Negotiation
Class 7
Questions about Negotiation
• Do all negotiations have a winner and a
loser?
• Is the best strategy to be tough or soft?
• Are the best negotiators born that way?
• Do the best negotiators take risks?
• Do the best negotiators rely on intuition?
• Can you learn from your negotiation
experiences?
Negotiation exercise
• Find a partner
• Read your instructions and plan your
strategy
• Wait for my go-ahead to begin
• Write down 1 copy of your agreement
• Debrief each other
Debrief
• What was your “target point”?
– What were you aiming to get?
– How did you set this target?
• What was your “reservation point”?
– What was the worst arrangement that you
would be willing to accept?
– How did you decide on this?
• Goal:
– Divide up the “zone of possible agreements”
Debrief
• What was your “BATNA”?
– Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement?
– Strategy:
• what can you do to improve this??
• Can you find out the other party’s BATNA?
• Should you reveal your BATNA to the
other party?
Debrief
• Who made the first offer? Why?
– How did this affect the rest of your
negotiations?
– How specific was the first offer? Did you
suggest a range of possibilities?
• What were the counter-offers? Why?
– Did you re-calibrate your target or reservation
point?
– What concessions did you make?
Negotiation exercise (II)
• Find a NEW partner (groups of 2)
• Read your instructions and plan your
strategy
• Wait for my go-ahead to begin
• Write down 1 copy of your agreement
• Debrief each other
Strategies that didn’t work
• Did you try anything that backfired? What
happened?
• Did your partner try any strategies that
failed? How did you respond?
Strategies that may be
problematic:
• Determination to make the deal “win-win”
• Determination to compromise
– Equal concessions
•
•
•
•
Focus on a long-term relationship
Benevolent / cooperative behavior
Taking your time / stalling
Lying
Usually useful strategies
• Perspective-taking
– Trying to figure out what the other party wants
or needs
• Asking questions
– What are the other party’s priorities?
• Answering questions (within reason)
Usually useful strategies
• Unbundle the issues
• Offer “package deals”
• Make multiple offers simultaneously
– Get away from sequential bargaining
– Make the different offers equally desirable (to
you)
– Make all the offers at the same time
• Ask for concessions
Negotiation exercise (III)
• Find three other people that you have not
negotiated with yet (form groups of 4)
• Read your instructions and plan your
strategy
• Wait for my go-ahead to begin
• Write down 1 copy of your agreement
• Debrief each other
Multi-party negotiations
• What made this negotiation more
challenging than the last two exercises?
• Was there anything that worked to your
advantage?
• Were there any pitfalls? How did you
handle them?
Multi-party negotiations
• Set your own priorities and goals
– Do not let another party decide or argue on
your behalf
• Try to agree on a process in advance
– Ok to rotate roles if necessary (e.g., time
keeper, note taker)
• Stay “at the table”
• Strive for equal participation from all
groups
Multi-party negotiations
• Try to agree on something early on
– What are the issues? What is the process?
• Try not to give in to the “equal shares” bias
• Try not to be too agreeable / disagreeable
• Avoid “sequential bargaining”
– Don’t vote on one issue at a time
• Argue from principle / fairness
• Don’t reveal your BATNA to your “ally”
TED Talks
• What were the primary arguments in the
first talk? What about the second one?
• What did you agree with?
• What did you disagree with?
• What else should have been included?
• What is your overall assessment or
evaluation of the talks?