Effective Negotiation
Effective negotiation in business involves the skillful communication and strategic decision-making to reach mutually beneficial agreements. It requires understanding the needs and motivations of both parties, active listening, and the ability to find creative solutions. Successful negotiation often results in favorable outcomes for all parties involved, fostering positive long-term relationships and business success.
7 Key excerpts on "Effective Negotiation"
eBook - ePubStrategic Corporate Negotiations
A Framework for Win-Win Agreements
- Andrea Caputo(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Pivot(Publisher)
...That is negotiation. Negotiations are essential and fundamental for businesses. Improving negotiation skills, as well as increasing the ability to negotiate effectively, is crucial in the managerial, political, and business contexts. It is commonly acknowledged within the literature that negotiation is a process through which two or more parties could reach a needed joint decision while having different preferences (e.g., Fisher et al. 1981 ; Lax and Sebenius 1986 ; Lewicki et al. 2014 ; Pruitt 1981 ; Raiffa et al. 2002 ; Rubin and Brown 1975 ; Zartman 1977). Due to the interdependence, which reigns over and inside multi-actor decision processes (J. D. Thompson 1967), negotiation outcomes are affected by all the decisions made by all the parties involved. It is quite straightforward how, whatever approach we take, the strategy-making process is permeated with a series of negotiations that surround the decisions taken. A negotiation process underlies board meetings where C-level managers take corporate strategic decisions. At the same time, the information brought to the board are the result of a negotiated process where managers strategically decide how to approach the board meetings. Similarly, if we look at any strategy textbook, almost any preparatory activity of analysis to support the strategy-making process can be associated with a negotiation. The same happens when we move the level of analysis to the implementation of strategy. Managers negotiate with each other on how the strategic implementation takes place; they also negotiate at the external of the organization to put the strategy in action, for example, with suppliers, customers, lobbying organizations, and all the stakeholders one can imagine. Given those almost obvious thoughts, everyone with managerial experience would agree that negotiation seems to be left quite aside from strategy literature...
- Thomas A. Cook(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...7 Delivering Successful Negotiations A critical skill set of all leaders and managers is the ability to bring the majority of all trade opportunities to a successful negotiation. The author makes the point that a successful negotiation is defined where both or all parties compromise and benefit, which is the focus of this chapter. Negotiating successfully means developing a strategy. This strategy is outlined in the following six steps: 1. Defining what we want to accomplish in negotiation and developing a strategic plan 2. Negotiating globally 3. The essence of compromise 4. Trust is the critical asset 5. Case studies 6. Negotiating for the millennium DEFINING WHAT WE WANT TO ACCOMPLISH IN NEGOTIATION AND DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC PLAN The strategic plan has seven considerations: • Goal setting • Assessment • Mining • Planning • Action • Tweaking • Closure Goal Setting Negotiating is achieving something that you wanted to accomplish. Therefore, you need to first define what you are looking to accomplish. This becomes the goal, the deliverable or expectation of the negotiation. This means that we must make sure of the goal setting procedure referred to as specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, trackable, and SMART. Making sure goals are SMART is a best practice and will very often help to assure successful negotiations. Thinking through the five SMART concepts creates the best opportunity for strategically thinking out what you anticipate achieving and is the first step in the overall negotiation process. Assessment Following, the establishment of a goal … the negotiator or negotiating team must create an assessment of the situation they are facing in the negotiation. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis has merit here...
- Claude Cellich(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Business Expert Press(Publisher)
...CHAPTER 10 Communication Skills for Effective Negotiations He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know. —Lao Tzu With a growing number of countries becoming actively engaged in world trade, resulting in intensified contacts between exporters and importers from different cultures, and with increased competition in both domestic and international markets, business executives are faced with a demanding environment for their commercial negotiations. In particular, those in small- and medium-sized firms entering the global market for the first time need to master negotiating skills in a multicultural setting. Communication techniques are an important part of these skills. Negotiating is first and foremost about communications. It is a dialogue in which each person explains his or her position and listens to what the other person is saying. During this exchange of views, proposals are made and concessions are explored. The end result is intended to create added value for both parties. In negotiations, communication occurs at two levels: the logical level (e.g., a specific price offer) and the pragmatic level (e.g., semantics, syntax, and style). The meaning of the communication received by the other party is a combination of logical and pragmatic messages. What matters is not simply what is said and how it is said, but also the inferred information intended, conveyed, or perceived. Thus, extreme care must be taken to control pragmatic messages. Many times negotiators are not aware of the potential of pragmatic miscommunication and, often, end up sending a wrong message—even with the best of intentions. Communication between two negotiators tends to be more difficult and complex when it involves people from diverse cultures than when it involves people with similar backgrounds. 1 For example, negotiators from a traditional culture often attach more importance to the way in which a proposal is made than to what is being said...
