Assignment Debate

MDP Communication Module
Thursday 9 April 2009 at 10:00 am

The assignment

The MDP group will hold a debate. For this debate, the group is divided in two teams. One team will present a case in favor of a five-day working week for the Centara Hotels & Resorts group. The other team will present a case in favor of a six-day working week. The objective of the debate is to convince the other team to accept your idea. The objective of the assignment, from the MDP point of view, is to practice communication and negotiation skills and to demonstrate managerial behaviors. The debate must last at least one hour.

Rules for the debate:

1. Every individual team member must contribute to the debate so everybody must present some parts. No one is allowed to be quiet throughout the debate

2. Each team must present their arguments by applying the personal and technical presentation skills, as well as the communication tools and techniques, of the MDP Communication Module

3. Both teams are not allowed to compromise on the issue. For example, the teams are not allowed to agree on a 5 ½ day working week. Because there will be no compromise and no solution, there may not be a conclusion in this debate. The debate will be ended by the coaches if

a) One of the teams agrees to accept the proposal of the other team. However, this means the team has lost the debate because it was not able to convince the other team

b) Once both teams have discussed all arguments for a 5 or a 6 days working week and once the teams begin to repeat the same arguments. In other words, once the teams start talking in circles

c) If the debate is not ended after three hours

Tips for preparing the debate

1. Do research on the meaning of the words that are printed in red so you will fully understand the assignment.

2. Really think about the subject and use common sense, before starting your preparations.

3. Do research on the issue to find realistic and reasonable arguments to use in the debate.

4. A debate is a negation in which you must convince the other team. To do this you must you must use negotiations techniques. A key word in negotiations is benefits

5. Think of the strategy that you will use during the debate

6. To win a debate you must understand and apply the difference between facts and fiction. However, in a good debate you will use also emotions to convince the other team. Think about it like a court room where lawyers try to convince the jury that their client is innocent. In this debate you are the lawyer.

7. Read the MDP notes again to refresh your memory on Communication

8. The debate is a team assignment; you cannot win alone!

Tips for preparing presentation materials

PowerPoint may not be the perfect tool for a debate. It can be used to present parts of the information but you must understand the difference between a Presentation and a Debate. However, you will need presentation materials that will be used as evidence and support your arguments. So, you need to think about other, more appropriate, communication tools for a debate. Perhaps you may also need Props like in the theater.

Evaluation of the debate

There are two different evaluations for this debate:

1. Team evaluation: The debate is evaluated on the personal and technical presentation skills of the team, the communication techniques, the quality of the arguments and the end result of the debate. The coaches will announce which team is the “winner” of the debate.

2. Individual evaluation: Each individual member is evaluated on the personal and technical presentation skills, and his or her communication techniques. Each member is also evaluated on the participation during the debate (the managerial behavior). Finally each member is evaluated if he or she was a real team player. The coaches will give each member a score for the assignment

The teams

Team 1: Pong, Cherry, Pat, Siew, Ked : This team supports a six-day working week
Team 2: Biw, Eye, Dee, Kwang : This team support a five-day working week

Last words...

Well, that's it! Good luck and I will see you this week. Let me know if we can meet on Saturday for coaching so you have enough time to prepare. Think about the planning of an assignment, as we discussed last week. All the best, Jeroen