Negotiation

Negotiation is a dialogue intended to resolve disputes, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, or to craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. It is the primary method of alternative dispute resolution. Negotiation occurs in business, non-profit organizations, government branches, legal proceedings, among nations and in personal situations such as marriage, divorce, parenting, and everyday life. Those who work in negotiation professionally are called negotiators. Professional negotiators are often specialized, such as union negotiators, leverage buyout negotiators, peace negotiators, hostage negotiators, or may work under other titles, such as diplomats, legislators or brokers.

We often look at negotiating as unpleasant, because it implies conflict, but negotiating ought not to be characterized by bad feelings, or angry behaviour. One should understand more about the negotiation process so that negotiation is managed with confidence and the outcome is positive for both parties. Negotiation ought not to be confrontational.

In fact effective negotiation is characterized by the parties working together to find a solution, rather than each party trying to win the contest of wills. You should keep in mind that the attitude that you take in negotiation (e.g. hostile, cooperative) will set the tone for the interaction. If you are confrontational, you will have a fight on your hands. If you "win" there must be a loser, and that can create more difficulty down the road. The best perspective in negotiation is to try to find a solution where both parties "win".

Since we are trying to find a solution acceptable to both parties, we should understand the other party's needs and wants with respect to the issue. If we don't know what they need or want, we will be unable to negotiate properly. Often, when we take the time to find out about the other party, we discover that there is no significant disagreement. Particularly with people we don't like much, we have a tendency to get off track by focusing on how difficult or obnoxious they seem. Once this happens, effective negotiation is impossible.

You should stick to the issues, and put aside your likes or dislikes for the other party. In any conflict or negotiation, each party contributes, for better or worse. You ought not to blame the other person for the difficulty, otherwise you will create an angry situation. If you take responsibility for the problem, you will create a spirit of cooperation.

For a negotiation to be 'win-win', both parties should feel positive about the negotiation once it's over. This helps people keep good working relationships afterwards. This governs the style of the negotiation – displays of emotion are clearly inappropriate because they undermine the rational basis of the negotiation and because they bring a manipulative aspect to them.

Business negotiations are an important part of keeping a company prosperous. Making good business deals isn't easy because there can be extreme pressure to make a profitable negotiation for the company. Yet whether you have our own business or work for another company, you should always have an assertive attitude during business negotiations. Passiveness and aggression seldom work when making business deals, but an assertive, strategic stance can lead to profit and success. Most of us have heard the opinion that we should never just take the first offer and this is usually good advice.

You should prepare for your business negotiations like a lawyer would prepare to win a court case. Figure out why your offer or the offer you want to accept is the right one and convince the other party of this. Strategy is everything when it comes to negotiating good business deals. In a successful negotiation, everyone should leave the negotiating table happy with the outcome: there shouldn`t be winners and losers. The negotiators should try to reach a win-win solution: an agreement of equal benefit to both sides. This can be achieved in a number of ways.

One way of furthering negotiations is probing (asking the right questions and listening carefully to the answers. Here are some probing questions:

What is the situation on production at your plant at the moment?

What sort of quantities are you looking for?

What are you looking at in the way of discount?

What did you have in mind regarding specifications?

What were you thinking of in terms of delivery dates?

How important to you is the currency for payment?

Through a series of offers from one side and counter-offers from the other side, the two sides work towards an agreement which may benefit them both. Here are some ways of making offers:

If you offer more flexible payment conditions, then we will consider paying a higher price.

On condition that you deliver 20 engines by May, then we will be able to consider a more flexible price.

Provided that you supply the documentation in Russian, we will consider sending our personnel to for training.

Provided that this contract works out OK, we will agree to work with you in future.

When you offer to change your position to one that is less favourable for yourself, you make a concession (that is an agreement allowing someone to pay less money). You may do it in exchange for a concession from the other side, although there is no guarantee of this. Your concession may be a goodwill gesture: a concession that you make hoping that the other side will see this as friendly and make a concession in return.

Even in a friendly negotiating, there may be horse-trading, with each side making a series of concessions in return for concessions from the other side.

A series of concessions in exchange for concessions from the other side is a series of trade-offs. If you make a concession, you may not get anything back. If you make a trade-off, you give something away and get something in return. Truly effective negotiators work towards results that deliver a net gain for all concerned. In a successful negotiation, everyone wins. The objective should be agreement, not victory.

Most people see negotiation as a game in which the gains of one come at the expense of another. Winning means getting six pieces from a 10-piece pie. But negotiation has the potential to be a win-win process by which both parties cooperate to create a bigger, better tasting pie. The basic principle of win-win negotiating is that there is always a bigger, better deal.

In general, most successful negotiators start off assuming collaborative (integrative) or win-win negotiation. Most good negotiators will try for a win-win or aim at a situation where both sides feel they won. Negotiations tend to go much better if both sides perceive they are in a win-win situation or both sides approach the negotiation wanting to "create value" or satisfy both their own needs and the other's needs.

Exercises

I. Match the words and word groups from the first column with their translation from the second column:

II. Find the following items in the text:

· Modal verb of obligation should (do),

· Modal verb of obligation ought (to do)

· Conditional sentences (1^st type)

III. Can you formulate what the First Conditional expresses and how it is formed?

Make up two sentences according to these two models:

Use the following words and word groups:

1. to present specifications – not to be interested

2. to provide flexible payment conditions – to give a discount

3. to receive payment by tomorrow – to start legal action

4. an out-of-date product – to stop negotiating

5. to explain how the device works – not to buy it

6. to reduce overheads – to reach the targets

7. to know the contract`s contents quite well – not to sign it

8. to break into European market – to increase the turnover

9. to be quite sure about the payment currency – not to come to agreement

10. high-quality goods – not to be impressed

IV. Represent the main idea of the text in ten preferably short sentences.

V. Negotiating is a tricky business, especially if you have to negotiate in a foreign language. Learning some useful expressions may make it easier. Test your knowledge of a few that begin with C. Complete the following sentences by choosing the correct expression from the box.

1. Find out in time who you will be negotiating with, in other words, who your

(…) is.

2. You can refuse an impossible request very simply by saying: "I'm sorry, I can't do that, it's against (…).

3. Always prepare several options so you are ready to make another suggestion if you are not happy with the way the negotiation is going. Be prepared to (…).

4. Be very careful about the details of the final agreement, in particular, look very closely at the terms and (…).

5. If you are asked to promise something that you know is impossible, don't! You can refuse by saying: "I can't make such a (…) right now."

6. A successful negotiation is one where everyone is satisfied with the (…).

Text B

Date: 2016-01-20; view: 1514; Нарушение авторских прав