Negotiation Fundamentals

Anjum N. Qureshi
Bahria University
Negotiation Quiz:
On a sheet of paper please check off which of these situations represents a
negotiation.
 Buying a rug in a West African market

 Soliciting a new source of venture capital

 Trying to capture/kill a warlord in a regional war

 Trying to injure or ruin a competitor

 Writing back and forth with someone you do not know on the Internet

 Meeting your potential in-laws for the first time

 Giving or receiving commendation and criticism

 Deciding how the dishes will get done

 Borrowing a wonderful piece of clothing from a family member

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 Deciding whether to stay late at work to finish up a project

 Making up, or rebuilding a relationship with someone you love

 Picking a successor for the CEO of a company where you are on the board

 Getting a child to go to bed

 Getting into a class or training program with limited enrollment

 Courting your Life’s Companion

 Laying off or firing someone

 Discussing the outsourcing of a business function with the manager of the function

 Deciding with a family member where to invest a small joint inheritance

 Soliciting a major gift from a major donor

 Soliciting bids for the new advertising campaign for your company

 Saying good-by to someone you will not see for a long time

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 Finding an advisor, or a mentor, or a counselor, or a new dentist

 Discussing with a recruiter the salary and benefits you feel you deserve

 Trying to get back to sleep when something is worrying you

 Trying to shake off a stranger on the street who keeps walking with you

 Getting an extension on a paper or a project

 Apologizing to someone whose property you unknowingly damaged

 Seeing someone you dislike and turning away at a party

 Interviewing a potential baby-sitter

 Accepting a bribe

 Turning down a bribe

 Getting another country to lower a trade barrier

 Talking anonymously about an unsafe workplace condition with a Hot Line person

 Meeting a new teammate for the first time

 Struggling to stay on a diet or exercise plan or give up smoking

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What is negotiation?

 What do you aim to get out of this

course?

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BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION

 This course considers the theory and

processes of negotiation in various settings.

 It attempts to provide an analytic

understanding of negotiation including:

 Issues of strategy and tactics, as well as

 Development of skills necessary for
implementation of this knowledge

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Objective of the Course
 Provide a set of generic negotiation concepts and skills;

 Provide an analysis of the basic concepts and structures of

negotiation, including the role of power and influence;

 Guide you in analyzing and evaluating models of negotiation

behavior and communication strategies;

 Enable you to develop the skills needed to successfully

prepare for and participate in negotiation; and

 Provide opportunities for students to practice develop and

analyze their own skills in negotiation through a series of
negotiation exercises.

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Introduction
 “Negotiating is the art of reaching an agreement
by resolving differences through creativity”

 It is a dialogue intended:

 to resolve disputes, in business, politic, etc.

 to produce an agreement upon courses of action, Muslim

League and PPP on COD

 to bargain for individual or collective advantage, or

 to craft outcomes to satisfy various interests (sugar crises:

finding a solution that satisfies various stakeholders)

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Introduction
 Negotiation occurs:

 in business, non-profit organizations, government

branches, legal proceedings, among nations; and

 in personal situations such as marriage, divorce,

parenting, and everyday life

 Professional negotiators are often specialized, such as

union negotiators, leverage buyout negotiators, peace
negotiators, or hostage negotiators,

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 Everyone Negotiates
 Buying a car, a house or other objects for
which the price may not be fixed

 Establishing a salary, workplace tasks,

office conditions, etc.

 Organizing team tasks or setting priorities

 Allocating household tasks

 Deciding how to spend a free evening

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Conventional Negotiations
 Focus on winning (I Win You Loose mentality)

 Assert positions/personal preferences

 Concede stubbornly (March 16)

 Seek compromises based on arbitrary divisions (e.g.

split the difference)

 Engage in threats, bluffs or other negotiation tactics

(Mumbai episode)

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An Alternative:
Interest-Based Negotiations

Four Principals of Negotiation:

1. Separate the people from the problem

2. Focus on interests, not positions

3. Invent options for mutual gain

4. Insist on objective criteria (What is fair)

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Principle 1: Separate the People
from the Problem

 Deal with the people problem:

 acknowledge perceptions, emotions

 Listen actively

 Speak to be understood

 Speak about yourself, not them

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Principle 2:
Focus on Interests, Not Positions

 Positions: What disputants say they

want in a negotiation:

 a particular price, (what is that price

based on)
 job,
 work schedule,
 change in someone else’s behavior,
 revised contract provision, etc.

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Principle 2:
Focus on Interests, Not Positions

 Interests: Underlying desires or

concerns that motivate people in
particular situations (May sometimes
be the same as their positions!)

 Buying a car – interest – transportation

 ‘A’ grade – interest – scholarship/show-
off

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Focusing on Interests
 Problem: barking dog

 My interpretation:?

 My position:?

 My interest:?

 Issue:?

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Focusing on Interests
 Problem: barking dog

 My interpretation: my neighbor doesn’t

care about my needs

 My position: quiet the dog

 My interest: I need sleep

 Issue: how to control the barking

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Focusing on Interests
 Problem: reefs are dying

 My interpretation: inadequately controlled

construction in near-shore areas results in runoff that
smothers reefs.

 My position: stop or severely limit land disturbance

 Interest: reducing the rate of coral loss

 Issue: What’s the real source of reef degradation?

How can runoff be reduced/ controlled?

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Types of Interests
 Substantive: How people describe the issue:
 barking dogs, (the owner doesn’t care)
 cars blocking driveway, (lack of civic sense/other’s rights)
 dying reefs (insensitivity to ecological balance)

 Relational: How people say they should be

treated or acknowledged

 Procedural: How people think issues should

be addressed (e.g. courts)

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Principle 3: Example…..

Invent Options for Mutual Gain An

 Two pharmaceutical companies wanted to buy eggs
from a supplier.

 One needed 80,000 eggs;

 the other, 70,000.

 But the supplier had only 100,000 eggs.

 Wow! We have a conflict

 how do we resolve the conflict……….

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Principle 3:
Invent Options for Mutual Gain

 Focus on the variety of ways issues/ interests

(yours/theirs) might be addressed?

 Avoid assuming there’s a single solution

 Separate brainstorming from evaluation of options

 Don’t assume zero-sum conditions

 Think creatively

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Principle 4:
Insist on Objective Criteria

 Fair standards: market value, precedent, blue

book value, professional standards, “best
practice,” industry average, equal treatment,
etc.

 Fair procedures: e.g. last best offers, taking

turns, etc.

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When is the Interest-Based
Approach Appropriate?

 Other party is willing to problem-solve

 There is sufficient trust and information—or a

willingness to develop them

 On-going relationships are important

 Commitment to carry out the agreement is needed

 Quality agreement is more important than an

expedient one

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When is the Interest-Based
Approach Unnecessary?

 On-going relationships are not important

 Lack of commitment to problem-solving

on the part of one or more parties

 One or more parties see the negotiation

as involving fundamental rights (Water
issue with Sindh)

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Prepping for Your Negotiation
 What are our interests? What are theirs? How
can we find out? (PPP vs. the SC)

 What’s our BATNA? What’s theirs?

 What do we know about their circumstances

that might affect the negotiations?

 What’s their negotiation style? Etc.

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A BATNA

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Sources of Negotiation Problems
 Perceptual errors

 Unrealistic expectations about likely

outcomes

 Unwillingness or inability to engage in real

negotiations

 Perceived non-negotiability of some

disputes
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Class exercise
 Think about the time you were involved in
a negotiation and answer the following:

 Did you focus on the interests of the

negotiating parties

 Did you approach the negotiation from rights

perspective

 Did you employ power tactic

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