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A Serious Conflict with my Computer By an anonymous (and hilarious)
I had a serious conflict with my computer while trying to write my 3rd assignment for CONR 605. We then entered into a series of failed negotiations. My desired outcome was simply to produce a double-spaced paper with in-text citations and a reference page in APA style. It soon became obvious that my computer and I had a negative bargaining range. When I offered what seemed to be an entirely reasonable series of keystrokes, my computer would counter with random italics, strange indentations, or single-spacing. When I proposed including page numbers, the computer would respond with four pages numbered four. A reasonable request for a name at the top of the page was countered with a text box in the middle of the page. I am certain that part of the reason for unsuccessful negotiations was framing. I had a basic distrust of the computer because of past experiences, and the computer viewed me as incompetent because I am older and less experienced in Microsoft Word. Emotions were high—the computer laughed at my feeble attempts at negotiating for a properly formatted paper, and I responded with angry words of frustration. We were at an impasse until I brought in another negotiator, my 20 year old daughter. In five short minutes, she offered the same keystrokes I had previously proposed, and the computer quickly complied with total agreement on the terms of the APA style. Without the presence of the pre-existing negative framing and cognitive biases, the negotiations were successfully concluded. (Next time I plan to bring a hammer to the bargaining table!)
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The following narrative was recently posted by a student in an ACU Negotiation and Mediation course.