Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement

Gina Blair and Daniel Trent cooperate and collaborate to achieve a common objective throughout their negotiation. A cooperative negotiation style is demonstrated as they combine their points of view regarding their clients concerns with outcomes to effectively solve the issues raised. The main focus of the negotiation is to reach an agreement rather than a continuous dispute. Accordingly, the conflicting objectives were resolved by compromises and solutions but forward by both Gina and Daniel. The negotiation style used between Gina and Daniel is described as principled negotiation where both parties jointly attack the problems arising to achieve a compromise.

This introduction talks about Negotiation concepts. BATNA (Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement) is the last proposal that a person can do before exiting the negotiation. You have to prepare your BATNA before the negotiation to keep in mind what is your alternative solution if the agreement cannot be reach.

Also, I learned that one must always have a complete understanding of what is their Best Alternative to No Agreement (BATNA) before going into a negotiation with an opponent. The BATNA is also known as the Consequences of No Deal (CONA). The crucial point to be noted about understanding ones BATNA or CONA is that the negotiator is now able to know at which point of the negotiation it would be better to walk away. This occurs when the deal you have just agreed to is below your BATNA or CONA. Therefore, this leave you in a worse of situation when compared to if you had walked away from the negotiation without coming to an agreement.

Negotiation is a fundamental form of dispute resolution involving two or more parties (Michelle, M.2003). Negotiations can also take place in order to avoid any future disputes. It can be either an interpersonal or inter-group process. Negotiations can occur at international or corporate level and also at a personal level. Negotiations often involve give and take acknowledging that there is interdependence between the disputants to some extent to achieve the goal. This means that negotiations only arise when the goals cannot be achieved independently (Lewicki and Saunders et al., 1997). Interdependence means the both parties can influence the outcome for the other party and vice versa. The negotiations can be win-lose or win-win in nature.

“Successful negotiation is not about getting to ‘yes’; it’s about mastering ‘no’ and understanding the path to an agreement is” (Christopher Voss). During the negotiation process, there are a lot of moving parts and personalities. In addition, hurt feelings can all too often get in the way. The bottom line of any negotiation is to reach a settlement that will mutually benefit both parties. It’s a challenging situation by which compromise or agreement is reached while attempting to avoid arguments and disputes.

Having analyzed the scoring scheme and weights given to each outcome, I realized that the most important outcome was obtaining a large federal loan from the government. In fact, obtaining a $2 billion loan outcome alone would satisfy the governor’s scoring scheme to support the project. Therefore, before going into the negotiation I realized that this issue would be a pivotal outcome in the negotiation for me. If I succeed in negotiating the right federal loan amount I could be flexible with the other issues in the negotiation but keeping in mind that the higher the score the better the result for the governor. My BATNA was to walk away from the deal where I would still maintain the 30 points in that situation which meant that if the result of the outcome was less than 30 points, I would vote against the deal.

Consequently, negotiation is a process that can be approached in many ways. No matter what strategy we choose, success lies in how well we prepared. The key to negotiating a beneficial outcome is the negotiators’ ability to consider all the elements of the situation carefully and to identify and think through the options. At the same time, negotiators must be able to keep events in perspective and be as fair and honest as circumstance allows. Because a common ground or interest has brought the parties to the negotiating table, a negotiator can benefit by trying to capitalize on this common

Negotiation is one important part of both the professional and personal life in our everyday situations. It is critical for people to resolve disputes, distribute limited resources, and/or create something new that neither party could achieve on his or her own. Negotiations can range from coordinating project timelines with clients to asking for a raise to discussing holiday plans with family members.

It occurs in profit or non profit organizations, government sectors, dealing among nations and also in our personal situations such as salary package, house purchase, marriage, divorce and etc. The strategy to use can either be distributive or integrative depending on the situations and the outcomes that the party want out from the negotiation.

The TexasAgs oil company case study gave us insights on different aspects of a negotiation that can happen in real world scenarios. It elegantly portrayed the importance of having a BATNA, setting target and restriction points, impact of the fluctuating markets on the ongoing negotiations, downside of the emotional behavior, importance of having a third party member or mediator in the negotiation. The case illustrates that the negotiations should be based assumptions as they may or may not be right. Having facts and understanding the other parties true objectives and goals are truly essential in negotiation. It is a typical example of how the current power on one side can dominate and take complete advantage of their position.

Whether it is at work, church or in our private relationships, negotiations are a necessary tool for reaching an agreement. They are made by discussing each parties point of view with the aim being to reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial. For the most part, negotiation is the process by which those people involved successfully adopt or abandon their respective position through the use of positional bargaining. There are different types of approaches for the negotiation process - some hard and others soft in their manner of approach. The desired outcome of

While in the process of acquiring a product or service I always try and ensure that I have at least two alternative sources for services and products that my company frequently uses. In the case of a new product or service I always tried to ensure that I have three independent quotes. Although I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to label this as a BATNA(best alternative to a negotiated agreement) I believe it did allow me to have an alternative in most cases. I am aware that this is an extremely limited view of term BATNA and I certainly don’t mean to suggest that this is a sufficient approach to this strategy, it is never the less an alternative.

However, if one side is far more powerful than another, they are likely to simply impose their solution on the other side, who will be forced to accept it, because they have no other choice. Using Fisher and Ury's term, they have no 'BATNA' (Best alternative to a negotiated agreement). (Gillian, (2005) Negotiation, lecture notes)

According to Halpert et al.’s Path model, negotiation consists of different phases such as preparation, differentiation, exploration, and exchange. The preparation phase in our previous negotiation became an essential part that played a role of evaluation of both parties positions in our successful outcome.

Negotiation is all about a strategy. The end result is usually to end a problem that someone is having, whether it is personally or