Negotiation Questions
It’s important to know your BATNA (the best alternative to a negotiated agreement) because it will keep you in focus with your decisions I. e. ; it’s the driving force to the decisions to be made. It’s important to at least know the BATNA of the person whom you are negotiating with so that you can make some prejudgments and therefore be in a position to know the best position to take. BATNA refers to the path that an individual in the negotiation process will take so that a suitable agreement is reached at. It’s normally the point of leverage in the negotiation process.
Question two Position and interest are two paradigms that are associated with negotiation. Potion based negotiations are those negotiations in which both parties are focused on the issue being negotiated about. Substance of negotiation is therefore very important. Both parties therefore consider the subject important and find ways of coming up with the solutions. In interest based negotiations, substance is still an important factor but the difference is that both parties do not involve one another in deciding what they will do.
They work independently and often consider their particular solutions as the best thus at times creating conflicts in the negotiation process. Question three An agent is important especially in situations that are beyond my scope like dealing with issues that I don’t have knowledge about it e. g. purchasing a vehicle and yet I have never handled that before. There are several precautions that should be considered when dealing with agents because they can act to their own suitability i. e. they may get into an agreement with the seller and gain from the agreement at the detriment of my understanding.
An agent can be too helpful in cases where I lack expertise e. g. dealing with issues that may need the lawyer who has a lot of information on legal issues. The agent is also helpful in cases where the parties are too close in a relationship and cannot make a desirable agreement. The agent therefore will act as a third party. Question four My target price is an ‘anchor’ that will aid me in making the best decision. It’s the reference or the standard point that any other changes are made, it’s therefore my benchmark in any decisions I make. The resistance point is important because this is the point that I will not go beyond in my offer.
It will aid me not to accept the a deal easily and may require me to go back to my BATNA. This is my ‘walk away’ or ‘bottom line’ The opening offer is very essential for me because this is the point that my partner will refer to when he is making his decision. The opening offer I need to make should be at the level that will make the deal reach to a level of understanding. Question five There are so many debates as to when to make the first offer but some research has shown that there are several cases when this should be done. One is when the individual is not confident enough and has no sense of control at the bargaining base.
If someone lacks this power therefore he needs to resort to making the first offer. Given that in a negotiation, the outcomes can either be negative or positive, making the first offer can be having some risks with it. One of the risks is that it can lead to final high selling prices incase the seller made the offer while it can lead to low selling price if the buyer made the offer. An offer that has been made aggressively can at times cause the negotiators to make errors and therefore the risk of creating misunderstanding can occur.
Reference: Roy J. Lewicki, David M. Saunders and Bruce Barry (2006) Essentials of Negotiation, Mc Graw Hill
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