My Negotiation Experience - Essay Example

My Negotiation Experience Negotiations are part of life. We are always engaged in some kind of negotiations in most of our daily life activities. While talking to somebody, purchasing something, driving, cooking or eating we are negotiating with something. Recently, I have purchased a car and I have to negotiate so many things before purchasing it. Even before purchasing the car, I have to negotiate with my family members with respect to the brand and the cost of the car. Since my dad was spending money for the purchasing, I had to negotiate with him with respect to the budget he allocated to me for purchasing car. The next negotiation was with respect to the brand and the colour of the car and all my family members participated in this discussion. Finally, I decided to visit different dealers in order to know more about the prices, features, offers and to test drive different cars before taking the purchasing decision. Though, one brand dealer has offered me so many facilities like, free insurance coverage for three years, free service up to 50000 kilo meters, DVD player and leather seat cover like additional facilities within my budget, the other brand dealer initially refused to offer such facilities though I was interested in that brand. Moreover, this brand dealer has refused to accept my bank papers of loan (My dad has taken bank loans for purchasing this car) initially because of some doubts. But I was very much interested in that particular brand and after a long negotiation process the dealer has accepted my bank papers and also he agreed to provide me some additional facilities like free insurance and 30000 kilo meters free service warranty and I purchased that brand. My purchasing negotiations with my car dealer have taught me so many lessons about negotiations. I have realized that “Negotiation occurs for one of two reasons: 1) to create something new that neither party could do on his or her own or 2) to resolve a problem or dispute between the parties” (Lewicki, Roy & Saunder, p.3) Moreover, “There is a conflict of interest occur between two or more parties; that is what one wants is not necessarily the other one wants” (Lewicki, Roy & Saunder, p.4) It is not possible to be adamant in our approaches while engaged in a negotiation process. Compromise is the best word which can explain the meaning of negotiation process. It is necessary to identify the behavior of the opposite party before engage in active negotiation process. Each person has their own identity and specific characteristics. In other words no two individuals are alike either in their appearance or character. “Give and take” is the core of negotiation process. It is not possible for us to convince others everything. We have to accept some of the arguments from others in order to make the negotiation process, a success. “Two parties negotiate because they think that they can use some form of influence to get a better deal” (Lewicki, Roy & Saunder, p.4) The parties in negotiation will search for agreements rather than to fight openly. The above negotiation process had lot of similarities and differences between some other negotiation processes in my experience. In the above experience the car dealer was not much flexible to accept my arguments. He had countered most of my arguments and demands with convincing replies. On the other hand in similar situations, most of the sellers accepted the arguments or remain silent over controversial demands put forward by the buyers. But this seller was particular in clearing all my arguments with counter arguments. Both the parties are trying to take advantage in a negotiation process. The seller (car dealer) has tried a lot to prevent maximum concessions in order to increase his profits. But as a buyer I tried to derive maximum concessions from the seller. Bargaining always result in loss of profit to the customer and some kind of gain to the buyer. When a conflict occurs in bargaining process, either the seller or the buyer will be prepared to sacrifice something depends on the intensity of the demand, the buyer had and the intensity seller’s motive to sell the product. “Negotiation is meaningless when you are in a situation where you could lose everything, when you are sold out, when the demands are unethical or illegal, when you have no stake in the outcome, when you don’t have time, when the counterpart shows lack of faith in you, when waiting would improve your position and when you are not prepared” (Lewicki, Roy & Saunder, p.5) The concepts of the lectures or reading was useful up to certain extent, but such academic knowledge alone may not help a person while engage in a negotiation process. Common sense should be used judiciously in numerous occasions in a negotiation process rather than the academic knowledge alone. I have learned a lot form the above negotiation process and definitely, my future negotiation processes will be more effective than the one I already did in the purchasing of my car. I have realized that some people are more flexible while some others are adamant and hence the negotiations strategies must be tailor made for the individual differences. I have enjoyed the bargaining whenever my counterpart agreed upon my demands and was in a bit of agony whenever I forced to leave out some of my demands. But, I felt lot of confidence and proud in my abilities when the other party forced to accept some of my claims after detailed discussions. I tried to persuade the seller in many ways to accept my claims in order to gain maximum concessions. The car dealer, to whom I have bargained a lot before purchasing the car, has appreciated my negotiation capabilities at the end of the purchase deal. He told me that I was a useful customer for him to learn more about the customer demands. Moreover, he told me that only few people will take the necessary preparations before going for a negotiation. He also told me that “sometimes, people failed to negotiate because they do not recognize they are in a bargaining situation” (Lewicki, Roy & Saunder, p.3) I will always use many strategies in order to convince the others. I will never leave out my demands without a try. In fact, I will argue till the very end and only after I feel that there is no other way, I will leave out my claims. I have solid communication skills and I always have good analysing capacity. I will hear all the points from the counterpart and always give well calculated responses. Because of the above fact, in most of the times, my counterpart may leave with no other option, but to accept my point and hence I was successful in most of my negotiation process. Countering the arguments of the opposite party with logical reasoning will improve our negotiation capacity. I feel comfortable in negotiation process either in the morning or in the evening. But it is difficult for me to engage in a negotiation process during the noon period. We must be fresh in order to put forwards our points in a negotiation process. We will be tired during the noon time and hence it is not possible to engage in active discussion process during noon time. When I achieve upper hand in a negotiation process, I always use it for gaining concessions where as when I fell that I am at the opposite end, I will try to escape without much damages. Good communication skills and logical reasoning abilities are the main strengths for me in a negotiation process. My temperament is less and I always try to interfere while others are talking. I have to develop my patience and temperament in order to become a more successful negotiator in future. Works Cited 1. Lewicki, Roy J., Barry, Roy J. Lewicki (Author) › Visit Amazons Roy J. Lewicki Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Bruce & Saunders Bruce Barry (Author) › Visit Amazons Bruce Barry Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central David M . “Essentials of Negotiation”. Publisher: McGraw Hill Higher Education; 4th edition (September 1, 2006) Read More