The Power Of Negotiation

Negotiation is a discussion that takes place between two or more disputants who are trying to find a solution to their conflicting problem. This interpersonal or inter-group process can occur at three levels namely, personal, corporate and diplomatic level. In the corporate level, negotiation skills are important in both informal everyday dealings and formal transactions such as negotiating conditions of sale, mergers, legal contracts and other contracts (Maiese). Negotiations usually take place because the interested parties that wish to create something new that neither could do on their own or to resolve a challenge or dispute between them. In this essay, I will compare the similarity and difference between two negotiation books namely,

In his book, George Siedel talks about how there are two sources of power in negotiation. First, information, in general, is an important source of power. Second, specific information about your and the other side’s BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) can be used to increase your power and weaken the power of the other side. And he emphasized that one of the characteristics of a good negotiator is that he is a “careful listener”. He said, to “receive” information, negotiators must not only ask questions; they must listen carefully to answers because information is key to negotiating power. The ability to listen distinguishes skilled negotiators from average negotiators and it is also an important leadership skill (Siedel). While in Getting to Yes, explains that negotiating power can be developed and improved by BATNA. Applying knowledge, time, money, people, connections, and wits into devising the best solution for you independent of the other side's assent. The more easily and happily you can walk away from a negotiation, the greater your capacity to affect its

This tool is also useful in making other types of personal decisions (should I undergo knee surgery?) and business decisions (should I invest in a risky venture?) (Seidel). Decision tree analysis is a tree-shaped, schematic diagram used to determine the necessary course of action or the next best solution. Each branch of the analysis represents a possible decision or outcome. The tree is designed in a way to demonstrate how and why one decision may lead to the next, with the utilization of the branches demonstrating every option is fundamentally unrelated. This concept is used to simplify and find an answer to the complex problem. The structure allows negotiators to take a problem with multiple possible approaches and display it in a straightforward and simple format that shows the relationship between different decision and outcomes in which the most distant branches of the tree representing the final results