Negotiation is a fundamental process that determines the success of a business. Successful negotiation process calls for a need of an individual to possess excellent personal and communication skills which make it possible for the person to have a successful negotiation. In the modern business world, employers focus on workers’ ability to undergo through a negotiation process reflected by their ability to communicate and personal characteristics. Planning for a negotiation process appears to be the most important stage of the negotiation process. In this case, negotiators need to be able to break the document into its key components. For example, there should be participants, the purpose of negotiation, possible alternatives, criteria, issues, and interests of the negotiation. This paper explains stages involved in the negotiation process and the skills and qualities of a good negotiator.
According to Steele & Beasor, (2017) creating negotiation begins with a good preparation by the involved parties. There is no good way of creating a good shortcut for and this stage depends on the interests of the parties and the possible outcomes and alternatives expected from the negotiation process. With this information, it is possible to determine if the process will achieve collaboration at the end. It gives an insight for selecting the best strategy that can be used to achieve the objectives of the process. Equipped with information, the negotiators should spend the rest of their time on researching information, analyzing data, and coming up with interests and taking positions in the negotiation process. The research process should cover most key areas of negotiation process such as stakeholders, players, standards, and benchmarks.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The second stage involves information exchanging where the negotiator engages the other party in bargaining (Jeong, 2016). In this case, the parties focus on sharing information and exploring alternative approaches that can address their interests. There is always a comparison between the interests of the opposing sides where people discuss the interests and positions and their importance to the success of the negotiation process. The opposing parties focus on creating rapport and trust which will compel the parties to feel free to share information. When evaluating the success of this stage, it should be based on the level of trustworthiness, competency, reliability, and alignment of interests depicted by the conflicting parties. If the outcomes of this stage are negative, negotiators should reshape their interests and come up with alternatives which can help in reaching collaboration.
Bargaining is the third stage of the negotiation process where parties involved engage in giving and taking ideas. At this stage, the bargaining people have to give some of their interests and possible alternatives in favor of those of the opposition. For example, sellers have to reduce the level of set prices while buyers offer to increase the prices. If both parties agree to follow the give and take the approach, there will be a possibility of reaching collaboration. However, in situations where one of the parties believes that there is no need of giving up personal interest, the expected results will not be achieved.
Concluding and executing are the last steps in a negotiation process (Steele & Beasor, 2017). Concluding involves the examination of whether the opposing parties are capable of adhering to what they have agreed through the bargaining process. This stage creates an opportunity for recording the common interests thus providing a brief summary of the results of the negotiation process. Parties should be able to commit to the agreements arrived at in the excluding stage when it comes to implementation of the agreements. Executing means the implementation of the negotiation agreements and parties should be committed to fulfilling the promises made in the concluding stage.
Skills of a Good Negotiator
Successful negotiators should depict exceptional skills essential for undergoing through the negotiation process. For example, negotiators should be able to apply a good planning strategy by analyzing stakeholders and collecting data required in collecting information about the conflicting parties. Preparation is the most significant skill in negotiation process because it contributes to about 90% of the success of the process (Cenere et al., 2015). First, a successful negotiator should be able to come up with all the information regarding the future negotiation process. Equipped with this information, the negotiator should feature all the process of the negotiation from the start to the end and identify some of the alternative interests that can contribute to collaboration. In a business scenario, the negotiator should know the kind of product or service they are handling.
According to Grubb et al., (2018) personal qualities such as patience, emotional control, and active listening are essential in making an individual to become a successful negotiator. A good negotiator should have exceptional qualities when it comes to allowing enough time for the opposing party to express their interests and present support for their arguments. Patience enables the parties to undergo the process in a sequential manner by focusing on points of agreement before seeking ways to solve their differences. During the negotiation process, the successful negotiator should be able to listen attentively to the other party. Active listening includes the individual’s ability to read both verbal communication and body language that oppositions may use in an attempt to pass and present their arguments in a convincing way. During the negotiation process, a person should be in a position to successfully control emotions which would worsen the situation. In situations where negotiators engage in a discussion involving frustrating issues, allowing emotions to take place means that the parties will achieve the set objectives of the negotiation process. For instance, an employee with low emotional control can become angry in a situation where the supplier insists on a low price.
Negotiators should be able to communicate clearly and efficiently when discussing an issue with the opposing party (Grubb et al., 2018). Clear verbal communication is essential because poor communication skills can lead to misunderstandings among the negotiators in situations where people fail to state their interests clearly. During the bargaining process, an individual should feel free to express their desired outcomes and explain the consequences of accepting such points. The manner in which people express their ideas provides the basis for convincing an opponent to agree to their points. The mind of good negotiators should be flexible and capable of coming up with many alternative approaches to solving a problem. Solutions should not be fixed and must rely on ethics such as trusting others with promises and agreements they make.
The steps involved in the negotiation process and the skills of good negotiators satisfy that negotiation is a professional way of solving differences between parties. Negotiation requires adequate preparation where each negotiator should explore diverse sources of information such stakeholders, the purpose of the negotiation and interests of the process. This stage determines the results that ought to be achieved by engaging in the discussion process. A good negotiator should have notable skills in handling this stage because it is the foundation and driving tool for achieving set objectives of the negotiation process. Exchange of information, bargaining, concluding, and executing levels are equally important as the preparation stage, but they rely on the preparation stage. All the stages call for a need for personal qualities such as communication, emotional control, and listening skills.
References
Cenere, P., Gill, R., Lawson, C., & Lewis, M. (2015). Communication Skills for Business Professionals 7 . Cambridge University Press.
Grubb, A. R., Brown, S. J., Hall, P., & Bowen, E. (2018). The self-perceived successful hostage and crisis negotiator profile: a qualitative assessment of negotiator competencies. Police Practice and Research , 1-22.
Jeong, H. W. (2016). International negotiation: process and strategies . Cambridge University Press.
Steele, P. T., & Beasor, T. (2017). Business negotiation: A practical workbook . Routledge.
