Background InformationVenue● London’s Classical Music Hall. In the past the ve

Background Information
Venue
● London’s Classical Music Hall. In the past the venue has focused solely on classically
trained professional musicians to perform. Each year they arrange four events and have
one musician play at each event. The events take place in April, July, September and
December. The venue can hold 500 people. However, due to COVID restrictions this year
they can only have 150-200 attendees to follow social distancing rules.
Employees
● Ploy is 25 years old. After graduating from Chulalongkorn Faculty of Arts at 21, she
moved to London and did an internship at the Electronic music venue for 6 months. The
electronic music venue then hired her as an assistant producer, a job she did for 2 years
in which she arranged for different musicians, djs and artists to perform monthly for
crowds of up to 200 people. Six months ago she was hired as an assistant concert
producer for London’s Classical Music Hall. This is her second meeting as an assistant
concert producer. She is passionate about promoting young musicians.
● Tim is 45 years old. He is the executive concert producer for London’s Classical Music
Hall. He has worked there for 15 years. It has already been announced that next month
he will move to Australia where he will become the executive concert producer for
Sydney’s Opera House. This is his last meeting. He is passionate about bringing
established musicians to the venue.
● Mary is 40 years old. She is the marketing & finance director for London’s Classical Music
Hall. She has worked there for 5 years. She loves all classical music but her main concern
in meetings is to increase revenue for the venue. COVID has really hurt the venue and all
the staff have had to take a pay cut and so she is focused on reducing costs.
SECTION 1 EXCERPT:
TIm: Good morning Mary and Ploy. Thanks for meeting me on such short notice. This morning
I found out that the pianist who was going to perform for us in two months has come down
with COVID and has decided to cancel.
Ploy: That’s horrible. I hope he will recover quickly.
Tim: Yes, I told him to be in touch and that maybe we can have him perform in December.
Mary: That is unfortunate news, but that is also awful for us as we already sold tickets and have
done a marketing campaign. This does not look good for our finances.
Tim: I agree, but these are the times. So, we need to figure out a game plan. First we should
determine a musician to replace him. It will be difficult to get a pianist of his level on such short
notice, but I already reached out to one pianist I know and am waiting to hear from him.
Ploy: I have an idea. What if we used this opportunity to showcase several musicians who play
different instruments.
Mary: (Interrupting) Oh Ploy – I like that you are already in brainstorming mode but there is no
way that we can afford to pay more than one musician. As it is, the marketing budget for this
was already spent. Did you already forget that we all had to take a pay cut?
Ploy: No Mary and did not forget about the pay cut. Also, I wasn’t finished. The variety of
musicians can be recent graduates from the top universities here in London. This means we
would not have to pay as much.
Tim: That’s a nice idea Ploy, but our patrons expect only the best. I am not sure they would
not want to attend a school performance.
Ploy: Ouch Tim. That is a bit condescending. I have heard these musicians perform before and
can tell you they are amazing.
Tim: Look Ploy, I’m not trying to be rude but you don’t know the customers like I do. Our
customers pay a high price and they want excellent musicians. Your background before this was
in electronic music and while I appreciate the idea, I think we need to look at established
performers for this event.
Ploy: I am just trying to bring some new ideas to the table and I feel like I’m being attacked.
Also, did you both forget that at the last event we sold half the tickets to people under 35? I was
surprised by this actually because Mary’s marketing style is pretty dated and I think she could
use more social media.
Mary: Excuse me?!
Tim: Okay, okay. I think we are all getting a bit heated and this discussion is not going
anywhere. We need to work together to figure out what is going to be best. Why don’t we all
take our lunch break now and then meet after. Ploy, would you bring some youtube clips of the
musicians you mentioned and Mary would you bring me an estimated budget for this?
Mary & Ploy: Sure.
1. Which principled negotiation technique did everyone neglect? Please give specific
examples from the text for each person.