Negotiation Process In Business: How To Improve Negotiation Skills

Describe the process by which your company:

1. Chooses and
2. Trains its negotiators.

Make recommendations as to how each of these processes could be improved and why?

If they do not have processes to both choose and train negotiators, suggest how they might put them in place, and what they should comprise.

Outline the process which your company currently undertakes before any significant negotiation. Recommend ways to improve it, and support your recommendations.

Describe your company’s post negotiation review process, or state the absence of such a process.

Explain why it is so important to review the negotiation process, and how best to do so, with supporting references.

Use the example of a negotiation in which you have personally participated to illustrate how your company negotiates.

Suggest ways in which this could be improved and why?

In the unlikely event that you have no personal experience (and this would include your job interview), then interview a more experienced colleague. You can use either an external or internal example.

The Role of Negotiators in Business Negotiations

1. Negotiation is a process which establishes the basic fundamental rights that are associated with our daily life. Negotiation is a conflict resolution process where the parties resolve their conflict with a third party applying various processes. The negotiation process aims at resolving conflict without the interference of the court. The negotiator is the person who negotiates the conflicts with a view to resolve the same (Ting?Toomey 2015). The negotiating is also recognized as an integral part of business which entails a third party involvement who acts as a negotiator (Mignerat and Marmenout 2017). It is imperative for a company to hire an efficient negotiator who would assist the company to resolve its disputes. The primary role of the negotiator is to work as an agent in the company and enable the director to perform smooth functioning of the company (Korobkin 2014).

The negotiator must possess several qualities to acquire the position in any company. The company shall recruit a person who is competent enough to exhibit his appropriate skills and knowledge. The negotiator must possess the skill to negotiate with the opposite party to bring out the best alternative way to resolve the issue (Folberg and Golann 2016). They should have good communication skills and adequate knowledge to comprehend and resolve the concerned issues. The negotiator acts as the representative of the company and work in conformity with the rules of the company. An efficient negotiator is an asset to the company as he/she possesses the ability to resolve issues of the company, enabling it to function smoothly (Ting-Toomey 2017).

2. In a company, the negotiators are provided with adequate training and are given a clear concept of the negotiation process. There are several negotiation skills a negotiator must exhibit in order to resolve the issues (Mignerat and Marmenout 2017). There are hard negation skills and soft negotiation skills in the negotiation process. The negotiator must have qualities such as assertiveness which implies that the negotiator must be determined about the decision and confident enough that it would resolve the issues. They must be empathetic as it would enable them to understand the clients and simplify the discussion. The quality of flexibility enables the negotiator to deal with any form of conflict competently. The social skill is another skill which must be present in a negotiator. They always make the best communication, approach people and work with the hardest skills to solve the negotiation (Korobkin 2014).

When the company choose a negotiator for their company they must consider that the negotiator possess the above discussed qualities as the qualities are important to achieve the goals and objectives of the company (Ting-Toomey 2017). The company provides adequate training to the negotiator regarding the BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) negotiation process which is one of the fundamental aspect of the negotiation process in any organization. The BATNA concept is one of the known processes in negotiation make the deal with opposite party by the company.  When the negotiator works in any company they work according to the disputes with the other clients (Folberg and Golann 2016).

Process of Training Negotiators in Business

The negotiation is a process in the alternative dispute resolution where the negotiator solves some issues in between two parties for the conflicts for the benefit of both the parties. In the negotiation process, there are different kinds of negotiations such as personal negotiation, interactive negotiation and procedural negotiation.   

The personal negotiation is one of the parts of the negotiation process where the process goes with the discriminating, analyzing and synthesizing and memorizing or recalling the whole. In this process the interpretation works according to the different issues and knowledge of the form of expression (Mignerat and Marmenout 2017).

The interactive negotiation is another process of negotiation which is mostly uses in company negotiation issues for solving disputes. Significance of the negotiation mainly work on the structure of the negotiation process how the company will modify the whole negotiation process. It has a psycholinguistic purpose in that it is seen as a facilitative means for generating comprehensible input (Folberg and Golann 2016).  

The procedural negotiation is known as personal and interactive negotiations which is uses for as a share meaning (Ting-Toomey 2017). The understanding and sharing understanding the discussion between the people through a negotiator is the process of procedural negotiation. Therefore the primary focus of process basically on those negotiations always solves the conflict problems in between the clients of the company (Korobkin 2014).  

However in the negotiation process, a relation is established between those negotiation application programs (Ting?Toomey 2015). The procedural negotiation entails interactive negotiation which establishes such facts where the agreement where decisions has been produce should reverse the personal struggle to express the meaning and the consequent effort to reformulate or elaborate the conflicts of sharing.   

The company always focuses on the meditation process where the trained negotiator acts as an agent on behalf of the company and made informal negotiation. The arbitrator pays heed to all the facts of the parties to the conflicts and resolve the conflict through a legal way. When the negotiations becomes advantageous for the company and leads to the decided outcomes, it is known as hard-bargaining negotiation.

