Real world negotiation - Assignment Example

Real World Negotiation When my friend, Josh, toured South Africa, he bought beautiful Weinbrenner shoes. Upon arrival at the sales store, he made it to clear to Chris (the seller) that he was in a hurry and did not want to waste time. Josh then picked up two different pairs of shoes: a black and a grey pair. Based on the research Josh had conducted earlier, each pair of shoes cost about R.350. Upon enquiring about the black pair of shoes, Chris quoted R.500 as his asking price. Josh reacted angrily to this news, returned the shoes to the shelves and asked for an explanation for the hiked price.

At the same time, he walked towards the exit threatening to leave. Afraid to lose a sale, Chris called him back and requested him to be patient. Josh offered Chris R.200 for the shoes. However, after much bargaining, the two were approaching an agreement at R.300 for the black shoes. Josh changed his mind almost immediately, claiming that he liked the grey shoes more and would buy them if Chris offered him a free water-bottle. Chris sold him the grey pair of shoes along with the water-bottle for R.300. The negotiation tactics employed in the above scenario are as follows:Lowball/high ball The “lowball/ highball” tactic is used to make the other party move towards the resistance point.

The tactic is used majorly in business negotiations, where the purchasing party quotes an extremely low price to induce the seller to lower the opening offer. In the above situation, Josh’s asking price was R.200, which was much lower than the seller’s price of R.500. Eventually, the tactic paid off since Josh eventually convinced Chris to sell the shoes to him at R.300.Therefore, this situation fulfills the lowball/highball tactic of negotiation.Intimidation In this case, an emotional ploy is used to force the other party into bending their will towards the intimidator’s likeness (Ghauri, Pervez and Usunier 90).

When used in any negotiation, the intimidator will feign an emotion such as anger to make the other party do what they want out of fear/panic. In this situation, Josh dropped the shoes and threatened to leave the store. The act of anger intimidated Chris, forcing him to call Josh back for a better negotiation. The intimidation tactic worked perfectly for Josh.Aggressive Behavior The “aggressive behaviour” tactic is used to force the other party to make concessions to reach an agreement (Ghauri, Pervez and Usunier 91).

Josh uses this tactic when he notifies Chris that he does not want to waste time, and also when he asks him to explain the high price of R. 500. In this case, the tactic was not helpful as Chris does not bother explaining how he obtained his asking price.Chicken The tactic is used by parties who want to force other parties to act against their will by combining a threatened action with a bluff. When Josh threatens to leave, Chris “chickens out” and calls him back requesting him to be patient.

The tactic was beneficial to Josh because he eventually got his pair of shoes.The Nibble Negotiators use this tactic by asking for small concessions on an item not discussed previously in the deal. In the above scenario, Josh uses the water-bottle as the nibble. The tactic helps him achieve his objective when he bargains for the black shoes, before changing to the grey shoes along with a free water-bottle.Works CitedGhauri, Pervez N., and Jean Usunier. International Business Negotiations. 2nd ed.

Burlington: Emerald Group Pub., 2003. Print.