sherman Tank. They are violent offensive people who try to intimidate, roll over and kill everything.These personalities can be managed by periodically visiting them, eye-to-eye contact, explaining what a healthy business partnership is, and focusing on the topic can lead to a better contract.

Full Complainer belongs to the fourth category that, despite the rationale of the CEO, was dissatisfied. These are the people who are never content with anything and seem to be thinking about it. They should be allowed to express their opinions, and they should focus their efforts on solutions.

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