GLS University’s

Faculty of Business Administration

Formerly known as N R Institute of Business Administration
TYBBA – Semester VI
Core Course: 201801604
Critical Thinking & Communication Syllabus

1. Course Objective:
a. To design and implement effective conflict management strategies.
b. Devise compelling pitch that influences buy-ins.
c. Strategize negotiation tactics for better influence through persuasion.
d. Handle stressful and highly emotional situations through communication tactics.

2. Number of Credits: 3

3. Course Duration: 12 weeks/36 hours

4. Course Content:
Module No. Modules/Sub-Modules Marks
Weightage
I Conflict Management 25%

• Basics of Conflict Management

• Identifying reasons for Conflict
• Managing Intractable Conflict
• Conflict Transformation
• Mediation & Facilitation
• Annexure I
II Persuasion & Communication 25%

• Basics of Persuasion
• Why is change in persuasion needed?
• Science of Persuasion
• Connecting with people
• Build Credibility
• Respect Beliefs: Common Language

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 • Annexure I

III 25 %
Negotiation Skills
• Negotiation Process
• Establishing the Goal
• Estimating the Blue Print
• Validating the Estimation
• Creating Value
• Dividing Value
• Encouraging Communication
• Closing
• Annexure I
IV Confrontational Communication 25 %

• Communication Styles (Assertion, Non-Assertion,

Aggression)
• Assertion and Organizational Communication
• Dealing with Negative Feedback
• Boss/Leader as an Aggressor

5. Teaching Methods: The following pedagogical tools will be used in this course:
1. Lectures and discussions
2. Assignments
3. Presentations
4. Case studies

6. List of topics for assignments and presentations:

a. Film Text Analysis
b. Presentations
c. Simulation Exercises

7. Evaluation: The students will be evaluated on a continuous basis and broadly follow the scheme
given below:
1. Assignments / Presentations/ Quizzes / Class Participation 30% (Internal
etc. Assessment)
2. Internal Examination 20% (Internal
Assessment)

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3. External Examination (University Exam) 50% (External
Assessment)

8. Reference Reading Books:

Sr.
Author/s Name of the Book Publisher Edition
No.
1. Fifth Indian
Naval, Mallika Business communication Cengage
Reprint
2. Shell ,Richard & The Art of Woo Using Strategic
Portfolio 1 Edition
st

Mousa ,Mario Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas

3.
Jeong ,Ho Won Conflict Management & Resolution Routledge 1 Edition
st

4. International Conflict Management-

Butler ,Michael Cengage 1 Edition
st

An Introduction

1. List of Journals/Periodicals/Magazines
1. Harvard Business Review
2. Communication Quarterly

Annexure I

1. Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (1986), Basu Chatterjee.

2. The Man from Earth (2007), Richard Schenkman.

3. The Exam (2009), Stuart Hazeldine.

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Sources:

1) Jeong ,Ho Won Conflict Management & Resolution Routledge 1st Edition
2) Shell ,Richard & Mousa ,Mario The Art of Woo Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas
Portfolio 1st Edition

3) https://www.beyondintractability.org
4) https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/negotiation-skills
5) Brian J. Dietmeyer and Rob Kaplan, Strategic Negotiation: A Breakthrough 4Step Process for
Effective Business Negotiation, Dearborn Trade Publishing (2004)

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 Unit I
Conflict Management

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 Basics of Conflict Management
Conflict:

Conflict as a term can be applied in a variety of situations ranging from social to religious,
corporate or cultural. However, it can be generally defined as “competition for resources
or other interests, value differences or dissatisfaction with basic needs.” Incompatible
economic and political interests develop an attempt to suppress other groups often with
threats and actual use of force. The discovery of oil, uranium and other minerals in
Morocco, Nigeria, and Sudan has resulted in government attempts to tightly control ethnic
minorities along with the refusal of fair sharing of incomes from mineral exploitation. The
growing resentment ignited armed resistance which has been followed by government
retaliatory attacks on many civilians, causing destruction of properties, indiscriminate
killing, rape, and other abuses which sometimes reach genocidal levels (as has recently
been illustrated in Darfur, Sudan).

The perception of scarcity often worsens competitive situations by generating an even

stronger desire to have access to the limited resources. The level of competition is thus
affected by the availability and value of the territories or other objects sought
simultaneously by rival groups. In the absence of agreeable decision-making rules and
accepted norms on the conduct of behavior, the contest can turn into activities aimed at
the destruction of each other.

Reasons of conflict:

Power struggle is inevitably involved when each group attempts to impose its own
language, religious or social values on other groups which have their own unique
traditions and histories. As communal conflict in Kashmir for the last several decades
vividly demonstrates, minority groups have a strong desire for autonomy and self-
control of their destiny. In establishing or maintaining a superior status, dominant groups
may discriminate against minority ethnic culture or language. Then the newly created
hierarchy is used to further control subordinate religious, racial, or linguistic groups.

Incompatibility of goals is another reason of conflict. The pursuit of different objectives

leads to interference in each other’s activities to prevent an opponent from attaining
what one group desires. These conditions of conflict can result in either a sustained
conflict or compromise solutions. However, if a superior party overwhelms and subdues
the other side rather quickly, they have an upper hand in the conflict situation. A

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minority group may seek outright independence, but the state controlled by a majority
ethnic group may oppose the aspiration and even suppress rights to ethnic language
and religion.

Unregulated competition is another reason for conflict. In an unregulated competition,

claims to a limited amount of status, power, and resources may result in conflict, which
sometimes leads to an attempt to injure or eliminate rivals.
Incompatible preferences are a more acute source of tension and struggle especially
when each party seeks distributive outcomes which satisfy one group’s interests at the
expense of others. A competitive struggle often arises from a situation where each
party’s aspirations cannot be fulfilled simultaneously.

Value and identity differences along with economic and social inequality create a source
of uncontrollable (intractable) conflict. Beneath a struggle for territory and wealth lie
pride, identity and security. Whereas emotional threat generates the fear of losing what
one values, a sense of
insecurity creates loyalty to one’s own group and hatred toward rival groups.

Thinking Point: Critically evaluate current political and corporate scenes with reference
to conflict across the world and see which of the above mentioned reasons can be
applied. Note down your answer in around 250 to 300 words.

Behavioral and Psychological aspects of Pathological Conflict

Pathological Conflict is a situation of high degree of tension which cannot be ignored or
avoided. In such situations people involved succumb to demeaning verbal
communication and degrading non-verbal behavior. Anger, hatred and dehumanization
are amplified. Use of violence is common. This could be the result of frustration or
aimed at achieving limited objectives and demonstrating one’s commitment towards a
certain unit in power. In pathological conflict situations, the uncontrolled emotional,
psychological aspects of conflict can be an obstacle to resolving differences in
substantive issues. Most wars are examples of pathological conflict.

• Read the following passage and critically think about the connection
between gender and pathological conflict.

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When the conduct of struggles begins to involve the abandonment of established
rules and norms accustomed to constrain each other’s behavior, oppression and
violence become an unrestrained means of control over enemy “others.” During
the Guatemalan civil wars (in the 1980s–1990s), indigenous women were often
sexually assaulted by government security forces and their affiliated paramilitary
group members. In the Bosnian war, Serbmilitias used rape as a weapon of ethnic
cleansing. In civil wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo, women were forced
to eat the dead bodies of their family members as well as being abducted as
sexual slaves for armed gang members. Many undisciplined armed groups in
Burundi, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and other places in Africa have used children as
tools of unspeakable crimes such as killing adults with stones. The pathological
aspects of conflict can certainly not be reversed without the restoration of some
kind of order which imposes discipline on armed militias not subject to control by
any responsible leadership.

Managing Intractable Conflict:

1. Intractable Conflict:

Conflicts are not inherently intractable (uncontrollable). Some conflicts erupt and are
settled peacefully within a short time; others simply defy any attempt at termination.
Conflicts over deep-rooted issues like identity and human needs tend to generate more
strife and violence and become protracted (long lasting or never ending). Intractable
conflicts are not just longer-lasting conflicts, they are also more likely to be violent and
destructive, and of course more difficult to deal with or manage. It is safe to say that
when a conflict situation becomes protracted, there are more chances that it will be
intractable also.

