Effective Negotiation Strategies and Conflict Resolution

Negotiation: Strategies and Conflict Resolution

Negotiation is a process in which two or more parties make deals to reconcile their differences. It involves:

• Two or more parties
• A common goal
• Each party looking after its interests
• Peaceful problem-solving

Types of Negotiation

By Object

• Organizational and Management: Relations within the company
• Commercial: Sales
• Legal: Conflict resolution
• Social: Negotiation between employers and workers

By Subject

• Interpersonal: Negotiation between two people in conflict
• Intergroup: Negotiation between groups in conflict
• Direct: Persons involved directly in the negotiation process
• Delegate: Negotiation through a representative
• Third-Party Intervention: Involving a neutral party

By Maneuverability and Influence

• Competitive: Negotiators seek permanent departures, aiming for a win-lose outcome.
• Inclusive/Collaborative: Collaboration between the two parties, aiming for a win-win outcome.

By Agreement

• Balanced Exchange: All parties give and receive equally.
• Imbalanced Exchange: One party gives more than the other.
• Broken Negotiation: No exchange occurs.

Negotiation Styles

• Formal: Negotiators follow set rules.
• Cordial: Friendly and paternalistic treatment.
• Diplomatic: Balanced objectives between negotiators.
• Imposing: One party wants to impose their opinion at all costs.
• Leader: Seeks feasible solutions and aims to please both parties; a win-win style.

Conflict

Conflict is a confrontation of positions among several groups or individuals where the behavior of one party hinders the other's objectives.

Labor Disputes

• People Involved: Groups or individuals
• Features of Interest: Regulatory, economic
• Pressure Measurements Used: Violent, peaceful
• Results Generated: Positive, negative

Phases of Conflict Development

1. Identification and assimilation
2. Analysis
3. Searching for solutions
4. Choosing the best solution

Phases of the Negotiation Process

Planning

• Know your opponent.
• Identify strengths and weaknesses.
• Choose the most suitable strategy.
• Determine concessions.
• Seek alternatives.
• Analyze your position in the negotiation to recognize weaknesses.

Initial Negotiation

• Understand the other party's positions by trying to understand questions and finding points of agreement.
• Identify their problems by asking about potential issues.
• Identify the other party's major points.
• Make a forecast analysis of problems, one by one, and ask questions about future effects.
• Develop possible solutions to the problem, trying to take advantage by fostering creativity in designing various options.

Detailed Negotiation

• Analyze all the details to match objectives.
• Review by lawyers if necessary.
• Negotiate the most difficult points without pressure.
• Reach a preliminary agreement.

Agreement

• Require protection clauses if there is a risk to the agreement.
• Establish a procedure to resolve disputes if a party believes the other will break the agreement.
• Specify details to ensure both parties are satisfied.
• Make the agreement public through a person or media company.

Limits on the Strategy

• Starting Limit: Where the first concessions are made.
• Target Zone: Margins within which the agreement is sought.
• Breaking Point: When it is better to break off the negotiation.

Negotiator Positions

• I Win, You Lose: Leads to dissatisfaction and future conflicts.
• I Lose, I Win: Short-term losses and gains in the future.
• We Both Lose: Rigid postures.
• We Both Win: Common agreement.

Competitive Tactics

• Yield little, gain much with exaggerated requests.
• Deception.
• Good cop, bad cop charade between two people from the same company.
• Psychological warfare, trying to unnerve the other party.
• Pressure of power, using power to enforce unfavorable agreements.
• Threat of breaking off negotiations (a bluff).

Tactics for Retrieving Blocks in Negotiations

• New alternatives.
• Maintaining the best offer.
• Involving an intermediary.
• Changing the scenery.
• Adjourning the meeting.

Negotiator Abilities and Errors

• Abilities: Communication management, being concrete and explicit, creativity.
• Errors: Inappropriate language, inflexibility.

Intermediaries

• Mediator: A neutral party who facilitates the reasoning process.
• Arbitrator: Has the authority to make an agreement.
• Conciliator: Used to build trust and informal communication between negotiators.