Negotiation Agents Report - Essay Example

I acted as a negotiation agent for my friend Mike, who was moving into a two-bedroom house along with his girlfriend Rachel and another man named Fred. Mike, Fred and Rachel still hadn’t agreed to how the rent, which was $700 per month, should be split between the three of them. Mike and Rachel would be sharing the master bedroom, which was about a third larger than the second bedroom and had an attached bathroom. At the end of the negotiation, it was agreed that Mike and Rachel would pay $200 each per month and Fred would pay the remaining $300.

One of the things that I did well in this negotiation was to frame the negotiations in a way that ensured a fair outcome for both parties involved. To gain the trust of Fred, I said that Mike and Rachel would have to pay more rent between the two of them than he would have to pay himself because their room was larger than his. This was important because it put me in a position where both of the parties would listen to my opinion. After this, I brought up a point on which there would be easy agreement, namely the payment of the utility bills. It was agreed that each person would pay equally for all utilities. I feel that this was a good thing to do early in the negotiation, to get them to agree and work together before negotiating on the rent itself. When I brought up the rent, Fred made an offer to pay $250 in rent, which would leave the remaining $450 for Mike and Rachel to split. I told him that I thought $250 seemed too low since he would have his room, which wouldn’t be much smaller than the master bedroom. Then I asked Mike what he thought was a fair price and he said he wasn’t sure. This was when the negotiation became somewhat awkward since I felt I needed to represent Mike’s interests, but I also didn’t want to lose Fred’s trust. If I act as a negotiation agent in the future I know that I will have to discuss the terms of the agreement more thoroughly with my client before entering the negotiation to know what terms he or she will be satisfied with.

Fred did well in defending his interests in the negotiation, but he was also flexible enough to come to a fair agreement in the end. Mike didn’t do much in the negotiation, but he did well in agreeing in the end. I would suggest that Mike should be more active in future negotiations and communicate his desired outcome to a negotiation agent.

It was a new experience for me to negotiate with two other parties instead of only one. It was difficult to strike a balance between maintaining Fred’s trust while at the same time advocating Mike’s position. In a direct negotiation, it is much more clear how to negotiate for my position, whereas negotiating as a third party requires more of a balancing act.

One advantage of using an agent in negotiation is the fact that a third party will often be able to mould the views of the two separate parties in such a way that each side feels that they are getting a fair deal. Also, if a negotiation agent has specialized knowledge in the area in which the negotiation takes place, he might be able to provide insight into areas that the two parties may not understand to make a mutually beneficial deal. The main disadvantage of using a negotiation agent is that one side may not trust the agent if he or she was hired by the other side.

As stated above, one of the situations when an organization would benefit from hiring a negotiation agent is when the agreement involves a specialized field in which special expertise is required. For example, if a company needed to buy microchips, they might want a negotiation agent familiar with the microchip market to help get a fair price. Another situation when a negotiation agent could provide a great benefit is when the two parties come from different countries and cultures and may have difficulty communicating with each other. If an American firm wanted to do business with a Chinese firm, it would be beneficial for the American firm to hire a Chinese person to help in the negotiation. A negotiation agent would also be helpful in a situation where two parties have been unable to agree in direct negotiations. A third negotiating party might be able to bring new pieces of information into the discussion and help both parties to see the negotiation in a new light, helping them agree.