Ugli Orange Exercise - Negotiation Group Activity
One exercise I have found very helpful is the classic negotiation exercise called the "Ugli Orange" - I have used this in communications courses, problem solving courses, business courses, and really, any course that claims problem solving or strategic thinking in its Learning Objective can benefit from this.
You can easily Google "Ugli Orange" and find the exercise, but here is a brief summary:
There are two roles: Dr. Jones and Dr. Roland. Both "sides" (think groups) are scientists and their respective firms do not like each other and have a history of corporate espionage. Both sides need to obtain the rare Ugli orange fruit for different, but equally compelling reasons. There is a limited quantity of these oranges and they will be sold to the highest bidder. Each side needs all the oranges (or so it seems).
In any case, they exercise will show that a) they are not fighting over the same thing, they need different parts, b) how they approach the seller of the oranges requires cooperation, and c) they need to divide the oranges in a way that does not expose either firm to risk.
It is a great exercise, and very educational.