We use the term intractable conflicts to describe conflicts that sink into self-perpetuating
violent interactions in which each party develops a vested interest in the continuation of
the conflict. Deep feelings of fear and hostility coupled with destructive behavior make
these conflicts very difficult to deal with, let alone resolve.
An intractable conflict is thus, first and foremost, a process (not just a single violent
episode) of competitive relationships that extend over a period of time, and involves
hostile perceptions and occasional military actions. The term itself acts as an integrating
concept connoting processes where states become enmeshed in a web of negative
interactions and hostile orientations. This pattern is repeated, indeed worsened, every
so often, with the parties involved unable to curb, or manage, the escalation of their
relationships. Given the characteristics of intractable conflicts, the lack of contact
between the parties, the hostility and repeated violence, it seems plausible to suggest

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that one path out of this dilemma would be to accept some form of third-party mediation.
Third parties can play a very useful role in the context of intractable conflicts.
Thinking point: Think about countries that have protracted and intractable conflicts. Who
becomes the third party mediation in such conflicts. Give examples of specific incidents
where there has been an attempt of mediation. Similarly, also think about companies
that have protracted and intractable conflicts, and generally who plays the role of a
mediator in such companies.

Mitigation of Protracted Conflict

A multi-step conflict resolution process aims to identify types of disputable issues,

discover underlying causes and develop a process to remove them.
The first step in the process of managing intractable and protracted conflict is to analyze
the system of interaction and its surrounding environment. Along with that, it is also
important to change negative perceptions and bring about attitudinal changes. The
negative forms of change within a conflict system have to be reversed by a shift in
interaction patterns from demonization to humanization, from stereotypes to empathy.
The intensity of conflict can be moderated with the removal of incompatibilities by
means of conjunction with a search for a formula to increase compatibility between
different positions related to each party’s goals.

Difference in internal and external environments help during the transition toward
conciliation in conflict situations. Therefore, it is important that if the adversaries lack the
abilities to manage their relationships, they seek support from the external allies.
External mediators help to narrow emotional and psychological gaps between
antagonists. Psychological changes may come along with readiness for concession
making that is necessary for a compromised solution. In order to accommodate each
other’s needs, parties need to abandon the contentious tactics associated with
achieving unilateral gains. Decision making for de-escalation needs to be adjusted by
the necessity for mutual concessions.

As a result of conflict, partisans tend to go through the transformation of their

organizational structures and identity. The cessation or reduction of hostilities may
come from changes in personal motivations and social context following watershed
events.
In peaceful resolution, goals are pursued by means other than threats and actual use of
violence. In managing ethnic relations, coercive approaches often produce a backlash
by generating further resentment and violent resistance. The maintenance of the status
quo by force is no longer feasible, or too costly to one’s international reputation (or the
maintenance of domestic support). The right circumstances for successful de-escalation

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(to break a costly impasse) can be discovered by a careful analysis of conflict situations.
Prior to de-escalatory moves, parties acknowledge a stalemate situation; the parties
themselves are not able to envision a way out of the conflict with dreadful costs
whereas neither side is likely to win or lose in the short term. The futility of efforts to
impose unilateral solutions can be realized after the recognition of the limited capacity to
push for any gains along with an adversary’s resistance. In the absence of palatable
options, pressures of time and other elements of a crisis create pessimistic views about
conflict.

Conflict Transformation

Although the definition is relatively short, its various components lend it a degree of
complexity. To better understand conflict transformation, an explanation of each
component is needed. Together, these components attempt to capture the attitudes and
orientations we bring to creative conflict transformation, the starting point of such an
approach, and the various change processes involved in such an approach.

To Envision and Respond: A transformational approach begins with two pro-active

foundations: 1) a positive orientation toward conflict, and 2) a willingness to engage in
the conflict in an effort to produce constructive change or growth. While conflict often
produces long-standing cycles of hurt and destruction, the key to transformation is the
capacity to envision conflict as having the potential for constructive change. Response,
on the other hand, suggests a bias toward direct involvement and an increased
understanding that comes from real-life experience. Both "envision" and "respond"
represent the ways we orient ourselves toward the presence of conflict in our lives,
relationships, and communities.

Ebb and Flow: Conflict is a natural part of relationships. While relationships are
sometimes calm and predictable, at other times events and circumstances generate
tensions and instability. A transformational view, rather than looking at isolated conflict
episodes, seeks to understand how these particular episodes are embedded in the
greater pattern of human relationships. Change is understood both at the level of
immediate issues and the broader patterns of interaction.

Life-Giving Opportunities: On the one hand, this phrase suggests that life gives us
conflict, and that conflict is a natural part of human experience and relationships. Rather
than viewing conflict as a threat, the transformative view sees conflict as a valuable
opportunity to grow and increases our understanding of ourselves and others. Conflict

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helps us stop, assess and take notice. Without it, life would be a monotonous flat
topography of sameness and our relationships would be woefully superficial. This
phrase also suggests that conflict creates life and keeps everything moving. It can be
understood as a motor of change that keeps relationships and social structures
dynamically responsive to human needs.

Constructive Change Processes: This notion emphasizes the capacity of the

transformational approach to build new things. Conflict transformation begins with a
central goal: to build constructive change out of the energy created by conflict. By
focusing this energy on the underlying relationships and social structures, constructive
changes can be brought about. The key here is to move conflict away from destructive
processes and toward constructive ones. The primary task of conflict transformation is
not to find quick solutions to immediate problems, but rather to generate creative
platforms that can simultaneously address surface issues and change underlying social
structures and relationship patterns.

Reduce Violence and Increase Justice: Transformation must be able to respond to

life's on-the-ground challenges, needs, and realities. How do we address conflict in
ways that reduce violence and increase justice in human relationships? To reduce
violence we must address both the obvious issues and content of any given dispute and
also their underlying patterns and causes. To increase justice we must ensure that
people have access to political procedures and voice in the decisions that affect their
lives.

Conflict transformation views peace as centered and rooted in the quality of

relationships. This includes both face-to-face interactions and the ways in which we
structure our social, political, economic, and cultural relationships. In this sense, peace
is a "process-structure," a phenomenon that is simultaneously dynamic, adaptive, and
changing. In essence, rather than seeing peace as a static "end-state," conflict
transformation views peace as a continuously evolving and developing quality of
relationship. It is defined by intentional efforts to address the natural rise of human
conflict through nonviolent approaches that address issues and increase understanding,
equality, and respect in relationships.

Direct Interaction and Social Structures: The above concerns about violence and
justice suggest that we need to develop capacities to engage in change processes at
the interpersonal, inter-group, and social-structural levels. One set of capacities points
toward direct, face-to-face interaction between people or groups. The other set
underscores the need to see, pursue, and create change in our ways of organizing
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social structures, from families, to complex bureaucracies, to structures at the global
level. This requires a capacity to understand and sustain dialogue as a fundamental
means of constructive change.

Indeed, many of the skill-based mechanisms that reduce violence are rooted in
communicative capacities to exchange ideas, find common definitions, and move
toward solutions. But dialogue also plays a crucial role in the maintenance or change of
social structures. Through dialogue, these structures can be modified to be more
responsive and just.

Human Relationships: Relationships are at the heart of conflict transformation.

Rather than concentrating exclusively on the content and substance of the dispute, the
transformational approach suggests that the key to understanding conflict and
developing creative change processes lies in seeing the less visible aspects of
relationship. While the issues over which people fight are important and require creative
response, relationships represent a web of connections that form the broader context of
the conflict. It is out of this relationship context that particular issues arise and either
become volatile or get quickly resolved.

Conflict and Change

Both conflict and change are a normal part of human life. Conflict is continuously
present in human relationships, and the fabric of these relationships is constantly
adapting and changing. Before discussing practical approaches to conflict
transformation, it is important to better understand the link between conflict and change.
There are four central modes in which conflict impacts situations and changes things:
1. the personal,
2. the relational,
3. the structural, and
4. the cultural.
In addition, we can think about these changes in response to two questions. First, from
a descriptive view, what does conflict change? And second, from the standpoint of
responding to conflict as it arises, what kind of changes do we seek? In the first arena,
we are simply acknowledging the common patterns and impact of social conflict. In the
second, we recognize the need to identify what our values and intentions may be as we
actively seek to respond, intervene, and create change.

Change Goals in Conflict Transformation: Transformation understands social conflict as

evolving from, and producing changes in, the personal, relational, structural and cultural

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dimensions of human experience. It seeks to promote constructive processes within
each of these dimensions.

• Personal: Minimize destructive effects of social conflict and maximize the

potential for personal growth at physical, emotional and spiritual levels.

• Relational: Minimize poorly functioning communication and maximize

understanding.

