Negotiation Flashcards
Negotiation
It is back-and-forth communication designed to reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and others that are opposed.
Principled negotiation
The method of principled negotiation is hard on the merits, soft on the people.
People: Separate the people from the problem.
Interests: Focus on interests, not positions.
Options: Generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do.
Criteria: Insist that the result be based on some objective standard.
Bargain over positions
Each side takes a position, argues for it, and makes concessions to reach a compromise.
Three criteria for any method of negotiation
- Wise agreement if possible
- Efficient
- Improve or at least not damage the relationship
Soft negotiating
See the other side as friends. to make offers and concessions, to trust the other side, to be friendly, and to yield as necessary to avoid confrontation.
Three stages of negotiation
Analysis, planning, and discussion
Three basic categories of people problems
Perception, emotion, and communication
Perception: Their thinking is the problem.
Differences are defined by the difference between your thinking and theirs. Ultimately, the conflict lies not in objective reality, but in people’s heads.
How to improve the perception
- Put yourself in their shoes.
- Discuss each other’s perceptions.
- Look for opportunities to act inconsistently with their perceptions. the best way to change their perceptions
- Give them a stake in the outcome by making sure they participate in the process.
- Face-saving: Make your proposals consistent with their values.
How to deal with emotions
1.First recognize and understand emotions, theirs and yours.
2.Make emotions explicit and acknowledge them as legitimate.
3.Allow the other side to let off steam.
4.Don’t react to emotional outbursts.
5.Use symbolic gestures. On many occasions, an apology can defuse emotions effectively
How to improve communication
- Listen actively and acknowledge what is being said. Ask for clarification
2.Understanding is not agreeing. Unless you can convince them that you do grasp how they see it, you may be unable to explain your viewpoint to them.
3.Speak to be understood.
4.Speak about yourself, not about them. It is more persuasive to describe a problem in terms of its impact on you than in terms of what they did or why
5.Speak for a purpose. Before making a significant statement, know what you want to communicate or find out, and know what purpose this information will serve
Focus on INTERESTS, Not Positions
Your position is something you have decided upon. Your interests are what caused you to so decide.
How do you identify interests?
- Ask “Why?”
- Ask “Why not?” Think about their choice.
The most powerful interests are basic human needs
- security
- economic well-being
- a sense of belonging
- recognition
- control over one’s life
Cognitive dissonance
Give positive support to the human beings on the other side equal in strength to the vigour with which you emphasize the problem
The theory of cognitive dissonance holds that people dislike inconsistency and will act to eliminate it.
Four major obstacles that inhibit the inventing of an abundance of options
- premature judgment
- searching for the single answer
- the assumption of a fixed pie
- thinking that “solving their problem is their problem.”
To invent creative options
- to separate the act of inventing options from the act of judging them
- to broaden the options on the table rather than look for a single answer
- to search for mutual gains
- to invent ways of making their decisions easy.
The Circle Chart
What is wrong What might be done
In theory Step 2 analysis Step 3 Approaches
Real-world Step 1 problem Step 4 Action ideas
The method to tackle the problem
- SEPARATE THE PEOPLE FROM THE PROBLEM
- FOCUS ON INTERESTS, NOT POSITIONS
- INVENT OPTIONS FOR MUTUAL GAIN
- INSIST ON USING OBJECTIVE CRITERIA
INSIST ON USING OBJECTIVE CRITERIA
Negotiating with objective criteria
1. Frame each issue as a joint search for objective criteria.
2. Reason and be open to reason as to which standards are most appropriate and how they should be applied.
3. Never yield to pressure, only to principle.
Focus on objective criteria firmly but flexibly.
Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement
What alternatives you have right now?
The reason you negotiate is to produce something better than the results you can obtain without negotiating
Whether you should or should not agree on something in a negotiation depends entirely upon the attractiveness to you of the best available alternative.
That is the standard against which any proposed agreement should be measured.
The better your BATNA, the greater your power.
Negotiation jujitsu
- Don’t attack their position, look behind it.
- Seek out and discuss the principles underlying the other side’s positions.
- Don’t defend your ideas, invite criticism and advice.
- Recast an attack on you as an attack on the problem.
- Ask questions and pause.
@ Questions offer them no target to strike at, no position to attack. Questions do not criticize, they educate.
@ If you have asked an honest question to which they have provided an insufficient answer, just wait.
One-text procedure
The one-text procedure is a great help for two-party negotiations involving a mediator. It is almost essential for large multilateral negotiations.
The 3rd party listen to both interests and make a proposal, ask for feedback and keep refining until they can make it better
Getting them to play
- Please correct me if I’m wrong
- We appreciate what you’ve done for us
- Our concern is fairness
- We would like to settle this on the basis not of selfish interest and power but of principle
- Trust is a separate issue
- Could I ask you a few questions to see whether my facts are right?
- What’s the principle behind your action?
- Let me see if I understand what you’re saying
- Let me get back to you
- Let me show you where I have trouble following some of your reasoning
- One fair solution might be…
- If we agree…. If we disagree….
- It’s been a pleasure dealing with you”
