Roderick W. Gilkey

The Effects Of Negotiator Preferences, Situational Power, And Negotiator Personality On Outcomes Of Business Negotiations

A laboratory experiment was used to investigate the joint effects of preferences, personality, and situational power on the outcomes of business negotiations. Results show that preferences vary acr...

Clinical Assessment Methods in Negotiation Research: The Study of Narcissism and Negotiator Effectiveness

Field studies suggest that individual differences are strong determinants negotiator effectiveness, but their impact has yet to be adequately documented (Thompson 1990). We argue that the lack of empirical confirmation is attributable to methodological limitations of the dominant paradigm. This paper shows the usefulness of psychodynamically-oriented constructs and clinical assessment methods. The study contrasts the negotiation experience of individuals high and low in narcissistic functioning, a core psychodynamic variable, and the deep-seated character trait that underlies the interpersonal orientation construct. Implications of this approach for the design of personality assessment and negotiation research are explored.

Budget Cuts and Managing Bad News and Incentivizing Faculty

You are the new chair of a clinical department in the medical school. One of your initial efforts is to create a departmental compensation plan. You create a task force, which works for nearly a year on a new plan, balancing out appropriate rewards for clinical, research, and other mission-related productivity. The plan includes a baseline salary, which is to be the median salary for that specialty, role (clinical versus research), and rank based on national data from the prior three years. An incentive plan includes payments for RVUs generated in excess of the median benchmark, along with incentives for funding of research effort and other mission/citizenship work. In the end, there is enthusiasm for the plan because many faculty will see increases in salary, as faculty below national means will see annual raises of the maximum allowable percent until their salaries reach the appropriate level. For some faculty, this would require 3–5 years of annual raises, given that current salaries are so low.

Personality Traits and Leadership

While your cognitive abilities are the threshold competencies needed to get a job as a chair or dean, your personality and emotional attributes are the factors that enable you to be successful. No single personality type is required; in fact it is “fit”—your personality in the right place at the right time—that probably accounts for much of success. Nevertheless, there is a large literature suggesting that certain personality traits are pivotal to success. Extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness have repeatedly been correlated with leadership success. We argue that not having these traits is not disqualifying, as there are thresholds and ways to compensate, which make up a large part of this chapter. In the end, the most important issue is whether you understand the traits you have and whether you can adapt to them. Can you compensate for your weaknesses, not become blinded by your preferred methods of processing information, and find a way to enhance the contributions of others by deploying their strengths?

A Final Word to Applicants and Search Committees: Picking the Right People for Leadership Roles the First Time

This chapter is about prevention. AMCs can save a lot of time and effort by picking the right person the first time and applicants by picking the right place. It sounds simple but it’s not. One reason why it’s not easy is that for applicants and search committees alike, the individuals seeking the positions are stepping up onto a stage where they haven’t been before and so they are left to predict how they will grow and adapt to a new environment. To improve the process, we offer advice to both applicants and to search committees. Based on material in this book, we’d advise applicants to consider four questions: (1) Why would I want this job now and does it fit my maturational curve? (2) What does the job entail and do I have those skills? (3) Is this job a fit for me? (4) Are the resources available to do the job? To search committees we offer advice on how to select the search committee and charge it and how the committee might optimally structure the way it conducts the interviews. We also issue warnings about picking the candidate who caters to every audience and how to spot those who are too self-centered to do the job. And, finally, we offer ideas on how to work with search firms.

Negotiating for a Center Director

This case reviews the basic concepts of negotiating, particularly positional and issue-oriented styles. It also focuses on selection and the common mistakes made when picking a candidate. It considers how to reorient a discussion when it is going only in a positional direction and how to turn it into an issue-oriented discussion. It underlines the importance of focusing on interests.

Dr. Newby: Change, Getting Started, and Your Baby Is Ugly

This case presents one of the most common situations that chairs find themselves in—the need to move into a new area or upgrade an old one. It covers the common pitfalls and presents a strategy for successfully avoiding them, particularly avoiding the “ugly baby” response. The key concept is balance here and the leader’s ability to preserve key elements of the past while promoting new capabilities and innovation. The case also looks at the role of personality and the need to upgrade a department.

Strategic Planning/Outside Consultants: Power and Authority, Vertical Hierarchies, and the Informal Organization

This case presents a scenario that challenges a new dean’s understanding of the power and limits of vertical hierarchies and the crucial role of informal organizations. It also demonstrates the difference between authority and power. What is critical to keep in mind is that the formal rights are only a necessary but not sufficient basis for making decisions that can be implemented and that such rights are meaningless if you do not get the support of the informal organization. The case is complicated by the fact that the new dean has to act quickly, before he has had an opportunity to earn his authority.

Budget Cuts and Managing Bad News and Incentivizing

This case deals with managing the situation when you deliver “bad news,” in this case, budget cuts. It talks of the need to offer hope and a compelling plan and of moving the group from victim to activist. The case illustrates that to accomplish this, you must listen to the dissent and from those concerns find a plan that permits the group’s survival and also addresses their values.

Making Good Decisions

The surest way to succeed is to string together a series of good decisions. Yet what constitutes a good decision is speculative and often takes years to assess its true effect. Our approach to this question is to observe good decision-makers and their characteristics and poor decision-makers and their problems. Our attempt at this produced four observations: First, personality and politics are part of a good decision but not the whole issue. Two, having an urge to act is important but so is tempo—so strategies for avoiding being too fast or slow are presented. Three, good decision-makers have the institution’s interests at heart. And, four, good decision-makers get better over time because they learn from mistakes and successes. We share lessons from our own experience as well: screen out background noise; respond to the issue; don’t respond to someone’s emotion; don’t try to always be the first; and don’t win the battle but lose the war. In addition, the special circumstance of your first decision is considered, as well as when it is necessary to take a public stand on issues.