The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator

Seventh Edition, Global Edition

Session 7
Developing a Negotiating
Style
 Part Two
Negotiation Skills
Tough vs. Soft Negotiators
• Negotiators often choose between two completely
different negotiation styles or approaches:
ü Being “tough” or “soft”

• Being tough or soft are not the negotiator’s only

choices

• Creating a comfortable, effective style to expand the

pie allows a negotiator to
ü Maximize their slice
ü Feel good about the negotiation
What is Your Negotiation Style?
• Motivational orientation

• Interests, rights, and power models of disputing

• Emotions and emotional intelligence

ü To understand emotions in themselves and others

ü To use emotional knowledge to effect positive

outcomes
Motivational Orientation
People have different orientations toward the process
of negotiation:

Individualistic – prefers to maximize his or her own goals

and is indifferent to how much the other person is getting

Competitive – prefers to maximize the winning margin or

“beat” the other side

Cooperative – prefers to maximize equality and minimize

the difference between negotiators’ outcomes
Motivational Orientation
Richard Shell outlines seven tools for the overly
cooperative negotiator:
1. Avoid concentrating too much on your bottom line
Spend extra time preparing your goals and
developing high aspirations
2. Develop your BATNA
• Know your options to negotiating
3. Get an agent and delegate the negotiation work
4. Bargain on behalf of someone or something else,
not yourself
Motivational Orientation
Tools for the overly cooperative negotiator
(continued):
5. Create an audience
• People negotiate more assertively when they
have an audience
6. Say, “You will have to do better than that
because…” instead of saying, “Yes”
7. Insist on commitments, not just agreements

A negotiator who prefers to maximize equality and

minimize the difference between negotiators’ outcomes.
Motivational Orientation
Richard Shell outlines seven tools for the overly
competitive negotiator:
1. Think about pie-expansion, not just pie-slicing
2. Ask more questions than you think you should
3. Rely on standards (fairness and objectivity)
4. Hire a relationship manager
5. Be scrupulously reliable (keep your word)
6. Do not haggle when you can negotiate (all the
issues)
7. Always acknowledge the other party and protect
that person’s self-esteem
A nego'ator who prefers to maximize the winning margin or “beat” the other side.
Motivational Orientation: Strategic Issues
Several strategic issues are relevant when it comes to
motivational style:

• The myth of the hard bargainer

• Do not lose sight of your own interests

• Social comparison can cause breakdowns in negotiation

• Use reinforcement to shape behavior

• The power of reciprocity

Motivational Orientation: Strategic Issues
Strategic issues relevant to motivational style
(continued):
• Anticipate motivational clashes at the bargaining table
• Motivational convergence
• Epistemic motivation
ü The desire to process information thoroughly, and thus
grasp the meaning behind other people's emotions,
rather than the explicit expression of anger (process
the anger cognitively)
ü Expend effort to achieve a thorough, rich, and
accurate understanding of the task
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing
Negotiators use three types of approaches when in
the process of dispute resolution

• Interests

• Rights

• Power
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing: Assessing Your Approach
Interests-based negotiators:

• Attempt to learn about the counterparty’s needs, desires,

and concerns

• Attempt to reconcile different interests among parties in

a way that addresses the parties’ most pressing needs
and concerns
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing: Assessing Your Approach

Rights-based negotiators:

• Apply standards of fairness to an analysis of the

negotiation

• May include terms specified by contracts, legal rights,

precedents, or expectations based upon norms
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing: Assessing Your Approach
Power-based negotiators:

• Focus on power (use status, rank, threats, intimidation to

get their way)

• Coerce someone to do something he or she wouldn’t

otherwise do because of costs imposed upon them or
threats issued
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing: Assessing Your Approach

• Consider this statement made by an employer:

“I am afraid I cannot meet your desired salary

requirements, but I hope you will realize that working in
our company is a wonderful opportunity and join us.”

• How would respond if an employer made this statement to

you?
Interests-based Response
“I am very interested in joining your company if my interests
can be met. I would like to share some of my key goals and
objectives. I want to learn more about the company’s
interests from your standpoint. Salary is a key concern for
me. I am the single wage earner in my family, and I have a
number of educational loans. You did not mention other
aspects of the offer, such as stock options, vacations, and
flex time. Can we discuss these issues at this point?”
Rights-based Response
“I am very interested in joining your company if we can come
up with a fair employment package. My salary requirements
are in line with those of other people joining similar
companies. I would think it would be a competitive
advantage for your company to offer employment packages
that are competitive with those being offered by other
companies. I believe that my record and previous experience
mean that a higher salary would be fair in this case.”
Power-based Response
“I am very interested in joining your company, but other
companies are offering me more attractive deals at this
point. I would like to invite you to reconsider the offer so that
I do not have to resort to turning your offer down, given that I
think that we make a good match for one another. I hope you
will be able to make a competitive offer.”
Interests, Rights, and Power Models of
Disputing: Strategic Issues Concerning
Approaches
Negotiators should keep the following principles in
mind when choosing their approach:

• Principle of reciprocity

ü Interests were reciprocated the most (42%),

followed by power (27%) and rights (22%)

• Interests are effective for pie expansion

• How to refocus your opponent on interests (and move

them from rights and power)
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing: Personal Strategies
• Personal strategies to refocus your opponent on
interests and away from rights and power include:
• Do not reciprocate
• Provide opportunities to meet (informal discussions)
• Don’t get personal – use self-discipline (focus on the
conflict, issues)
• Use behavioral reinforcement
• Send a mixed message – combine rights or power with
interest-based questions
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing: Personal Strategies
Personal strategies to refocus your opponent on
interests and away from rights and power (continued):

• Try a process intervention (e.g., mediation)

• Let’s talk (20 minutes) and then fight

• Strategic cooling-off periods

• Use paraphrasing

• Label the process (as ineffective can neutralize or refocus

negotiations)
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing: Structural Strategies
Structural strategies to refocus your opponent on
interests and away from rights and power include:
• Put the focus on interests
• Build in “loop-backs” to negotiation (loop back to interests)
• Provide low-cost rights and power backups (if interest-
based negotiation fails)
• Build in consultation beforehand and feedback afterwards
(prevent misunderstanding, anger, hostility)
• Provide skills and resources (focus on interest)
Interests, Rights, and Power Models
of Disputing: Assessing Your Approach
• Things to remember when your negotiation
approach focuses on power and rights:
ü There are high costs associated with power
and rights
ü Know when to use rights and power
ü Know how to use rights and power

Focusing on interests, compared to rights and power,

produces higher satisfaction with outcomes, better working
relationships, and less recurrence; it may also mean lower
transaction costs
Emotions and Emotional Intelligence
• Emotions and moods can be either a consequence
or a determinant of negotiation behavior and
outcomes.
• Genuine versus Strategic emotion
ü Genuine (behavioral manifestations of felt emotions)
ü Strategic (carefully designed orchestration to take the
counterparty off guard)
o Negative emotion
o Positive emotion
o Poker face
• Emotional intelligence and negotiated outcomes (high
EQ, greater objective outcomes)
Emotions and Emotional Intelligence
Strategic advice for dealing with emotions at the table:

• Monitor your emotional displays

• Beware of what you are reinforcing

• Reevaluation is more effective than suppression

ü Suppression may backfire

• Emotions are contagious

• Understand emotional triggers

Chapter Capstone

• Get in touch with your own style in an honest and

straightforward way

• Know your limits and your strengths

• Understand the counterparty

• Expand your bargaining style repertoire