Strategy and Planning management assignment Help Essay Online: Managerial skills of negotiation and action plans

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Write about the managerial skills of negotiation in an organization??

Solution Proposed:

Introduction

According to Shah & Shah, 2010, negotiation is a process which involves communication both back and front for reaching to an agreement of diffeerent needs and ideas. It is the collection of various behaviors which involves psychology, communication, attitude, sociology, sales and marketing, or even conflit resolutions. A negotiator could be anybody, a buyer, seller, or a boss, employee, supplier, but negotiation also takes place in personal life too between spouses, children, parents, friends, family (Shah & Shah, 2010), it could take place between anybody. It is the process which occurs between atleast two parties with different objectives but are involved to reach to an outcome.

The skill of negotiation to some degree is used by almost everybody at some point of time. And skill is an activity for managers in which they are involved and engaged many a times in a day. It could be formally or informally (Unknown, Negotiation Skills, 2004). As mentioned in the website Business Wealth, that the skill of negotiation is worth learning and could help in saving and making money for businessmen. For developing this skill one the following (Unknown, Negotiation Skills, 2004):

• Need to understand what is negotiation and its forms.
• It aims in forging long term relationship among the parties involved
• The roles to be played in negotiating
• The approaches of negotiation

Each person has his or her own unique style of negotiating and in a day it is possible that we enter a number of times in to this negotiation game. In personal negotiation there exist three basic elements: persuasion, compromise and trust (Unknown, How do we negotiate- three essential elements in personal negotiating, nd).

When negotiation is applied very formally on a round table for serious discussion requires planning. Planning for any formal negotiation requires (Unknown, Negotiation Skills, 2004):

• Building of agendas for guidance
• Defining of issues and alternatives
• Attaining knowledge of the opposite party involved

Negotiation consists of five stages which are as follows (unknown, 2011):

1. Preparation and planning: Before negotiating one must be aware of the parties involved, their expectations and history.
2. Definition of ground rules: After planning and strategizing, one needs to define the ground rules and policies for negotiation. Such as, place of the negotiation to take place, time constraints, if any, issues to deal in negotiation. And whether there will be any particular procedure is required to be followed. In this phase the parties involved will exchange their proposals and demands.
3. Clarification and justification: After the exchange of proposals, the parties are required to justify their demands in the proposal. Its an opportunity for the parties for informing and educating each other about their demands.
4. Bargaining and problem solving: In this stage the actual concessions will be made by the parties involved. This stage is the prime stage of the whole process
5. Closure and implementation:  In the final stage, the parties will formulate the agreement that has been decided upon.

There are also various styles of negotiations which depend upon factors such as, desired outcome to be reached, and also on the kind of parties involved in the negotiation (Williams, 2012). The styles are:

• Accommodating: This style of negotiating encourages empathy over assertiveness.
• Avoiding: Avoiding style of negotiations work when situation goes explosive
• Collaborative: This style reaches to win-win outcome for both the parties involved, but is not similar to compromising style. In this case none of the party involved feels that they lost.
•  Competing: In this the negotiator competes to win. The negotiator in this case is not at all concerned for the other party’s loss, feelings or outcome, winning is the only outcome which he desires.
• Compromising: This is not the ideal style of negotiating, and both the parties loose or gain in the process of negotiating.

Implications of Negotiation in Management Practices

Negotiation is something which is performed by everybody, all day, whether we like it or not (Shaler, nd). It’s about reaching to a mutually agreeable conclusion.  Negotiation in a workplace starts from the time an employee receives his/her call letter from a company, which includes negotiation for salary, for work, for post etc.  Negotiation in management practice is important for two main reasons (Unknown, Importance of negotiation in corporates, 2012):

• Conflict resolution: With good negotiation skills conflicts could be resolved easily. Various techniques of negotiation is required to be applied depending upon the situation. The manager is required to be smart enough to judge the situation and apply negotiation technique accordingly. Conflicts could end up resulting in to great losses for the company, but with good negotiation skill it could be avoided easily.
• And maintaining log term relationships: A business is commenced with an aim of long term survival, and so is required to build long term relationships with the customers, suppliers, vendors, employees and who so ever is linked with the business. Negotiation skills helps in maintaining long term relationships with the concerned parties involved.

Negotiations in the workplace could occur between:

• Management and employees
• Vendors and suppliers
• Management and customers
• Management and society
• Management and government

The importance of negotiating skill in business is invaluable. A business to survive in the highly competitive world needs negotiation consultant to answer all possible queries and avail contracts at correct prices. Negotiations are important for company’s financial standing (Miller, 2012). For dealing with tough competition in the market, having a skilled negotiation consultant is being advisable by industry experts. Negotiation skills in business help it in thriving, growing and becoming the leaders in the industry (Miller, 2012).

A good negotiator would never let go any extra amount in the dealings of the company. With good negotiation skill, the company would never end up in paying extra to the external parties. How to develop negotiating skills are as follows:

• Knowledge about the dealings: While going for negotiation a person must be aware of the rates, profitability and other financial figures. While dealing with vendors it is advisable to quote little lower than what the company is intended to pay, and is required to convince the vendor to end up at the rate which is in the company’s budget, but at the same time the manager should take care of vendor’s profits too (Unknown, Importance of negotiation in corporates, 2012).
• Avoiding verbal agreements: It is advised that the negotiation should not end up with verbal commitments, but should be recorded in black and white to have a proof (Unknown, Importance of negotiation in corporates, 2012).
• Negotiation with superiors: Negotiation never meant to shout on people, but being very polite to convince others to accept on your ideas. Negotiating with superiors involves accepting of projects according to your expertise, and if one do not think that the particular project is his cup of tea, then he must surely convince his superior to not to delegate the particular project. Must be patient while dealing with superiors (Unknown, Importance of negotiation in corporates, 2012).

