Using Second Life as a Virtual Platform for Negotiation Training and Practice

As organizations transition to more ‘e-enabled’ platforms to conduct business, whether it’s e-sourcing, supplier web portals or conducting business meetings via WebEx or Skype, I believe there are increasingly more opportunities to use these technologies to supplement our workforce capability. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to collaborate with an academic colleague of mine at Indiana University in Indianapolis (IUPUI), Dr. Peggy Daniels Lee, who was teaching a sourcing class.  At the time, I was teaching a B2B marketing class at Indiana State University (ISU) in Terre Haute, Indiana – 60 miles away.  We wanted to conduct an activity between our two classes, but what could we do so far apart?  We thought… “How about an e-negotiation between teams of students in the two classes”?

So the quest began to architect the e-negotiation environment.  What way should we go?  Emails?  Telephone conferences?  WebEx?  Certainly, all the aforementioned environments are used by procurement professionals today, especially as they conduct business with global supply chain partners. 

However, we wanted to try something a bit more dynamic and multi-dimensional.  How about the virtual world of Second Life?  Businesses use this platform as an environment to do everything from corporate training to market research, by engaging individuals who create avatars of themselves.  Could students conduct a negotiation through avatars and experience some of the dynamics associated with “face-to-face” negotiations? 

Prior to the negotiation itself, ISU students assumed the seller’s role while IUPUI students were the buyers.  Each side reviewed a version of an automotive industry case specific to the buyer or seller role.  The teams developed their MDO (most desirable outcome), LAA (least acceptable agreement), BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement), and identified all their variables in which to make concessions.

One week later, the student teams conducted their negotiations on IUPUI’s – Kelley School of Business ‘Island’ in Second Life.  The KSB Island was configured as an abstract approximation of the IUPUI campus, and consisted of multiple buildings with meeting rooms nicely configured to house team negotiations.  Once the scheduled negotiations between teams began, it became obvious to me that this forum was a GREAT virtual environment for professional buying and selling teams to practice negotiation strategies, tactics and more importantly, enhance individual skills in a ‘no harm’ environment. 

As they negotiated, the student teams experienced many of the strategies and tactics used in face-to-face, phone or email-based negotiations:  high/low ball offers, concessions, ‘time-outs’, counter-offers, closings, even memorandums of understanding (written as text messages in Second Life).  They also struggled with many of the same negotiation environment challenges:  inability to read body language and tone, long delays as teams ‘huddled up’ around a proposal (via instant messaging), attempts to gain location-related advantages, etc. 

After Dr. Lee and I administered a post-event survey, the students reported great satisfaction around the experience, and appreciated the learning atmosphere!  They felt they learned a lot about negotiations in a non-threatening, comfortable way.  The students didn’t feel the awkwardness associated with a video-taped training session (so commonly used in face-to-face negotiation training), but yet, they were monitored the whole time by the two faculty members present. 

I started thinking.  Wouldn’t this environment work great as a corporate training platform for buyers (or sellers too!) learning negotiation strategies and techniques?  Could someone use this free virtual platform as a means to ‘dry run’ an upcoming negotiation with a supplier?  The possibilities are endless!  All you need is an avatar and a venue in Second Life to practice.

http://www.indstate.edu/news/news.php?newsid=2993

Ken Jones, CPSM, C.P.M.

Master Gardener

Internships and Co-Ops (Part 2)

Recently my segment touted the positives of internships and co-ops for supply chain management students.  These job placements, while short in duration, provide real-world work experience that benefits the company they work for, as well as, the student.

In talking to colleagues in the field, there is one critical skill set that we often see missing in student interns….critical thinking.   The beauty of a supply chain role is its dynamic nature; whether it’s the task or the products they manage, these roles include a variety of activities that leverage many of the skills business students learn throughout their coursework.  Strategic sourcing projects require students to analyze large data sets, benchmark markets and practices, network with other companies, build financial business cases, assess supplier financial statements, develop negotiations from a position of facts and data, complete legal contracts, and maintain supplier relationships.

Critical thinking from my perspective includes: the ability of the student to study data, draw conclusions, question the overall validity of data, and assess a number of solution options to define the pros and cons of each. There are no solution sets or “right answers” in this activity, so students need to leverage many skills they have learned and then think.  Think. Think. Think!

So as you work with students, think about how you can give them opportunities to practice critical thinking skills.

America's Favorite (Class) Time!

It’s summertime in the Midwest -- a great time for all to enjoy a backyard barbeque and visit with friends.  It’s also a perfect time to enjoy America’s pastime, baseball.  What does this have to do with the Supplychain Garden you ask?  Well, it has more to do with how to integrate America’s pastime with college students trying to learn more advanced statistical concepts.

Now I recognize that very few cities have Major League Baseball teams.  However, many more cities, big and small, have ‘farm club’ A, AA, AAA teams (pardon the Garden pun).  Even more communities have semi-pro teams.  Here in Terre Haute, we have the “Rex”.  The Rex name comes from a coffee brand roasted in Terre Haute for over 100 years.  Not quite Folgers longevity, but pretty amazing nonetheless.

Having been to a couple of Rex games this summer with my statistics classes, I must say they play high caliber baseball.  The Rex play in the Prospect League; a league with over a dozen teams comprised of college baseball players getting a real good summer workout in places like Danville, Illinois or Lorain, Ohio.  I bet there are just a few colleges near those communities?