However, it can be stated that the integrative negotiation is a principal based negotiation that is applied to improve the decisions and make it advantageous (Folberg and Golann 2016) to the parties, however, the value of the negotiation varies from the nature of conflicts. A negotiation process establishes trust and develops a relationship between the parties and negotiator (Ting-Toomey 2017). When a company chooses a process of negotiation for the benefit of the company, it will always prefer the integrative negotiation because as it is one of the most useful ways to negotiate with conflict and solve the problem by way of mutual understanding. Parties are interested in arguments where both the parties shall be at an advantageous position. The distributive approaches in integrative negotiation are usually not applied. In a negotiation process, the parties to a conflict want for more information which would be advantageous for them. It is the duty of the negotiator to highlight those possibilities which will be helpful for both side parties and advantageous in both sides.   

Pre-Negotiation Process in Business

As it is a well-known fact that prior to entering into any negotiation, it is important to make an assessment of the BATNA of the negotiator as well as that of the other side. The BATNA of the negotiator is the value that can be used to reach to an agreement. The concept of BATNA is closely related to ‘reservation price’ and is the price that is either above or below which the negotiator is indifferent about while making a deal with the other party. For instance- if the negotiator is a car dealer who is trying to make a sale, his BATNA would be the minimum margin he would like to make. The BATNA of the customer would be the price that has been offered to him by one of the competitors. Hence, the time honored salesman’s question to the customer ‘ What are you prepared to pay?’ would imply that he is trying to figure out the BATNA of the customer.

To obtain the BATNA of the other party is fundamental it informs the negotiator about the manner in which the negotiator may approach the negotiation. In the event , the deal is within the sector of the negotiator, he/she can make some proper guesses, however, the most appropriate way to obtain information about the BATNA is to cautiously ask questions to the other side and listen to the answers. This concept of BATNA is a fundamental tool for any negotiator and if the negotiator is aware of the walk away position of the other party, it would enable the negotiator to select the appropriate negotiating process for dealing with the other party. The key to any successful negotiation is to seek the best alternatives that are available to the other side and evaluate the same.

Negotiation is a process involves lawyer and people involved in business activities negotiates every day (Korobkin 2014). The primary objective of negotiation is not just to obtain settlement but have different approach to satisfy the interests of both the prties and to be able to implement the agreement in the future. The first process which works in the post negotiation is the implementation of the agreement. In the implementation process, the provisions stipulated in the agreement are implemented appropriately and the responsibilities undertaken are carried out effectively (Gilbert 2015).

The second post-negotiation process is monitoring. In the monitoring process, the negotiation process, the negotiator keeps a track whether both the parties are acting in compliance with the provisions of the agreement as it helps to produce the best outcomes. The monitoring process enables the negotiator to resolve any issues that may arise in between the party and the negotiator as it is highly imperative to mitigate any constraints the other party is facing. If the other party is facing a problem it could turn out to be a problem for the negotiator as well, hence, if the negotiator mitigates the problem, it would give him a better opportunity to satisfy the interests of both the parties and ultimately, attain a positive outcome of the negotiation (Folberg and Golann 2016).

Post-Negotiation Review Process

In any successful negotiation process, flexibility plays an important role which brings out the best outcomes in the negotiation process (Moore 2014).  In case, the other party is facing inconvenience with respect to certain provisions of the agreement, a post review process always comes to the rescue. A proper monitoring process would enable the negotiator to identify such inconvenience and reconstruct the concerned provisions in a manner that it satisfies the interests of both the parties. Even if implementation of the agreement is going well, it is a good idea to reconvene on a regular basis to exchange information, celebrate success and address any new issues that might arise. At a minimum, maintaining relationships are at stake.

The negotiation process selected for this company is the integrated negotiation where both the parties collaborate to find a ‘win-win’ solution to their dispute and demonstrates mutually beneficial agreements that satisfy the interests of both the parties ((Brown 2017). AS discussed earlier, the the integrative negotiation process requires the negotiator to know the BATNA of the other party and the BATNA of the negotiator himself. The negotiator must obtain information about the interests of the other party. Effective communication skills, good, listening skills, careful analysis would enable the negotiator to make the deal and bring out the best outcome of the deal. If the negotiation is about contract and the customer is satisfied with the product supplied by the negotiator; and the company has invested in an improved version of the product and the negotiator’s interest lies in convincing the customer to buy the improved product (Benhamou 2015). If questions are asked to the customers and the customer is concerned about the increase in the costs that may be associated with the products with the expansion of the business. Under such circumstances, the negotiator may ask to offer a rebate on certain unit and ask the customer to switch from the old product to the improved product. Further, the negotiator may offer to provide free delivery of the new product and ask the customer which offers best suits him.

Although there are several negotiation process but the most fundamental negotiation style is to pay attention and listen carefully to the other party (Benhamou 2015). The value of good listening skills is always advantageous to achieve satisfaction of both the parties. The main motive of the negotiator is to identify and define the problem and lay emphasize on the common factors and needs between the parties and minimizing the differences. A successful negotiation process must communicate in a manner that aims at attaining satisfaction of the negotiating parties and bring out the best outcomes in the negotiation process.

References

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