Combining insights in negotiation research with the tactics used by some of the world's leading business strategists, Bargaining for Advantage is a practial guide to becoming a more effective negotiator. Richard Shell explores the hidden psychology and patterns that govern every bargaining situation. Driven by stories about everything from hostage taking and high stakes business deals to everyday encounters, this work offers a step-by-step approach that draws on your own communication style to make you a skilful negotiator.
Describes a method of negotiation that isolates problems, focuses on interests, creates new options, and uses objective criteria to help two parties reach an agreement.
We all negotiate on a daily basis. We negotiate with our spouses, children, parents, and friends. We negotiate when we rent an apartment, buy a car, purchase a house, and apply for a job. Your ability to negotiate might even be the most important factor in your career advancement. Negotiation is also the key to business success. No organization can survive without contracts that produce profits. At a strategic level, businesses are concerned with value creation and achieving competitive advantage. But the success of high-level business strategies depends on contracts made with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Contracting capability—the ability to negotiate and perform successful contracts—is the most important function in any organization. This book is designed to help you achieve success in your personal negotiations and in your business transactions. The book is unique in two ways. First, the book not only covers negotiation concepts, but also provides practical actions you can take in future negotiations. This includes a Negotiation Planning Checklist and a completed example of the checklist for your use in future negotiations. The book also includes (1) a tool you can use to assess your negotiation style; (2) examples of “decision trees,” which are useful in calculating your alternatives if your negotiation is unsuccessful; (3) a three-part strategy for increasing your power during negotiations; (4) a practical plan for analyzing your negotiations based on your reservation price, stretch goal, most-likely target, and zone of potential agreement; (5) clear guidelines on ethical standards that apply to negotiations; (6) factors to consider when deciding whether you should negotiate through an agent; (7) psychological tools you can use in negotiations—and traps to avoid when the other side uses them; (8) key elements of contract law that arise during negotiations; and (9) a checklist of factors to use when you evaluate your performance as a negotiator. Second, the book is unique in its holistic approach to the negotiation process. Other books often focus narrowly either on negotiation or on contract law. Furthermore, the books on negotiation tend to focus on what happens at the bargaining table without addressing the performance of an agreement. These books make the mistaken assumption that success is determined by evaluating the negotiation rather than evaluating performance of the agreement. Similarly, the books on contract law tend to focus on the legal requirements for a contract to be valid, thus giving short shrift to the negotiation process that precedes the contract and to the performance that follows. In the real world, the contracting process is not divided into independent phases. What happens during a negotiation has a profound impact on the contract and on the performance that follows. The contract’s legal content should reflect the realities of what happened at the bargaining table and the performance that is to follow. This book, in contrast to others, covers the entire negotiation process in chronological order beginning with your decision to negotiate and continuing through the evaluation of your performance as a negotiator. A business executive in one of the negotiation seminars the author teaches as a University of Michigan professor summarized negotiation as follows: “Life is negotiation!” No one ever stated it better. As a mother with young children and as a company leader, the executive realized that negotiations are pervasive in our personal and business lives. With its emphasis on practical action, and with its chronological, holistic approach, this book provides a roadmap you can use when navigating through your life as a negotiator.
It turns out that most negotiations are over even before they begin. The Labor Negotiator that has spent the most time planning for the negotiation, doing their homework, and collecting the data that they'll need is the one that's going to walk away from the table with the best deal and a sense of winning. Wouldn't you want that person to be you? What You'll Find Inside: THE 7 DEADLY SINS OF PREPARING TO NEGOTIATE DEALS THAT MAKE MONEY: HOW TO PLAN YOUR CONCESSIONS CLOSE MORE DEALS: UNDERSTANDING BUYER POWER & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT SINGLE VS TEAM NEGOTIATION: WHICH IS BETTER? Planning is what happens before a Labor Negotiator sits down at the negotiating table. There are no negotiating tactics or tricks at play here. It's just a matter of you doing your homework. At the same time you hope that the other side is NOT doing their homework so that you'll show up at the negotiation more prepared then they are. Just committing to doing the planning that your next negotiation is going to require is not enough, you also have to know just exactly how to go about doing it - you have to think about the offers and counter offers that are going to be made. That's what this book is going to teach you. Every negotiation is different and so the planning that you'll have to do for each negotiation will be different also. The planning that is required for a successful negotiation takes on many different forms. These can include planning where and when the negotiations will be held, what concessions you'll be willing to make to the other side, and understanding who has what power in the negotiations. The end result of doing the planning that a negotiation requires is that when you sit down at the negotiating table, you'll have a sense of being prepared. You'll know what you need to know about the other side of the table, what their goals are, what their constraints are, and what they hope to be able to get out of the negotiations. This is exactly the type of knowledge that every person who lives in the world of labor management is going to need in order to be able to reach the type of deal that will allow you to walk away from the table with a sense of having closed a deal that is good for both you and your company.
“One of the most important books of our modern era” –Amb. Jaime de Bourbon For anyone struggling with conflict, this book can transform you. Negotiating the Nonnegotiable takes you on a journey into the heart and soul of conflict, providing unique insight into the emotional undercurrents that too often sweep us out to sea. With vivid stories of his closed-door sessions with warring political groups, disputing businesspeople, and families in crisis, Daniel Shapiro presents a universally applicable method to successfully navigate conflict. A deep, provocative book to reflect on and wrestle with, this book can change your life. Be warned: This book is not a quick fix. Real change takes work. You will learn how to master five emotional dynamics that can sabotage conflict outside your awareness: 1. Vertigo: How can you avoid getting emotionally consumed in conflict? 2. Repetition compulsion: How can you stop repeating the same conflicts again and again? 3. Taboos: How can you discuss sensitive issues at the heart of the conflict? 4. Assault on the sacred: What should you do if your values feel threatened? 5. Identity politics: What can you do if others use politics against you? In our era of discontent, this is just the book we need to resolve conflict in our own lives and in the world around us.
Labor negotiation is like no other negotiation. This book tells you how to plan your strategy, approach difficult topics, and conclude successfully. In step-by-step chapters, the author tells you how to prepare the management team, present your agenda, cost out demands and offers, draft contract language, and more. You get important background facts on negotiating health and welfare benefits, pension plans, and other volatile issues. Plus, the book includes successful approaches for negotiating joint union-management programs such as stock-option plans and gainsharing. The author explains the law with real-life examples to guide you to a cooperative, mutually beneficial agreement.
Most of us worry that we're not very good negotiators - too quick to concede or too abrupt in our approach. But negotiation is present in almost every social interaction - we cannot avoid it. Neale and Lys present a practical new approach that will help you master this crucial everyday skill in every situation. Instead of focusing on reaching agreement at any cost, Neale and Lys reveal how to overcome our psychological biases and assess the hidden value in any negotiation. They explain how to know what a good deal is; when to negotiate and when to walk away; why keeping a straight face can prevent you from getting the best deal; when to make the first offer and when to wait; and why meeting in the middle can result in both sides being worse off. Drawing on three decades of ground-breaking research into behavioural economics, psychology and strategic thinking, Getting (More of) What You Want will revolutionise the way you approach negotiation. Whether you're looking for a better deal on your new car, asking for a pay rise, selling your company or just deciding who does the washing up, this book will help you become a more successful, more efficient negotiator - and get more of exactly what you want.