Because of the very nature of partnerships, members are usually separated from one another, working and living in various areas of the community. As a result, they may not communicate frequently with each other. This situation complicates the work of the partnership. The purpose of this exercise in this unit is to simulate these conditions and to give participants a common base of experience in the processes of conflict resolution, decision making, and resolution of "turf" issues in a safe context. It is intended to help integrate what the team members already know and have learned about strategies of collaboration, negotiation, and group decision making. Thus, the unit is also an exercise in team building.
Understand how perceptions may exacerbate conflict in situations where group members are isolated from one another (as in the partnership) and do not communicate frequently.
Identify and use conflict-management and negotiation techniques to resolve disagreements within and among partnerships.
The themes of the simulation exercise build on all of the workshops dealing with the internal environment from Day 2, especially conflict resolution. Indirectly, the exercise concerns the relationships between the partnership and those organizations in its external environment, a matter explored in the Day 4 workshops.
The optimum room arrangement would provide two breakout spaces, one for each subgroup (BLUE and GREEN). The simulation can be done with both subgroups in the same room, but only if the room is large enough that the subgroups cannot overhear each other. Some teams have used the hallway outside of the team meeting room for the second breakout space. Remember that both subgroups need their own newsprint, markers, and tape, a flat surface to write on their newsprint, and clear wall space for posting their tally sheets.
Carefully read through the entire instructions and this guide, and rehearse each step. While the simulation should be quite easy to conduct, it can be a nightmare of confusion and frustration to both the facilitator and participants when its structure is not well understood.
Before the simulation, identify a location near the breakout spaces where the 2 representatives of each group can meet out of sight and hearing of both groups. This could be a designated spot in a hallway or lobby.
The minimum number of team members for each group is 3. If this minimum cannot be reached, it will be necessary to combine 2 partnerships for the exercise or use staff or observers. However, using 2 partnership teams for the exercise will significantly change the dynamics and learning points. In such a case, the issues will shift to intergroup conflict rather than the internal conflicts of a group. If such is the case, the discussion afterwards will be best focused on conflicts between members of the partnership and those in the world "external" to the partnership.
Use the laminated copy of HO-2 to use for explaining how the exercise is scored.
Use the 2 laminated copies of the tally sheet, one for each subgroup.
Make one copy for each participant of HO-2 and of HO-3 for distribution during delivery.
Because the simulation provides a powerful and integrative experience for the team, the facilitator should use some time at the end of this unit to draw participants into thinking about the internal functioning of their team and partnership. Think about how you may want to use the exercise to shed some light on issues facing their entire partnership and its relationships with the community.
B. A comprehensive prevention program demands the active participation of all sectors of the community. These sectors will have different and often conflicting opinions and views of the community that may pose a barrier to participation.
C. Therefore the success of a comprehensive prevention program, depends on the availability of effective mechanisms for conflict resolution.
D. Understanding how decisions are made by member organizations may facilitate conflict resolution.
Trainer Note: The way in which the simulation is introduced is important to its success. Keep the introduction quick, vague, and without reference whatsoever to the issues that it will highlight (i.e. conflict resolution, decision making, and turf issues). These topics are best discussed after the simulation. Learning is generally greater when participants have an opportunity to discover the principles that the exercise is intended to illustrate.
Avoid using terms that imply competition in describing the simulation. Do not refer to each group as a "team," because it can be misleading. Call them "blue" and "green" or "groups" or "subgroups." Also, although most participants find the exercise highly involving, energizing, and even "fun," do not refer to the exercise as a "game," because that term invites a playful approach that may undercut the serious purposes of the exercise.
A. The following is a sample of how the simulation may be introduced:
"During the week, we have provided a number of learning and team-building activities focused on certain aspects of partnership team functioning.
Now we are going to use an exercise different from anything we have done up to this point. It will embody a number of the issues we have been discussing.
Don't worry if you do not fully understand the directions for this exercise when I first explain it to you, because it is much easier to do than to describe.
Just listen carefully to the directions and get started. It's all right if you fumble a bit."
B. If the team has 7 or more members, it is the trainer's option to ask one or more of them to be an observer. Give these individuals HO-1 and tell them you will give further directions later (HO-1: Observer Guide).
C. Assign participants into 2 subgroups, a BLUE group and a GREEN group, by counting off.
D. Tell the team members that the objective of the exercise is for each subgroup to choose a letter: an `A' or a `B.' If you are asked, "What's the objective of this exercise?," simply reply, "Each subgroup is to choose a letter: an `A' or a `B.'"
E. Distribute a copy of HO-2 to each participant, and review the implications for both groups when they choose `A' or `B' in each round. There will be several rounds of "choice" and some of "negotiation." Read each line of HO-2 aloud, reading across (HO-2: Implications/ Scoring):
If GREEN and BLUE both choose `A,' each group gains 1 point.
If GREEN chooses `A,' and the BLUE chooses `B,' GREEN loses 2 points and BLUE gains 2 points.
If GREEN chooses `B,' and BLUE chooses `A,' GREEN gains 2 points and BLUE loses 2 points.
If GREEN and BLUE both choose `B,' each group loses one point.
F. Tell participants that the simulation allows them 7 rounds in which to choose or negotiate. Each round will be 5 minutes long. You will let them know when each round begins and ends and will move between the subgroups to provide assistance, if needed. If there is an observer from the team, he or she will also rotate between teams.
