Real World Negotiations – A Reflection
Before this exercise, I took for granted that negotiations happen almost every day, everywhere in our day-to-day lives. The image I associated negotiation with was one in a formal setting, with men and women in their suits negotiating a business deal, a multinational treaty, etc. Two of the in-class negotiating exercises helped affirmed this image of formality to a degree and gave me a rose-tinted view of negotiations. It wasn't until I negotiated in the real world, with the awareness of being in a negotiation, did I realize I was wrong. The majority of the negotiations I had were informal; there were no men or women in suits, as a matter of fact, half of the times the other party was my parents sitting …show more content…
This almost jeopardised my friendship with a classmate when we argued over the design of the PowerPoint for a presentation two years ago. I was careful to not fall into the habit of negotiating based on positions in these practices, and it yielded positive results. In a negotiation with my mother relating to splitting the cost of my Netflix subscription, one that I thought I would surely fail based on similar attempts in the past, turned out to be a huge success. By laying out my interests and considering hers, I was able to convince her of a resolution that we can both benefit. I started the negotiation with an explanation of my situation, that it's difficult for me to continue to pay for the Netflix subscription, and how my proposal of splitting the cost could benefit us both. I did not have to hide anything because both of our interests are in line with each other. She agreed to it almost immediately, and within ten minutes the money to cover half of the subscription for a year was electronically transferred to me. The unexpected outcome and how readily the offer was accepted had me wonder if my perception of my mother's infamous stinginess was all a lie. Maybe the fault was in me all along, seeing that I was always focused on my position and didn't care to consider other's interests. Stinginess aside, I did learn how effective and important integrative negotiations are, and I recognized how my fight with the friend two years ago could have ended differently if we weren't so devoted in our
Before this exercise, I took for granted that negotiations happen almost every day, everywhere in our day-to-day lives. The image I associated negotiation with was one in a formal setting, with men and women in their suits negotiating a business deal, a multinational treaty, etc. Two of the in-class negotiating exercises helped affirmed this image of formality to a degree and gave me a rose-tinted view of negotiations. It wasn't until I negotiated in the real world, with the awareness of being in a negotiation, did I realize I was wrong. The majority of the negotiations I had were informal; there were no men or women in suits, as a matter of fact, half of the times the other party was my parents sitting …show more content…
This almost jeopardised my friendship with a classmate when we argued over the design of the PowerPoint for a presentation two years ago. I was careful to not fall into the habit of negotiating based on positions in these practices, and it yielded positive results. In a negotiation with my mother relating to splitting the cost of my Netflix subscription, one that I thought I would surely fail based on similar attempts in the past, turned out to be a huge success. By laying out my interests and considering hers, I was able to convince her of a resolution that we can both benefit. I started the negotiation with an explanation of my situation, that it's difficult for me to continue to pay for the Netflix subscription, and how my proposal of splitting the cost could benefit us both. I did not have to hide anything because both of our interests are in line with each other. She agreed to it almost immediately, and within ten minutes the money to cover half of the subscription for a year was electronically transferred to me. The unexpected outcome and how readily the offer was accepted had me wonder if my perception of my mother's infamous stinginess was all a lie. Maybe the fault was in me all along, seeing that I was always focused on my position and didn't care to consider other's interests. Stinginess aside, I did learn how effective and important integrative negotiations are, and I recognized how my fight with the friend two years ago could have ended differently if we weren't so devoted in our