Softskill Assignment - Negotiation in Business Communication

Negotiation in Business Communication

1.What is negotiation?

    Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties intended to reach a beneficial outcome over one or more issues where a conflict exists with respect to at least one of these issues.It is aimed to resolve points of difference, to gain advantage for an individual or collective, or to craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. It is often conducted by putting forward a position and making small concessions to achieve an agreement.

2. What are the negotiation styles? Explain

     Five negotiation styles:             

     1.Avoiding

·         Primarily concerned with avoiding intra-personal conflict

·         Is useful when the the stakes of a negotiated outcome are not worth the investment of time or the potential for igniting conflict

·         Characterized by sidestepping, postponing, and ignoring the issue or situation

·         Effective when avoidance of the situation or issue does not greatly affect the relationship and short term task is not important to either party

    2. Accommodating

·         Primarily concerned with the relationship between the parties

·         Easily gives the other side concessions in hopes of strengthening the relationship, but often gives away too much too soon

·         Tend to neglect their own needs in favor of helping the other side get what they want

·         Effective when long term relationship is important and short term task is not important

    3. Compromising

·         The style falling between accommodating and competing

·         Useful when time is a concern or there is a strong relationship between the parties

·         Requires concessions from both sides to find agreement

·         Does not focus on legitimate or fair standards for settlement and instead utilizes “Meet in the middle,” or “Split the difference” solutions

     4. Collaborating

·         Focuses on using problem solving methods to create value and discover mutually satisfactory agreements

·         Utilizes the creativity of both parties to find solutions to both sides’ interests

·         Tend to be assertive about their needs and cooperative with the other side

·         Effective when long term relationship is important and short term task is important

       5. Competing

·         Primarily concerned with achieving their own goals regardless of the impact on others

·         Views negotiation as a win/lose rather than a problem solving activity

·         Often utilize manipulative tactics such as attacks, threats, and other aggressive behavior to achieve their objectives.

3. Explain are the negotiation process!

1. Preparation

                Before any negotiation takes place, a decision needs to be taken as to when and where a meeting will take place to discuss the problem and who will attend.  Setting a limited time-scale can also be helpful to prevent the disagreement continuing.This stage involves ensuring all the pertinent facts of the situation are known in order to clarify your own position.  In the work example above, this would include knowing the ‘rules’ of your organization, to who help is given, when help is not felt appropriate and the grounds for such refusals.  Your organization may well have policies to which you can refer in preparation for the negotiation.Undertaking preparation before discussing the disagreement will help to avoid further conflict and unnecessarily wasting time during the meeting.

            2. Discussion
                During this stage, individuals or members of each side put forward the case as they see it, i.e. their understanding of the situation.Key skills during this stage include questioning, listening and clarifying.Sometimes it is helpful to take notes during the discussion stage to record all points put forward in case there is need for further clarification.  It is extremely important to listen, as when disagreement takes place it is easy to make the mistake of saying too much and listening too little.  Each side should have an equal opportunity to present their case.

3. Clarifying Goals
     From the discussion, the goals, interests and viewpoints of both sides of the disagreement need to be clarified. It is helpful to list these factors in order of priority.  Through this clarification it is often possible to identify or establish some common ground. Clarification is an essential part of the negotiation process, without it misunderstandings are likely to occur which may cause problems and barriers to reaching a beneficial outcome.

4. Negotiate Towards a Win-Win Outcome
    This stage focuses on what is termed a 'win-win' outcome where both sides feel they have gained something positive through the process of negotiation and both sides feel their point of view has been taken into consideration. A win-win outcome is usually the best result. Although this may not always be possible, through negotiation, it should be the ultimate goal.Suggestions of alternative strategies and compromises need to be considered at this point.  Compromises are often positive alternatives which can often achieve greater benefit for all concerned compared to holding to the original positions.

5. Agreement
    Agreement can be achieved once understanding of both sides’ viewpoints and interests have been considered. It is essential to for everybody involved to keep an open mind in order to achieve an acceptable solution.  Any agreement needs to be made perfectly clear so that both sides know what has been decided.

6. Implementing 
    Implementing a Course of Action, from the agreement, a course of action has to be implemented tocarry through the decision.

4.What are the characteristics of negotiation?

1.There are a minimum of two parties present in any negotiation.
2. Both the parties have pre-determined goals which they wish to achieve.
3.There is a clash of pre-determined goals, that is, some of the pre-determined goals are not shared by both the parties.
4. There is an expectation of outcome by both the parties in any negotiation.
5. Both the parties believe the outcome of the negotiation to be satisfactory.
6. Both parties are willing to compromise, that is, modify their position.
7.The incompatibility of goals may make the modification of positions difficult.

5. Explain the positive and negative affects in negotiation!

        Positive affect in Negotiation :

Even before the negotiation process starts, people in a positive mood have more confidence and higher tendencies to plan to use a cooperative strategy. During the negotiation, negotiators who are in a positive mood tend to enjoy the interaction more, show less contentious behavior, use less aggressive tactics and more cooperative strategies. This in turn increases the likelihood that parties will reach their instrumental goals and enhance the ability to find integrative gains. Indeed, compared with negotiators with negative or natural affectivity, negotiators with positive affectivity reached more agreements and tended to honor those agreements more. 

         Negative Affect in Negotiation :             

   Negative affects on various stages in the negotiation process. Although various negative emotions affect negotiation outcomes, by far the most researched is anger. Angry negotiators plan to use more competitive strategies and to cooperate less, even before the negotiation starts. These competitive strategies are related to reduced joint outcomes. During negotiations, anger disrupts the process by reducing the level of trust, clouding parties' judgment, narrowing parties' focus of attention and changing their central goal from reaching agreement to retaliating against the other side. Angry negotiators pay less attention to opponent's interests and are less accurate in judging their interests, thus achieve lower joint gains. Moreover, because anger makes negotiators more self-centered in their preferences, it increases the likelihood that they will reject profitable offers. Anger does not help in achieving negotiation goals either: it reduces joint gains and does not help to boost personal gains, as angry negotiators do not succeed in claiming more for themselves.

source: https://www.google.co.id/search?q=negative+and+positive+negotiation&oq=negative+and+positive+negotiation&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.21437j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8