With a 50 game season and 25 home games, the Rex work hard to provide a great entertainment value for their fans.  Most general admission tickets are $5, and certainly they have season ticket holders and a couple of box suites if you want to spend more money.  Like any business, they can’t survive unless they have ‘customers’ (fans).  This is where my stats class and I come in to help.

In our Stats 2 (BUS 305) class at ISU this summer, we learn topics like ANOVA, simple linear regression, multiple regression, and forecasting techniques.  What we decided to do, as a faculty and student team was to analyze the Rex attendance data in hopes of identifying trends, and any potential to develop a statistical forecasting model for Rex general management.

After approaching Rex general management and attaining their support (and attendance data!), the class was off to the ballpark, so to speak.  We spent the last two weeks (8 class periods) of our five-week summer session class working through the data – at least 30 minutes per class.

The class identified and statistically tested possible variables for use in a multiple regression model.  One team developed a model to explain attendance for the Prospect League in aggregate; the other team developed a model to forecast attendance for the Terre Haute Rex specifically.  Both teams extensively used coefficients of correlation and determination (r and r-squared), ANOVA tables and p-values to develop their multiple regression models.  Variables studies were factors such as:  win-loss records, number of years in the league, weather conditions on game days, promotions, etc.

I could keep going with the story, but the attached link covers the front-page Sunday Terre Haute Tribune-Star article devoted to the Rex experience.  As one can tell, not only did the students get great exposure for their efforts, but the Rex benefitted as well.  Lots of talk around campus too!  A classic “win-win” for all!  Who would ever guess something like this could happen in a business statistics class?

http://tribstar.com/rex/x803542936/America-s-Class-Time-ISU-students-analyze-Rex-attendance-data-for-class-project

Internships and Co-Ops - Very Important for Job Placement!

In today’s economic climate, many companies are looking for ways to reduce expenses.  It is easy for them to cut the little expenses -- nickels and dimes, especially in the big picture of a total budget.  As staffing levels reduce, it’s also easy for companies to assume they don’t have time to coach an intern.

A second look at this challenge may lead to a different answer.  Yes, developing an intern project and coaching an intern does take time, but short-cutting this work can create a bad reputation for their company on campus. Today’s college juniors and seniors are extremely talented and
self-driven.  They learn quickly -- both concepts and technology.  Their fresh perspective can break paradigms of old thinking, and that often results in streamlined processes and gains in productivity.

From the perspective of a university program, placing students in jobs post-graduation is a measure of success.  Research shows that students who complete an internship or co-op program are much more likely to get hired post-graduation.  Even a relatively short internship, say only 10-12 weeks in length, still equates to work experience in a company's mind.

Does your supply chain management program have a strong link with companies to provide internships and/or co-op programs?  If not, work with your campus career center to build a presentation that stresses the positive business case for companies to have such programs.

“JB”: A Welcomed Storm on the Horizon for the Supplychain Garden

A Friday morning drive down 28^th Street and Eastern Avenue in Grand Rapids, Michigan, would really surprise you:  trucks everywhere moving just-in-time supplies; small to mid-sized manufacturers pumping out everything from office furniture to automotive and aerospace parts; industrial service providers ensuring these last bastions of American manufacturing can continue to do what they do best – make “stuff”, and do so at globally competitive levels.  One would not believe that this part of Michigan was still mired in a challenging economy.  It was on this recent Friday, that I had an opportunity to meet someone who inspired me professionally as few have done in many years. 

JB is an extremely successful, self-made business leader.  JB does not appear the kind of guy who would want us to bog ourselves down in the details of his career, but he specializes in buying manufacturers in trouble and turning them around into successful operations.  To meet JB, you’d realize a couple of things right away:  (1) his business acumen is off the charts and he’ll shoot it to you as straight as an arrow; (2) he’s unbelievably passionate about changing the way colleges educate business students and sustain themselves financially; and (3) he’s as generous a person as you will find anywhere.  To put it in his words… “At this point in my career, I don’t work for me; I am at the service of others.”  His philanthropic activities and involvement with a local university School of Business would back up this statement without question or debate.

I was in the Friday meeting with JB and a couple of supply chain management professor colleagues from a major Midwestern university.  I can’t get into to many of the details about the discussion; but suffice to say, it revolutionizes the way a university business program can fund itself, and dramatically improve the experiential learning component of teaching operations and supply chain management. 

The process sounds fairly simple conceptually, and some may say… “This isn’t new.”  University of Tennessee, Penn State and a few other universities have comparable models.  Have professors engage the local business community and surface their issues and problems.  From there, solve their problems through a consultative approach, and develop true value-added workforce training seminars from the “lessons learned”.  Perform additional research and spread the word in academic and practitioner publications.  Lastly, but most importantly, drive everything into the university classroom in the form of simulations and experiential learning events for the next generation of student leaders. 

As with most things in business, the “devil” is in the design and execution.  One of the more unique components is that JB will work with other donors to fund the first three years of the initiative…not a single taxpayer dollar. After year three, the expectation is that the program self-funds through value-added workforce training revenue.  How’s that for a partnership between industry and academia? 

So the next 2-3 months are pivotal for JB and this Midwestern university operations and supply chain management program, as they go about gaining approval and launching the initiative.  I will keep you apprised of how this effort plays out in a subsequent blog.

In the interim, is this a welcomed “storm” on the horizon for the Supplychain Garden?  I, for one, sure hope so.  We can’t have enough JBs to douse the seeds of growth in the Supplychain Garden.  

Ken Jones, CPSM, C.P.M.,

Master Gardener