• Structural: Understand and address root causes of violent conflict; promote

nonviolent mechanisms; minimize violence; foster structures that meet basic
human needs and maximize public participation.

• Cultural: Identify and understand the cultural patterns that contribute to the rise of
violent expressions of conflict; identify cultural resources for constructively
handling conflict.

The personal dimension refers to changes effected in and desired for the individual.
This includes the cognitive, emotional, perceptual, and spiritual aspects of human
experience over the course of conflict. From a descriptive perspective, transformation
suggests that individuals are affected by conflict in both negative and positive ways. For
example, conflict affects our physical well-being, self-esteem, emotional stability,
capacity to perceive accurately, and spiritual integrity. Prescriptively, (i.e., relating to
what one should do) transformation represents deliberate intervention to minimize the
destructive effects of social conflict and maximize its potential for individual growth at
physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.

The relational dimension depicts the changes affected in and desired for the face-to-
face relationships. Here issues of emotions, power, and interdependence, and the
communicative and interactive aspects of conflict are central. Descriptively,
transformation refers to how the patterns of communication and interaction in
relationships are affected by conflict. It looks beyond visible issues to the underlying
changes produced by conflict in how people perceive, what they pursue, and how they
structure their relationships. Most significantly, social conflict makes explicit how close

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or distant people wish to be, how they will use and share power, what they perceive of
themselves and each other, and what patterns of interaction they wish to have.
Prescriptively, transformation represents intentional intervention to minimize poorly
functioning communication and maximize mutual understanding. This includes efforts to
bring to the surface in a more explicit manner the relational fears, hopes and goals of
the people involved.

The structural dimension highlights the underlying causes of conflict, and stresses the
ways in which social structures, organizations, and institutions are built, sustained, and
changed by conflict. It is about the ways people build and organize social, economic,
and institutional relationships to meet basic human needs and provide access to
resources and decision-making. At the descriptive level transformation refers to the
analysis of social conditions that give rise to conflict and the way that conflict affects
social structural change in existing social, political and economic institutions.

At a prescriptive level, transformation represents efforts to provide insight into

underlying causes and social conditions that create and foster violent expressions of
conflict, and to promote nonviolent mechanisms that reduce adversarial interaction and
minimize violence. Pursuit of this change fosters structures that meet basic human
needs (substantive justice) and maximize people's participation in decisions that affect
them (procedural justice).

The cultural dimension refers to the ways that conflict changes the patterns of group life
as well as the ways that culture affects the development of processes to handle and
respond to conflict. At a descriptive level, transformation seeks to understand how
conflict affects and changes cultural patterns of a group, and how those accumulated
and shared patterns affect the way people in a given context understand and respond to
conflict. Prescriptively, transformation seeks to uncover the cultural patterns that
contribute to violence in a given context, and to identify and build on existing cultural
resources and mechanisms for handling conflict.

The Big Picture: Connecting Resolution and Transformation

The transformation metaphor provides an expanded view of time, situates issues and
crises within a framework of relationships and social context, and creates a lens to look
at both solutions and ongoing changes.
Thus far we have discussed the concepts that make up the various components of
conflict transformation. We now want to move from the concept of transformation to the
practice of transformation. We must therefore establish an operative frame of reference
for thinking about and developing the design of transformational approaches. Our
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starting point requires the development of an image of our purpose, or what I call the
"big picture." Since intractable conflicts are usually quite complex, developing a "big
picture" helps us to develop a purpose and direction. Without it, especially in the arena
of intractable conflict, we can easily find ourselves responding to a myriad of issues
without a clear understanding of what our responses add up to. We can solve lots of
problems without necessarily creating any significant constructive social change at a
deeper level.

Resolution and Transformation: A Brief Comparison of Perspective

Conflict Resolution
Conflict Transformation Perspective
Perspective

The key How do we end something How to end something destructive

question not desired? and build something desired?

The focus It is content-centered. It is relationship-centered.

To achieve an agreement
To promote constructive change
and solution to the
The purpose processes, inclusive of -- but not
presenting problem
limited to -- immediate solutions.
creating the crisis.

It is embedded and built

It is concerned with responding to
The around the immediacy of
symptoms and engaging the systems
development of the relationship where the
within which relationships are
the process presenting problems
embedded.
appear.

Time frame The horizon is short-term. The horizon is mid- to long-range.

It envisions conflict as a dynamic of

It envisions the need to ebb (conflict de-escalation to pursue
View of conflict de-escalate conflict constructive change) and flow
processes. (conflict escalation to pursue
constructive change).

Post Conflict Transformation

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Even if the main issues may have been resolved, lingering doubts and suspicion
continue due to the uncertainty of future interactions. The emergence of new
relationships ought to focus on future expectations beyond present interaction patterns
as well as past memories of atrocities and victimization. Institutional restructuring
(needed to tackle a source of grievances) brings about new ways issues are to be
addressed in the future. In the failure of continuing to deal with root causes, a post-
conflict process can be derailed only to see the return of more contentious battles
(Jeong, 2005). Thus the process to bring about a negotiated solution needs to be linked
to incorporating post-conflict peace building efforts.

Approaches to conflict prevention

Prevention is more effective and less costly than handling a crisis after the eruption of a
violent conflict. The initial focus of prevention sheds light on controlling behavioral
dynamics created by a catalyst of violence in a polarized society. Fear and mistrust lay
the groundwork for the recurrence of contentious fights. In the escalation of existing
tensions into violence, prevention may focus on containing the spread of fighting. A
violence control mechanism such as peacekeeping creates safe space for addressing
the root causes of intractable conflicts. The ultimate goal of conflict prevention can be
achieved through institutional arrangements designed for the mitigation of inequality and
other sources of grievances.

Conflict management strategies

Strategies of conflict response are diverse, ranging from standing firm, negotiation, and
disengagement, to submission. These choices have implications for balancing the
pursuit of one’s interests and relationship management. Standing firm with principle may
be necessary to signal an adversary regarding a commitment to block excessive and
unreasonable demands. It is likely to serve as a communication means to let opponents
know one’s own uncompromising priorities beforehand to prevent an unnecessary test
of will. Those who have higher stakes in the issue are likely to take more confrontational
strategies although that can be moderated by an imbalance in power and weaker
capabilities to confront an adversary.

The parties may have opposing objectives, but they can agree on the means to settle
differences. Principles on fairness in competition can be established in making
decisions on the distribution of goods and resources. In employment or other contract
relationships, reward systems can be accepted by regular bargaining. Excessive
expectations can be contained or controlled by the creation of a negotiation culture
which supports collaboration in search of acceptable options to all parties. Negotiated
settlement becomes difficult if discussion about substantive issues translates into

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differences in principles, hence making any concession appear like a defeat. When
functional problems turn into matters of control and power, it is more difficult to focus on
the original concerns.

In cultural settings oriented toward collectivist values, avoidance and yielding are
common methods of non confrontational conflict management. In a culture where
survival traditionally depends on close cooperation among family and community
members, the overt expression of hostile feelings is regarded as a threat to the group
unity. The suppression of individual desires is highly valued in collaborative cultures
oriented toward preserving harmony. In most affectionate relationships, yielding can be
based on sacrifice to meet a close group member’s needs, as is the case with women in
Africa who give up food for their children in the case of starvation.

By conceding, one party accepts their loss in favor of the other’s gain, but it can be the
quickest way to contain, regulate, and end conflict by satisfying the demand of an
adversary. It is easier to give up part of one’s wants if the existence of multifaceted
issues furnishes a substitute for the concession or lends priority to other issues. The
availability of alternative paths to satisfying one’s objectives reduces the necessity for a
contentious engagement. In a closely integrated relationship, yielding on one issue is
not necessarily a loss in the long run if a future reward is likely to come.
If relationship maintenance brings about overall benefits, either tangible or intangible
(for example, affection or prestige), conceding is more desirable than insisting on
narrow gains. Preventing damage to the existing relationships can be a main objective
when beneficial transactions exist. It is less costly to manage all the contentious issues
within agreeable boundaries. A party, which regards the relationship as more beneficial
than the other, is more likely to acquiesce. On the other hand, continuous submission is
detrimental if the other party takes advantage of goodwill, not valuing the importance of
concessions, and disregards the conceding party’s concerns or needs.

As a method of conflict management, the avoidance of controversial issues can take

various forms, ranging from the denial of existence of a problem to disengagement.
Stepping back from a conflict may be preferred under varying circumstances from a low
stake in the fight to little chance of achieving the goals and a dim hope for a solution
(ascribed to the complexity of the situation).

