essay

Negotiation is commonly referred to as a strategic process of getting into an agreement by two or more people, groups, or teams. It is also defined as an interpersonal decision-making process that is necessary whenever people may find it hard to achieve their objectives single-handedly. During the process of a negotiation, a problem is addressed, resolved and the parties are able to come up with a conclusion (Rojot, 2016). The actions which follow after the negotiation are usually centered on what is agreed upon in the negotiation. There are various types of negotiation and in the last twelve to eighteen months, I have personally experienced distributive negotiation which involves two parties bargaining over one product or issue like the price. However, there are other forms of negotiations such as positional negotiation, team, multiparty and integrative negotiation (Lee, 2018). In order for a negotiation to be effective, it must uphold certain principles such as knowing what you are trying to attain, developing a game plan before the negotiations start, studying and understanding your counterpart, working towards a win-win, avoiding negotiating with yourself, reacting strongly to untrustworthy party at the negotiating table and keeping in mind that it takes two parties to negotiate or negotiate a deal.

One of the distributive negotiations that I recently experienced was negotiating with a car dealer over the price of a second-hand vehicle that I had always looked forward to purchasing. Our negotiation went through some stages including preparing, exchange of information, bargaining, concluding, and executing. Before getting into the negotiation with the car dealer, I first prepared by researching various elements about that car and the profile of the dealer. As I was preparing, I identified the strengths and weaknesses of that car dealer and came up with my negotiation strategies. I had to define the type of interaction that I wanted to have and the bond that I wished to form with the other party. During our negotiation, we exchanged information which involved finding out and creating value for our negotiation process and building rapport between the dealer and myself. We were able to explain our interests and exchange viewpoints in order to attain the desired results for everyone. In any negotiation process, bargaining is the most crucial aspect since it is the beginning of give-and-take deals. I proposed my demands to the car dealer as the dealer also sought to secure benefits. During the bargaining process, I kept myself in check as we all kept our cool and avoiding getting emotional during our negotiations. Finally, we concluded our negotiation in which we agreed upon a specific price and everybody confirmed that our interests had been secured and the result was successful. Through our good summing up and amicable closing, we were able to create a rewarding and long-term relationship.

I would separate people from the problem in this negotiation by using some tips such as avoiding trading the relationship for the substance, setting ground rules that vocally prioritize the relationship of both parties, being hard on the issues, modeling a respectful behavior irrespective of how I am treated and treating every relationship as a long term relationship. Since no one knows when someone you are negotiating with might make regular appearances in your life, I will make my life easier by imagining and considering that each relationship that I encounter is a long-term relationship. I will also model respectful behavior irrespective of the parties that treat me and focus on the negotiation and address the comments in a manner that is respectful and prioritizes the relationship of the negotiators and the negotiation process.

During negotiations, positions are considered to be the things that the parties want while interests refer to why they want them. In this negotiation, my position is the second-hand vehicle while my interests include using this vehicle for various functions. My interests in wanting to own a vehicle mainly relate to my basic human needs which are very powerful and influence my decision-making process and informing the position that I have taken. There are other additional interests that influenced me to take the position of buying a second-hand vehicle such as recognition and promoting convenience in my operations.

A mutual gain in any negotiation refers to making offers that are good for both parties and it involves thinking creatively about how one can get more of the things that they want by assisting the other party gets what they want too (Chapman, Miles, & Maurer, 2017). The available options for mutual gain that are available are creating value through trades and trying joint fact-finding. Developing value through trades involves presenting multiple offers at the same time and they should all be acceptable. This will enable one to discover what the other person cares about most. A joint fact-finding will engage negotiators in a collaborative exploration of the important issues at the moment.

Objective criteria consist of factual pieces of information that are independent of the parties in the negotiation and are relevant to what should be agreed and not agreed in the negotiation. There are some objective criteria that can be used in this negotiation such as finding out what similar second-hand vehicles sell for and what the blue book says the price should be.

Some of the things that I will be more mindful of when it comes to negotiating in the future include recognizing hardball tactics and making counteroffers. Making counter-offers will allow the dealing to feel like a successful negotiation. In order to prepare myself against hard-bargaining tactics, I will ensure that I recognize them hence I will not be at their mercy when it occurs.

References

Chapman, E., Miles, E. W., & Maurer, T. (2017). A proposed model for effective negotiation skill development. Journal of Management Development.

Lee, J. H. (2018). Negotiations and Criticisms in L2 Peer Review Sessions. , 19(4), 59-71.

Rojot, J. (2016). Negotiation: from theory to practice. Springer.