Sharks, Saints, and Samurai
The article Sharks, Saints, and Samurai: The Power of Ethics in Negotiations was written by Mark Young, for the April 2008 edition of the Negotiation Journal. The article discusses the power of ethics in negotiations. Mr. Young discusses three observations concerning the balance of power and ethics in politics and business. The first observation discusses Nelson Mandela and the South African government in 1986. The second and third observations are about two business contract negotiations made in the 1990’s in the United States and Germany. Young explains the three approaches to negotiations: tactical, prudential, and principled. He then anecdotally illustrates these three approaches by categorizing the negotiators who use them as saints, sharks, and samurai. This paper will discuss the negotiation approaches employed by the negotiators and how their worldview, comprehension, desire for power, and ethics is what determines whether they are a saint, shark, or a samurai. Based upon the observations of the Samurai, Nelson Mandela, Hunt Wesson (HW), and The Trust agency of Germany, as a Christian I believe that it is best to adhere to principled negotiations because ethics can be a major source of power.
Mark Young uses three comparisons to describe the negotiating styles of people; sharks, saints, and samurai. A shark is a negotiator whose concerns are purely tactical and practices “gamesmanship.” A shark uses ethics to play on their opponent’s fears and values and subdue them. Saints are defined as someone who will forgo real negotiation gains to remain trustworthy. They believe that their conduct is the ultimate basis for any judgment about the value of negotiations. Lastly, Samurai are people who prac...
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...mples the article provided as role models when I negotiate with other people in my professional and personal life. By analyzing the approaches employed by the various negotiators I was able to observe their ethical worldviews, their comprehension of the balance of power and ethics in negotiations, and the respect that these Samurai negotiators displayed for their counterparts during the negotiation process. Virtue in the negotiation process can become a powerful tool by those who choose to employ it. “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord” (Pr. 16:2).
Works Cited
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Purnell, M. (1994) Long walk to freedom. Boston: Little and Brown Co.
Young, M. (1998). Sharks, saints, and samurai. Cambridge: Harvard Press.
Lewicki, R. J., Saunders, D. M., & Barry, B. (2006). Negotiation Readings, Exercises, and Cases Fifth Ed. Bill Brubaker, Mark Asher, A Power Play for Howard Negotiation (pp. 616-626). New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill Irwin.
Lewicki, J. R., Barry, B., & Saunders, M. D. (2010). Negotiation: Readings, exercises and cases
Fisher, Roger, William Ury, and Bruce Patton. Getting to yes: negotiating agreement without giving in. 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1991. Print.
Negotiations styles are scholastically recognized as being broken down into two general categories and those are distributive bargaining styles and integrative negotiation styles. Distributive bargaining styles of negotiation are understood to be a competitive type of negotiation. “Distributive bargaining, also known as positional bargaining, negotiating zero-sum, competitive negotiation, or win-lose negotiation, is a type or style of negotiation in which the parties compete for the distribution of a fixed amount of value” (Business Blog Reviews, 2011). This type of negotiation skill or style approach might be best represented in professional areas such as the stock market where there is a fixed goal in mind or even in a garage sale negotiation where the owner would have a specific value of which he/she would not go below. In contrast, an integrative negotiation approach/style is that of cooperative bargaining, or win-win types ...
Most of the common activities in our daily life present an opportunity to negotiate, whether or not we realise it. Meta-reflecting upon my negotiation experiences during the class and other activities have led me to identify few common themes. In this assignment, the two themes I will be discussing are (1) the importance of being clear on the strategic intent and big picture thinking, and (2) the importance of managing the negotiation process through understanding the various phases and visualising negotiation as a train journey.
Principled negotiation allows disputants to obtain what they are entitled to, while enabling them to be fair, at the same time protecting against those who would take advantage of their fairness . Although the points made are logical and indeed a great approach to certain types of conflict, I found that in some cases the method did not completely come together. More than anything, I found the method altogether was simplistic and for an ideal situation. While going through the four elements, I shall illustrate these points.
Lewicki, J. R., Barry, B., & Saunders, M. D. (2006). Negotiation: Readings, Exercises and Cases (5th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
I included this paper because I enjoyed the discussion about the qualities of a good negotiator. Good negotiators are usually people who are respectful others, can develop a strategic negotiation plan, and understand you have to think about certain things, like the “big picture” of a situation in order to generate creative options (Dietmeyer, 2008). One of the reasons why I included this written work in my Artifact, was for the second part of the assignment, we were required to describe a conflict scenario. For that conflict scenario, we were to evaluate reasons as to why utilizing negotiation would be wrong for that situation. Next, we were allowed to take the opposite approach, and list reasons as to why we should use negotiation techniques for the conflict scenario. I always enjoy getting to do assignments that look at both ends of the spectrum: “why should we do something and why should we not do something.” If you have ever been in therapy, it sort of like doing the “empty chair exercise” that some therapists ask you to do when a client is experiencing conflict. And essentially, the whole point of the exercise is for the individual to be able to experience different aspects of a conflict in a new manner through the “empty-chair”
Lewicki, R., Saunders, D.M., Barry B., (2010) Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases. 6th Ed. McGraw-Hill Irwin. New York, NY
Good preparation allows you to strategize with the ability to think quickly in the negotiation room. There are several different formats and styles of negotiations. The use of a certain style depends on elements such as the strength of the relationship, the urgency of the situation, the intricacy of the issues, and the content of the negotiation. Each format and style has its own strengths and weaknesses and can be strategically used in various types of situations. As mentioned, the preparation of a successful negation is necessary, especially concerning your BATNA. We have been able to explore such preparation and methods by participating and conducting negotiations with our peers. The following negotiation studies proved to have their own dynamic, thus accounting for a different preparation and negotiation tactic for each.
McCarthy, A. (n.d.). 10 rules of negotiation. Negotiation Skills. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://www.negotiation-skills.org
Zhang, Jian-Dong; Liu, Leigh Anne; Liu, Wu. “Trust and Decption in Negotiation: Culturally Divergent Effects.” Management and Organization Review, [early view].
Negotiation approaches are generally described as either distributive or integrative. At the heart of each strategy is a measurement of conflict between each party’s desired outcomes. Consider the following situation. Chris, an entrepreneur, is starting a new business that will occupy most of his free time for the near future. Living in a fancy new development, Chris is concerned that his new business will prevent him from taking care of his lawn, which has strict requirements under neighborhood rules. Not wanted to upset his neighbors, Chris decides to hire Matt to cut his grass.
Lewicki, R. J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D. M. (2007). Essentials of Negotiation. New York: McGraw-Hill/ Irwin.
Negotiating styles are grouped into five types; Competing, Collaborating, Comprising, Avoidance, and Accommodating (Colburn, 2010). Even though it is possible to exhibit different parts of the five types of negation styles in different situations, can see that my tendencies seem to default to, Compromise and Accommodating. In reviewing the course work and reviewing my answers for Questionnaire 1 and 5, I find that the data reflects the same assumption. The accommodating profile is one where relationship perseveration is everything and giving what the other side wants is the route to winning people over. Accommodators are well liked by their colleagues and opposite party negotiators (Colburn, 2010). When analyzing my accommodating tenancy in negations, I find often it is easier to give into the demands when they are within a reasonable range. I often consider it the part of providing a high level of customer service. It has been my experience that continued delaying and not coming to an agreement in a topic will only shorten the window in which you will have to meet the request since. The cons to this style are by accommodating highly competitive styles the accommodator can give up to much ground in the process. “Giving away value too easily too early can signal to your negotiation counterpart that you've very deep pockets, and your gift is just a taster of bigger and better gifts to come”. The other negations type I default to is compromising. Compromising “often involves splitting the difference; usually resulting in an end position of about half way between both parties’ opening positions” (Colburn, 2010). In the absence of a good rationale or balanced exchanged concessions, half way betwee...