Communication And Personality In Negotiation

Communication and Personality in Negotiation

Crystal Sawyer

MGT 445

June 4, 2012

Dr. Adrian Allen

Abstract

Negotiation is the foundation for opening up discussions procedures from different parties. It is the most widely used method used to aid in making agreements, decisions, and controlling disagreements. As Christopher Moore (2010) stated, "Negotiation is the principal way that people redefine an old relationship that is not working to their satisfaction or establish a new relationship where none existed before" (par 2). All parties involved in the negotiation become familiar with the skills and the dynamics of negotiation to solve problems. Effective negotiations produce some kind of exchange or promise being made by the negotiators to each other.

Negotiations occur every day externally and internally in organizations, husbands and wives, management and staff, etc. Negotiation is a technique used for solving problems between two or more people who willingly converse about his or her differences and try to arrive at a mutual resolution of his or her issues. Negotiation entails partakers to recognize concerns in differences, informs each party about his or her needs and interests, produce potential agreement alternatives, and haggle over the provisions of the final arrangement. Successful negotiations produce an exchange of services, tangible items like money, or intangible items like an apology. This paper will use concepts and terms from readings to understand and analyze the purpose of negotiation by evaluating different characteristics. The writer will explain the roles of communication and personality in negotiation and how they contributed to or detracted from the negotiation is analyzed. The writer also will explain a scenario in which she had a part in a negotiation.

Characteristics of Success

Various circumstances can effect on the success or collapse of negotiations. One characteristic of negotiation circumstances is all parties involved need each other to accomplish his or her ideal goals or results. The parties can work together. All parties must present his or herself in a manner that suggests that he or she is prepared for discussions. This projection of views, exhibited behavior, and perspectives will be picked up by the other parties, known as a process called framing. Parties involved in negotiations have a relationship that can be classified as independent, dependent, or interdependent. When the parties depend on each other to achieve their own preferred outcome they are interdependent. Other effects on the success of negotiations are deadline and urgency. To have a successful outcome both parties should mutually have a sense of urgency. When one side procrastinates, negotiations tend to collapse and then there is less motivation to come to an agreed arrangement. According to Moore (2010), "Urgency may be imposed by either external or internal time constraints or by potential negative or positive consequences to a negotiation outcome" (par 7).

The Negotiation Scenario

This scenario is about the writer and buying a car as a single woman. After a car wreck last year the writer was face with buying another car, but a used one. The writer reflected on her dealings with the lat car salesman she she bought her last car and decided this negotiation would be different. To prepare for any negotiation discussions, she thought about all the things said or did during and after the conversation that she did not like and was not satisfied with and the feeling she had after leaving the meeting. So she did her search online and in person for a car, when she finally settled for what she wanted she was determined to get the outcome she would have control over. During her search she was contacted via e-mail by a car salesman from the other side of Charlotte with a deal that was very good for a used car that was still considered new according to the year and mileage. So she discussed what she wanted in a car and what she was willing to put down and what she wanted to pay for a car. He did not agree with some of her demands but to pull the customer in he said that "we can work something out" (Gregs, personal communication, 2011). The writer contacts the sales person over the phone a few days before the meeting to re-instate her wants and needs in a car. She practiced role play to make sure she could catch any unclear messages. She also role played to understand how the discussion may go from a male to a female. The writer practiced listen skills to make sure her attention was intact. She felt prepared because she expressed openly her wants, and she was aggressive about them. The sales guy also came to the meeting prepared and well informed and aggressive. His personality was made for his position and was slightly distracting to the writer to almost throw her off her game. In the face-to-face meeting with the sales person, she actively listened to the sales person when he talked to se if he repeated he wants and needs in a car. The sales person and the writer walked out and looked at cars. She looked at details that he did not think a woman would do, and when she had made her decision, she kept eye contact, and discussed again her payment terms. The writer was stern in her concerns and once an agreement was met and the papers were signed both parties looked pleased.

The Communication Role

Within any discussion where two or more parties are involved communication is important to having a successful outcome. The function of communication translates and deciphers messages that are passed from one person to another to achieve a positive result. One important factor in the communication process is the means or channels of communication. Communication channels are e-mail, telephone, face-to-face, instant messaging, web conferences, among many and the means chosen determines the correct behavior of the communication. Some negotiators practice role reversal. As mentioned in the scenario above the writer practiced or role played her position and the position of the sales person, so she could be prepared for anything thing that could happen once she met the sales person face-to-face. She practiced on her questioning, eye contact, body language, and listening skills so she could completely understand the terms and conditions the sale person was offering her, in his cordial, persuasive demeanor. Once the sales person met her concerns for buying a used car, and she agreed to the terms, the achievement of satisfaction