Reflection on Negotiation Strategy and Skills in Week 4 Simulation BUS4032

The negotiation experience from week 4 has been excellent as we completed the negotiation in-class simulation. As far as the strategy is concerned, I actually had some strategy but could not implement the entirety of the strategy. However, I made sure that I identified the BATNA and WATNA at least before going into the simulation negotiation. Before going deep and reflecting on the process, I think it is important to talk about the week 4 module which made it easier to understand several nuances of negotiation. For example, awareness of the conflict is an important element that was introduced in week 4. As a negotiator, it is of utmost importance that there is sufficient awareness about the position of the parties as well as the intention of the parties about the outcome of the negotiation. Another important element that was relevant is understanding the differences between the parties. Negotiations take place because of differences between the parties interests and hence the negotiator must be aware of the exact difference that the parties are trying to close. Similarly, I created a strategy that was about focusing on the differences and closing the gaps between the parties so that both parties could compromise some element of their part in order to reach a middle ground and resolve the dispute. The BATNA and WATNA identification along with awareness of the differences and causes of conflict made it easier for me to conduct the negotiation session. The strategy did assist me in going forward with the negotiation session smoothly and seamlessly. Although I created a strategy, I think a better strategy might have produced a better outcome for the parties or might have helped the parties in sorting out their differences. Having a better strategy would have benefitted and assisted me in a better way.

As far as the skills and tools are concerned, I tried to ensure that I keep in mind some important factors involved in negotiation. When it comes to making decisions, it is important to understand the factors that can influence the decision-making. Therefore, factors like power, emotion, individual interest, benefits and detriments were considered to have a holistic understanding of the parties position. Based on the opinion of William Ury, creating an agreement is essential and hence I made sure that there is proper agreement and understanding between the parties. Since decisions are made based on memory, emotion and consciousness, I made sure that I remembered all the factual situations for the parties and also realised how their emotions are working to gain better consciousness about the negotiation. These tools and skills were applied during the simulation in a subtle way and were not very prominent which is why I think a better strategy could have improved the negotiation.

During the simulation, it was important that there was consensus among the parties involved in the negotiation, however, there were some significant barriers that prevented the simulation from being efficient. One of the main barriers was to understand the emotions of others which affected the consensus between the parties. It is reasonable and obvious that the parties may not adapt to each others requirements and understand each others emotions, however, for the sake of the dispute resolution, it is essential that there is consensus between the parties in relation to some of the essential factors of negotiation. It is also obvious that differences exist between the parties and hence consensus is difficult to achieve, however, when it comes to real-world negotiation, consensus has to be achieved so that parties are on the same page about the dispute. Barriers in real-world negotiation can be many and varied when compared to the in-class simulation. There are many added factors and elements that are missing in simulation tasks. For example, there can be communication barriers due to language differences, there can be affordability issues due to the limited financial strength of a party, and there can be misrepresented facts and information from a party to attract a favourable outcome. I am sure that real-world negotiations are quite different from what we did in the simulation, but the fundamental aspects of the simulation negotiations are similar to how a negotiation session should be.

An agreement was reached between the parties and the outcome was not satisfactory for both the parties. On a positive note, there was some agreement between the parties even though the agreement was not fully agreed to by the parties. I hope I was able to achieve the majority of what was required by the scenario if not completely. As mentioned before, the outcome of negotiation cannot favour just one party more than the other and hence a perfect harmony is difficult to achieve.

Lastly, my simulation partner was excellent and did exceptionally well considering that both of us have limited knowledge and experience of negotiation sessions. My partner actually helped me a lot to understand the differences and form an idea of what BATNA and WATNA should be. However, they can improve the way the negotiation arguments are constructed and delivered in person while the negotiation session is in process.

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