Negotiation and Bargaining Strategies

Power Tactics

• Ingratiation: being friendly to the other party to get them to like you
• Intimidation: engaging in aggressive behavior to get what you want
• Leverage: the amount of power a negotiator has in a negotiation
• Logrolling: making concessions on issues with low priority to gain on issues with high priority
• Mixed-motive bargaining: a situation with both conflict and potential for integration
• Nibble: asking for small additional things after negotiation has begun
• Overwhelming the other party with information: providing too much information to distract and overwhelm
• Rationality: using reason and logical presentation of facts or data to negotiate
• Upward appeal: obtaining support from people in higher positions of authority
• Winner's curse: feeling that you could have done better in a negotiation

Integrative Negotiations

• Arbitration: a type of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) where a neutral third party decides the case
• Civil Rights mediation: mediation offered through the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to resolve employment disputes
• Community mediation: a method for resolving disputes within a community
• Complementary Dispute Resolution (CDR): another name for Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Grievance: a complaint about the interpretation or application of a union contract
• Interest-based approach: an approach that focuses on common concerns, priorities, and preferences to achieve an integrative agreement
• Mediation: a type of ADR where a neutral third party helps parties work through issues and come to a mutually agreeable solution
• One-on-One/Informal dispute resolution: an approach that involves approaching the other party to discuss the situation
• Power-based approach: an approach that uses authority or strength to coerce the other party
• Relationship conflict: conflict based on interpersonal differences
• Restorative Justice (RJ): a method of dealing with criminals that encourages them to accept responsibility and make restitution
• Rights arbitration: a specific form of arbitration used to resolve disputes about the interpretation or application of a union contract
• Rights-based approach: an approach that seeks to apply a standard of fairness, contract, or law to resolve the dispute
• Small-claims court: a method of resolving private disputes under a certain dollar limit where the parties represent themselves and a judge decides the outcome
• Substantive conflict: conflict that arises over desired outcomes or processes

Understanding Yourself and How That Impacts Negotiation

• Aggressive: communication patterns involve being pushy, always needing to be right, using absolute terms, and exerting control over others
• Assertive: communication is characterized by fairness, directness, honesty, tact, and sensitivity, and speaking up for one's rights
• Cooperatives: people who focus on harmony and values, often giving in to others' wishes to keep the peace
• Data-gathering (thinking) preferences: an individual's natural approach for collecting information
• Decision-making (doing) preferences: an individual's natural approach for choosing between alternatives
• Encode: to put thoughts into a message according to one's own perceptions, experiences, and abilities
• Information overload: when the volume of information exceeds a person's capacity to process it
• Listening: a critical component of the negotiation process that involves constructing meaning from all verbal and nonverbal signals
• Noise: any distortion factor that blocks, disrupts, or distorts the message sent to the receiver
• Nonverbal communication: any means of conveying information to another that does not involve the use of words
• Passive listening: when the listener acts as a sponge, taking in the information with no or little attempt to process or enhance the message
• Virtual negotiation: any negotiation that occurs via phone, fax, email, synchronous chat, or teleconferencing

The Role and Importance of Persuasion in Negotiation

• ACE Theory: a theory that holds that people use three criteria (appropriateness, consistency, and effectiveness) to determine whether to respond to a persuader's arguments
• Appropriateness: the right thing to do, based on generally accepted standards or norms
• Cognitive dissonance: the tension that exists when individuals' beliefs do not align with their behaviors
• Consensus/social proof: a principle that holds that people often decide what to do based on what they see others doing
• Consistency: the degree to which the action or belief proposed compares to that of similar others or to their own past behaviors or espoused beliefs
• Effectiveness: the degree to which an action or idea leads to a desirable state or outcome
• Frame for common ground: identifying and presenting a plan or framework for the negotiating context that comprises common interest and facilitates collaborative decision making
• Inoculation theory: a theory that holds that persuaders can be more effective when they anticipate potential objections and address them before they arise
• Manipulation/coercion: convincing people to agree to something that is not in their best interest
• Persuasion: the presentation of arguments and supporting evidence to get others to adopt a new behavior or belief
• Scarcity: a principle that holds that people will be motivated to obtain something they believe is in short supply