Transcript CHAPTER SIX Communication Communication in Negotiation

CHAPTER SIX
Communication
Communication in
Negotiation
Communication processes, both verbal
and nonverbal, are critical to
achieving negotiation goals and to
resolving conflicts.


Negotiation is a process of interaction
Negotiation is a context for
communication subtleties that influence
processes and outcomes
What Is Communicated
During Negotiation?




Offers, counteroffers, and motives
Information about alternatives
Information about outcomes
Social accounts
• Explanations of mitigating circumstances
• Explanations of exonerating circumstances
• Reframing explanations

Communication about process
How People Communicate
in Negotiation

Selection of a communication channel
• Communication is experienced differently when
it occurs through different channels
• People negotiate through a variety of
communication media – by phone, in writing
and increasingly through electronic channels or
virtual negotiations
• Social presence distinguishes one
communication channel from another.

the ability of a channel to carry and convey subtle
social cues from sender to receiver
How People Communicate

Use of language
• Logical level (proposals, offers)
• Pragmatic level (semantics, syntax, style)

Use of nonverbal communication
• Making eye contact
• Adjusting body position
• Nonverbally encouraging or
discouraging what the other
says
Communication skills
Active listening
 Skillful questioning
 Paraphrasing
 Reframing
 Sending clear
messages

How to Improve
Communication in Negotiation

Use of questions: two basic categories
• Manageable
 Cause attention or prepare the other
person’s thinking for further questions:
• “May I ask you a question?”

getting information
• “How much will this cost?”

generating thoughts
• “Do you have any suggestions for improving
this?”
How to Improve
Communication in Negotiation

Use of questions: two basic categories
• Unmanageable questions
 Cause difficulty
• “Where did you get that dumb idea?”

give information
• “Didn’t you know we couldn’t afford this?”

bring the discussion to a false conclusion
• “Don’t you think we have talked about this
enough?”
SKILLFUL
QUESTIONING

General – most open
• What’s on your mind?
• What can you tell me about this situation?
• What happened?

Opinion Seeking – open
• What do you think would be fair?
• What is most important to you?
• What is your reaction to my proposal?

Fact Finding – somewhat open
• Who needs to approve this?
• When is the deadline?
• Where, What, When, How?
SKILLFUL
QUESTIONING

Narrow Direct or Forced Choice –
mostly closed
• Did you tell me before it happened?
• Will you be there before 5 o’clock?
• Will you accept my version of the
agreement w/o any changes?

Leading – closed
• Isn’t it true that there is no alternative?
• Didn’t you say that it would be done without
fail by Tuesday?
How to Improve
Communication

Listening: three major forms
1. Passive listening: Receiving the message
while providing no feedback to the sender
2. Acknowledgment: Receivers nod their
heads, maintain eye contact, or interject
responses
3. Active listening: Receivers restate or
paraphrase the sender’s message in their
own language
Listening is Important
and
Powerful
 • Good listening is helpful in and of
itself
 • Builds trust and rapport
 • Deescalates/calms
 • Creates clarity
 • Listening is a precursor to problemsolving
 • Feels like a “gift”--everyone wants
to be heard
What’s “Active” About It?
• Requires work and concentration
 • Two-way

Three ways of looking at Active
Listening
– Set of skills (e.g. open-ended questions)
– Ability to focus/concentrate -- focused on all
aspects of speaker’s communication, setting
aside my own issues for the moment.
– Attitudes (ideally):
• I care what this person has to say
• I’m sincerely curious about how this person sees
things
• I’m willing to withhold judgment and accept this
person’s reactions, perceptions, feelings as
legitimate.
Active Listening Skills
•
 •
 •
 •
 •

Get the Story
Probe / Clarify Meanings
Listen for Emotions
Summarize
Value Silence
PARAPHRASING
Focuses on the experience of the
speaker.
 Important because:

• Lets speaker know s/he has been
heard and understood
• Receiver makes sure s/he gets it right
• Gives the speaker an opportunity to
assess the message and to modify it
REFRAMING

Redirecting, limiting, or shaping the perception of
a message so that it is more constructive
• Message may have negative dimension
• May contains threat, insult or offensive language
• For example, when the parties make their opening
statements, their language is often adversarial and
may be inflammatory

Choose a positive interpretation
• Removing unproductive language,
emotion, position taking, and
accusations.
REFRAMING
It is about changing perception by
understanding something in
another way.
 It is not about changing the facts
or losing a thought’s fundamental
meaning.

REFRAMING

Benefits:
• Defuses anger and negative
emotions.
• Helps prevent escalation.
• Keep the dialogue open.
REFRAMING-There is an
objective






Reframing position to interest
Reframing a problem to an
opportunity
Reframing a weakness as a strength
Reframing a blame to a need
Reframing a past to a future
Reframing an individual
problem to a shared
problem
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES

When Tomas Watson Jr. was CEO of
IBM, one of his executives had made
some bad decisions that cost the
company millions of dollars. Upon
entering Watson’s office, the executive
proclaimed, “I suppose after that set of
mistakes you will want to fire me.”
Watson was said to have replied, “Not
at all, young man, we have just spent a
couple of million dollars educating you.”
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES

When his factory burned down,
Thomas Edison was reported to have
commented, “There is great value in
disaster. All our mistakes are burned
up. Thank God we can start anew.”
SENDING CLEAR MESSAGES


Negotiators need to make sure they are
understood
Suggestions
•
Replace abstract concepts with
concrete descriptions
•
Send I messages instead of You.
• Accept personal responsibility for
interpretation. Avoid placing blame
and putting others on the
defensive.
How to Improve
Communication in Negotiation

Role reversal
•
•
Negotiators understand the other party’s
positions by actively arguing these positions
until the other party is convinced that he or
she is understood
Negotiators realize that increasing
understanding does not necessarily lead to
easy resolution of the conflict
Special Communication
Considerations at the Close of
Negotiations

Avoiding fatal mistakes
• Keeping track of what you expect to happen
• Systematically guarding yourself against selfserving expectations
• Reviewing the lessons from feedback for
similar decisions in the future

Achieving closure
• Avoid surrendering important information
needlessly
• Refrain from making “dumb remarks”