Read Online The Intelligent Negotiator by Charles Craver - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Charles Craver
Tags: General, Business & Economics
Ads: Link
your exchange with small talk about traffic, the weather, sports, and mutual acquaintances. These comments may continue for only a minute or two, or they may continue for a longer period of time. These ritualistic exchanges are not a waste of valuable time, but are in fact quite important. They establish the tone for the subsequent discussions. If you and your counterparts do not begin your substantive talks on a positive note, you are effectively handicapping yourselves.
Although personalizing bargaining encounters is beneficial, it is helpful to depersonalize the conflicts that you must address. Separate the people from the negative issues. This will allow you to diminish the impact of emotions that do not directly affect the problems on the table. The only exception to this is when you deal with interpersonal conflicts in which personal feelings play an important role. In these situations, acknowledge the emotions that contributed to the conflict, and keep them firmly in mind as you address opposing parties.
Think in terms of the conflict when you are evaluating another bargainer’s strategy. Do not take the process personally simply because you know your opponents wish to obtain better terms than they give up. That is a normal aspect of bargaining encounters. After all, you should be trying to get better results for yourself.
Learn from the Innovators’ approaches: Be open, flexible. If your opponents seem cooperative, try to verifywhether their actual behavior is consistent with their apparent predisposition toward open, win-win interactions. During the initial discussions, carefully watch to see whether your adversaries are providing you with information as valuable as the information you are disclosing. If your openness is not being reciprocated, start behaving more strategically. You need to avoid creating an information imbalance favoring your less-forthcoming opponents. Disclosing too much critical information about your own strengths and weaknesses without obtaining reciprocal disclosures from your opponents leaves you vulnerable to manipulation. If, on the other hand, you decide that your opponents are sincerely cooperating, do all you can to reinforce that behavior since this will encourage more open discussions and minimize the likelihood that your adversaries will resort to inappropriate tactics.
Some individuals exhibit overtly competitive tendencies at the beginning of their bargaining interactions. Their office environments are designed to make their counterparts feel uncomfortable. They have large comfortable chairs for themselves and short uncomfortable chairs for you. Their desk and chair take up much of the office space, while the visitor chairs have their backs near the wall. When such individuals are forced to go to the offices of others, they select seats directly across from, instead of adjacent to, their counterparts. They exude little warmth. They sometimes begin talks with their arms folded across their chests and with their legs crossed in a closed and unreceptive manner. They often address you by your last name, even when you are addressing them by their first names. This permits them to depersonalize their interactions with persons they view as their enemy. They find it easier psychologically to use manipulativetactics against individuals with whom they have not established personal relationships.
The initial portions of bargaining interactions form the framework of the entire encounter. When interactions begin on a hostile or untrusting note, subsequent discussions are likely to be less open and more adversarial than when the discussion began in a congenial and cooperative manner. Even inherently competitive bargaining encounters—such as those involving money—do not have to be conducted in a hostile fashion. In fact, negotiators who can induce their opponents to like them are usually able to obtain better results than bargainers who generate negative reactions.
Skilled negotiators,
Although personalizing bargaining encounters is beneficial, it is helpful to depersonalize the conflicts that you must address. Separate the people from the negative issues. This will allow you to diminish the impact of emotions that do not directly affect the problems on the table. The only exception to this is when you deal with interpersonal conflicts in which personal feelings play an important role. In these situations, acknowledge the emotions that contributed to the conflict, and keep them firmly in mind as you address opposing parties.
Think in terms of the conflict when you are evaluating another bargainer’s strategy. Do not take the process personally simply because you know your opponents wish to obtain better terms than they give up. That is a normal aspect of bargaining encounters. After all, you should be trying to get better results for yourself.
Learn from the Innovators’ approaches: Be open, flexible. If your opponents seem cooperative, try to verifywhether their actual behavior is consistent with their apparent predisposition toward open, win-win interactions. During the initial discussions, carefully watch to see whether your adversaries are providing you with information as valuable as the information you are disclosing. If your openness is not being reciprocated, start behaving more strategically. You need to avoid creating an information imbalance favoring your less-forthcoming opponents. Disclosing too much critical information about your own strengths and weaknesses without obtaining reciprocal disclosures from your opponents leaves you vulnerable to manipulation. If, on the other hand, you decide that your opponents are sincerely cooperating, do all you can to reinforce that behavior since this will encourage more open discussions and minimize the likelihood that your adversaries will resort to inappropriate tactics.
Some individuals exhibit overtly competitive tendencies at the beginning of their bargaining interactions. Their office environments are designed to make their counterparts feel uncomfortable. They have large comfortable chairs for themselves and short uncomfortable chairs for you. Their desk and chair take up much of the office space, while the visitor chairs have their backs near the wall. When such individuals are forced to go to the offices of others, they select seats directly across from, instead of adjacent to, their counterparts. They exude little warmth. They sometimes begin talks with their arms folded across their chests and with their legs crossed in a closed and unreceptive manner. They often address you by your last name, even when you are addressing them by their first names. This permits them to depersonalize their interactions with persons they view as their enemy. They find it easier psychologically to use manipulativetactics against individuals with whom they have not established personal relationships.
The initial portions of bargaining interactions form the framework of the entire encounter. When interactions begin on a hostile or untrusting note, subsequent discussions are likely to be less open and more adversarial than when the discussion began in a congenial and cooperative manner. Even inherently competitive bargaining encounters—such as those involving money—do not have to be conducted in a hostile fashion. In fact, negotiators who can induce their opponents to like them are usually able to obtain better results than bargainers who generate negative reactions.
Skilled negotiators,
Similar Books