eBook - ePub- Gary P. Ferraro, Elizabeth K. Briody(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Some scholars have categorized the negotiation process into three phases—pre-negotiation, negotiation, and post-negotiation—in an effort to understand the importance of the context, interactions, and activities as the negotiations evolve (Weiss 1993; Kumar and Worm 2004). Distinctions also have been drawn between the “up front” discussions among negotiating partners as well as the “constant and ongoing negotiation” over the course of a business relationship (Teegen and Doh 2002: 751). In this book, we use the term negotiating to refer to the period prior to implementation of some initiative agreed to by the negotiating partners. If negotiations are happening for the first time, the negotiating period is the time when business relationships are formed and decisions are made about whether to work together toward some goal. If the negotiating partners have worked together in the past, relationships will be rekindled during the negotiating period and new projects targeted for attention. When negotiating within our own culture, it is possible to operate effectively at the intuitive or unconscious level. However, when we leave our familiar cultural context and enter into negotiations with those from other cultures, the scene changes dramatically and different challenges appear. There may not be the same shared values, interests, goals, ethical principles, or cultural assumptions between the negotiating parties. As we demonstrated in previous chapters, different cultures have different values, attitudes, morals, behaviors, and linguistic styles, all of which can greatly affect the process and outcome of our negotiations. An ever-increasing body of literature has developed documenting the differences in cross-cultural negotiating styles (see, e.g., Lewicki et al. 1992; Tinsley and Pillutla 1998; Weiss 2006)...
eBook - ePube-Negotiations
Networking and Cross-Cultural Business Transactions
- Nicholas Harkiolakis, Daphne Halkias(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...5 Strategy The strategy phase in our framework is the planning stage where the analysis of all the different issues involved translates into an action plan. While each negotiation case has its own characteristics and is defined by the circumstances that surround it, the core elements of negotiation analysis are more or less always the same. This enables the study of the subject and the formation of universal strategies to address it. Analysis will become more useful as the negotiation process progresses and its variables change. Even post-negotiation analysis is valuable in providing clues and lessons that could guide successful negotiations in the future. Variables that need to be clearly defined include the parties involved with their interests, beliefs, and power status, along with the value that will be created and the way it will be distributed. With respect to e-negotiations, the situation regarding strategic choices and the way we approach a negotiation does not change. What changes is the way we communicate and implement our positions, as we will cover in the next chapter. The aim of this chapter is to present strategies and their outcomes in relation to the many factors surrounding negotiations. Traditionally, attempts to understand different aspects of negotiations have used many perspectives, such as game theory, psychology, political science, communication, labor relations, law, sociology, and anthropology. With the advent of electronic communication and e-commerce, technology became an active player in negotiations. Information technology affects negotiations by providing the communication mediums and all the supporting structures for conducting negotiations, and in all respects is the enabler of e-negotiations. E-negotiations offer certain strategic advantages that do not exist in face-to-face negotiations, like the opportunity for in-depth intelligence and analysis before initiating the actual communication...
- Thomas A. Cook(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...7 Negotiation in Business Development To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. Thomas Watson, Sr., Former CEO, IBM Negotiation is a critical skill set that sales executives need to master in the responsibilities in business development. While many of the characteristics of sales negotiation are both domestic and international … the astute marketing and salesperson knows when best to distinguish between domestic and international, sensitive to cultural concerns, and knows how to best leverage in either scenario, which is what is covered in this chapter. WHY STUDY NEGOTIATION? Negotiation is a skill set … few “master”. Those that do are more successful than those that don’t. We study negotiation, because that skill set opens the door to having the best opportunity for ourselves and our company to achieve our mutually synched goals. Negotiation is both an art and a science. People with high degrees of emotional intelligence (EI) are traditionally matured negotiators and get through life and business issues more easily, because of that innate ability to negotiate. Sales and business development executives must be able to develop and master negotiation skill sets, in order to best represent their company in growth and expansion. The skill sets of negotiation are: KEY SKILL SETS REFINED Leadership Negotiation is influencing another party to move in a direction that meets what you need to accomplish. When you demonstrate “leadership” … influencing people is a much easier task. The basic nature of human beings is to follow. But they will only follow those who exude leadership qualities. Qualities such as but not limited to: All leaders need to make sure these characteristics are part of their nature. If not, then must make them a part of how they handle and communicate their responsibilities as it becomes part of their personal. Leaders with high degrees of EI will find these traits easier to manage...
eBook - ePub- William A. Donohue(Author)
- 1992(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
...In negotiation, the same principle is true. If you value the relationship, pursuing a collaborative negotiation context is important. As you know from the discussion of conflict styles, collaborative relationships show concern for the other party. Showing concern for the other’s needs builds relationships in the long run. Clearly, valuing the relationship means pursuing collaboration. YOUR SKILLS How comfortable are you with your communication and negotiation skills? Confronting a conflict productively depends in large measure on your communication skills. When faced with a problem, do you quickly run out of words and want to leave or escape the situation? If so, you might lack the communication and negotiation skills needed to respond collaboratively to situations. Communication skills needed for a collaborative approach to negotiation include reframing, active listening, and structuring your conversation. More negotiation-related skills are discussed later in this chapter. YOUR TIME Finally, if negotiators face time deadlines, they are more likely to react competitively. Potential losses loom more significantly as time goes on. Many negotiators try to prolong the negotiation process so people can take plenty of time to explore options and develop collaborative approaches to problem solving. Hostage negotiators believe that time works in favor of the police, because it gives hostage takers time to calm down and think more rationally. The last thing hostage negotiators want is speed. They never rush the hostage taker. Strategic Factors Affecting the Negotiation Context Assume that you wish to build a collaborative negotiation situation. You set about meeting the requirements for building this situation: You construct clear goals, you place a high value on the relationship, you assess your communication skills, and you make sure the negotiators have plenty of time to interact...