Mediation and Facilitation

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Mediation is a process in which a third-party neutral assists in resolving a dispute
between two or more other parties. It is a non-adversarial approach to conflict
resolution. The role of the mediator is to facilitate communication between the parties,
assist them in focusing on the real issues of the dispute, and generate options that meet
the interests or needs of all relevant parties in an effort to resolve the conflict.Unlike
arbitration, where the intermediary listens to the arguments of both sides and makes a
decision for the disputants, a mediator assists the parties to develop a solution
themselves. Although mediators sometimes provide ideas, suggestions, or even formal
proposals for settlement, the mediator is primarily a "process person," helping the
parties define the agenda, identify and reframe the issues, communicate more
effectively, find areas of common ground, negotiate fairly, and hopefully, reach an
agreement. A successful mediation effort has an outcome that is accepted and owned
by the parties themselves.

Where It is Used:
Mediation is widely used in all sorts of disputes, ranging from divorces to civil lawsuits to
very complex public policy problems to international conflicts. Many disputes that have
not responded to an initial attempt at negotiation can still be settled through mediation.
Even when conflicts are seemingly intractable, they sometimes yield to mediation.
Mediation is of particular importance in long-running, deep-rooted conflicts, as this type
of conflict is rarely resolved without such outside assistance. Even if the full range of
grievances cannot be resolved, mediation is often useful for dealing with particular
limited aspects of the wider conflict.
Mediation Through the U.N.
In the United Nations, the act of mediation describes the political skills utilized in efforts
carried out by the United Nations Secretary-General or his representatives, through the
exercise of the Secretary General's "Good Offices," without the use of force and in
keeping with the principles of the UN Charter. The United Nations mediator engages in
a process as a third party, when those in conflict either seek or accept the assistance of
the United Nations with the aim to prevent, manage or resolve a conflict. Mediation
skills, therefore, could be employed in all of the following contexts:
• prior to conflict through preventive diplomacy;
• during a conflict through peacemaking activities;
• after a conflict to promote implementation modalities and agreements
• during peacebuilding efforts to consolidate peace and lay the foundation for
sustainable development.
A United Nations mediation mandate, however, is more specifically defined. When the
United Nations is called upon to mediate a resolution to a conflict, the parties accept
what is called a mediation mandate. This means that they accept that the UN mediator

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is there to help and provide them find solutions to resolve their conflict. A United Nations
mediation mandate provides the authority for the Secretary-General or his envoys to:
• meet and listen to all parties to the conflict;
• consult all relevant parties for the resolution of the conflict;
• propose ideas and solutions to facilitate the resolution to the conflict.
While the final outcome has to be agreed to by the parties, being a mediator entails a
much greater responsibility and involvement in the outcome of the conflict.
As in other mediations, a United Nations mediated outcome is not binding, unless the
Security Council takes actions to enforce the agreement. Final implementation of the
mediated agreement rests upon the commitment of the parties.
A United Nations mediation mandate is particularly useful to the parties as it gives them
the opportunity to avail themselves of the experience and best practices that the United
Nations, as an organisation, has gained in the field of conflict resolution.

How Mediation Works:

Although a mediator cannot force an outcome, the process is very often effective. The
key is the ability of the mediator to create a more productive discussion than the parties
could have had by themselves. To do this, mediators help the parties determine facts;
they show empathy and impartiality with the parties; and they help the parties generate
new ideas. Mediators also exercise political skill and use persuasion to get people to
soften hard-line positions. Often, though not always, they have a lot of background
knowledge of the issues and type of dispute. Though many mediators are highly trained
and experienced, not all are professionals, and they come from many different walks of
life.
Lawyers often believe that the purpose of mediation is rapid and efficient settlement of a
particular case. But others disagree. Sometimes the purpose of a mediation is more to
improve relationships among parties who will have to deal with each other again, or
even to help them learn how best to handle conflict with other parties in the future.
Often, a mediator has to learn which of these purposes is most important to the parties
in a particular case, and tailor the service to match, but different mediators tend to
specialize in one variety of mediation or another. (Mediation that focuses on settlement
is sometimes termed problem-solving mediation; mediation that focuses more on
relationships is often called transformative mediation.)
While many mediators pride themselves on their neutrality, some observers believe that
it is impossible any human being to be truly neutral. Others have concluded that even
biased mediators can be useful, as long as the bias is not hidden from any party and
parties have an opportunity to protect themselves against its effects. International
mediations are often of this type, because an effective international mediator is often a
foreign minister or president of an influential country, even though everyone

21
understands that the mediator's country has interests of its own. President Carter's
mediation between Egypt and Israel was an example.
Example:
A high school student sits down with two others to help them stop fighting; many miles
away, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is chairing a meeting of 15
ambassadors who are trying to avert a war. These two situations may not seem to have
much in common. But both are forms of mediation.

Application:
In virtually every situation where negotiation is not going well, or where for one reason
or another it seems impossible to get a real discussion going with the other party or
parties, it's worth asking whether bringing in someone else might at least help get
communication going. That someone else is likely to be, or act as, a mediator. While
parties' understanding of this process varies from setting to setting, in some places it is
now routine to use mediators where two decades ago there was no practice to speak of.
For example, the courts of the U.S. State of Florida alone now refer approximately
150,000 cases per year to mediation, rather than expecting the parties to fight their
disputes out in trials or to work out settlements without third-party help. While most of
these cases are likely relatively simple to resolve, routinizing mediation is one way to
prevent conflicts from becoming intractable.

Facilitation

What is Facilitation?
"Facilitation" is a term that means different things to different people. In the context of
U.S. alternative dispute resolution (ADR), facilitation (or group facilitation) is generally
considered to be a process in which a neutral person helps a group work together more
effectively. Facilitators may work with small groups within an organization, or with
representatives of different organizations who are working together in a collaborative or
consensus-building process.
The facilitator, in this context, may be internal or external (that is, brought in from an
outside organization). Either way, he or she must be acceptable to all members of the
group. Such facilitators are process leaders only -- they have no decision-making
authority, nor do they contribute to the substance of the discussion. The facilitator's job
is to lead the group process; to help them improve the way they communicate, examine
and solve problems, and make decisions. Good facilitators can help groups stay on
task, be more creative, efficient, and productive than they would be without such help.
Core Values of Facilitation

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According to Roger Schwarz, there are three core values that guide the practice of
facilitation: valid information, free and informed choice, and internal commitment to
those choices. Valid information means that everyone involved shares all information
relevant to an issue. It also means that people understand the information and its
implications. Free and informed choice means that participants have the ability to define
their own goals and ways of achieving them. A facilitator can help the parties determine
or alter their goals, and assess whether a particular option or decision meets those
goals. But the ultimate decisions are up to the parties themselves. Internal commitment
to the choice means that people feel personally responsible for the choices they make.
This type of commitment results because people are happy with the decision and their
involvement in it, not because there is any possibility of reward or punishment for
supporting it -- other than the benefits inherent in the agreement itself.
The United Nations uses the term "facilitation" slightly differently, however. The UN
refers to itself as a "facilitator" when it provides any form of assistance--such as
providing neutral facilities or transportation--in an effort to assist the parties to
advance their conflict resolution efforts. Unlike the facilitator role described above, the
United Nations takes a "behind the scenes" approach to assist the peacemaking
efforts of the parties and other peacemaking actors. However, UN facilitation can
sometimes entail the chairing of meetings or meeting the parties separately to help
them move the issue forward. Based on the trust of the parties and requirements of
the situation, a UN facilitator can have a broad range of responsibilities and can be
quite active in a peace process. As peace processes are organic and fluid, the role of
a UN facilitator can increase or decrease with time depending on the situation and
needs of the parties.
Put together, these core values reinforce each other. To make an informed choice,
people must have valid information. When people make free and informed decisions,
they become internally committed to them. When people are committed to a decision,
they are likely to make sure that the decision is implemented effectively.

