Topic > Personal Negotiation Experience: A Reflection

Index IntroductionNegotiation Experience and Issues Raised Personal Mistakes and Lessons LearnedManagement Negotiation StrategiesConclusionReferencesIntroductionNegotiations are inevitable, especially in today's dynamic corporate world. Individuals participate in negotiation in an effort to improve their work environment, salary, and business transactions. As an employee of Avo Photonics, I have personally experienced numerous negotiation situations. However, there is one exceptional personal negotiation experience that I truly believe has shaped my life. The negotiation included my intention to leave the company and proceed to earn my MBA in Scotland. However, as a critical employee in the role of product manager, leaving the organization would expose it to the risk of decreased revenue and production. This started a thorough negotiation with the management, as they were not willing to allow such an enterprising person to leave. During the negotiation period, I called for various things. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Negotiation Experience and Issues Raised First, I asked for a salary increase. The salary increase was solely intended to help me accumulate wealth and improve my standard of living. Secondly, to continue working for the organization, I begged the management to provide me with the right working conditions. The other issue I raised in order for me to continue working for the organization was that I should be given a title. After a thorough negotiation process, management agreed to increase my salary, improve my working conditions and gave me the title of product manager. The manager even considered me as the employee of choice to monitor the implementation of system applications and data processing products (SAP) in the organization as it requires critical and sophisticated skills. Furthermore, since I told the management that my intention to leave the company was to pursue further education, they did not kill my ambitions but provided me with the necessary support, including financial assistance. From the negotiation experience, the management had negotiation power as they offered well-thought-out arguments that influenced me to continue working for the organization. For my part, on the other hand, I can say that I also had negotiating powers since most of my contractual issues were implemented. Overall our negotiation reached an integrative position as I remained working at the company; my salary was increased, I was promoted to a high rank, and I was provided with working conditions that allowed me to further my education. Personal Mistakes and Lessons Learned Considering the results of my negotiation with Avo Photonics management, it is clear that both parties involved were good negotiators. For my part, despite my intention to leave the company to continue my studies, I introduced other issues into the negotiation such as the salary increase, the improvement of working conditions and the need to receive a qualification. According to Thompson (2014), including other issues in a negotiation is critical to achieving a win-win outcome, as evidenced by his statement that “In short, the more moving parts, the better the potential agreement” (p. 76). . This is because raising a single issue in a negotiation would mean that one party would win and the other would lose. For example, in my negotiation with the company, it wasIt is essential to raise more the issue of salary increase and assignment of a title as the title would mean that I will be assigned more complex roles, something that will justify the salary increase and the improvement of working conditions. As a result, I didn't have a single sense of pie in the negotiation. I firmly believed that the management would also want me to further my studies so that my competence and productivity could increase. According to Thompson (2014) and Lee, Adair, and Seo (2011), desisting from the perception of a fixed pie is significant in helping negotiation achieve a win-win situation as it allows negotiators to realize that negotiation is not a competitive situation and, therefore, they should embrace it acutely. Apparently, I also made several mistakes in our negotiation with management. One of the mistakes was revealing my reservations. I indicated exactly the amount of salary increase I would need and the title I thought should be given to me. By stating my reservations I ensured that the management did not increase my salary more than I had declared. According to Thompson (2014), expressing one's reservations in a negotiation is harmful because it induces the other party not to offer further incentives. Therefore, if I had not expressed my reservation points, it could have played a significant role in cutting the cake properly. Often, according to Thompson (2014), revealing a reservation once in a negotiation is worth it in two circumstances. One such event is when a negotiation has taken a prolonged duration and is almost over without any agreement being reached. However, in my case, the negotiation had not yet exhausted my time and therefore indicating the reservations was a mistake. The other situation in which it is justifiable to reveal one's reservations is when one has an excellent BATNA (Thompson, 2014). However, in my case, I had less BATNA. So, I could justify revealing my reservations. Instead, I could have waited for the CEO to first state their offer on the salary increase and the position they would place me in. This would play an essential role in helping divide the pie as I could respond to the offer accordingly since I had an anchor point. Thompson (2014) argues that allowing the other party in a negotiation to make its first offer and respond promptly by offering a counteroffer is significant for two reasons. One reason is that this reduces the importance of the other party's initial offer as an anchor in the negotiation. Therefore, if I had allowed the management of Avo Photonics to first make their proposal, and then refute it by offering a counter-proposal supported by facts, I could have earned more and occupied one of the highest ranks in the company. Additionally, allowing the other party to make the first offer is significant in preventing one's offer from being anchored by the other party, something that could have played a vital role in helping me get more out of the negotiation process. Management Negotiation Strategies From my side of Avo Photonics management, they have been good negotiators for various reasons. First of all, they had a great BATNA, supporting me financially in pursuing my master's degree while I continue to work for the organization. Having a great BATNA played a significant role in ensuring that they could manipulate me to continue working for the organization (Thompson, 2014). Furthermore, the management convinced me to provide reservation points. Revealing my reservations gave them an anchor for the negotiation process (Thompson, 2014). According to Thompson(2014) and Sebenius (2017), a good negotiator would like to know the other party's reservation points. Knowing the other party's reservation points ensures that the other party capitalizes on them by offering only what the reservations entail (Sebenius, 2017; Thompson, 2014). Second, it was clear that management had a better understanding of what I wanted from the negotiation. It appears that they have done extensive research on their counterparty, which is significant in achieving a win-win outcome in a negotiation. According to Wertheim (2002) and Lee, Adair, and Seo (2011), research on the other party, especially its BATNA, influences the outcomes of a negotiation so that it is a win-win outcome. Additionally, during the negotiation process, Avo Photonics submitted a counteroffer that included an all-inclusive deal; they offered me a salary increase combined with an equivalent management position. This is because a package deal offers negotiators the ability to take advantage of and negotiate different issue strengths and preferences (Thompson, 2014; Lee, Adair, & Seo, 2011). Additionally, offering a package reduces the likelihood of a dead end occurring, especially when the negotiation has a narrow bargaining area. Therefore, the role played by Avo Photonics business packages in helping negotiation achieve a win-win situation should not be underestimated. Likewise, Avo Photonics management has used its power to develop strong influence over its messaging. This is because they used an engaging means of communication, face-to-face (Sebenius, 2017; Thompson, 2014). The choice of communication medium in a negotiation significantly influences the outcomes (Thompson, 2014; Dobrijevic, Stanisic, & Masic, 2011). In our case, face-to-face negotiation was essential as it made it easy to receive immediate feedback. Furthermore, face-to-face negotiation helps the negotiating parties understand each other, especially through their tone and other nonverbal signals, which cannot be integrated into different means of communication such as letters and emails. Often some negotiations reach a stalemate due to the lack of immediate feedback, which is determined by the means of communication used. Additionally, during our negotiation process, management showed some perspective. Perspective taking involves seeing the world through the eyes of the other party. This was demonstrated by the fact that they showed pleasure in furthering my studies. According to Thompson (2014) and Lee, Adair, and Seo (2011), negotiators who reveal perspective taking are likely to take the other party's point of view and are excessively successful in identifying and achieving integrated outcomes. Therefore, perspective taking was significant in achieving a win-win situation in our negotiation (Lee, Adair, & Seo, 2011). Likewise, management provided information about their interests and priorities during the negotiation process. According to the organization, if I left, I would suffer losses as I was running a critical department that needs impeccable skills and experience to achieve tremendous success. According to Thompson (2014), a negotiation in which the parties do not provide each other with information always ends in a stalemate, as evidenced by the statement that “Negotiations would go nowhere if the negotiators did not communicate their interest to the other part” (page 82). Therefore, management's communication of interests and priorities played a critical role in achieving a win-win outcome in the: