Negotiations

Summary

Negations are a part of everyday life, a useful skill in both personal and professional settings. Negotiations are highly relevant to project management as it can help ensure alignment with key stakeholders and maintain a positive relationship with those stakeholders. This ability can prevent conflict, personal, professional or even political, like in the case of wars, enable us to buy our dream home, help us launch our start-up and so much more. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that the art of negotiation is a skill useful and relevant to everyone. In his article, I will review the key factors that determine the trajectory of negotiations, explore the impact of different mental models and negotiation styles. Additionally, cultural differences and their impact on negotiations are examined, a relevant topic as negotiations between parties with different cultural backgrounds become more common. Finally, this article will address the topic of ethics and professionalism in negotiations.

Table of Contents

1. Key Determining Factor in Negotiations
   1. Personality Traits
   2. Power
   3. Competitiveness or Cooperation
   4. Other Factors
2. Mental Models, and their Impact on the Negotiations’ Outcomes
3. Negotiations Styles
   1. Normative Negotiating Style
   2. Intuitive Negotiating Style
   3. Analytic Negotiating Style
   4. Factual Negotiating Style
4. Cultural differences
   1. Individualism Versus Collectivism
5. Ethics and Professionalism in Negotiations

Key References

• Wall Jr, J. A., & Blum, M. W. (1991). Negotiations. Journal of Management, 17(2), 273-303.
• Bazerman, M. H., Curhan, J. R., Moore, D. A., & Valley, K. L. (2000). Negotiation. Annual Review of Psychology, 51(1), 279–314. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.279
• Crump, L. (2011). Negotiation process and negotiation context. International Negotiation, 16(2), 197–227. https://doi.org/10.1163/138234011X573011
• DRAKE, L. E. (1995). NEGOTIATION STYLES IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION. International Journal of Conflict Management, 6(1), 72–90. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb022756