Negotiation and Decision
by Wanderley José Augusto - 27/9/2001
Today, partnerships, intellectual capital, knowledge management, strategic alliances, mergers, incorporations, joint ventures,. Internet and a new management style, we must negotiate, and get better on it each day. Thus, it is essential to understand how to proceed.
Negotiation is the process of seeking agreement and any agreement is the result of decisions between both parts. The big question is the quality of the decision, in other words, if it attends the interests of all the involved parts or if only to one of them, prejudicing the other. Or if these interests are or not attended of a creative way finding new solutions, not foreseen since the beginning, and of a high quality. There are, in terms of negotiation, two ways of getting an agreement I mean, to get a decision. One is the bargain of offers. Another is the solution of problems.
Bargaining, problem solutions and results. The basic feature of the proposed bargain is that each part defends its offer without worrying to understand or getting deeper in the understanding of what is being negotiated. In the solution of problems, the negotiators follow the steps of the deciding process and the solutions of the problems. They seek first to understand the situation and then seek the solutions.
The way it is decided, the proposed bargaining or problem solutions, leads to three types of outcomes in the negotiations.
First, the agreement satisfies the interests of both negotiators.
Second, the agreement satisfies the interests of one of them prejudicing the other.
Third, the decision is contrary to the interests of both sides, in other words both losing out.
Who negotiates in terms of problem solutions is seeking the first outcomes. His attitude is: a agreement is only effectively good when the interests of both sides are attended. In this case, there is a process of shared decision. Who negotiates in terms of bargaining offers, adopt the following attitude: each one who defends their interests, not caring if will prejudice of the other.
Here the theme of Ashleigh Brilliant: I always win. You always lose. Could there be anything more fairly than that? Anyway, we need to considerate that there are two ways of discuss an issue: One is to speak for the other, see who is with the reason, finding the guilty and get points.
Another is talking to the other part to clarify interests, see what you can be done and search alternatives that match these interests. We need to be aware to the difference. Who speaks for the other is pouring down things or trying to persuade of any way. Who speaks with, is talking, is seeking to understand. And that can make a great difference.
Past and future – Negotiation as shared decisions is the most difficult because it is necessary that the negotiators when doing that, consider not only the decision process but also consider two factors, which are: the psychological aspects and of the relationships between the involved parts .
Among the psychological aspects of the decision, we must consider the temporal orientation of the negotiators. Some people are guided by the past. Others are guided by the future. Past-oriented people are facing problems. In general, looking for the guilty and weaknesses and they tend to be benevolent to their own mistakes. They are facing threats and not for opportunities.
Not to make contact with unpleasant information they use the mechanisms of rejection, denial and distortion. This can not correct errors and gaps in time. People seeking oriented future search for solutions. They aren´t regretting for what happened. They accept the past as a dice. If the tire of the car punctured, try to change it and not be roaring against the nail. If the light shut down due to electrical breakdown in the system, they light a candle and don´t curse the darkness.
They accept the unpleasant information as a negative feedback and then they know that something must be done to correct the deviation. Dealing with the emotions Another point for consideration is the relationship between the negotiators. Every relationship care in emotions. To be able to make a shared decision with quality we need to know work very well with the emotions. Emotions are blind and can not distinguish what is important of what it is not.
What matters most is the symbolic and not relevant. Thus, the small things devoid of value will be important . The manipulators, in general, know very well how to work with emotions, persuading people to lose their sense of direction, they have their attention turned to irrelevant points, neglecting what is really essential. Often, the processes are subtle, including ethical facades and of a good partnership, that is packaged in a beautiful speech. The fact is that the emotions have disconcerting aspects, as was evidenced in the case of Kosovo, where hatreds raised in a war occurred in the fourteenth century still are present today. There are some sins that occur frequently in decision-process that happen also in negotiations based on the solution of problems, including the following:
Do not describe the situation appropriated; seeking facts and gathering information, required to define the problem situation appropriately, in other words what it is negotiating;
* Choosing an alternative of solution without first getting an adequate number of possibilities. Remember, the best solution that is available is as good as the best alternative formulated;
* Believing that there is a solution without negative points. Every problem has always a solution. Every solution is always a problem;
* Not planning the implementation of the decision, establishing mechanisms of control.
* Consider that the negotiation only ends when the agreement was fulfilled and not when it was made. “Talking is the way to understand each other”.negotiating on the decision and solutions of problem s is much more difficult and demand much more habilityr.
But it always worth, In the years of 1072-73, the Italian cities of Venice and Genoa have negotiated a partnership to launch in travel trade and with it received excellent results. But we need not go that far. We can report the case of Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart, which negotiated the bargaining offerings, of the tough negotiator and “ na queda de braços”and in a truly turbulent relationship.
These companies decided to change its procedures and started to negotiate the solution of problems. Instead of to be bargaining offerings with the winner placing its prices too high and the buyer too down , they began to adopt another way that was to find an answer to the following question:
How can we increase sales and reduce costs? With this came the creation of a computerized inventory system, with which the two companies saved millions of dollars, their relationship was strengthened and improved their business by over 1 billion dollars.
This can be the difference between the bargain of offerings and solution of problemas.More profits in their businesses, partnerships with more effective results and commitment of people in the company. And all this can be very simple. You Just need to decide that you negotiate the solution of problems and know the correct procedures for doing so. But anyway, remember: being simple is very difficult because it is necessary to understand what is essential, which in fact is important and keep the focus.
Being complicated is easier. You just need to go with a wrong understanding or not understanding very well what you're doing.
Source: Bumeran * Wanderley José Augusto - Consultant of the Institute MVC - Strategy and Humanism |
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