Negotation Styles

Negotiation Styles

Negotiation is a very common form of communication used to reach an understanding, resolve a problem or try to gain an advantage in a certain situation. The ultimate goal of negotiation is to devise an outcome that further suits the groups that are involved. This is all stated in the textbook Development Management Skills. The two main types of negotiation are labeled as Win-Win Negotiation and Win-Lose Negotiation. Stated in the text Win-Win Negotiation is focused on cooperative problem solving. This means that each party strives to make a conscious effort to maintain a good relationship with one another. Each party works to seek a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict that successfully meets both parties' needs. The other type Win-Lose Negotiation means that one party will indeed lose in the negotiation process. Win-Lose Negotiation can be effective in certain situations, but ultimately is only effective if the party is not trying to make a lasting relationship with the other. This includes one-time sales deals and negotiations that the party may not be involved with the other again.

An example of negotiation that I used two months back, was in the process of buying a new car. In this circumstance in contrary to the ideas stated before, I used the Win-Win Negotiation process. When looking for a car I had the biased opinion that Chevrolet was the best dealer to buy from. I went to look at my options of buying a Chevrolet Cruise, a very popular model going around the United States. When discussing my interest in buying a Cruise with a sales associate a proposition was made with paying $297 a month. This was extremely high for my income, therefore leading me to have to figure out a different option. I originally felt that the monthly payment would not be negotiable, but after researching Ford Fusion prices and what that particular car had to offer, I went back to Chevy with the threat of going to Ford instead. The sales associate then offered to negotiate through the Win-Win Strategy, in that he would succeed in making a sale and I would get the deal I was looking for. We negotiated down to a price of $235 a month that was more in the range I could afford. It was surprising that when I came back with other competition how easy it was to negotiate formally to get a better price. The exchange of information and ideas and the creation for mutual gain really helped the final sell. Learning how to negotiate in this situation had the sales associate and I coming out both in better positions than when we started, a win-win situation.

Assessing the level of negotiation I had to use to receive a better deal for the Cruise, I feel that I have a strong mindset in what works and does not work when negotiating with another party. With this being said, there can also be a substantial amount of improvement in negotiating in other situations. Using negotiation strategies, it is very difficult to know right away which one is going to work in each situation. The best way for me to improve my skills when negotiating is to learn from experiences where negotiation is involved. This includes stepping out from the situations after they have presented themselves and learning from successes and failures through negotiating anything from a sales price to what I want to eat for dinner. The successes will come when I fully understand when a competitive versus a cooperative negotiating stand point is being used. It is also very beneficial to talk to other people (co-workers, friends, family, etc.) about what negotiation strategy they believe would work best for them in each situation, as well as what has worked for them in the past. Lastly, it would not hurt to further educate myself reading more informational books about negotiation strategies. Again this includes educating myself on the best tactics to negotiate with a boss versus a friend and in each situation whether it be a professional or casual issue.

Sources of Conflict

A manager has a very difficult task in managing day to day conflict with his/her employees. In trying to manage conflict the manager first has to diagnose where the conflicts are arising from. According to Development Management Skills it states that the five main causes of conflict are: