Negotiation Skill

Negotiation is a fundamental process used in resolving conflicts, making business deals, and in managing working relationships with others. Negotiations occur for two reasons: (1) to resolve a problem or dispute between parties, or (2) to create something new that neither party could do on its own.

Cahn and Abigail (2014) define negotiation as “a particular type of conflict management—one characterized by an exchange of proposals and counter proposals as a means of reaching a satisfactory settlement” (p. 229). Negotiation is a fact of life. Subsequently, we spend a substantial amount of time negotiating for something every day. The fact of the matter is that life is full of conflict situations. Whether in our personal or professional lives and whether or not we are aware of it, we are often engaged in conflict situations that require tapping into our conflict negotiation skills. From deciding what movie to see, where to eat, to asking one’s boss for a raise, we are all engaged in some type of negotiation. These real-life

Negotiation can be defined as a communications process used to put deals together and to

In “Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques To Help You Become A Better Negotiator,” we are given great insights of how to make the most of negotiations. It provided some tactics of how to transform what is taught in the classroom into workable skills. The article in turn provided different strategies and techniques for various sections, which we will explore throughout.

Negotiations are handled differently by everyone. Some Negotiators are more passive and others extremely direct. Some love the bargaining process and begin the offer extremely low or high for the purpose of playing the negotiating game with their opponent. Others just prefer to have their best cards on the table with a take it or leave it attitude. Negotiators should learn when and how to use different negotiating styles. After all, negotiations play a huge role in business today. Two main negotiating strategies exist; non engagement and Active engagement. Both strategies will be discussed thoroughly to assist in identifying how different strategies may be used in business.

Selecting a strategy is a key foundation in negotiation. Depending on the situation between your position and that of the other party, different negotiation strategies may be used. Picking the right strategy could improve the odds of a successful outcome. Chapter 1.3 of our book demonstrates five basic strategies to use during negotiations. Each strategy has its own set of advantages and disadvantages depending on the circumstances, and in most instances, a mixture of strategies will be used.

We will overview the research Salacuse (1998) first. He surveyed international businessmen from all over the world on 10 aspects of negotiation. Many researchers since have borrowed his categories. Then we will look at Volkema (1998), Metcalf et al. (2006), Fisher (1980), Katz (2008), with some additional insight from Thompson (2012). We begin with Salacuse.

Chapter one also show us that there are soft and hard styles of negotiation. Some people try to escape the problems of positional negotiation by adopting a soft style, which leads them to make more concessions. Such does not necessarily lead to quality deals. There is also the hard style of negotiation which its goal is victory on the

Negotiators are advised to proceed slowly because patient questioning and active listening have a high chance of being rewarded with the attainment of greater knowledge. Negotiators must be extremely strategic in the information phases of negotiation because they cannot impose their will on the opponent. Instead, they must acquire the underlying needs and interests of those parties and seek to at least satisfy the basic goals of those participants, which can only be obtained through patient and strategically planned questioning. (Craver, 2003)

Negotiation refers to the process of reaching a mutually accepted agreement between two parties. Kumar & Worm (2004) state that Indians exercise reason and that the Chinese exercise harmony. The strategy of contention is common in India and a

The audience of this book is primarily business people, since they are predominantly focused on negotiation as part of their work routines. The book has proven popular among this audience, and as such it has successfully appealed to the target audience. One of the most important appeals for business negotiators is that they always need an edge it is important to get to yes without giving in. Thus, reframing negotiations from a win-lose proposition to one where all parties can find the benefits that they want has a very strong appeal to the business audience. This audience often enters into negotiations with counterparties, looking for mutual benefit. Thus, a style of negotiation that encourages such an outcome improves the quality of business negotiation.

Over the years, negotiation has been a tactic used for different situations whether personal or professional. In theory, negotiation concepts and terms have been used to understand and analyze the purpose of negotiation by evaluating different characteristics. To better understand the concept of negotiation, the roles of communication and personality in negotiation and how they contributed to or detracted from the negotiation is analyzed. For example, a scenario is used further into this paper

Every negotiation will involve people, and Fisher and Ury make it very clear that people are not perfect. While some may be good communicators, others may not be good listeners on the receiving end. We have our own interests and goals, in which we tend to see from our point of view. According to Fisher and Ury, the first step to a successful negotiation is to “separate the people from the problem.” The most common human problem that we face tends to be “perception, emotion and communication.” To prevent these problems from happening, the authors suggest that we “build a working relationship” and focus on the problem itself, not the

Identify and explain the potential integrative elements of the negotiation and provide an analysis of how power and persuasion influenced the process and outcomes of the negotiation.

in and studied over the years, I’m struck by how frequently even experienced negotiators leave money on the table, deadlock, damage relationships, or allow conflict to spiral. (For more on the rich theoretical understanding of negotiations developed by researchers over the past fifty years, see the sidebar “Academics Take a Seat at the Negotiating Table.”) There are as many specific reasons for bad outcomes in negotiations as there are individuals and deals. Yet broad classes of errors recur. In this article, I’ll explore those mistakes, comparing good negotiating practice with bad. But