Part One: Office Christmas party negotiations
Student A
Work in twos, with one person looking at the Student A worksheet and one person looking at the Student B worksheet (with two people taking turns playing the role of one person together if there are three people in the group). Don’t look at the other person’s worksheet.
You are arranging a Xmas party in your office together. To do all of the jobs will take 840 minutes and half of them (420 minutes of work) are on each worksheet. Your aim is to get your partner to do more work than you, so try to persuade them to take on big jobs while you only accept smaller jobs. You can also agree to do some jobs together, in which case the time is split 50/ 50. Don’t tell your partner how long things will take.
Half of the jobs to do to arrange the office Xmas party, with lengths of time needed
- Buy disposable crockery, cutlery, napkins, table cloths, etc 75 min.
- Buy paper party hats, Xmas crackers, party poppers, etc. 60 min
- Plan icebreaker party games (pin the tail on the donkey, etc) 50 min
- Hang up the decorations (fairy lights, tinsel, wreath, holly, mistletoe, etc) 45 min
- Dress up as Santa and give a speech at the beginning of the party 20 min
- Organise some background Xmas music (Xmas carols, etc) 30 min
- Tidy up and clean up after the party 140 min
When you have negotiated everything on both lists or when your teacher stops you, summarise your agreement and then add up how much of the 420 minutes on your list your partner has accepted to do, and how much is left for you. If you have agreed to do something together, split the time 50/ 50. Anything on your worksheet that hasn’t been agreed should be added to your time. Check that the total is 420 minutes.
Jobs your partner has agreed to do: _____________ min
+ Jobs left for you to do: _____________ min
= Total: 420 minutes
Add those totals to the ones that your partner has calculated. The winner is the person who has less total work to do.
When you finish, discuss which jobs above are unnecessary or have unrealistic timing, and what other things you might do instead.
What do you think about the idea of having a party actually in your office?
Student B
Work in twos, with one person looking at the Student A worksheet and one person looking at the Student B worksheet (with two people taking turns playing the role of one person together if there are three people in the group). Don’t look at the other person’s worksheet.
You are arranging a Xmas party in your office together. To do all of the jobs will take 840 minutes and half of them (420 minutes of work) are on each worksheet. Your aim is to get your partner to do more work than you, so try to persuade them to take on big jobs while you only accept smaller jobs. You can also agree to do some jobs together, in which case the time is split 50/ 50. Don’t tell your partner how long things will take.
Half of the jobs to do to arrange the office Xmas party, with lengths of time needed
- Buy Xmas decorations (tinsel, wreath, holly, mistletoe, etc) 90 min
- Try to find the office corkscrew, bottle opener and nutcrackers 60 min
- Buy drinks (egg nog, mulled wine, etc), mixers and ice cubes 45 min
- Organise Secret Santa and put the presents under the Xmas tree 30 min
- Make sure everyone leaves at the end and call taxis 60 min
- Put up decorate the Xmas tree (with angel/ star, tinsel, lights, baubles, etc) 50 min
- Buy Xmas snacks (whole nuts in shells, sugared almonds, candy canes, chocolate coins, gingerbread men, dried fruit like dates and figs, etc) and desserts (Xmas pudding, mince pies and/ or Xmas cake, maybe fresh cream or ice cream) 75 min
- Get the tree and lights from last year out of the storeroom 10 min
When you have negotiated everything on both lists or when your teacher stops you, summarise your agreement and then add up how much of the 420 minutes on your list your partner has accepted to do, and how much is left for you. If you have agreed to do something together, split the time 50/ 50. Anything on your worksheet that hasn’t been agreed should be added to your time. Check that the total is 420 minutes.
Jobs your partner has agreed to do: _____________ min
+ Jobs left for you to do: _____________ min
= Total: 420 minutes
Add those totals to the ones that your partner has calculated. The winner is the person who has less total work to do.
When you finish, discuss which jobs above are unnecessary or have unrealistic timing, and what other things you might do instead.
What do you think about the idea of having a party actually in your office?
Part Two: Other Xmas and New Year negotiations
Roleplay similar situations from below, this time just with your own ideas. Your teacher will tell you if you can choose which situations or if you should choose a card at random. The person who chose the card is “you” and their partner or partners are the other side of the negotiation.
| Negotiate with a catering company for them to organise your office Xmas party for you. |
| Your mother wants to have Xmas at your house this year for once. You are reluctant. |
| Your teenage son wants to spend Xmas and New Year skiing with his friends instead of with his family. |
| You are buying a huge number of Xmas goods to decorate your workplace. Try to negotiate a good deal with the supplier. |
| One of you wants a very traditional Xmas day and the other wants to do something new and exciting. Try to reach agreement. |
| You want to work together to cut down on the time and expense needed to buy presents for your whole family. |
| You are not sure exactly what you need for the office Xmas party, but you don’t want to risk things being sold out before you order them. Try to find a solution with your supplier. |
| You want to order some Xmas goods from a supplier but the things in the catalogue aren’t quite suitable. |
When your teacher stops you, report the result of one negotiation and see if the class thinks it is fair/ a win-win.
Ask about any situations above you are not sure how to cope with etc, discussing suitable opening offers together as a class each time.
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