Negotiation

1) Negotiation is a method by which people settle differences. It is a process by which compromise or agreement is achieved while avoiding any unnecessary arguments.

2) There are 5 negotiation styles:

>Competitive Style

Competitive personalities are results-driven. They are focused and assertive in their communication and often aggressive. Competitive negotiators are strategic thinkers therefore have very little time for relax.

>Collaboration Style

Collaborative negotiators are open and honest, and understand the concerns and interests of the other party. They like to find creative solutions to make sure both parties are satisfied.

>Compromising Style

A compromising negotiator’s main concern is doing what is fair for both parties and finding middle ground. They would compromise on your own outcome to satisfy the other party.

>Avoiding Style

Avoiding personalities really dislike negotiations. Negotiators may try to avoid situations that may result in conflict as they find them intimidating and stressful by staying behind the scenes of a negotiation. 

>Accommodating Style

Accommodating negotiators spend a great deal of time building and maintaining relationships with the other party. They are highly sensitive to the emotions, relationships and body language within the negotiation situation.

3) The process of negotiation includes the following stages:

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.

2. Discussion

During this stage, individuals or members of each side put forward the case as they see it, like their understanding of the situation.

3. Clarifying Goals

From the discussion, the goals, interests and viewpoints of both sides of the disagreement need to be clarified.

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.

5. Agreement

Agreement can be achieved once understanding of both sides’ viewpoints and interests have been considered.

6. Implementing a Course of Action

From the agreement, a course of action has to be implemented to carry through the decision.

4) Characteristics of negotiation:

>There are two or more parties,

>There is a conflict of interest of the two or more parties,

>The parties negotiate because they think they can use some form of influence to get a better deal that way than by simply taking what the other side will voluntarily give them or let them have,

>The parties, at least for the moment, prefer to search for agreement,

>When we negotiate, we expect give and take,

>Successful negotiation involves the management of intangibles as well as the resolving of tangibles.

5) Positive effect:

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 effectivity, negotiators with positive effectivity reached more agreements and tended to honor those agreements more. Those favorable outcomes are due to better decision making processes, such as flexible thinking, creative problem solving, respect for others' perspectives, willingness to take risks and higher confidence. Post negotiation positive affect has beneficial consequences as well. It increases satisfaction with achieved outcome and influences one's desire for future interactions. The positive effects aroused by reaching an agreement facilitates the dyadic relationship, which result in effective commitment that sets the stage for subsequent interactions.

Negative effect:

Negative affect has detrimental effects 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. Moreover, negative emotions lead to acceptance of settlements that are not in the positive utility function but rather have a negative utility. However, expression of negative emotions during negotiation can sometimes be beneficial: legitimately expressed anger can be an effective way to show one's commitment, sincerity and needs. Moreover, although negative effect reduces gains in integrative tasks, it is a better strategy than positive effect in distributive tasks (such as zero-sum).