Chapter 6: Communication During Negotiation
Offers, Counteroffers, and Motives
-The communicative framework for negotiation
1). the communication of offers is a dynamic process
2). the offer process is interactive
3). various internal and external factors drive the interaction and “motivate” a bargainer to change his or her offer.
Ÿ Information about Alternatives
Negotiators with an attractive BATNA should tell the other party about it if they expect to receive its full benefits.
-The style and tone used to convey information about an attractive BATNA
1).Politely making the other party aware of one’s good alternative can provide leverage without alienating the other party.
2).Waving a good BATNA in the other party’s face in an imposing or condescending manner may be construed as aggressive and threatening.
Ÿ Information about Outcomes
Negotiators should be cautious about sharing their outcomes or even their positive reactions to outcomes with the other party, especially if they are going to negotiate with that party again in the future.
Ÿ Social Accounts
Three explanation types:
1).Explanations of mitigating circumstances
2).Explanations of exonerating circumstances
3).Reframing explanation
Ÿ Communication about Process
How well it is going or what procedures might be adopted to improve the situation.
Consider: Is More Information Always Better?
“Information-is-weakness Effect”: Negotiators who know the complete preferences of both parties may have more difficulty determining fair outcomes that negotiators who do not have this information.
l How People Communicate in Negotiation
Ÿ Use of Language
-Two levels of language operation: Logical level & Pragmatic level: The meaning conveyed by a statement or proposition is combined with a logical surface message and several pragmatic levels.
Parties whose statements communicated interests in both the substance of the negotiation and the relationship with the other party achieved better, more integrative solutions.
Ÿ Use of Nonverbal Communication
1).Make Eye Contact
–When listening: show others you are paying attention and listening that you consider them important
–When delivering: emphasize the importance of the message that is being sent
2).Adjust Body Position
One’s body position indicates whether one is paying attention to the other party.
–To show you are attentive: hold your body erect, lean slightly forward, and face the other person directly
–To show strong rejection or disapproval: crossing arms, bowing the head, furrowing the brow, and squeezing eyebrows together.
3).Nonverbally Encourage or Discourage What the Other Says
Indicate encouragement: brief eye contact, a smile, or a nod of the head.
Indicate discouragement: a frown, a scowl, a shake of the head, or a grab of one’s chest in mock pain
Ÿ Selection of a Communication Channel
–Face-to-face negotiators are more easily to develop personal rapport, more inclined to disclose information truthfully, increasing their ability to attain mutual gain.
–What e-mail negotiations lack is schmoozing—off-task or relationship-focused conversations.
l How to Improve Communication in Negotiation
Ÿ The Use of Questions
Questions in Negotiation:
1).Manageable: cause attention or prepare the other person’s thinking for further questions, get information, generate thoughts
2).Unmanageable: cause difficulty, give information, bring the discussion to a false conclusion
–collect and diagnose information, assist the other party in addressing and expressing needs and interests
–pry or lever a negotiation out of a breakdown or an apparent dead end
Ÿ Listening
1). Passive listening
Receive the message while providing no feedback to the sender about the accuracy or completeness of reception. (Can be used as the best strategy when the counterpart is talkative)
2).Acknowledgment:
Receivers occasionally nod their heads, maintain eye contact, or interject responses like “I see,” “mm-hmm.” “interesting,” “really,” and the like.
3).Active listening
Restate or paraphrase the sender’s message in their own language
Ÿ Role Reversal
Gain an understanding of the other party’s perspective or frame of reference: allow negotiators to understand more completely the other party’s position by actively arguing these positions until the other party is convinced that he or she is understood.
l Special Communication Considerations at the Close of Negotiations
Ÿ Avoiding Fatal Mistakes
Ÿ Achieving Closure
–avoid surrendering important information needlessly, and to refrain from making “dumb remarks” that push a wavering counterpart away from the agreement
–recognize the other party’s faux pas and dumb remarks for what they are and refuse to respond or be distracted by them
