NEGOTIATION 1.1

NEGOTIATION 1.1

Negotiation is defined as a discussion among individuals to reach to a conclusion acceptable to one and all. It is a process where people rather than fighting among themselves sit together, evaluate the pros and cons and then come out with an alternative which would be a win win situation. Negotiation helps in reducing conflicts and disputes among each other. Negotiation is essential in every walk of life for a peaceful and stress free living.

Let us go through various models of negotiation:

Win Win Model - In this model, each and every individual involved in negotiation wins. No body is at loss in this model and every one is benefited out of the negotiation. This is the most accepted model of negotiation. Let us understand it with the help of an example:

Dheeraj wanted to buy a laptop but it was an expensive model. He went to the outlet and negotiated with the shopkeeper to lower the price. Initially the shopkeeper was reluctant but after several rounds of discussions and persuasion, he quoted a price best suited to him as well as Dheeraj. Dhreej was extremely satisfied as he could now purchase the laptop without burning a hole in his pocket. The negotiation also benefited the store owner as he could earn his profits and also gained a loyal customer who would come again in future.

Win Lose Model - In this model one party wins and the other party loses. In such a model, after several rounds of discussions and negotiations, one party benefits while the other party remains dissatisfied.

Please refer to the above example once again where Dhreej wanted to buy a laptop. In this example, both Dhreej and the store owner were benefited out of the deal. Let us suppose Dhreej could not even afford the price quoted by the storeowner and requests him to further lower the price. If the store owner further lowers the price, he would not be able to earn his profits but Dhreej would be very happy. Thus after the negotiation, Dhreej would be satisfied but the shopkeeper wouldn’t. In a win lose model, both the two parties are not satisfied, only one of the two walks away with the benefit.

Lose Lose Model - As the name suggests, in this model, the outcome of negotiation is zero. No party is benefited out of this model. In this model, generally the two parties are not willing to accept each other’s views and are reluctant to compromise. No discussions help.

Had Dhreej not purchased the laptop after several rounds of negotiation, neither he nor the store owner would have got anything out of the deal. Dhreej would return empty handed and the store owner would obviously not earn anything.

Let us understand the above three models with an example from the corporate world.

Mohan got selected with a multinational company of repute. He was called to negotiate his salary with Shina- the HR Head of the organization. 
 

Case 1 - Shina quoted a salary to Mohan, but Mohan was not too pleased with the figure. He insisted Shina to raise his salary to the best extent possible. After discussions Shina came out with a figure acceptable to Mohan and she immediately released his offer letter. Mohan got his dream job and Shina could manage to offer Mohan a salary well within the company’s budgets - A win win negotiation (Both the parties gained).

Case 2 - Shina with her excellent negotiation skills managed to convince Mohan at a little lower salary than he quoted. Mohan also wanted to grab the opportunity as it was his dream job and he was eyeing it for quite some time now. He had to accept the offer at a little lower salary than expected. Thus in this negotiation, Mohan was not completely satisfied but Shina was - A win lose negotiation.

Case 3 – Mohan declined the offer as the salary quoted by Shina did not meet his expectations. Shina tried her level best to negotiate with Mohan, but of no use. A lose lose model of negotiation. No body neither Mohan nor Shina gained anything out of this negotiation.

[to be continued...]