Home   About   Example   Handout   Glossary   FAQ   Register
	Negotiating through INSPIRE

This is a handout that you may find useful when using INSPIRE. All the main steps and actions you will need are explained here. A more comprehensive explanation is given on the individual INSPIRE pages. The example explains how INSPIRE works and shows you what it can do. If you need any help send us an email; you can do so directly from every INSPIRE page.

Have fun negotiating!

Content:   1. Introduction    2. Getting started    3. Using INSPIRE

1. Introduction

Participants in the negotiation are paired randomly and anonymously. Your partner may be from your city, country or from far away: a different country, a different continent. Please log in at least once in two days to check whether there has been any activity. If you have provided an e-mail address, INSPIRE will send you a note when your counterpart makes an offer, but it is better not to rely on these e-mails; do log in frequently.

In brief, the negotiation involves a preparation step during which you read the case description and clarify your preferences in terms of the issues and options. You then proceed to an offer exchange step during which you try to reach an agreement by exchanging offers and, if you like, messages. If you reach and agreement, you can use the post-agreement step to improve upon the agreement you reached. More information is available from the system itself. A more detailed instruction sheet is also provided.

Some negotiations have a deadline. Remember to complete your negotiation by the deadline. After that you cannot continue to negotiate and are only able to fill in the second questionnaire.

Click on the Netscape icon. If required, in the address box type:  www.interneg.org/inspire

A few comments about the World Wide Web and a browser (Netscape or Microsoft Explorer):

• Information appears in pages of text or pictures.
• Every word or phrase that is in blue and underlined is a link to another page; click on the word or phrase and you will move to the associated page.
• You can return to a previous page by clicking the Back button or using the Go menu.
• Menu item Go contains the names of the pages you visited recently. You can return to any page by selecting its name from this menu.
  
• There is an example of a negotiation in which all the main features of the INSPIRE system are mentioned. You can read this example by choosing the first option on INSPIRE's home page.

If you do not know a specific word or a negotiation term, or if you would like to check our definition of such a term, then please use the Glossary Page. Please remember about the Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page. There you may find an answer to your problem. The link to the FAQ page is at the bottom of every INSPIRE page. If you encounter a problem to which no answer is provided, please send an email to inspire@business.carleton.ca.

3. Using INSPIRE^©

1. Identify yourself. Enter the name of your negotiation and your user-name on the INSPIRE home page. Do not type anything in the password box unless you have specifically requested a password. Remember that the information you enter is case sensitive. Enter your negotiation-name and your user-name in exactly the same way as in the INSPIRE confirmation email that you have received.

2. Read the main steps that you will follow during your negotiation. . INSPIRE is full of information and will guide you through your negotiation. All the steps mentioned below will be explained in detail as you move through INSPIRE.

3. Read the case ("Click here to read the description"). After you are done reading, click on the button "Done reading".

4. Rate the issues. Distribute 100 points among the four issues. The issue which, for you, is the most important gets the most points; the least important issue gets the smallest number of points. The points for the four issues must total 100.

   Remember if you make a mistake or change your mind press the button "Clear all entries" and start from the beginning.

5. Rate the options for each issue. Distribute the assigned number of points among all the options of each issue. Give the maximum number of points to the option that you think is best and zero to the one which is the worst for you.

6. Rate the packages. A number of packages are displayed for you. Each package has a rating. Check if you agree with the ratings. If you disagree with the ratings of any of the packages change them in the box on the right-hand side of the table. Please do not try to manipulate these rankings as they are used for their own benefit.

   From now on every offer (a package) which you want to consider and present to your partner will show a rating based on your preferences. Any offers sent to you by your partner will also show a rating. Remember, this rating reflects your and only your opinion. Your partner does not know your opinion nor can he or she see your ratings.

7. Fill out the pre-negotiation questionnaire.

8. Make an offer to your partner using the menus in the offer-box. You can also send messages to your partner using the message-box.

9. You will then have to wait for your partner to respond to your offer. If you don`t have an email account and did not give it to us, then you need to come back later (say the next day) and login to INSPIRE using the same negotiation name, user-name and password. INSPIRE will show you whether your partner has sent you a response.

   Keep checking till you get a response. If you like, you can continue to send messages or new offers to your partner.

10. At any point you may review the history of your negotiations. The history page contains all the offers and messages that you and your partner have exchanged as well as a graph indicating the ratings of the exchanged offers. Note, that this graph presents both yours and the your partner's offers but in terms of your ratings only.

11. When both you and your partner accept an offer, it is called an "agreement". INSPIRE will tell you whether your agreement is "optimal", or whether it is possible to improve it and move towards a better agreement.

12. If INSPIRE says you have reached the end of negotiation, fill out the post-negotiation questionnaire. Otherwise you have the choice of making more offers till you reach a better agreement, or stopping at this point. In any case, fill out the questionnaire when you reach the end of the negotiation.

13. Please remember that you are negotiating with someone who may be far away and in a different time zone. He or she may wait for your response or a message; do not make your partner wait too long.