Leadership negotiation. Summary chapter 8

Negotiation – Ethics in negotiation

This chapter discusses factors that negotiators consider when they decide whether particular tactics are unethical. The study of ethically ambiguous tactics was approached from a decision-making framework. The authors proposed that that a negotiator’s decision to use ethically ambiguous tactics typically originates from a desire to increase one’s negotiating power by manipulating the landscape of information available.

The use of unethical tactics may deliver a short-term advantage but the damage to a reputation may lead to diminished effectiveness in the long term.

From my own experience, the use of unethical tactics by the other party sometimes originates from one’s own lack of information. This leaves an open field to the unethical party to manipulate the available information to gain an advantage. President Reagan’s strong negotiating style with the Soviets on the issues of nuclear disarmament during his presidency was famously quoted as saying: "Trust but verify". That, to me, seems to be a very effective tactic to ensure ethical behavior from the other party.

Leadership negotiation. Summary Chapter 9

Summary Chapter 9
Negotiation – Relationships in negotiation

We have studied negotiation as if the parties do not know each other, do not expect to deal with each other in the future, and are engaged in a market transaction only over price and quantity.
Chapter 9 explores the way that existing relationships affect negotiation. Many business negotiations are conducted by parties who already know each other and their relationships strongly affect the negotiation process.

The authors argue that most negotiations occur within these relationship contexts adding a level of unique complexities.

From my personal experience, I find that positive personal relationships are a key success factors for successful negotiation. Lacking that relationship increases the gap negotiators must bridge before success can take place. More time and effort must be spent in arriving to a mutual understanding.

Leadership negotiation. Summary chapter 10

Summary Chapter 10 Negotiation – Multiple parties and teams

We have assumed so far that negotiation is a bilateral process. Yet many are multilateral or group deliberations, more than two negotiating parties involved, each with its own agendas. The complexity involved in multiparty negotiation increase greatly necessitating great care to manage the process to arrive at a successful outcome.

From my own experience, my practice is to spend a great deal of time in the pre-negotiation stage ensuring that every detail of the upcoming negotiation is planned and prepared. Thorough planning during this stage will minimize the probability of a surprise event while increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome.

Leadership negotiation. Summary Chapter 11

Summary Chapter 11
Negotiation – International and cross-cultural negotiation

Chapter 11 explored the complexities of international and cross-cultural negotiation. Environmental and immediate context have an important effect on international negotiations.

The environmental factors are;
• Political and legal pluralism
• International economics
• Foreign governments and bureaucracies
• Instability
• Ideology
• Culture
• External stakeholders

Immediate context factors are;
• Relative bargaining power
• Levels of conflict
• Relationship between negotiators
• Desired outcomes
• Immediate stakeholders

Negotiators must understand all these factors to be successful.
Cultural differences also affect negotiations;
• Definition of negotiation
• Negotiation opportunity
• Selection of negotiators
• Protocol
• Communications
• Time sensitivity
• Risk propensity
• Groups vs. individuals
• Nature of agreements
• Emotionalism

The chapter ended with a discussion of how to manage cultural differences in negotiation through a choice of strategies according to the level of familiarity; unilateral or joint strategies.

Leadership negotiation. Summary Chapter 12

Summary Chapter 12
Negotiation – Best practices in negotiations

Chapter 12 discussed best practices in negotiations. They are;

• Be prepared
• Diagnose the fundamental structure of the negotiation
• Identify and work the BATNA
• Be willing to walk away
• Master the key paradoxes of negotiation
• Remember the intangibles
• Actively manage coalitions
• Savor and protect your reputation
• Remember that fairness and rationality are relative
• Continue to learn from experience

I find these best practices very relevant to what I have seen during negotiations. Applying these practices will go a long way toward successful outcomes. I especially value "Be prepared". Being prepared gives the negotiator an edge in influencing negotiations.

Leadership communication. Summary chapter 1

This chapter helped us learn to develop a leadership communication strategy. The four major components of effort follow;

• Establish a clear communication purpose
• Develop a communication strategy
• Analyze the audience
• Organize written and oral communication effectively

Once a purpose is defined, generating ideas becomes important. Brainstorming, idea mapping, the 5W journalistic question, and the decision tree will assist in refining and clarifying purpose. The communication strategy framework is presented next to ensure that all angles are taken into account before delivering the message. Analyzing the audience is fundamental to an effective communication strategy since the characteristics of the audience will determine the communication approach. Organizing written and oral communication includes tools such as storyboards which are specially effective when working in groups.

Leadership Communication. Summary chapter 2

Leadership Communication
Summary Chapter 2
Creating leadership documents

Chapter 2 examined the steps necessary to create leadership documents. These documents would enable managers to assert their influence in a wide range of organizational settings. The authors recommend;

• Select he most effective communication medium
o E-mail, reports, etc
• Create individual or team documents
o Use the individual document creation process or the multiple-writer approach
• Organize document content coherently
o Open with power, develop with reason, close with grace
• Conform to content and format expectations in correspondence
o Understand the difference between informal e-mails and formal memos
• Include expected contents in reports
o Observe the purpose of the report; inform, instruct, or persuade
• Format business documents effectively
o Pay attention to layout, spacing and alignment, font size, headings, and more

From personal experience, I am very careful with business documents. I usually review them several time before sending them; the list provided here is thorough, focused and helpful in ensuring leadership communication.