Simulation 27-11 CPA Inc payroll checks have been stolen

This role play was about conflict at the workplace. In CPA Inc payroll checks have been stolen and cashed with false endorsement. Two long term employees were accusing a new employee because they were convinced she was the thief. In this situation, I was one of the two employees and I had to be very aggressive against Sandy the new employee to prove to the manager she stole the money. With my three partners we were very aggressive, using personal arguments as element of pressure to make her confess. During the negotiation, we tried to not let Sandy talk and we were speaking all at the same time. During this negotiation, I felt quite comfortable because I was feeling empowered by the support of my group and Sandy didn’t had a lot of arguments and physical proofs to counter what we were saying. But at the end of the negotiation, I felt Sandy was starting to feel bad and I tried to find a compromise with her. As one of my colleagues was continuing shouting at her, with my other colleague we tried to calm down the situation and explain to her that we were ready to make concessions: we accept to wait for the result of the handwriting samples from the experts but if they found she is guilty, she will directly be fired. In return, she also accepts to undergo more investigations and improve her attitude at work to be more sociable. Our manager was quite absent of the negotiation and that was sad because it would have been good to have some of her arguments to calm down the situation, regulate the talking between each side, protect the interests of the company and defend Sandy, who was at the end accused with no real proofs.  It would have been great if she had set the tone of the negotiation. This negotiation was very interesting to understand how to stay calm and neutral, to defend yourself when personally attacked and to try to diffuse the tension between members of the negotiation. It would have been great if we had taken a break during our negotiation to speak individually with the manager. I learned during this negotiation that a group is much powerful than an individual because we are encouraged by the others. Negotiation is also very difficult and can be very rude when you are negotiating with people who are not willing to find an agreement.