Page 78 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Notes the final deal is left to the judgement of the negotiators. In cases where the people actually
negotiate on behalf of someone, they have to be accountable to their constituents.
7. All negotiations do not always end up in a mutually satisfying memorandum of agreement.
Sometimes the negotiators get so involved with the issues that they are not able to go
beyond them. At this point of time, they may decide to involve mediation by a third party,
acceptable to both the parties in negotiation.
Hence, we see negotiation as a way of getting what one wants by presenting proposals and
counter proposals for division and/or exchange of resources in a mutually dependent relationship.
In case of parties failing, it provides the possibility of a third-party intervention.

4.8 Assumptions in Negotiation

Effective negotiation is based on following assumptions:
1. Negotiation is a process of give and take. It has no room for threat or coercion. Any use of
force violates the basic premise of negotiation which is based on two parties coming by
their own free will to discuss their issues.

2. While it is assumed that in negotiation proposals and counter proposals should ideally be
reasonable, the process of negotiation cannot assume total reasonableness. All one can say
is that negotiation provides reasonable people a reasonable opportunity to be reasonable.
But to expect total reasonableness is not correct.
3. When people come to the negotiation table, they come with the belief that the other
individual/group can be persuaded. If such a conviction does not exist, negotiation cannot
proceed.
4. Perhaps the most important assumption has to do with the hierarchically equal status of
the parties during negotiation. When union representatives and senior HRM managers sit
down across the table to negotiate their structural positions in the organisation it lose
significance.
5. Another important assumption has to do with the desire for fairness in the process of
negotiation. Though this may sound somewhat contradictory to the assumption of
reasonableness mentioned above, it becomes a necessary precondition for negotiation to
begin and to end in a mutually satisfying agreement. The concept of fairness is relative.
Therefore, one may be happy with a lot less than the other, but as long as the result of
negotiation is acceptable to both parties, it is perceived as fair and just.

6. Finally, it is necessary for both parties to see negotiation as more beneficial for resolving
differences, compared to other methods of dispute settlements. It is assumed that the
parties in conflict have assessed other alternatives and have found negotiation as a more
valuable option than the others.

4.9 Game Plan

Negotiation requires preparation, hard work, and the ability and willingness to foresee the
response of the adversary. Hence, before one gets into actual negotiation one has to prepare a
game plan. A negotiation plan consists of three stages. These are:

1. Pre-negotiation planning,
2. During negotiation behaviour and
3. Post-negotiation understanding.

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