Page 80 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Notes the home advantage by way of socio-moral support, access to additional help, and control
on infrastructural facilities. Alternatively, it adds to the disadvantage of the other
individual/party. It is like a cricket match on home ground where the local public provides
moral support to the home team and discourages the winning attempts of the other team.
Physical arrangements like seating arrangement at the venue, availability of secretarial
assistance, or even timely availability of food and refreshments can make a difference in
the process and outcome of negotiation. If well-arranged, they can facilitate negotiation
or may cause irritation if details are not taken care of. Seating arrangement which is based
on face-to-face interaction provides access to body language. Perhaps the most important
factor in negotiation is happening in the international scenario. Hence if results are wanted,
a time frame for negotiation should be identified. By and large, it has been found that
when the period of negotiation is fixed, decisions are taken usually towards the end of the
closing period of time.

4.10 Behaviour during Negotiation

Having done the necessary preparation and homework now the time has come to sit face-to-face
in actual negotiation. For as long as the negotiation lasts a number of behaviour patterns have
to be observed. They are the opening move, negotiation dance, and influence mechanism.
1. Opening Move: If the parties in negotiation are meeting for the first time, the opening
move becomes very important. It decides the nature of rapport that would be established
and subsequently influence the pattern of negotiation. Generally, one should, after saying
hello and introductions, talk about neutral topics such as the weather or some topics of
general common interest. The basic idea of the opening dialogue is to put the other
individual/party at ease and to help in settling down.
Once the individuals/parties are settled, the process of negotiation begins. The initial
offer made in the process tends to set the tone of subsequent negotiation behaviour. Too
conservative or too liberal an offer can prolong the process of negotiation because in both
cases the individuals/parties keep on asking for more liberal offers to maximise one’s
gain and conservative offers take too long to reach the limits of expectation. This creates
what is called lock-in effect. It refers either to the nature of proposals being received or
counter proposals being made. Nature here refers to the size of the proposal and the
expectation that all future proposals will follow the profile of the initial and/or subsequent
offers.
2. Negotiation Dance: This is based on two elements – frequency of proposals and size of
proposals. Frequency refers to the number of times proposals are made and size refers to
the quantity/value of the proposals. These two together make the negotiation dance (the
sequence of proposals/counter proposals). The combination of these two can result in
many different patterns of negotiation. For example:

(i) An individual/party can make several small concessions followed by one big
concession at the closing stage.
(ii) Alternatively, an individual/party can make an initial large concession followed
by several small concessions.
(iii) They can make uniform concessions throughout where size remains the same but
the frequency is large.

The frequency of offers and their size determine the nature of the outcome. For example,
Weingart et al. (1988) found that negotiation with a high frequency of offers and counter
offers reduces the possibility of an integrative outcome. Such a process does not provide

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