Your State has a forthcoming referendum concerning no smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants. Follow the ten steps on page 137 on negotiation planning.

 Your State has a forthcoming referendum concerning no smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants. Follow the ten steps on page 137 on negotiation planning.

Smoking is bad for health, and secondary smoke has been known to cause cancer. While we respect the choice of a person to smoke, we also do not want that choice of an individual to affect the quality of life of other people. People across the State have equal access to public places, and it is the State’s responsibility to provide its citizens with a good quality of life. Smoking in public places restricts the access and quality of life for all individuals. To garner enough support for this referendum, we will employ the following steps to have a successful negotiation with the sides opposing this referendum. The goal of this negotiation strategy is to garner enough support for the referendum to pass successfully. We will use a collaborative negotiation style to create an integrative or win-win scenario. To achieve this goal, we will share all the research and studies we have with us on this issue. This is to build bridges with the other parties involved in this negotiation (Lopez-Fresno et al. 2018).

Main concerns connected to achieving that objective

We want to ban smoldering in open places to increase the quality of life of all people. Although many people who frequent bars smoke, we want to create an atmosphere where those who do not smoke can also visit without the repercussions of second-hand smoke asthma. Children and pregnant women also visit public places like parks, gardens, zoos, museums, restaurants, etc. These places shouldn’t have a harmful environment for them. Second-hand smoke has been found to have adverse effects on children and children born to pregnant women (Paweł et al. 2017).

Assemble issues, rank by importance and figure out the bargaining mix

We believe that creating a safe and healthy environment for children, and pregnant women are the most critical issue. Our bargaining mix will combine these two issues as one. We are ready to compromise on a complete ban.

Know your alternatives

Our alternatives or BATNA are a comprehensive bill passed by the state legislature in case this referendum is defeated. We can also have a law passed by Congress, and we can also hold a second more narrow referendum by targeting only parks, movie theatres, and restaurants.

Recognize your perimeters, as well as a resistance point

Our confrontation point is not having the public places children visit the most often included in the referendum.   

Evaluate and recognize the other party’s objectives, concerns

Tobacco companies are putting enough pressure and using a large war-chest to create a negative atmosphere around this referendum. Most people opposed to this referendum and arguing that it ensures the right of a person to free speech and to make a choice for themselves. Most patrons who visit bars like to smoke. The bar owners are opposed to this because they fear their revenues will decrease because people will stay at home where they can smoke and drink. People who smoke are also opposed because this restricts where they can smoke a cigarette. Banning smoking in public places will severely curtail the areas where a person can smoke. There is also a fear amongst people that this ban will be used by the Police to arrest/fine more citizens. The resistance point of the other parties would be no designated smoking places and a complete ban on smoking in public.

Set the Target and Opening Bid

Our realistic target point is including parks, gardens, movie theatres, restaurants, bars, cafes, roads, sidewalks, mass public transport buses, trains subways, and taxicabs. We will open the negotiation by including all public places and listing them in a non-sequential and non-prioritized manner.

Assess the social context

The mood in the electorate is to have this referendum passed. There is an inevitable pushback from older generations and those who frequent bars and smoke. Including an office space is being seen as circumventing the authority of managers and business owners on their businesses.

Present issue to other parties

When we present our decision to the other party, we will use graphics and advertisements. One idea floating around is to ask, “Would you hold your child’s face on the tailpipe of your car while its engine is running?” This and other such ads are meant to create an atmosphere of a serious debate before we present our case. The idea is to chip away resistance to this idea and to bring the other party to the table. To negotiate and have this referendum passed.

References

Lopez-Fresno, P., Savolainen, T., & Miranda, S. (2018). Role of Trust in Integrative Negotiations. Electronic Journal Of Knowledge Management, 16(1), 13-22.

Paweł, K., Ewelina, K., Michał, W., Anna, K., Eliza, W., Maria Bożenna, W., & Henryk, W. (2017). Environmental exposure of pregnant women to tobacco smoke and selected socio-economic factors. Journal Of Education, Health And Sport, Vol 7, Iss 8, Pp 537-549 (2017), (8), 537. doi:10.5281/zenodo.886022