CHAPTER 6
Communication
The Titles
1. Basic Models of Communication
2. What is Communicated during
Negotiation?
3. How People Communicate in
Negotiation?
4. How to Improve Communication in
Negotiation
5. Special Communication Considerations
at the Close of Negotiations
6. Chapter Summary
1. Basic Models of
Communication
• An early and influential model
conceptualized communication as an
activity that occurs between two people: a
sender and a receiver.
• A sender has a thought or meaning in mind.
The sender encodes this meaning into a
message is then transmitted to a receiver.
• The receivers decode the message and
reach their own understanding of what the
sender said.
Distortion in Communication
• (1) Senders and receivers each have goals and
objectives, things they want to accomplish.
• (2) Transmitters and receptors are the means through
which information is sent and received.
• (3) Messages are symbolic forms by which information is
communicated.
• (4) Encoding is the process by which messages are put
into symbolic form.
• (5) Channels are the conduits by which messages are
carried from one party to another.
• (6) Decoding is the process of translating messages from
their symbolic form into a form that makes sense.
• (7) Meanings are the fact, ideas, feelings, reactions, or
thoughts that exit within individuals and act as a set of
filters for interpreting the decode messages.
• (8) Feedback is the process by which the receiver reacts
to the sender’s messages.
2. What is Communicated
during Negotiation
•
Five different categories of
communication take place in the
negotiation:
(1) Offers, Counteroffers, and Motives
(2) Information about Alternatives
(3) Information about Outcomes
(4) Social Accounts
(5) Communication about Process
• Is more Information Always Better?
Is more Information Always
Better ?
• Receiving too much information during
the negotiation may actually be
detrimental to negotiators, this is
sometimes called the information-isweakness effects.
• Having more information does not
automatically translate into better
negotiation outcomes.
• The effect of exchanging information
during negotiation depends on the types
of issues being discussed and the
negotiators’ motivation to use the
3. How People Communicate in
Negotiation
• While it may seem obvious that how
negotiators communicate is as important as
what they have to say, research has
examined different aspects of how people
communicate in negotiation.
• We address three aspects related to the
“how” of communication: the characteristic
of language that communicators use, the
use of non-verbal communication, and the
selection of a communication channel for
sending and receiving messages.
3.1 Use of Language
• In negotiation, language operates at two levels: the
logical level and the pragmatic level.
• We often react not only to the substance of a
threatening statement but also to its unspoken
messages. Gibbons, Bradac, and Busch identify
five linguistic dimensions of making threats.
• Whether the intent is to command and compel, sell,
or gain commitment, how parties communicate in
negotiation would seem to depend on the ability of
speaker to encode thoughts properly, as well as on
the ability of the listener to understand and decode
the intended messages.
• A negotiators choice of words may not only signal
a position but also shapes and predict it.
•
3.2 Use of Nonverbal
Communication
Make Eye Contact
In general, making eye contact is one way to show
others you are paying attention and listening and that
you consider them important.
• Adjust Body Position
To ensure that others know you are attentive to
them, hold your body erect, lean lightly forward, and
face the other person directly.
• Nonverbally Encourage or Discourage What the Other
Says
Face-to-face interaction stimulated rapport through
nonverbal communication, which in turn enhanced
coordination and led to higher joint gains.
3.3 Selection of a
Communication Channel
• The use of a particular channel shapes both
perceptions of the communication task at hand
and norms regarding appropriate behavior;
accordingly, channel variations have potentially
important effects on negotiation process and
outcomes.
• Thompson and Nadler(2002) identified four
biases that can threaten e-mail negotiations:
(1) Temporal synchrony bias
(2) Burned bridge bias
(3) Squeaky wheel bias
(4) Sinister attribution
4. How to Improve
Communication in Negotiation
• Researches has consistently
demonstrated that even those parties
whose goals are compatible or
integrative may fail to reach agreement
or reach suboptimal agreements
because of the misperceptions of the
other party or because of breakdowns
in the communication process.
• Three main techniques are available for
improving communication in negotiation:
the use of questions, listening and
4.1 Use of Questions
• Questions are essential elements in
negotiations for securing information;
asking good questions enables
negotiators to secure a great deal of
information about the other party’s
position, supporting arguments, and
needs.
• Nierenberg proposed that questions
could be divided into two basic
categories: those that are manageable
and those that are unmanageable and
4.2 Listening
• There are three major forms of listening:
(1) Passive listening
(2) Acknowledgement
(3) Active listening
• Athos and Gabarro(1978) note that
successful reflective responding is a critical
part of active listening.
• By recommending active listening, we are
suggesting that it is a skill that encourages
people to seek more fully about their feelings,
priorities, frames of references, and, by
extension, the positions they are taking.
4.3 Role Reversal
• Role reversal may be useful tool for
improving communication and the accurate
understanding and appreciation of the other
party’s position in negotiation.
• This may be most useful during the preparing
stage of negotiation or during a team caucus
when things are not going well.
• However, increasing understanding does not
necessarily lead to easy resolution of conflict,
particularly when accurate communication
reveals a fundamental incompatibility in the
position of two sides.
5. Special Communication
Considerations at the Close of
Negotiations
• Avoiding Fatal Mistakes
Such decision making process can be divided
into four key elements: framing, gathering
intelligence, coming to conclusions, and learn
from feedback.
• Achieving Closure
Karrass enjoins negotiator to know “when to
shut up”, to avoid surrendering important
information needlessly, and to refrain from
making “dumb remarks” that push a wavering
counterpart away from the agreement he or she
6. Chapter Summary
• In this chapter we have considered elements
of the art and science of communication that
are relevant to understanding negotiation.
• We began with models that show
communication as prone to error and
distortion. Then moved to discuss of what is
communicated during negotiation.
• In the final two sections of the chapter we
considered: (1) how to improve
communication in negotiation, (2) special
communication considerations at the close of
negotiation.