Procurement and Contract Management

Jill was in her office at Radio Max, a manufacturer of high end radios for auto and marine. She was the head of engineering and design waiting for her boss, Ross, to walk in at any moment. There was a problem to discuss with him that was making Jill uneasy. Her group of engineers was contacting vendors of their components directly when they had been asked to go through the purchasing department. Jill knew her engineering staff needed the technical information as soon as possible, and having to go through purchasing was putting a bottleneck in design and production. Jill and Ross knew they had to come up with a solution together, as news of this situation traveling up to senior management would be a problem and make them both look incompetent.

Given the above scenario, answer the three questions below:

1. What do you believe is the "big picture" and what solution do you propose for the above scenario?.

2. Can this be a win/win situation or does it have to be a win/lose situation? Make a case for your choice or if you chose both, why can the solution result in both situations?.

3. In your own words, what do you feel would be the most difficult part of this negotiation? How would you prepare the team for the outcome?