Role of the Facilitator

It is the facilitator's role to help the group design its meetings in a way that is consistent
with the core values of facilitation. One of the key ways a facilitator does this is by
helping groups establish ground rules for an effective process. Ground rules are the
rules of conduct or behavioral guidelines that members of the group agree on before
proceeding with their meeting. They are based on an assumption of equality and
fairness. The idea is that no individual is permitted to dominate a discussion or hold
special privilege.
There are generally three kinds of ground rules. The first kind defines the behavior of
participants; for example, "individuals will treat each other with respect." The second

23
kind applies to procedures to be used by the group, such as "all decisions will be made
by consensus." The last kind of ground rule may also define the boundaries of
discussions on certain issues, for example, "discussion today will focus solely on the
issue of water usage, and will not go into a discussion of mineral rights."[8]

Key Facilitation Skills and Methods

Facilitators must have a variety of skills and techniques to be effective. Strong verbal
and analytical skills are essential. Facilitators must know what questions to ask, when to
ask them, and how questions should be structured to get good answers without
defensiveness. Facilitators must know how to probe for more information when the
initial answers are not sufficient. They must also know how to rephrase or "reframe"
statements to enhance understanding, and to highlight areas of agreement and
disagreement as they develop. Other skills include redirecting questions and comments,
giving positive reinforcement, encouraging contrasting views, including quieter members
of the group, and dealing with domineering or hostile participants. Nonverbal techniques
include things such as eye contact, attentiveness, facial expressions, body language,
enthusiasm, and maintaining a positive outlook. A facilitator must also develop the
ability to read and analyze group dynamics on the spot in order to guide the group in a
productive way.

There are also various recording techniques facilitators may employ, such as the use of
large newsprint notepads. Taking notes everyone can see during meetings helps
establish a common framework of understanding among the group and prevents people
from repeating points. In addition to basic note taking, facilitators use a variety of other
visual methods that help generate, organize, and evaluate data and ideas. Again, the
main idea behind visual tools is that they allow material to be displayed so all members
of a group can see and work with the same information at the same time.[10] This leads
to greater efficiency and productivity for the group and leaves less space for
misunderstandings and conflicting recollections of what was discussed.

What are the Benefits of Facilitation?

There are a number of common benefits to using facilitation skills in group settings:
• Group members are often more motivated to support the decisions made
because of their investment in the process.
• The best efforts of groups usually produce better results than individual efforts.
• Increased participation within the group increases productivity.
• It is possible for managers and leaders to draw more on their staffs as resources,
which contributes to overall organizational success.

24
 • Everyone involved has a chance to contribute and feels they are an integral part
of the team.
• People realize and respect that responsibility for implementing decisions lies with
everyone.
• Innovation and problem-solving skills are built.
• People are encouraged to think and act for the overall benefit of the group.
• Higher-quality decisions normally result.
• A forum for constructively resolving conflicts and clarifying misunderstandings is
created.
• Negative attitudes, low morale, low involvement, and withholding of information
are less likely because everyone is involved in a joint process.

Why is Facilitation Important?

Facilitation is important because meetings of large groups of people can be very hard to
organize as well as to control when they are in progress. First of all, a facilitator can
help members of a group get to know each other and learn to cooperate. Having a
skilled facilitator run or lead a meeting should also help focus the energy and thoughts
of the various members on the task at hand. Ideally, the group facilitator is someone
who is not interested in the outcome of the meeting (decision-making). Therefore he or
she can fully concentrate on how members of the group are working together and help
the group work toward their goals, without bias. As a result, facilitation can be extremely
useful in helping groups develop consensus on issues.
Facilitation has become a more and more important communication skill in recent times.
Many businesses and organizations have restructured, giving more power to a wider
range of employees. Companies and organizations are relying more heavily on the input
of individual employees in a broad variety of decisions. In addition, professionals in
many areas are also increasingly being asked to work as members of groups.
Facilitation is therefore becoming a critical skill for coordinating the ideas and
contributions of diverse sets of people within organizations. In today's organizations,
facilitators play an essential role in discussions, meetings, teamwork, and overall
organizational effectiveness.

Sources:
Conflict Management & Resolution by Jeong ,Ho Won
https://www.beyondintractability.org

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 Unit 2 Persuasion and Communication

Basics of Persuasion
As Henry Ford once said, "If there is any secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the
other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as your
own." Psychologists have actually developed complex measures for this ability (called
"cognitive perspective taking") and studied it in historical figures, including many of
history's most noted political as well as battlefield leaders. For example, in one study of
the careers of nineteen political leaders associated with fiveJ revolutions-ranging from
the English civil war of the seventeenth century to the Russian and Cuban revolutions of
the twentieth century-scholars found that the people displaying higher levels of
perspective-taking ability (as shown in letters, speeches, and other writings) were more
likely than those who lacked this ability to consolidate and stabilise their respective
movements in the post revolutionary period. Lenin had it, and he created the
Communist government in Russia. His colleague Trotsky did not, and he was eventually
shot by Stalin while living in exile in Mexico. Fidel Castro had it, and he has remained in
power for nearly fifty years. His comrade-in-arms Che Guevara did not-and he was
executed in Bolivia in 1967 while leading another South American revolutionary group.

In persuasion, you are trying to win people over, not defeat them. But both war and
interpersonal influence involve anticipating how other people will react to things you do
and say. Your ability to see and feel things from their perspectives is thus crucially
important. In a professional relationship, this talent allows you to preserve "face" in
delicate, politically charged situations, keeping communication channels open that might
otherwise shut down. For example, the first female general in the Iraq War, General
Rebecca Halstead, was having a hard time gaining respect from her superiors. After
enduring several slights, she finally confronted her commanding officer. "I know why you
have a problem with my leadership," she said firmly. "It's because I went to West Point, I
am younger than you and," here she paused. "And because I am shorter than you,
right?" It was just what she needed to say to get her point across and clear the air.

The Six Channels of Persuasion: An Introduction

Extensive research on how people influence one another in work settings has revealed
that they return over and over to a relatively discrete number of persuasion moves.
Although communication scholars have labelled as many as sixteen separate and
identifiable strategies (including such things as issuing threats, giving simple orders,
and making requests), six main persuasion channels dominate when people are selling
ideas.

26
Channel #1: Interest-Based Persuasion
As you reach your seat, you may notice some deal making going on. We were on a
plane recently and asked a young businesswoman who was about to take her aisle seat
nearby to switch for one of our aisle seats. We explained that a switch would enable us
to get some work done together. "Sure," she replied, "if one of you could help me get
my bag into this overhead." Interest-based persuasion takes place every time someone
frames a sales pitch in terms of the other party's self-interest. A simple example might
be: "Accepting my idea will help you on your next performance
evaluation." But, as the airplane example shows, interests are also the bases for
negotiations, both inside and outside the organization. In negotiation, each side has
something the other side wants or could use capabilities, resources, status, pieces of
information, or authority to take some action-and they make a trade. The trade can be
explicit, as it was in the airline example above, or it can be implicit, as happens when
you ask someone to cover a client call for you and mentally note that you owe that
person a reciprocal favor at some point in the future.

Channel #2: Authority

The airplane seat belt sign blinks on: authority-based persuasion. We recognize this
signal and obey without giving the matter another thought. On a plane, most people are
tuned to the "authority" channel because their safety depends on it. Authority is the
most commonly used influence tool in most work settings. The authority channel is
usually used in "top-down" situations, when someone gives an order to someone lower
in a hierarchy. But even a secretary can use this channel if he or she has jurisdiction
over expense accounts or other procedures. In the airplane example, we tend to defer
to authority automatically because the seat belt sign is credible, routine, and inherently
reasonable. hocks to themselves, he would have heard quite a bit more protest. You
are using authority-based persuasion whenever you appeal to your formal
position or authoritative rules or policies as a means of getting others to agree
with your proposal.

Channel #3: Politics

Back on the plane, a nearby elderly passenger IS hot and wants to complain about the
lack of cool air circulating as the plane fills up. She fiddles with the air vent and nothing
seems to happen. First move: build a coalition (a key skill in organizational politics). "Are
you feeling a little stuffy?" she asks you. You politely nod. "Let's ask them to turn up the
air conditioning." She pushes the attendant button. A stewardess appears. "We're
feeling pretty warm here," she says on behalf of the newly formed "We Want Cooler Air"
movement. "I'll see what I can do," replies the attendant, and then adds soothingly: "It
will cool down quickly once we get into the air." Social scientists define politics as
processes by which individuals, usually working in groups, try to exert influence over the

27
actions of a larger organization. As political theorist Hannah Arendt put it, "Political
power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert."