G. In Round 1, each group, BLUE and GREEN, will have 5 minutes to complete 2 tasks:
To select a representative; and
To decide which 3" x 5" card with letter, `A' or `B,' they will exchange with the other group.
H. At the end of Round 1, the 2 representatives will meet outside the view of both subgroups to exchange cards with the chosen letters and immediately return to their subgroups. The points resulting from the exchange will be recorded by the representative on a tally sheet. Post the tally sheet for the GREEN group on the wall with masking tape (PN-1: Tally Sheet).
I. Tell the BLUE group where its breakout space is and where the representatives of each group are to meet. Give them their copy.
Give the BLUE group the 2 blue 3" x 5" cards with the blue letter `A' and the blue letter `B.'
Give the GREEN group its 2 green cards.
Give each group its blank newsprint, markers, and masking tape.
Tell them that, in this first round, they will have 5 minutes to choose a representative and one of the 3" x 5" cards.
Send the BLUE group to its breakout space to begin.
Trainer Note: If there are any observers, give directions to them now. Observers should visit each subgroup at least twice and make a few notes based on HO-1: Observer Guide. Answer any questions. The observers are to circulate between the 2 groups and pay particular attention to the decision-making process and the apparent objectives of each group. Refer to HO-1 to focus observations.
After 5 minutes, tell each subgroup to send its representatives to the area designated for them to meet.
Accompany the representatives to the designated area, where they are to exchange cards and then return to their groups.
Back in their subgroups, the representatives record the scores on their tally sheets so both groups always have a record on view of what the implications of their decisions are.
Retrieve the cards from each group and return them to the original subgroup to use in the next round (PN-1: Tally Sheet).
B. ROUND 2: Exchange
When you return the cards, tell each group again to take 5 minutes to choose a letter, send a representative to exchange cards, and to tally points gained or lost.
C. ROUND 3: Negotiation
Trainer Note: During this and the other negotiation round, be sure that only the 2 negotiators meet and that other group members do not observe or hear the negotiation. During the negotiation rounds, pay particular attention to whether the negotiators can convince their groups to go along with agree-ments reached, or whether the group rejects the negotiated agreement and pursues a different strategy in the next round.
Tell each subgroup that this is a negotiation round. There is no exchange of letters in this round.
Each subgroup has 5 minutes to discuss strategy and to choose a negotiator to discuss that strategy with the other group's negotiator. The 2 negotiators will then meet in the designated area outside the view of the 2 subgroups. They will have 3 minutes to talk things over before returning to their subgroups.
Notify the groups when 5 minutes have elapsed, and ask them to send their negotiator to the designated area.
Monitor the meeting of the negotiators to ensure that they keep within the time limits. Check to be sure that observers, if present, are moving between the groups.
D. ROUND 4: Exchange
Tell each group that it again has 5 minutes to choose a letter, to send a representative to exchange letters, and to tally points.
E. ROUND 5: Negotiation
Repeat the procedure of Round 3.
F. ROUND 6: Exchange
Repeat the procedure of Rounds 1, 2, and 4.
G. ROUND 7: Conclusion (HO-3: Round 7)
This is similar to Rounds 1, 2, 4, and 6, with one major difference; the teams do not choose a letter. Begin by giving each subgroup copies of HO-3. Ask the participants to consider the effects of this kind of definition of A and B on their choice of approach to the other subgroup.
H. Call time. Distribute HO-4 while participants remain apart in their BLUE and GREEN groups (HO-4: Discussion Questions).
I. Ask them to take 5 minutes to jot down notes in answer to each of the questions on HO-4. They should not belabor their answers or discuss them with others.
A. Bring the 2 subgroups together in the team room.
B. Solicit answers to the discussion questions below in the order given.
Discussion Question
What adjectives best describe the other group?
Directions
Ask all the members of one group to give its adjectives.
Ask for the other group's adjectives.
Record all the adjectives on newsprint. Do not allow other participants to comment on the adjectives suggested by members of the other groups or to defend themselves.
C. Tell participants that the list of adjectives serves as baseline data for analyzing the other questions and indicates perceptions between the groups.
D. Ask them to think about how these perceptions were formed, since the only communication links between the 2 groups were the representatives.
Discussion Question
What were the objectives of the groups?
Directions
Ask the members of the GREEN group what they thought their objective was.
Then ask the BLUE group if it perceived the GREEN group's objective in the same manner.
Repeat the procedure for the other group.
If there were observers, invite them to comment.
Content Points
E. Each group almost always perceives the other group's objective as "winning," while some groups see their own objective as cooperating so that both teams win. No matter what the groups define as their objectives, it is important to note that at the beginning of the exercise, the facilitator said nothing about "winning." The objective of the exercise was simply stated as "selecting a letter."
F. The groups defined their own objectives based on the situation:
Limited options,
Little or no information about the other side, and
Physical isolation from the other side.
Given those constraints, it is often difficult to see the value of cooperation (i.e., choosing an `A,' which allows both sides to gain). In such circumstances, the tendency is to use a different value, to choose a course of maximizing one's own gain, even if it is at the expense of the other.
Discussion Question
What barriers did your group encounter in reaching its objective?
Directions
G. Point out decision-making, conflict resolution, and turf issues that prevented groups from cooperating or that prevented one group from winning unilaterally.
H. Link the discussion with the focus and main points of the unit and with the rest of the institute.
A. Summarize the main points of this session. Ask the teams to think about implications of the simulation exercise for their partnerships, home organizations, and communities.
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