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In general, negotiation may be regarded as a process related to communication during which two or more involved parties try to reach a resolution or compromise agreeable to all. Negotiation plays an important role in a person’s private and professional life. As all people are different, every day, they face the necessity to negotiate in order to live, work together, and solve emerging problems. In the workplace, negotiation skills allow for improvement in both formal and informal interactions contributing to appropriate results as it helps form stable and long-lasting relationships on the basis of mutual respect and deliver quality solutions that will satisfy parties’ needs for a long period of time (Queensland Government, 2020). Moreover, negotiation skills are highly essential for efficient conflict management. According to Pérez-Yus et al. (2020), being a part of human reality, conflict “travels across different paths in our life, from the international and organizational settings to the most everyday spaces of the individual” (p. 1). In turn, negotiation allows one to assess the complaints, arguments, and needs of all parties in order to discuss the variants of resolution and find a mutually acceptable decision.
All in all, the main purpose of negotiation is to reach an agreement by applying a conscious approach to communication. At the same time, the results of negotiation depend on chosen communication and negotiation styles. Thus, a communicator may negotiate passively, aggressively, or assertively on the basis of their personal characteristics and proficiency in negotiation skills. The passive approach presupposes the use of under-confident body language, ambiguous language, and weak arguments that cannot be regarded as efficient for persuasion (Queensland Government, 2020). In turn, the aggressive approach is characterized by open confrontation with parties, intentions to persuade, and a lack of attention to opponents’ needs that destroys negotiations. Finally, assertive communication may be defined as the most considerate and confident approach. Being factual rather than critical or emotional, it aims to reach mutually beneficial outcomes in a respectful way.
At the same time, negotiators traditionally interact with others on the basis of their personal negotiation styles, including avoiding, competing, compromising, accommodating, and collaborating (Harris, n.d.; Barthelmess et al., 2018). Avoiding negotiators prefer to remain neutral, non-responsible, non-cooperative, and less assertive. They do not pursue either their own or other parties’ interests, choosing to avoid discussions and staying indifferent to both relationships and the final agreement (Harris, n.d.). In turn, competing negotiators are self-confident and assertive – they value their personal concerns and tend to pursue them even at opponents’ expense, frequently becoming domineering and aggressive. As these negotiators focus on the substance of negotiation rather than relationships between parties, this style may be characterized by low cooperativeness.
Compromising negotiators focus on the search for a middle-ground solution that should be found immediately for all parties’ moderate satisfaction. They exchange concessions, split the difference, and pay attention to the aspects of discussion that will help reach an agreement quickly rather than build long-lasting relationships (Harris, n.d.). On the contrary, accommodating negotiators value cooperativeness and stable relationships more than others. They prefer to minimize all differences and smooth over any tensions. However, they prefer to ignore their own interests and reach an agreement that will be in favor of their opponents. Finally, collaborating negotiators value both cooperativeness and assertiveness – they are ready to communicate in order to reach a mutually agreeable decision. They respect opponents’ positions. However, they will not sacrifice their own interests as well. In general, it is collaborative negotiators focus on long-lasting and productive relationships and quality decisions more than other types.
While the final goal of any negotiation is to reach an agreement, not all styles of it help achieve positive results. Thus, in order to become an efficient negotiator, it is highly essential to assess and evaluate a person’s negotiation skills and his perceptions of this process in order to identify his style and the ways of improvement. In this case, I may say that the completion of The Personal Bargaining Inventory questionnaire was highly useful for me as it helped me clarify and learn about my perceptions of myself in conjunction with negotiations.
All in all, on the basis of my responses and information about negotiation styles, I may characterize myself as a predominantly collaborating negotiator with the elements of a competing approach. First of all, it is necessary to state that I love conflict, even in the way of “a good old, knockdown, drag-out verbal fight,” and consider it healthy (“The Personal Bargaining Inventory,” 2018, p. 3). However, I regard conflict not as a way to express emotions but to share opinions and resolve differences. At the same time, I believe that disagreement between people and its expression in response to someone’s view is normal – thus, criticism does not bother me. When I dispute, I prefer to focus on factual information and look in a dispassionate way, even at highly emotional issues (“The Personal Bargaining Inventory,” 2018). At the same time, I do not think that only one opinion is right and should be accepted – instead, a well-balanced decision is more important both in private life and for the functioning of any organization. Meanwhile, this decision should be made only on the basis of honest and open communication with opponents.