Channel #4: Rationality

As your plane taxis to takeoff, a video comes on telling you what to do in the "unlikely
event of an emergency"-the seat cushion that can be used as a flotation device, and so
forth. You know the video. The mode here is rational persuasion. You are not
persuaded. First, you have heard the pitch so many times that you tune it out. Second,
you have never heard of anyone actually surviving a plane crash by using the seat
cushion as a flotation device. The video is full of detailed, specific information, but it
lacks overall credibility. We define rationality-based persuasion as trying to influence
someone's attitudes, beliefs, or actions by offering reasons and/or evidence to justify a
proposal on its merits. As the airplane example makes clear, the audience holds the
keys to success in using this mode. If the audience is willing to listen to reason, you
have a chance of influencing them. If not, no amount of data or logical persuasion will
get them on your side. Every organization gives at least lip service to the rationality
mode and many are genuinely dedicated to making decisions based on the best
arguments and evidence available. Thus, you almost always need to gather the best
evidence and arguments you can as part of an idea selling campaign. IBM's legendary
president, Tom Watson Sr., believed so thoroughly in a rational, thoughtful approach to
business that he created one of the most famous corporate slogans of the twentieth
century: THINK. The idea was born one day when Watson was working at the National
Cash Register Company. Finding himself at a meeting where nobody was challenging
anything being said, Watson burst out, "The trouble with everyone [here] is that we don't
think enough." The following day he created a sign with five huge, all-capital letters on it
and placed it at the podium where presentations were being made. The sign said
"THINK." At IBM, Watson's THINK sign could be found on every desk and in every
conference room. But what, exactly, did Watson mean by it?
He once explained it this way: "By THINK, I mean take everything into consideration
[emphasis added] .... [But] we're not interested in a logic course." Watson's slogan sent
a strong message to his employees about the culture he wanted to instil at IBM. It was a
culture based on rational thought. But, as Watson insisted, logic alone seldom dictates a
given result. In using the rationality channel to persuade, you must be prepared to
engage in debate. Different people come to very different conclusions about the same
evidence based on their respective needs and biases. In addition, you (or your
evidence) may lack credibility in your audience's eyes and, like the passengers on the
airplane listening to the flotation device lecture, the audience will tune you out. Thus,
rationality in persuasion usually pivots on what philosophers call "practical reason." You
need to get all the evidence on the table (or, as Watson said, "take everything into

28
consideration"), and then you must encourage people to apply their professional
judgement and experience.

Channel #5: Inspiration and Emotion-The Vision Channel

You reach for the airline magazine to pass the time. It opens to a double-page
advertisement for a luxury car that, if purchased, will transform you into someone who
looks like James Bond (or dates him) and is vacationing at an expensive, well-known
resort. This is what we call "visionary" persuasion: attempts to evoke emotions such as
hope, desire, or team spirit to motivate you to adopt an attitude or to take a particular
action. Once again, the attempt is unsuccessful. You are not the Bond (or Bond's) type.
You like your dependable, five-year-old Honda. At the deepest levels of human
motivation lie people's feelings, beliefs, identities, spiritual roots, cultural ties, and life
stories. Visionary devices such as stories and images help persuaders to access these
levels, appealing directly to the audience's intuitions. As one persuasion expert has put
it, "People make their decisions based on what the facts mean to them, not on the facts
themselves." You don't have to be a charismatic leader with a plan to rid the world of
disease to become a skilled user of visionary persuasion tools. Beliefs and purposes
come in many forms and cover all areas of life and work. An audience's everyday
commitment to being a good citizen, a good professional, or a good parent is an
excellent foundation for visionary persuasion. When we speak of the visionary influence
channel, therefore, we include any appeal to an audience's overriding sense of purpose,
values, or beliefs as the foundation for selling your idea.

Channel #6: Relationships

Back on the plane, a young boy across the aisle is lobbying for a cookie from his father.
"I told you the cookies were for later," says the dad. "Aw, Dad, I was really good in the
airport. Can't I have half of one now?" Out comes a cookie and some deal making
ensues over how to divide it. A positive relationship favorably predisposes an audience
toward your message. In the words of psychologist Robert Cialdini, "We prefer to say
'yes' to people we know and like." A negative relationship, meanwhile, distorts almost
everything an idea seller says. The research on how rapport and relationships work to
facilitate (or block) communication is deep and wide. In an early study on selling
insurance, researchers discovered that the best insurance salesmen were no different
from the average in product knowledge, number of sales calls, or even number and type
of questions asked. The only difference was in how quickly and authentically the best
salesmen put their customers at ease by finding some common experience or affiliation
the salesmen and customers shared-some similarity.

Science of persuasion
Consider the following two facts of modern organizational life:

29
• According to the Wall Street Journal, roughly thirty million PowerPoint presentations
are delivered in the world every day, and
• Seventy-eight percent of surveyed executives report they have slept during a recent
corporate presentation.
This section explores eight specific pathways leading to this intuitive decision maker-
techniques for grabbing your audience's attention and keeping it firmly focused on your
idea. You do not need to be a marketing or creative genius to use these methods. You
need only ask yourself the following question as you prepare: Which of these eight ways
to make my idea memorable seems appropriate given the specific circumstances?
Identify as many or as few as you like. Then, as the last step in your preparation,
brainstorm the images, stories, emotions, or personal touches that might add flavor to
your case.
The pathways are: 1. Make it vivid. 2. Use demonstrations and symbolic actions.

3. Put your heart into it. 4. Tell a story. 5. Personalize it. 6. Make it a puzzle. 7. Build
bridges with analogies and metaphors. 8. Force your audience to think.

Pathway #1: Make It Vivid

Arizona State psychologist (and best-selling author) Robert Cialdini once attended a
training program for insurance salesmen as part of a research project on social
influence. The attendees were given an article titled "Add a Picture-Make a Sale" that
laid out some of the most successful selling strategies in the industry. The instructor
explained this technique to his new recruits as follows: If you are selling auto insurance,
start by getting 'em alone in a quiet place and making 'em imagine that they just totaled
the car. If you are selling health insurance, first make 'em suppose that they're laid up in
the hospital too sick to work. If you're selling theft, get 'em to think how it would be to
come home from vacation and find everything gone. And take 'em through every
picture, every step along the way. This selling system works because, regardless of the
statistical likelihood, people tend to think that things they can easily visualize are more
likely to happen. If an airplane crashes or a hurricane blows ashore, the sale of flight
and flood insurance goes up because people have recent, vivid images in mind that

30
planes sometimes go down and big storms sometimes cause severe damage.
Moreover, the more "available" an idea is, the more people believe it to be true.
Memorable, oft-told tales of miracles inspire religious worship. And visually compelling
advertisements provoke beliefs that a new shampoo or aftershave lotion can truly
improve one's romantic life. To see is to remember, and to remember is to believe.

Pathway #2: Use Demonstrations and Symbolic Actions

Nothing is more vivid than an object your audience can see and touch or an experience
they can feel. Thus, assuming the corporate culture permits them, demonstrations and
symbolic activities are an excellent way to make an idea memorable. went on to
become a runaway hit. Asking people to take symbolic actions related to your idea can
also engage them in memorable ways. Moreover, research on a psychological
phenomenon called the "foot in the door" technique has shown that once someone
takes a concrete, physical action that is consistent with holding a value or belief-such as
putting a political candidate's sign in their front yard-they are more likely to actually
adopt that belief. Corporate rituals sometimes try to exploit this effect. Top executives at
America Online once constructed a huge wooden T-Rex dinosaur representing
Microsoft and displayed it at an employee retreat. The message: Microsoft's new
network service was a vicious monster about to devour AOL's core business. Hundreds
of employees then "signed on" for the fight against Microsoft by writing their names on
the T-Rex. The president of AOL, Ted Leonsis, later admitted that "the dinosaur thing
was a bit of hyperbole, but I ... believed it. I was asking, 'Are you going to let Bill Gates
do this?' " Asking employees to take symbolic actions that rally them behind a new plan
to fight the competition is fairly common.

Pathway #3: Put Your Heart into It

As we noted in previous sections, people will be more inclined to believe your
arguments if you show that you, yourself, believe in them. What convinces is conviction,
especially if that conviction is backed by genuine feeling. Emotions give an electric
charge to a presentation that says: this idea matters to me. Studies show that in the
right setting, if you have credibility and don't go overboard, emotions can also send a

31
parallel message to your audience: this idea should matter to you. As a general rule,
you should reserve your emotional displays for your most urgent ideas. Otherwise,
people will stop listening. But do not be afraid to reveal your feelings when the issue is
important and when your audience does not seem to be "getting it."

