Miami School District Negotiation

Miami School District Negotiation

Miami School District has decided to hire experts to redraw the school boundaries due to the increases in enrollment. Although this will benefit the school to rezone the boundaries, it is not in favor of all the stakeholders. There are several objections voiced by the parents to stop the rezoning of the school boundaries including quality of education, increased travel time for students, crossing economic and cultural boundaries due to changing schools, affect on property values, and social effects on children. The following discussion will help the reader understand the negotiation strategy used by the Miami School District school board to support rezoning the school boundaries while considering the concerns of stakeholders. The following will also assist the reader to understand the ethical and cultural differences that can affect the decision and the negotiation process.

The Stakeholders

A stakeholder can be defined as a person or group that has an investment, share, or interest in the organization or industry. There are internal and external stakeholders in this scenario. Internal stakeholders are those who have vested interest in the company (e.g. employees, managers, owners). External stakeholders are those that are influenced by or have influence on the organization (e.g. customers, suppliers, lenders). The internal stakeholders of this scenario are the members of the Miami School District school board and the employees of the Miami School District schools. The external stakeholders of this scenario are the parents of the students and the students themselves who are directly affected and involved in this negotiation process. Though all stakeholders may not take part in the actual negotiation, they are all affected by the process and the decisions made by the outcome of the negotiation.

The decision to rezone the school district affects both the parents and the children as well as the employees of the schools involved. The school board members heard the voice of the parents who are opposed to rezoning the school district. The parents have issues with the proposal because they think that it will affect the social and personal growth of their children. Considering this negotiation directly affects both the parents and the decision will affect the children, they are both considered stakeholders in this scenario.

The Miami School District school board is also one of the main stakeholders in this scenario. The school has interest in the parents' concerns because their decisions and choices affect the direct growth of schools in the city. They have the choice whether or not to pull their children out of that school district and move to another area--they are the voice for their children. It is the responsibility of the Miami School District school board to make the right decisions in favor for all stakeholders involved.

The Negotiation Strategy

In order to resolve the issues, the school board should implement an integrative negotiation strategy. This strategy is also known as "interest-based bargaining" (Spangler, 2003). According to this strategy, the result would be a win-win for both the parties involved. Negotiating parties work together to find a solution that meets the needs for both parties. This strategy consists of the four following steps:

* Define the problem and understand the problem

* Find alternative solutions

* Evaluate alternatives

* Select the best alternative (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006)

In order to start this negotiation process, the school board must first organize a meeting with the parents and define the main problem regarding the reasons for rezoning in order for them to understand all the issues. Before this meeting, a systematic plan must be defined by the board so that all issues are addressed and understood as well as the parents' concerns. It is also essential for the school board to give consideration to the parents--what are the interests of the parents and social context of the problem--so that they can negotiate with them in a more understanding and straightforward way (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006). The board will be able to explain that rezoning the school zones will provide numerous opportunities to more students. This will end up benefiting both parties.

Next, the board will find various solutions to solve the issues of the parents. The top two areas of concern for the parents are regarding the quality of education and travel time to and from school. The school board needs to assure the parents that they would still have the proper amount of staff and teachers to allow students to continue to have one-on-one relationships with their teachers. The school board will also need to take into consideration that more buses will need to be purchased or in route in order to transport all students from these different zones to the new schools. The parents should rest assured that the school board will make every effort to help with the travel time for each student. Transportation accessibility is imperative to make the rezoning of the school district work.

One of the other concerns was crossing economic and cultural boundaries. Having students from different cultural, and even economic, backgrounds allows for a more diverse house