Skills important for negotiation

Negotiation is very important in our daily life too, but is crucial in business. It is important for attracting customers, building long term relationships with associated parties to the business and conflict resolution. But for effective negotiation following attitude and skills are required to be developed in the negotiator (Unknown, Importance of negotiation in corporates, 2012; Unknown, Negotiation Skills- How to negotiate effectively, 2012):

• Polite and dignified: Most important of all traits is being calm and polite while negotiating. One should lose his dignity and temper while negotiating.
• Should reduce conflict and built long term relationship.
• Patience: For good negotiation, patience is essential.
• Confident: Confidence is essential while negotiating and convincing the other party.
• React sensibly: A good negotiator would react sensibly to the party. He would maintain his calm and temper while negotiating.
• Clear: The negotiator must be clear about his idea.
•  Communication: While communicating, the negotiator should stay firm on his words, and must not change statement quite often.
• Be a good listener: While negotiating you are trying to convince somebody, so it is required to listen to the party offers also.
• Be reasonable: While negotiating, try to be reasonable, don’t quote too low, or too high which is not possible. Quote according to the value.

Good negotiation skills could be acquired by applying these traits and also by understanding the other party involved.

Action Plan: measures and outcomes

The action plan consists of pre test and post test measure to discover the negotiation skills present in me. The pre test measure consisted of negotiating for discounts in few shops along with family and friends to judge my negotiating skills. The post test follows same procedure as I will try to negotiate with the same shop keepers again, and would try to find out the outcome. As cited by Fredrick, 1999, pre and post-test will make more sense in the same external environment. The pre test aims at understanding of my weaknesses and strength of the skill of negotiating that is it will give a basic idea of my negotiating skills. This would help me in finding out how good a negotiator I am and what all traits or skills are required in me, to become a good negotiator. Then I would try to analyze my skills as mentioned by the experts in the research done on negotiation. The comparison according to the research would help me in understanding the required areas of improvement. After having the complete knowledge about negotiation, I will then follow the five stages also mentioned in this research, involved in the negotiation process. Different stages of negotiation have different requirements, so I need to be prepared and move ahead accordingly.

Challenges faced while negotiating

The process of negotiation is at times very difficult and it is not easy to achieve desired outcomes. The following difficulties were faced in different stages of negotiation (Unknown, Challanges for an effective negotiation, 2012):

• When I was not able to understand the other party. This situation is common when individual ignores the other party’s requirement or intentions.

Incident: I went to a garment shop and inquired for a shirt, but I quoted a very low price as I was concerned only about my pocket and the owner’s margin at all. So, he refused to sell the shirt me. And outcome was not in my favor.

• Shortage of time: Lack of time also affects badly to the outcome of the negotiation. Any deal cannot be closed in hurry.
• Unpreparedness for the negotiation: Before negotiating the 1^st and 2^nd stage of negotiation is required to be followed, that is planning and acquiring details of the other party is very necessary. The other person is equally smart and could ask anything, and unpreparedness could lead to embarrassment.

Incident: I had been to a computer shop and asked for a laptop. The person said a price but I said one of my friends suggested me a lower price for this product. On this he asked, which model, which company, what is the configuration, what all attachments it has, year when it was manufactured etc etc. And I was stunned. And outcome of this negotiation was again not in favor.

• Patience: I also learned from my experience that patience is essential in negotiation. Lack of patience can spoil the negotiation process. One must listen to the other person too while negotiating, very patiently.
• Rigidity: Being too rigid could lead to bad negotiation. So an individual needs to flexible enough while entering into negotiation. Price could not be important every time.

Incident: When I went to the computer shop again being more prepared this time. I was flexible, and was not focused only on price, but with that a good brand, quality, accessories etc. The price he quoted was $400 but after a lot of negotiation he came at $375. So, the outcome was in my favor.

Feedback:

While taking pretest for negotiations, my friends and family members came along with me to the shops, and they observed me very closely while I was negotiating. And their feedbacks helped me a lot in improving my negotiation skills. The feedbacks I got are as follows:

• Need to be more alert
• Low confidence level
• Need to be clear while communicating
• Be more prepared.
• Have patience
• Need to be flexible
• Try to listen to the other person too.

The feedbacks were of great help. It helped me to perform better in post tests negotiations and improved the outcomes of negotiations. The post test and pre test measure broadened my skill of negotiating, which is one of the most important managerial skills.

Recommendation

Negotiation is one of the most commonly used techniques in decision making and dispute resolution (Moore, nd).  It is a skill which is and could be applied anywhere and everywhere but more formally, the successful application of negotiation is possible in the following conditions as mentioned by Christopher, nd:

• When both the parties are ready to enter in to negotiation
• Interdependence. Both parties are required to be interdependent on each other.
• There should be some means of influence to convince the party. The means could be the attitude, behavior etc.
• When participants are willing to do settlements
• Parties must be able to agree upon some common issues
• Out is unpredictable
• The parties must have to authority to take decisions

For successful negotiation, it is essential that an individual in polite, dignified, confident and clear about the subject. One should not ignore the other person requirements. Negotiator must be well prepared and alert about the other participant in the negotiation.

Conclusion

As I considered negotiation skill to be one of the most important skills in management, with this research I was able enhance my negotiation skill a lot. The post test and pretest measures adopted not only helped me to judge my negotiation skills but also improved the levels of outcome. I was now able to turn most of the deals in my favor by adopting the techniques of negotiation, which is used in many times in our daily life.

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