Pathway #4: Tell a Story

Audiences have a much easier time following you when you proceed from a specific
example to a general point than they do when you proceed the other way around. The
most vivid and effective way to present an example is to tell a story. A research study
was once conducted to test different forms of persuasion. One group of high school
teachers was presented with a written argument, complete with statistical tables,
showing that a new science curriculum had led to greater learning and higher test
scores over a number of trials in different schools. Another group of teachers heard
about the same new curriculum from a single teacher who had used it and who told an
inspiring story about its success. Which group of teachers do you think was more eager
to try the new curriculum? The one that had heard the success story. Stories have many
virtues. First, they engage your audience immediately, giving them something concrete
to imagine. Second, a story has many moving parts, all of which affect one another.
This makes it possible to illustrate something as complex as teaching a new curriculum
within a single, straightforward narrative. That sort of integration is hard to achieve with
mere description. The key difference between a simple example and a story is
something scholars call movement. When you tell a good story, the audience starts
wondering what plot twists lie ahead. We have seen this effect many times. As you
settle into a story, you suddenly become aware that the room has fallen silent. People
who were fidgeting moments earlier are now following each word you say with the rapt
attention of children at bedtime. If you have integrated your idea pitch into the story in a
compelling way, you can be sure that the intuitive decision maker you are trying to
reach will be listening. When you are pitching an initiative, you want your audience to
understand not only your idea but also the process that led you to it. This enhances
your credibility by showing your thoroughness and objectivity. It also gives you a chance
to tell a special kind of story: the story of the hunt.

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Pathway #5: Personalize It
When Winston Churchill sat down to write about the end of World War I from his
vantage point as First Lord of Admiralty, he swept his audience into the text by placing
them at the center of a dramatic moment-standing next to him at his window as the
Great War ended: "It was a few minutes before the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of
the eleventh month," he wrote in 1927 in The World Crisis. "I stood at the window of my
room looking up Northumberland Avenue towards Trafalgar Square, waiting for Big Ben
to tell that the War was over." What better way to draw readers into a detailed historical
analysis of the Great War's conclusion than to share a personal moment of what it felt
like to be in London on Armistice Day? Alluding to specific, real people facing actual
problems and experiencing concrete feelings and thoughts turns your audience's
imagination on like a light bulb. Charities have known this for decades. Would you
rather send a hundred dollars to buy three months' worth of food and clothing for
Karnees, a ten-year-old boy living in the war-torn African country of Sudan-or contribute
a hundred dollars to a billion-dollar fund managed by the United Nations to help
refugees throughout the world? When you are selling more conventional ideas, the most
persuasive stories are the ones people can relate to from their own personal
experience. The audience visualizes, embellishes, and surrounds your story with its
own context-making your point of view more vivid, believable, and easier to recall later.
There are many ways to personalize a presentation. Talk about specific things a
customer or employee shared with you about the problem your idea addresses. Give
these people names and place the story in a specific location at a particular time of day.
Share an example of how you yourself have suffered from the situation you are trying to
solve. A first-person approach to persuasion can transform even the most casual
decision-making process and mark it with a memorable moment.

Pathway #6: Make It a Puzzle

People like puzzles because they pose mental challenges. And in groups, you can
sometimes engage your audience in a mini-contest to see who can be the first one to
figure the puzzle out. Here is an example of a puzzle we use when teaching business

33
people about law: how is a baseball like a whale? If you ask a question like that, people
will immediately be curious. How could a baseball be like a whale? After a few stabs at
an answer they will demand that you reveal the solution. And while all this is going on,
you have their attention. Your idea will always be a little easier for them to remember
because they will associate it with your puzzle. In pitching ideas to people in
organizations, look for puzzles embedded within the problems you are trying to help
them solve. Which is more important: customer satisfaction or brand awareness? How
can you make more money by doing less work? The puzzle device works best when the
solution to the puzzle is exactly what you want the audience to remember about the
idea you are selling.

Pathway #7: Build Bridges with Analogies and Metaphors

As the puzzle device suggests, metaphors and analogies are excellent ways to make
your pitch memorable because they build conceptual bridges. When you are talking
about something the audience does not know much about, you need to start with
something it does know and build from that toward your subject. Physicists speak of
"black holes" in space (areas of enormous gravitational pull from which even light
cannot escape) because few people can grasp the mathematics needed to describe
these phenomena more precisely. But everyone can conjure up an image of a large,
black hole sucking everything around it into a whirlpool-like vortex. By coming up with a
good metaphor, physicists studying these phenomena have made it easier to obtain
funding, to write books, and to go on television for interviews.

Pathway #8: Force Your Audience to Think

As we argued above, analogies and metaphors build easy-to-cross bridges between
what your audience knows and the case you are trying to make. But our final set of tools
for making a presentation memorable focuses on jarring your audience-forcing it to think
about the unknown and unfamiliar. We have borrowed these techniques from Andrew
Abbott, who discusses them in his book Methods of Discovery as ways scientists use to
advance thinking in their disciplines. These moves can be risky if your audience is not
ready to step "outside the box" with you, but we offer them for the moments when they

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may be useful. Question the Obvious. By questioning the obvious, you can sometimes
get people thinking about old issues in new ways. Is the purpose of college really to get
an education? Maybe it is just an elaborate way for parents to get troublesome
teenagers out of their homes at a time when young people need to engage in-and get
over-risky, experimental behavior. If so, that may explain why universities have such lax
disciplinary rules. Is the real purpose of a business to serve its shareholders or keep its
suppliers in business? The first of these two views supports the usual profit-driven VIew
of the firm. But what about the second? Someone opposed to an initiative to buy from
high-priced (but local) suppliers might use it to force people to confront the implications
of a "buy local" program. Reversals. Turn things upside down and ask your audience
to consider what this upside-down world might look like. How could your organization
increase sales by raising prices? If your audience sells, ask them to think of themselves
as buyers. If you are talking about how to improve team performance, ask people what
the firm could do to make team performance worse. Let's Pretend. Make a radical
assumption and get the audience to explore what the world might look like if that
assumption were true. The best assumptions are ones that take an existing trend and
push it to an extreme, looking for insights that might apply to your current situation. If
you are selling an idea related to work-life balance, ask the audience to throw out the
conventional workweek and optimize the time available for work and leisure. See what
the week ends up look· ing like. Assume gasoline is twenty dollars per gallon. What
does your business look like under this condition? Assume compulsory education
extends to the age of twenty-six. How could your organization exploit that with your
service? Reconceptualize. This is a favorite of corporate strategists and "visionaries."
Ask the audience to rethink a basic purpose or mission as part of your idea sale.

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Connect Your Ideas to People: Stepping-stones
In this section, we examine your ideas and the situation you face. Where do ideas come
from? How can you use your experience to come up with new and better ones? And
why is it important to polish them before starting the selling process?

Stage 1: Define the Problem

The first stage in generating a new idea is to define the problem you are trying to solve.
The more accurately you define the problem, the better. There is some art to this. If you
define the problem too narrowly, you might unconsciously block out creative ideas and
options that could prove quite valuable. If you define it too broadly, you will be flooded
with irrelevant data and overwhelmed with the complexity of what you face-making it
hard to separate the good ideas from the bad ones. We observe mistakes in problem
framing all the time in our negotiation courses. When people define the scope of a
negotiation problem as being entirely about the price, they often miss nonmonetary,
creative options that might elegantly solve their underlying problem. When they frame
the negotiation problem too broadly-so that it encompasses the overall structure of their
market or firm-they have trouble coming up with any strategy at all because no single
negotiation can fix a problem of such wide scope.

Stage 2: Research Relentlessly

The next stage is to thoroughly research your problem. The more precisely you frame
the question and research the relevant models, data, and options, the better. Hastings
was spending most of his time on his business model hunt-but not by going to the
library. He was reading trade and business publications, talking to other entrepreneurs,
going on trips, and noticing trends. Your mind is picking up, retaining, and arranging
both generalized and specific data all the time without your even realizing it. But
concentrated, purposeful research with reference to a defined problem is extremely
helpful when cooking up a new idea. As Young explains, "Gathering raw material ... is
such a terrible chore that we are constantly trying to dodge it." So this effort makes a
difference. Research prompts lots of different thoughts about how to solve the problem.
Young calls this "mental digestion." Some people call this the "brainstorming" stage.

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Working alone or in groups, you are rewarded with little bursts of half-baked ideas and
hit-or-miss notions. The point here is to keep at it, even if you become discouraged and
are tempted to give up on the process.

