Contents of the free course
Introduction
Negotiation in Conflict
Planning
Sample Solution
Have you also considered these aspects of the course?
- Discussion
- Propose
- Bargaining
- Closing
- Negotiating by Letter and Phone
- Your Personal Action Plan
- Further Reading
- Brief to GFT shirts
- Brief to Shirts Unlimited
Enroll on a complete business course and receive nationally recognised qualification or call us free at 08000-75-8000 for further information
Introduction
The aim of this course is to improve the effectiveness of your negotiating. This course will help you to:
. Be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses in negotiating and to help develop an effective negotiating style.
. Understand the importance of preparation.
. Understand how to develop objectives for negotiations.
. Understand the strategies, tactics and signals which may be used in negotiation, and
. Assess, realistically, your chances of successful outcomes in negotiations.
We all negotiate. It occurs whenever one person wants one thing and the other person wants something else.
We learn negotiating skills in our early childhood. When we didn’t get our own way, we offered incentives to persuade our parents to let us stay up later, or go out, or have a particular pair of shoes.
We would have learned that we could get our way by throwing a tantrum, sulking for days or generally ‘playing up’ our parents. Or we may have been sufficiently in awe of our parents to give in straight away.
But forcing someone to accept our terms or point of view, or giving in to superiors’ arguments, does not produce a satisfactory outcome - for one side at least.
Negotiating is about reaching a point where both sides get what they want (or at least so close to it that they are prepared to accept that the outcome is satisfactory). In other words, the aim is for both sides to get into a ‘win-win’ situation..
Negotiations fall into one of two categories - collaborative or competitive. Collaborative negotiation usually results in a quicker, more satisfactory conclusion because both sides willingly work towards a mutually beneficial goal. On the other hand, competitive negotiation can lead to conflict, with one side or the other feeling aggrieved because they bought their result at too high a price.
Competitive negotiations can spring from two main sources.
. Someone is just naturally competitive, and feels he or she must defeat the other side.
. The needs/wants of both sides are so far apart that each thinks the other’s demands are unreasonable.
Competitive negotiation can arise from, or lead to, conflict.
Enroll on a complete business course and receive nationally recognised qualification or call us free at 08000-75-8000 for further information
Negotiation in Conflict
This is win-lose negotiation. One side attempts to achieve the result which best suits them. This attitude is based on the belief that:
My ideas/values/beliefs/understandings are superior to yours.
In these circumstances, I will do what l can to defeat (ie browbeat/defeat/manipulate/undermine) you.
For the side which gets its way through winning the argument, there will be a short-term gain. The winning side will feel victorious. But any future negotiation will be difficult because the loser will harbour strong feelings of resentment against the victorious side.
Collaborative, or co-operative, negotiations, on the other hand, start with the under- standing that both parties are willing to negotiate.
Clearly the winning cannot always be equal, but the aim is to ensure that both sides are happy. The approach promotes co-operation. There is no intention on one side to defeat the other.
There will be no ‘take it or leave it’ attitude. Both parties are looking to win. Only if both parties do win will future relations and negotiations be comfortable.
Negotiation, then, can be defined as the process through which agreement between two parties is reached. 
In the full course we will be looking at the five phases of negotiation.
. Planning
. Discussing
. Proposing
. Bargaining
. Closing.
Planning
Example
Chris needs to pop into the Gas showroom to pay his bill. He sees a convenient car parking space and heads for it. Just as he reaches it, Pat (approaching from the other direction) stops his car in the way, preventing Chris from parking. Pat also wants to park. He has a microwave oven to pick up from the electrical shop next to the Gas showrooms. They both want the space. At this stage each person has an objective. What are those objectives?
Chris?
Pat?
How can they achieve their objectives?
Negotiation is aimed at achieving objectives. Before you begin to negotiate, you need to be sure what your objectives are.
In the example of Chris and Pat, it might appear that the objective is to park the car in that space. In fact, their objectives are different: Chris, to pay his bill; Pat, to pick up his microwave oven. Both need to park to achieve their objectives and this is the item over which they can negotiate.
Enroll on a complete business course and receive nationally recognised qualification or call us free at 08000-75-8000 for further information
Sample Solution
Chris tells Pat he will only be a matter of minutes. He suggests that Pat drives round the block a couple of times and that he (Chris) will hold the space when he returns to his car so that Pat can park.
Before they can come to an agreement, they both need to find out information about the other party.
- How long will you need the space?
- Is it urgent?
- Can the other person be trusted?
Prepare your objectives carefully. Be sure you know what you want.
Set a range of objectives rather than one fixed one. Remember, the other party has an objective too and, if you are both fixed in your requirements, you won’t get anywhere.
So, decide what the ideal outcome would be (what it would be nice to achieve).
Step back.
Decide what is realistic. (What you would expect to achieve).
Step back.
 Decide what you would settle for. (The minimum you must achieve).
For example, you need shop premises in a busy part of town:
Ideally, you would like a shop already refurbished for a low rental.
Realistically, you will get a shop which costs the going rate where you want it; or one further out at a price you would find more acceptable.
You would settle for a shop on the edge of the centre that needs refurbishing if the rent is low.
Another example might be the way in which you negotiate with a boss for your annual leave.
Ideally you want the middle two weeks in August. You are aware that your organisation cannot have everybody off at this time. But you may think that it is realistic to aim for one week in the middle of August, and either the first or fourth week in August. You would settle for week one in August with either the last week in July or the first week in September.
Enroll on a complete business course and receive nationally recognised qualification or call us free at 08000-75-8000 for further information |
