Negotiation Sequence
Before the actual negotiation takes place, it is very important that a sequence is followed that will help in ensuring a relaxed environment for carrying out the negotiation procedure.
The procedures are stated as:
-
Agenda
Every meeting before starting off with any form of negotiation requires an agenda. It is the content that has to be discussed, and negotiations will occur on the basis of that, or final result can be based on that.
However, when some parties come for a discussion, it has been seen that, they prefer to keep quiet, trying to keep the agenda as a matter of surprise. However, in most cases, this plan backfires since,issues associated with a particular content cannot be discussed. Only when the agenda of the conversation is clear before the parties, can it be said that a proper negotiation can take place.
Another very important point to note is that, the order in which the points are placed in an agenda is also very important. In case the employee’s points are placed before that of the manager, there are high chances of starting off a biased negotiation process. It is important to understand that concerned possibilities do not turn into concerned probabilities when it comes to well-advanced discussion levels.
The major problem arises when multiple negotiations take place without a proper agenda at hand, and most of the issues are either not discussed, or discussion does not base upon the actual set of problems. The ‘orientation’ of a particular problem is also important and therefore, it is important to have an agenda with proper orientation.
-
Information
Both the parties need to have a detailed idea of the information that is there on the agenda. There has to be facts to support a particular idea and negotiate on that idea. After certain ideas are negotiated upon can the result be decided.
So, an agenda needs to have proper in formation on the concerned issues that are to be discussed.
-
Strategy
To ensure that a negotiation works in the best manner, the most important thing to note is having a proper strategy. According to Fowler (1990), before a negotiation process starts off – there has to be a proper analysis of given conventions and possible outcomes of it.
There are 4 prospects of this process.
-
Objectives:
Every team before they go out for a verbal debate has a set of objectives. They have to ensure for themselves that these objectives are fulfilled. Starting from – placing the ideas to finally putting up a strong defense and getting the best deal, only when these objectives are fulfilled, can it be stated that the issue has been solved. Most of these objectives have a positive and a negative demand associated with them.
-
Role:
In a particular group that is going for negotiation, it is important to note that there is position for each person and it is based on that authority that people are given a role.
There are generally4 types of position – managerial, advocate, specialists, and observers. As per their posts, they are supposed to set up the conversation and work out the final result. It must be remembered that each of these positions has their specific job role and have high standards in the working scheme.
-
Predicting claims:
When the negotiators try to determine the final result associated with strategies that have been discussed, there are certain claims that are made. So, both putting forth and answering of arguments occur on a daily basis.
-
Unity:
Negotiations are required only where there is a major conflict of interest between two parties. In such a case, there is a clash of ideologies and thoughts, and therefore two parties are to search out strategies that best fit their needs. Now it is a very important point to ensure that the parties who are warring with each other should have unity amongst themselves since they have to already fight against each other’s ideologies. The whole idea is to maintain unity on the personal front to ensure proper strategizing of the concerned demands.
When all these aspects are met together, the aspects of negotiation can be taken into account.
