Film by John Grisham - Book Report/Review Example

Months within his work, Mitch is approached by an FBI agent named Wayne Tarrance, who revealed to him that the firm he works for is in fact owned by a large-scale Chicago syndicate. The main work of the firm is to operate on transporting tax-free money to the Cayman Islands. Aside from this, Mitch also found out that his house, car, and office are bugged and that he and his wife are being followed. Also, he discovered that the firm's lawyers' deaths were not accidents at all but rather murders to quiet them up.

Caught between the FBI and the syndicate, which has started to doubt his loyalty, Mitch formulated a plan of his own to elude them both. Mitch negotiated with the FBI that he will help them arrest the criminals in exchange of 2 million dollars and the release of his brother, Ray, who is in prison. With the help of his wife and a friend, they were able to sneak out evidence that will surely incriminate the firm. However, an incident happened with the FBI wherein his actions were almost discovered by the firm.

Not trusting the FBI anymore, Mitch was able to escape both the firm and the FBI. With some new negotiations, Mitch handed the evidence to the FBI, giving away the firm while stealing approximately 10 million dollars from the company. Mitch, Ray, and Abby finally settled at the Caribbean Islands. (Grisham) In Fisher and Ury's book entitled "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In", authors formulated 4 principles in negotiating. The first one which is by separating people from issues.

"People tend to become personally involved with the issues and with their side's positions. And so they will tend to take responses to those issues and positions as personal attacks. Separating the people from the issues allows the parties to address the issues without damaging their relationship. It also helps them to get a clearer view of the substantive problem." (Glaser). As stated by Fisher and Ury, people are inclined to be personally attached to their side since that is where their interests lie.

In addition, the authors mentioned the three basic sorts of people problem. The first one is the difference in the parties' perception. It is clear to see that the different views are what actually separates people apart. The second problem is the involvement of emotions; people are likely to react with anger when they feel their interests are threatened. The third problem is the lack of communication. It is rather obvious that since they have opposing views, parties may tend to avoid discussion with each other, thus providing no time for stating their concerns and problems to each other.

Even though parties may be corresponding with each other, they might not be listening at all but rather planning their own response. Also, misunderstanding may occur between the differing factors. In the novel, Mitch tried at first to correspond with the FBI since he feared for his life as well as for Abby. But due to the fact that he was still an employee of the firm, Mitch was very careful when he talked with Wayne Tarrance. By being empathic with each other, the two reached an agreement in their negotiation.

This shows that the tactic mentioned in the first principle was used by the character in order to understand each other. This may be