r39 Chapter Six Decision-Maldng Episodes Requiring the Negotiation Decision Strategy egotiation decision-making episodes stress the weighing of options and.the criteria used as the basis for selecting options. Its basic function is to help students develop ways to make decisions where they must surrender one group ofoptions in order to obtain a group of options they value more highly. This format of the decision-making episode can also be used to provide students with practice coping with situations where individuals must accept certain-evils in order to avoid greater ones. The negotiation format contains four essen- tial components elenients. There is:r a story providing a context in which an individual (or group) confronts the need to select a set ofhighly valued options at the expense ofa set ofoptions she or he or the group also values; . .lj$ of nine or more options from which a student must select the third that are most preferred and the third that she or he is most willing to surrender in 6rder to ensure the first group ofoptions are obtained;o decision sheets on which students record both the group of options they most pre- fer and the group of options theyare will- ing to give up and the consequences like. ly to result flom their decisions; andr a set ofquestions suggestive ofthe kinds of questions that will be raised during the follow-up discussion of the episode once students have made their decisions. The list of options and the decision sheets warrant further attention. The list of options should be homogeneous. For instance, if statements of consequences are used, then all statements should,be expressed as conse- quences. Or, if statements of’feasons are used, then all statements should be phrased as reasons. Furthermore, all options should be designed to evoke either positive or negative reactions from students: that is, students should wish that they could choose all the options or that they could avoid having to choose zmy one or more of all the options. Decision sheets provide students with a struc- ture within which they can complete the pre-decision and final decision tasks. These also help students to engage in a conscious examination of the basis for and consequences of their choices. Students may be instructed in these decision sheets to list the positive effects of their preferred options and the negative effects that would have resulted from the choices they chose to reject. In some instances students are guided to examine the negative consequences of their preferred options and the positive conse- quences lost by rejecting (or ignoring) other options. When a student has completed the decision sheets provided for a negotiation episode, he or she has generalized that three options are best and that three are far less desirable and are to be given up or rejected. He also will list conse- quences likely to follow from each of these deci- sions. In effect, the student has classified items or courses of action based on personal values about a particular situation in terms of relevant beliefs and disbeliefs, preferences, or likes and dislikes. SAMPLES Six examples of the negotiation format of deci- sion-making episodes follow. Although each con- tains the four components outlined above, activities consistent with this decision stratery format can be styled in different fashions. They may incorporate rank ordering; they should incorporate the search for criteria and consequences. The reader will want to be alert to these variations as well as to the four components required by the negotiation format as the examples are studied. In addition, the teacher may find it useful to practice completing decision sheets for some or all of these learning episodes to experience the “feel” of using this decision stratery.

r39 Chapter Six Decision-Maldng Episodes Requiring the Negotiation Decision Strategy egotiation decision-making episodes stress the weighing of options and.the criteria used as the basis for selecting options. Its basic function is to help students develop ways to make decisions where they must surrender one group ofoptions in order to obtain a group of options they […]