ICON Simulation

Interconnection Simulation Overview Guide

This simulation is a three-week exercise designed to allow you to apply the material from the course in a negotiation environment. Each participant is cast in the role of one of the participants in a telecommunications interconnection negotiation, and will work to craft an agreement that will determine the future structure of the industry in this nation. The simulation is not based on any specific country and the participants are all hypothetical parties that might be interested in negotiations of this type. However, you will have the opportunity to be part of a negotiation similar to one that might occur anywhere that telecommunications interconnection conflicts arise.

This guide will serve as an overview of the simulation process and provide you with general guidelines to follow in order to have a successful simulation experience. During the three weeks of this simulation, you will participate by sending messages to other parties, attending scheduled conferences, and crafting proposed agreements on the issues through the ICONSnet web software. This software is designed to be user-friendly and accessible, requires no download or installation, and is available on any computer with an Internet connection. You will have access to a separate “ICONSnet User Manual” which has been tailored for this simulation for specific user questions about the software.

In this guide you will find:

• An overview of the simulation process you will be part of
  
  
• Helpful tips for success in these negotiations

It is recommended that you read through this guide first as it will serve to inform the approach you take to other preparation work for the simulation.

The Simulation Process

The Week Before

The simulation will last three weeks, but your preparation should begin the week before by reading the documentation related to the simulation first. During this time you should consider possible negotiation strategies and the type of final agreement that you would like to see produced. This documentation includes:

1. The simulation scenario – The scenario presents the state of the world as it stands at the moment, including the issues to be negotiated and the specific areas of disagreement among the negotiating parties. It also presents a brief overview of all of the parties involved and their relationships with each other. It will be critical for you to be familiar with this background document and to refer to it during the simulation process.
   
   
2. Your role sheet – This serves as a private briefing from your team (company, organization, or Ministry) about the specific outcomes you should seek in the negotiation. No one else in the negotiation will have this information, so you will need to carefully guard the information it contains. Keep in mind that while the role sheet presents your starting positions, you can consider making compromises if necessary in order to make gains or protect your existing advantages. It is up to you to decide what tradeoffs will make your position stronger while in the negotiations.
   
   
3. ICONSnet User Manual – This guide will be helpful in using the ICONSnet online simulation software. A the end of this Simulation Overview Guide you will be given a web address for the simulation and login information. In addition, you will have the opportunity to explore the online simulation community before the simulation starts, and there is a Help feature available in the software.

After carefully considering the content of the scenario and your role sheet you should prepare an opening statement for the negotiations that presents your goals and willingness to negotiate on the issues but without giving away any of the confidential information from your role sheet. This opening statement should be 3 to 4 paragraphs in length and should give an indication of your opening position without revealing too much about your goals. (For example, you might want to state that “We hope to find a more reasonable tariff for interconnection” rather than “We would accept a 70% tariff”). This statement will influence the way other teams approach you throughout the simulation, so you should put considerable care into both the substance as well as the style in which you approach this.

The First Week

You will be expected to log into the simulation each day of the simulation in order to check messages and to send responses, Monday through Friday. This should take between 15 minutes and one hour depending on the level of detail in the messages, and can be done at any time that is convenient for you. It is important that you actively participate in the negotiation in order to ensure that your interests are represented – other teams will continue negotiating without you and craft an agreement ignoring your concerns if you are not active. Messages can also be inserted via the “cut-and-paste” function of your word processing program if you prefer.

On the first day of the simulation (Monday) you should begin by sending your opening statement to everyone in the negotiation. These messages will determine the success of your negotiations so you should exercise care in putting these together. Each team will then have the opportunity to read and respond to these messages on the second day. When reading these messages, you should consider which other teams share common interests on one or more of the issues with you and could be allies during the negotiations to follow.

During the rest of this first week you should be sending messages to the other teams to gauge their willingness to support your positions, what you can offer to support in return, and what compromises you are willing to make for an agreement. It is important to note that it is very unlikely that you will find one ally that agrees on all of the issues, so you should consider making several alliances and considering what compromises you can make on one issue to gain support on another.

Week Two

The first online conference will held on Tuesday of the second week. These conferences will provide an opportunity for all participants to communicate in real time, simulating a face-to-face meeting of the interested parties. Messages can be sent to the entire group or to specific teams through the ICONSnet software. (See the ICONSnet User Manual for details on the Conference feature). These conferences will be a good opportunity to discuss proposed agreements and to work through compromises as a group, so you should be prepared to negotiate during this time.

Participants will also continue to send messages this week, seek to identify likely allies, and begin crafting an agreement. The Proposal Center will be opened during this week, so you can begin to craft formal proposals for consideration by the group. These proposals should ideally be constructed in collaboration with others so that you can count on support when voting begins. Coalitions will begin to form during this second week on the issues, and undecided parties should be lobbied for support.

Week Three

During the third week, the second and final conference is held on Wednesday which will allow teams a last chance to discuss the issues as a group. Teams should continue sending messages and working to craft proposals that will gain support by the group. Participants may need to spend additional time on messages during this week if they are far from an agreement. The final agreement is due on Thursday, and the NCC will issue their opinion on Friday.

Negotiation Tips

• Remain diplomatic and respectful at all times – your negotiation partners will be more apt to treat your positions with respect if you do the same to them.
  
  
• Be active in the process – you will have more success in reaching your goals the more active you are in sending messages and participating in a constructive manner.
  
  
• Try to work with all parties – you may find areas of common interest with all of the participants here, so you should work to identify these areas.
  
  
• Maximize your benefit – your ability to achieve a good outcome for your role will be a consideration in the evaluation process, so work to get the best agreement possible for your own team.
  
  
• Control information – you should seek to share as little about your positions as is reasonable during the negotiations in order to gain the most benefit for your team.
  
  
• Utilize available resources – in addition to the scenario and other supporting materials, you should look for additional resources to support your positions or to gain an advantage over your negotiating partners.

Now that you have read this introduction, you must go to the website below to log in the ICONS simulation page:

http://www.icons.umd.edu