Rupali Pandya

Conflict Management &

Negotiation

Negotiating is taking action in order to achieve a situation acceptable to both parties.

Negotiation occurs when the interests of a person or group are dependent upon the actions of another person or group who also have interests to pursue and whose respective interests are pursued by cooperative means.

Meaning of Negotiation

1. It requires two parties: It is a meeting between two parties over issues which are important to both of them. The parties should be in conflict.

2. The objective is to reach an agreement: All the efforts are directed to reach an agreement, whether they reach or not is secondary.

3. It is a continuous process: It is not an event but a process that is continuous in nature in an organization. For instance, production and sales departments involve in continuous negotiations.

4. No winner/ No loser: There has to be a win-win solution to the negotiation

Essential of Negotiation

5. Requires flexibility: Both the parties to the negotiation need to be flexible. They have to identify the areas where they agree and differ and try to cooperate and/ compromise on the areas of conflict.

In case any of the parties is rigid on its stand it leads to frustration , negative attitudes, non-cooperation and refusal to reach agreement.6. A process not an event: It is a process not an event, the process involves steps like planning, briefing, bidding, bargaining etc.7. Needs effective communication: Effective communication is a key to successful negotiation.

Information: It contains the content variables or functions self-disclosure (giving information about oneself), and exclusive “we” ( to mean the speaker and someone other than the negotiating opponent) and the structure variables, ‘self-repairs and ‘filled-pauses’. Filled pauses hold the floor for speakers when they experience difficulties in encoding a message.

Interaction: It contains the content (or function) variable request for information and the structure variables “soft” (soft voice volume) , acknowledgement (giving feedback), and echo (repeating a part, or all of the previous speaker’s utterance). These three variables hlp the current speaker leave the floor to another speaker either through passive acquiescence (feedback and soft volume) or through active involvement (requesting information). Thus, this factor promotes interaction.

Metatalk: It contains only content variables. The three variables “recommendation” (making a suggestion/ recommendation), shield (“I don’t know, “may be”, “I think” etc) and inclusive “we” ( to mean the speaker and the other negotiators present) function together to reflect or show a concern with the ongoing process. It is seen in suggestions like –“ why don’t we may be first talk about fax machines?”. It is thus a part of procedural discourse.

Functional Contents of Negotiation:

Concession: it has the content variable “concession” (conceding to the applicant) with the structure variables “slow” (slow speech rate) and loud ( loud voice volume). They indicate deliberation and intentionality.

Agreement: it contains the content variables “commitment” (agreement to do something) and positive response (acknowledging the other speaker’s utterance with a positive or agreeing response) and the structure variable ‘overlap’ (segment of talk which overlaps with another speaker’s talk). This factor appears to indicate a willingness, even an eagerness (as seen in overlap), to commit.

1. Planning2. Briefing3. Bidding4. Bargaining5. Settling6. Ratifying7. Reviewing

Negotiation Process

Under this stage the negotiator needs to study the attitude and views of the other party to negotiation.

Information about the negotiator can be collected by getting answers to the following questions:

Is the negotiator independent or part of a team? Is the negotiator authorized to take decisions on his

own? Whether the negotiator is an experienced person? What type of behavior can be expected from the

other party.

Planning

The negotiating teams need to be briefed on the negotiation process. Also the roles and tasks of the negotiators have to be loked upon at the outset. It has to be decided that who:

Takes notesAct as chairpersonDeal with interruptionsDeal with conflictsDeal with the pace of negotiation

Briefing

On the assessment of the other party a negotiator can Bid High or Bid Low.

High bidding has the advantage that in case it is accepted the negotiator shall be able to get away with a good deal.

At the same time there is a possibility of the other party walking out of the negotiation considering him to be an exploiter.

A low bid can help in quick settlement but it diminishes the chance of raising the bid later. Also the party on the behalf of whom the person is negotiating will consider him to be a weak party.

Therefore ideally the negotiator should bid high with the flexibility to reach a consensus at a little lower level.

Bidding

Bargaining depends upon the “power” position of both the parties.

Bargaining strategy has to be devised depending upon the given situation, there is no one strategy for all situations.

To bargain right, parties need to answer the following questions:

How can the negotiator change the other party’s expectations?

How can the negotiator increase the bargaining power? What sort of strategies can the negotiator use? Should he go for pre-negotiation conditioning?

Bargaining

Settlement can only be achieved when both the parties to negotiation are able to and willing to reach a consensus

A negotiator needs to find out the reasons for inability and unwillingness to reach a solution; if the same is due to the stance of the negotiator or what he is asking for.

In case it is due to he being dissatisfied with what he is getting, the negotiator may try to find out alternative ways to reach a solution.

Settling

To avoid further misunderstanding or misinterpretation once an outcome is reached, it should be written down and signed by both the parties.

Act of ratification is a symbol of commitment of both the parties.

After negotiation process is over, the negotiating teams should sit and review it, to see if the members performed their role well, whether the outcome was as planned.

Ratifying & Reviewing

The negotiation process can be divided into two categories on the basis of the stability aspect of negotiated settlement:

1. Integrative2. Distributive

Integrative situation is also known as the win-win situation in which both the parties to negotiation are satisfied and happy with the way in which the negotiation is taking place.Herein the success of one party is not based on the cost of the other party.

Integrative & Distributive process

Distributive negotiation is also termed as “Zero Sum” and “Win-Lose” situation wherein one party gains at the expense of the other.

It is called “ Zero sum” as the net effect is “zero” one gains and one loses.

Both integrative and distributive process of negotiation are present in every negotiation process.