Abstract:
The Angel case was developed from accounts by students and managers about challenges and opportunities in early career employment opportunities for students in technology and engineering jobs, particularly those from less privileged and historically marginalized backgrounds. The teaching plan is motivated by research on career negotiations and on implications of gender and other status-linked identities for career self-advocacy.
The case protagonist, Angel Torres, is a college sophomore who has been placed in their first summer internship. While Angel hopes the internship might lead to a full-time job after graduation, the work, so far, has been basic and has not provided Angel an opportunity to show their full abilities. Angel has an idea of how to improve the user interface of the company’s primary app but isn’t sure whether or how to propose the idea. Chatter among interns at work have given Angel concerns around pay. Angel also faces a work-family challenge involving a family chore that requires them to negotiate an alternative work schedule. To be gender-inclusive, the protagonist is described without reference to gendered pronouns. The central question for students is, what might Angel try to negotiate to improve their internship experience—and how?
In the sequel case, Angel reaches out to colleagues and friends for information and advice to help inform their negotiation choices, illustrating the importance of reducing ambiguity through negotiation preparation.
Learning Objective:
This case is designed to facilitate a live, in-class discussion—either online (synchronous) or in person—about how to recognize opportunities to negotiate and prepare strategically for negotiations in ways that further the interests of all parties. Students will analyze potential negotiations and practice generating proposals that work for all parties involved. The article Self-Advocating in Early Career and the Strategic Preparation Workbook are related resources for students to apply concepts from the negotiating framework to their own career negotiations. This case, written from the perspective of an undergraduate college student beginning a summer internship, is designed to support negotiations to advance early careers.
