Planning and Preparation for Effective Negotiation

Planning and Preparation for Effective Negotiation

1. The purpose is to provide guidelines for effective planning and preparation both before and during the negotiation process, including guidelines for assessing the negotiation situation, analyzing the negotiation structure, planning for strategies that facilitate goal attainment, and re-orienting to manage contingencies that may arise during the dynamic, interactive negotiation process

   • Negotiation Analysis: Know the Situation, Yourself, and Your Opponent.
     • An essential component of effective preparation is to conduct a well-rounded analysis of the bargaining situation, to understand not only one’s own positions, interests, priorities, and alternatives, but also those of the counterparts.
       • Analyze the negotiation context: Opportunities and constraints
         • Assess the historical, political, legal, and cultural context in which negotiations take place. Negotiators who reached an impasse in a previous negotiation are more likely to repeat their failures because their prior experiences can influence how negotiators judge their skills, set their goals, and formulate their strategies.
         • Assess the purpose of the negotiation: Deal-making or dispute. In a typical business negotiation, parties come together to attempt to exchange resources, or make a deal. Negotiators use distributive bargaining strategies to claim greater value for themselves, whereas they use integrative bargaining strategies to expand the pie for both parties.
         • Assess the nature of the conflict: Conflicts and disputes may simply involve competition over scarce resources. However, many conflict situations, especially those between members of diverse cultural, ethnic, or social groups, also involve ideologies. As negotiators uphold fundamentally different assumptions, moral standards, and beliefs, the likelihood of reaching an impasse is significantly increased, often accompanied by increased tensions and emotions.
         • Assess the temporality of the negotiation: For a longterm work relationship, what matters during the negotiation goes beyond tangible, quantifiable issues; intangible issues, such as negotiators’ reputation, interpersonal trust, face concerns, and relational harmony may be equally, if not more, important.
         • Assess external constraints: Negotiations are often associated with some time-related costs. Negotiating under time pressure may activate a need for closure. As a result, they may either prematurely end the negotiation with an impasse, or reduce their aspiration level and conform.
         • Assess external constraints: In addition to time constraints, where negotiations take place also matters. Negotiating on one’s own territory is typically considered an advantage, as the outside party may experience greater uncertainty and perceive less power.
         • Assess external constraints: Communication channels.Negotiators should be mindful of the properties of various communication channels as well as their potential influence on negotiation process and outcomes to make a sound choice.
       • Analyze the negotiation structure and components
         • Identify the negotiation parties. A party to a negotiation is any person or group pursuing distinct goals in the context of a specific negotiation.
         • Define the issues. The number of issues each party brings into the negotiation tends to have a strong influence on the strategies negotiators choose.
         • Understand the underlying interests. Identifying issues is about finding out what one wants. Identifying interests is about asking oneself why one wants those things.
         • Consider alternatives. Once issues and interests are well known, negotiators need to set specific parameters for the negotiation, such as the best deal they can hope for and the worst deal before they should walk away.
         • Create a scoring system and sort out preferences. Once negotiators have a clear understanding of their underlying interests for all the issues they have identified, it is important to sort out their own preferences.
           • Assess your negotiation style. After analyzing issues, interests, preferences, and alternatives, as well as setting aspiration and reservation points, negotiators should conduct a self-assessment in terms of their attitude toward risks, preferred approach to conflict, and personal negotiation history.