The Concept

Of Negotiation

Surcel Bianca
Catrina Sabrina-Maria
 Definition
A negotiation is a strategic discussion that resolves an
 issue in a way that both parties find acceptable.

In a negotiation, each party tries to persuade the other to agree w
ith his or her point of view. By negotiating, all involved parties tr
y to avoid arguing but agree to reach some form of compromise
People negotiate daily, often without considering it a
negotiation.
Negotiation occurs in organizations, including businesses,
non-profits, and within and between governments as well as in
sales and legal proceedings, and in personal situations such as
marriage, divorce, parenting, etc. 
 Mayer states that negotiation is “an interaction in which people try to meet their
needs or accomplish their goals by reaching agreement with others who are trying to get
their own needs met” (Mayer, 2000, p.142).This definition grasps the fundamental idea
behind the negotiation process by identifying the following key elements: twoparties,
needs/goals, need for finding an agreement. These three ingredients are the determinants
of negotiation. The object of negotiation is not needs, goals, interests or views as many
may falsely assume. The real reason why people enter into negotiations is availability,
and more specifically the scarcity, of resources.
According to Cohen (1980), “Negotiation is a field of knowledge and endeavor that
focuses on gaining the favor of people from whom we want things” (Cohen, 1980,
p.15).As observed by Fisher et al., negotiation is about much more than merely obtaining
support or favorable treatment from the other party; “Negotiation is a basic means of
getting what you want from others. It is a back-and-forth communication designed to
reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and
others that are opposed (…)” (Fisher et al. 2012, p.25).
 When does negotiation occur?
Negotiation can occur in any business situation, but people negotiate in everyday situations
outside of the workplace. It occurs when there is more than one possible outcome from a situation
in which two or more parties have an interest, but they have not yet determined what the outcome
will be. For example, negotiation occurs between a buyer and seller in the purchase of a second
hand car, or even between groups of friends when they decide which film to see at the cinema.
Business negotiations can include:
• producing deals with suppliers, partner businesses or customers
• inter-departmental or team discussions to determine aims, processes and resources
• management and staff discussions to discuss job priorities and workload
• discussions between management and trade unions, for example, rates of pay
• recruiting new people to the business, for example, interviews.
 Why learn to negotiate?
Many situations will have more than one potential outcome. Learning how to
negotiate enables individuals to understand fully how complex many situations are, and
how to manage the situation more effectively. Good negotiation skills are beneficial to
both individuals and businesses.
The benefits to individuals are:
• better outcomes from negotiating situations
• resolving differences of opinion without bad feeling
• a better understanding of other parties’ aims, motivations and beliefs
• creating better business relationships
• less stressful negotiations.
 The benefits to businesses are:
• reduced costs and overheads through better deal making
• more opportunities for business development
• avoidance of the cost of failing to make crucial deals
• better relationships with stakeholders and other involved parties
• more positive and less stressful work and business relationships.
Fundamental
forms of
negotiation
Distributive negotiation

Integrative negotiation

Objective negotiation
 Distributive Negotiation
When one party leaves a negotiation in a worse place than when they started and the
other leaves in a better, this is called a win-lose situation. Win-lose situations
require that one party suffers a loss of some kind. Whatever the loss is for the party,
it makes them walk away from the table in a position they did not intend to be in
and separated from their goals.At the same time, the other party will walk away
with a win, typically the opposite of the loss suffered by the losing party.
Avoiding  Win-Lose Situations
Some actions parties and neutrals can take to ensure that parties avoid win-lose
situations if possible. These actions include:
1. Encourage Cooperation: when cooperation and collaboration are encouraged,
the parties are less likely to pursue their own interests at the expense of others.
2. Share information: one of the biggest reason a person chooses to concede before
they should is that they are not aware of all the information.
 Integrative Negotiation
 It is a set of techniques that attempts to improve
the quality and likelihood of negotiated agreement
by taking advantage of the fact that different
parties often value various outcomes differently.
Integrative negotiation attempts to create value in
the course of the negotiation ("expand the pie") by
either "compensating" loss of one item with gains
from another ("trade-offs"), or by constructing or
reframing the issues of the conflict in such a way
that both parties benefit ("win-win" negotiation).
While concession is mandatory for negotiations,
research shows that people who concede more
quickly, are less likely to explore all integrative
and mutually beneficial solutions. Therefore, early
conceding reduces the chance of an integrative
negotiation.
 Win-win, win-lose and other outcomes
Win-win (both sides win). Items are shared out using a combination of personal
preference where possible and equitable treatment or precedent if not. A win-win
situation involves a discussion of the parties’ goals and both parties achieving the
majority of their goals.
Win-lose (one side wins, the other loses). This occurs where an aggressive
negotiator has no interest in being fair and the other party cannot respond to these
tactics. Some large supermarkets drive supplier prices down because they can,
regardless of the needs of the small supplier. Inefficient but equitable.
All items are shared equally. This is ‘fair’ but misses a win-win situation.
How Negotiations Work
At an inter business and market level, negotiation is considered to be a process of critical
 importance .This is because profitability and long-term relationships with suppliers, 
distributors and customers can depend on the quality and outcome of negotiation 
processes. Increasingly, firms appreciate negotiations that produce acceptable benefits 
for both parties (i.e., win-win outcomes) are the only reasonable option if a positive 
long-term relationship between negotiating parties is to be achieved.
Such relationships bring so many positive benefits, including lower costs in doing
 business, greater commitment and trust between negotiating parties, effective 
communication, and, ultimately,competitive advantage that a company would be foolish 
not to seek to create and maintain them.
 There is a classic example given by several authors that can be applied to explain situations
in which an integrative strategy is used (Martinelli & Almeida, 1997; Martinelli, 2006; Thompson
et al., 2010; Thompson, 2006). The example reports that two children were playing in a
backyard when they saw a single orange in an orange tree in the garden of the house. The
children began to fight for the orange until they had the idea of cutting the fruit in half. To the
surprise of the children's mother, after the splitting of the orange, one girl wanted the rind
because she was interested in giving it to the mother to make a cake and the other one had the
pulp because she was interested in the juice of the orange.
It can be said that the child who wanted the juice attributed zero value to the rind, as well as
the child who wanted the rind assigned zero value to the juice. However, if the real needs had
been mapped throughout the negotiation (which resulted in the splitting of the orange), both
children could have maximized the gains by one getting the whole peel and the other getting all
the fruit juice.