At the same time, I may assume that the ability to persuade others is not unattractive to me. First of all, “I pride myself on being highly principled. I am willing to stand by those principles no matter what the cost” (“The Personal Bargaining Inventory,” 2018, p. 2). At the same time, in competitive situations, I like and prefer to win, no matter how – either “by the biggest margin possible” or “just come out a little ahead” (“The Personal Bargaining Inventory,” 2018, p. 3). In general, I may say that I love healthy discussions and accept disagreement as a natural phenomenon of negotiation. In addition, I respect opponents’ opinions. However, I consider my principles to be my top priority. I believe that the most appropriate decisions are made as a result of honest collaboration, but at the same time, I like when I am able to persuade others and win.
In general, I consider myself a good negotiator as my negotiation style corresponds with my perception of an efficient negotiator according to the questionnaire’s results. Thus, I believe an efficient negotiator should not be emotional, easily predictable, or too open to avoid others’ ability to take advantage of him (“The Personal Bargaining Inventory,” 2018). In other words, he should stay calm regardless of any tension that may arise in the process of discussion (Smolinski & Xiong, 2020). However, it does not mean that a good negotiator should stay indifferent – on the contrary, he should participate in the discussion and express understanding “to see the issues from the opponent’s point of view” as “most results in bargaining can be achieved through cooperation” (“The Personal Bargaining Inventory,” 2018, p. 4). Subsequently, a person may make minor concessions for opponents to reciprocate something he wants later (Neville & Fisk, 2018). At the same time, negotiators should be morally responsible for their arguments and the results of their discussions.
However, from the results, I may notice that my partially competing approach impacts my perception of an efficient negotiator. For instance, I advocate for aggressiveness if the initiative is taken to accomplish objectives (“The Personal Bargaining Inventory,” 2018). In addition, I accept that an efficient negotiator may sometimes deal not completely openly with opponents and compromise his principles in order to achieve appropriate results. Nevertheless, fear as a source of manipulation, lying, and imposing discomfort on opponents are unacceptable.
To conclude, The Personal Bargaining Inventory questionnaire helped me identify my personal negotiation style and evaluate how my skills suit the skills of an efficient negotiator. At the same time, it allowed me to assess my weakness and see the areas in which I need improvement. To be precise, I feel that I should focus on emotional intelligence and learn to control my emotions when I desire to take advantage of a discussion and win at any cost. In addition, I should consider the feelings and emotions of other people and know how to manage them, as they frequently determine people’s words and actions. All in all, I aim to be more cooperative in negotiation – while I regard critical thinking and the ability to collect facts and present them as arguments as my considerable strength as a negotiator, emotional aspects should not be ignored as well.
References
Barthelmess Röthlisberger, P., Enzmann, P., Settelen, M., & Schärmeli, N. (2018). Navigating ambiguity: Distributive and integrative negotiation tactics in China. Central European Business Review, 7(2), 21-43.
Harris, B. (n.d.). The five styles of negotiation. APPA. Web.
Neville, L., & Fisk, G. M. (2019). Getting to excess: Psychological entitlement and negotiation attitudes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 34(4), 555-574.
Pérez-Yus, M. C., Ayllón-Negrillo, E., Delsignore, G., Magallón-Botaya, R., Aguilar-Latorre, A., & Oliván Blázquez, B. (2020). Variables associated with negotiation effectiveness: The role of mindfulness. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(1214), 1-13.
Queensland Government. (2020). Negotiation skills. Web.
Smolinski, R., & Xiong, Y. (2020). In search of master negotiators: A negotiation competency model. Negotiation Journal, 36(3), 365-388.
The Personal Bargaining Inventory. (2018, July 16). 2-4.
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