What considerations were relevant to the issue that helped you determine your position?

Question

Think of a situation in your life where you took a position on an issue. State the issue, the position you took, and what considerations were relevant to the issue that helped you determine your position.

Answer 1

OK, here goes:

POSITION: The United Auto Workers are the real reason why you can't get a decent car in the United States.

ARGUMENT AGAINST: It's actually the greedy corporate executives who made so many poor decisions, designed shoddy cars, and were only interested in padding their own pockets who are at fault.

CONSIDERATIONS:

(1) It's the union workers that put the cars together, and I have owned five cars manufactured by the Big Three that had problems that had nothing to do with design and EVERYTHING to do with the p!$$-poor manner in which the cars were assembled. It's not an engineer's fault that my lights kept going out and the fuses kept blowing when some idiot wasn't paying attention when putting a tail-light assembly in and screwed the wire bundle directly to the block. Nor is it the engineer's fault when my water pump blew because the moron who put it on the engine cross-threaded not one, not two, but THREE of the eight bolts that held it on. Quality is Job 1 my @$$!!!

(2) A friend of mine went to work for Ford many years ago. Didn't even have a diploma -- just a GED -- and was hired at over four times the minimum wage at that time. Never mind the fact that it's unskilled labor and these people are doing jobs that monkeys can do, they're getting paid a king's ransom for starting wage. The following represent the stories he told about his short stint with Ford.

(3) The line workers get two 15-minute breaks per day, but they have a designated break area that they walk to and are on the clock while they're walking there. It only takes 10 minutes at most to walk there, but each union worker gets 15 minutes to walk to the break area, 15 minutes for the break, and then 15 minutes to walk back from the break area to their station. Now, remember, this happens twice a day, so the auto companies have to pay these people a full hour's wage for them to do NOTHING but walk to and from the break area.

(4) The light over my friend's work station went out, so he asked what he should do, and the foreman told him to call the electrician. So he did. Three days later he's still working in the dark. He decides to go find a bulb himself and replace it. Would you believe that he was FIRED for doing someone else's job?!?!!

Answer 2

i'm having trouble with the same question. Do we go to the same school. University of Phoenix?

Answer 3

i have been taught to go for interests rather than position in negotiaton and mediation. i don't believe positions are useful.
it's easier to compromise when you get to the interest under the position.