 
The length of time it takes for negotiations to take place depends on the circumstances.
A negotiation can take as little as a few minutes, or, in more complex cases, much longer.
For example, a buyer and seller may negotiate for minutes or hours for the sale of a
car.But the governments of two or more countries may take months or years to negotiate the 
terms of a trade deal.
Some negotiations require the use of a skilled negotiator such as an advocate, a
real estate agent/broker, or an attorney.
Skills of a negotiator
A negotiator ideally should be impartial and neutral and should not favour anyone.
He needs to understand the situation and the parties well and decide something which will 
benefit all. It is not always that people will easily accept the negotiator’s decision; they may 
counter it if  they feel their personal interests are not satisfied. In such a situation, where the 
negotiator is left with no choice, he must use his power to impose his ideas on all, after all 
one can’t please everyone. A negotiator has to be a little
tactful and smart enough to handle all situations and reach to a conclusion.
 Top World Changing Negotiations For 2021
1.  U.S. Judicial Support for a Chinese Company – The TikTok Battle
2. Israeli-Arab Relations - A Tricky Deal
3. The Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Who Shows No Willingness to
Negotiate – Ethiopian Turmoil
4. Iran’s Nuclear Capability May Prove to Be a Huge Bargaining Chip
5. India Maintains an Independent Stance in Regional Trade Deals
6. Brexit: A Done Deal
7. Who Gets the Vaccine? – Coronavirus Relief Measures
8. Missiles First, Peace Later – The Fight for Control of Afghanistan
9. The Armenia-Azerbaijan War
 Questions
1. In whick situations we talk about negotiations?
Negotiation occurs in organizations, including businesses, non-profits, and within and between
governments as well as in sales and legal proceedings, and in personal situations such as marriage,
divorce, parenting, etc. 
2. Talk about business negotiation.
Business negotiations can include:
• producing deals with suppliers, partner businesses or customers
• inter-departmental or team discussions to determine aims, processes and resources
• management and staff discussions to discuss job priorities and workload
• discussions between management and trade unions, for example, rates of pay
• recruiting new people to the business, for example, interviews
3. The benefits of negotiation for individuals.
The benefits to individuals are:
• better outcomes from negotiating situations
• resolving differences of opinion without bad feeling
• a better understanding of other parties’ aims, motivations and beliefs
• creating better business relationships
• less stressful negotiations.
4. The benefits of negotiation for businesses.
The benefits to businesses are:
• reduced costs and overheads through better deal making
• more opportunities for business development
• avoidance of the cost of failing to make crucial deals
• better relationships with stakeholders and other involved parties
• more positive and less stressful work and business relationships.
5. How can we avoid win-lose situation ?
Some actions parties and neutrals can take to ensure that parties avoid win-lose situations if possible.
These actions include:
1. Encourage Cooperation: when cooperation and collaboration are encouraged, the parties are less likely to
pursue their own interests at the expense of others.
2. Share information: one of the biggest reason a person chooses to concede before they should is that they
are not aware of all the information.
6. What is integrative negotiation?
 It is a set of techniques that attempts to improve the quality and likelihood of negotiated agreement by
taking advantage of the fact that different parties often value various outcomes differently.
7. What is win-win situation?
Items are shared out using a combination of personal preference where possible and equitable treatment
or precedent if not. A win-win situation involves a discussion of the parties’ goals and both parties
achieving the majority of their goals.
8. Some skills of a negotiator.
A negotiator ideally should be impartial and neutral and should not favour anyone.
He needs to understand the situation and the parties well and decide something which wil
l 
benefit all. It is not always that people will easily accept the negotiator’s decision; they m
ay 
counter it if  they feel their personal interests are not satisfied. In such a situation, where t
he 
negotiator is left with no choice, he must use his power to impose his ideas on all, after al
l  one can’t please everyone. A negotiator has to be a little
tactful and smart enough to handle all situations and reach to a conclusion.