Third Party Conflict

The Ken Griffey Jr. negotiation case relates to the contracts and nature of the United States baseball major league teams. Ken Griffey, Jr. (hereinafter "Griffey") also known as "Junior" is a professional baseball player who plays as an outfielder and a superb hitter. Junior was 30 at the time of the dispute and at the time of the case Seattle Mariners was the team Griffey was in. The season began April to October 2000, the contract would run out with the Seattle Mariners in October and Griffey would be a free agent. The Seattle ballclub would not gain anything if they lost Griffey to another team. Griffey was unhappy with the Seattle Mariners and baseball teams trade players at times for various reasons, some of which are that the players may not be a good fit in the team (no team-chemistry), expensive player, baseball skills declining, etc (Lewicki, Barry, & Saunders, 2007.) Learning Team A will discuss the possible negotiation interventions and analyze the strategies that took place during the case. Team A will also discuss the best strategies used during the negotiation process, discuss how the conflicts in the negotiation process were resolved, and have isolated the contingency plan for the negotiated case.

Analysis

The intervention strategies are of significance for an effective negotiation to bring an acceptable outcome for the parties involved in the negotiation. The intervention strategies are of different forms and the most effective intervention strategies are mediation and arbitration. These strategies are essential in a negotiation process to make it effective, as they are less time-consuming with low cost. These privately arranged funded strategies are by a third party to facilitate the process of conflict resolution.

The first possible intervention strategy used in negotiation is "Mediation" as it is private, voluntary, classified and deliberate, and is arranged by a neutral party. The process of mediation is essential for an effective negotiation outcome, as it is under the assistance of experienced mediators to resolve dispute. The purpose of involving a neutral party is that the mediation through a third party will make the negotiation on equal basis and each party will have the opportunity of a win-win situation without biasness which procures favorable results.

The mediator is responsible to ensure the parties involved in the negotiation are of the view to reach an agreement, and performed in such a manner that does not include pressure or coercive measures to sway his or her opinions. The role of the mediator is to help out the process of negotiation between the involved parties to reach mutually agreed terms and a solution, and ultimately, a mutually accepted settlement for the conflict by both the parties. The mutually accepted agreement or deal is the significant feature and outcome of the mediation intervention strategy (Moore, 2003).

The second intervention is arbitration, which is intended to bind both parties and has a final decision as a lawsuit, unlike mediation. The process of formal litigation employs an Arbiter who is responsible to listen to both the party's viewpoints and evidence. Finally, he has the authority to construct a final choice that will be accepted by both the parties; in short the arbiter has the final say in the arbitration process for strong negotiation. This intervention strategy is more beneficial in terms of outcome as it does not involve courts and is to obtain a reasonable resolution for the dispute as intended. This recognized and admired strategy is in business disputes because of their finality, efficacy, and expediency.

Best Strategy and Conflict Resolve Path

In the case of Griffey, the bottom line issues of the negotiation were: (1) Seattle needed to trade Griffey prior to his contract running out at the end of the 2000 season so that they could gain monetary compensation for the trade and capitalize on the opportunity to gain several other good players to create a "winning" team, and (2) Griffey's unhappy disposition, which came from the fact that he no longer wanted to play for the Seattle Mariners as he wished to live near his family. His stance was evident after Griffey made no response in reference to a previous offered contract to him by Seattle. Seattle offered Griffey a new eight-year, $138 million contract in July 1999, which Griffey met with indifference. In review, crucial to this negotiation's success was the determination of the interests and needs of the negotiating parties.

"The goal is to understand how they are approaching the negotiation and what they are likely to want. By comparing this assessment against your own a person can begin to define areas where there may be strong conflict. Both parties have a high priority for the same thing, simple trade-offs since both parties want the same group of things but in differing priorities, or no conflict at all as both parties want very different things and both can easily have their objectives and interests met" (Lewicki, Saunders, and Barry, 2005, p. 124).

Generally in sports, it is always a matter of "how much" money as the availability of vast amounts of money for salaries and amenities are a given. Although in this case, it was more a matter of the needs