Stage 3: Let It Cook

Stage 3 is crucial: you must trust the unconscious part of your mind to do its part. This
part of your mind is great at sifting through the data of your experience to find patterns,
combinations, and possible solutions to the problem you have posed to yourself. Having
the patience to let a problem "cook" like this is sometimes hard-especially if you need
an idea on a deadline.

Stage 4: Catch the Idea as It Flies By

Stage 4 is to be alert, because the good ideas will start to come at odd moments-in the
shower, as you are waking up, while you are gardening, or when you are taking a walk.
The ideas will seem to come "out of nowhere," says Young. But we know better. They
are the product of this relentless combination process. The job in Stage 4 is simple:
catch the new ideas as they come. Don't let yourself forget them; write them down.

Stage 5: Shape and Polish

Stage 5, as we noted above, is the most important part: the shaping and polishing
stage. You take the raw material of your new idea, turn it over in your head, adapt it,
share it with others, and get feedback. The best ideas-those most genuinely suited to
solving problemswill inspire enthusiasm, first in you and then, if you are skilled at the Art
of Woo, in others. And as the polishing process continues, it will spur further ideas
about how to make your solution more efficient, elegant, and enduring. The Netflix
concept began as a way to eliminate annoying late fees from the video rental business.
It ended with a sophisticated, patented-and profitable-business process. A good way to
see if your idea is really feasible is to have a group of smart, sympathetic friends you
can rely on for constructive input.
As you shape your idea, it helps to project it into the future-but to do this in a special
way. Cognitive scientists have shown that people can uncover possible problems with

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new ideas most effectively if they use a technique called "taking a trip to the future." It
works like this. Picture yourself in your home or office on the day after you have
successfully sold your idea to an especially knowledgeable and critical audience. Then
look back on your presentation and imagine the way you introduced your idea to the
group. Next, think of the questions the audience asked, including the toughest and most
challenging ones. After subjecting your idea to both real and imaginary criticism, return
to the polishing process. Your goal is to have a fully formed, well-thought-through idea
that is ready to sell to decision makers. This polishing activity is never really completed-
even fully implemented programs get better and better as people think of ways to
improve them. But unless you do a good job of shaping the idea initially, it will never get
past the first gatekeeper.

5.Build credibility
Relationships can do more for you than simply ease communication and access. They
can also be sources of credibility. By associating yourself with people and institutions
known and respected by your audience, the audience will be inclined to listen to what
you have to say. But credibility by association can take you only so far. In the end,
credibility derives mainly from what an audience thinks about your own actions and
reputation. In this section, therefore, we will take a deeper look at this critical variable.
Most experts agree that credibility comes down to audience perceptions of three key
things: competence, expertise, and trustworthiness. Thus, your credibility resides in
your audience's mind rather than in your objective credentials or skills. This means it is
especially fragile. You can lose it in a single moment of poor judgement, miscalculation,
or misconduct.

Below, we will look at each of the three platforms on which you can build credibility in an
idea-selling campaign.
Credibility Platform #1: Demonstrated Competence
One of the most common ways to build credibility in work settings is to demonstrate a
proven track record for competence and reliability in the domain of your idea. If your
audience knows you are a top performer, all kinds of obstacles dissolve.

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Credibility Platform #2: Expertise
Expertise is a credibility cousin to competence. When you are asking someone to
believe your facts on a technical matter, your credibility depends on being seen as an
expert, someone who has thoroughly done his or her homework. Whereas people will
give you competency based credibility when they think you have accomplished
something worthy, they will give you expertise-based credibility when they think you
have a specialized area of knowledge.

Credibility Platform #3: Trustworthiness

Success guru Stephen Covey says that trust is "the one thing that changes everything."
With it, almost any business difficulty can be overcome. Without it, you have a hard time
getting anything significant done. We agree. But we think a couple of points are worth
making about this, one of your most vital personal assets. First, trust comes in small,
medium, and large amounts. A little trust is a lot better than no trust at all. By showing
reliability and integrity in everything you do-not just the obvious things when everyone is
watching-you build the foundations for people who do not know you well to trust you a
little bit. And that forms the basis on which you can build more trust as they get to know
you better. Second, perceptions of trustworthiness come in many forms. For example,
when you are selling an idea from a position of authority, it helps if those under you
perceive that you are wielding your authority legitimately-that is, that you are working in
the best interests of the organization, not to aggrandize yourself.

6.Respecting beliefs: Common language

We now shift focus from the factors that define how other people will see you as an
individual-your relationships and credibility-to two of the three barriers that may stand in
the way of their seeing your ideas clearly: the language you use and your audience's
values and beliefs.

Tune to the Other Person's Channel

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The basic persuasion languages people speak parallel the six channels of persuasion.
These are the languages of authority, rationality, vision, interests, politics, and
relationships. Your success as a persuader depends on your ability to find the channel-
or channels-your audience is tuned to and then communicate using appropriate
language.

Listen to Your Audience

Self-awareness is an internal thermometer that tells you whether you are happy, sad,
insecure, or confident. In a persuasion encounter, the more self-awareness you bring to
the table, the more you can monitor your own feelings and measure the reactions your
audience is feeding back to you. Persuaders with a lack of confidence, a bout of nerves,
or a fear of failure often tend to focus almost exclusively on the content of their
message. They are listening to what they are saying and thinking about what they will
say next. By contrast, people who know their message cold can deliver it while
simultaneously monitoring the moment-to-moment reactions of listeners as they
experience the persuasion process. "I am feeling frustrated," a self-aware persuader
might say to herself. "Is that because my audience is not listening? I may need to
throwaway my prepared pitch and try something new." By monitoring your audience and
adjusting your pitch, you can keep everyone's attention and stay in the game. When you
fail to adjust, you end up speaking in what amounts to a "foreign" language. The
audience is then left to wonder whether you failed to prepare or just lack basic social
awareness. Neither is helpful to your credibility.

Speaking Your Organization's Language

Human minds and organizational cultures are too idiosyncratic to make a complete list
of all the languages people use to sell ideas. So tuning to your audience's basic
channel-be it visionary, rational, interest-based, political, relational,or authority-based-is
only the beginning of your preparation, not the end. Once you have identified your
audience's channel, therefore, your next step is to research the specific words,
frameworks, or metaphors your audience is most likely to respond to. You will usually
find hints and clues about these all around you in most organizations-if you will only

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take the time to notice. Almost every corporate culture has favored buzzwords to help
you frame your ideas.

Taking It to the Personal Level

Of course, even within a given corporate culture, the people you are selling your idea to
will have their own individual, sometimes quirky way of processing information and
concepts. It will therefore help to gather as much information as you can on the thought
processes, values, and preferences of each person in your stepping-stone strategy.

Beliefs and Values: The Language of Purpose

As we have seen, people's beliefs and values often provide a language you can use to
frame your ideas in especially persuasive ways. It therefore pays to discover and, if
appropriate, salute your audience's core values whenever possible. In organizational
life, the language of "purpose" enters the vocabulary through corporate mission
statements and credos. Examples include such famous corporate value statements as
Johnson & Johnson's "Credo," Hewlett-Packard's "HP Way," and Google's "Don't Be
Evil" motto. It seldom harms an idea pitch to link it to an organization's core purposes.

Beliefs as Barriers to Persuasion

Psychologists have a variety of explanations for why appeals to core beliefs work: belief
bias (the tendency of people to accept any and all conclusions that fit within their
systems of belief), the consistency principle (the need for people to behave in ways that
are consistent with previously declared values or norms), and the pull of "power" or
"God" terms (the tendency of people to respond to appeals invoking ultimate values
such as safety, connection, community, or truth). These explanations all point to the
same conclusion: if an idea promises to reinforce one of your audience's core beliefs or
the values related to them, the idea gains tremendous traction. But the very power of
your audience's beliefs also creates hidden barriers to persuasion. Psychologists call
this the "worldview defense" phenomenon, and it has been demonstrated in more than
three hundred lab experiments with subjects from many different cultures.

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Cures for Belief Bias
When your research and preparation reveal that your idea may collide with a core belief
of your audience, what can you do? Here are some possible cures for the blindness that
beliefs can cause.
Be Persistent One option is persistence. If you have the time and are sure enough of
your idea, you can simply keep at it until you begin to win people over.
Shift Audiences
A second option is to stop hammering at the people who reject your idea and seek a
new audience. Given the overwhelming amount of psychological research on people's
stubbornness when it comes to defending their beliefs, there is a lot of wisdom in this
option. In an organizational context, this usually means going outside your unit or
division to find people who think differently from those whose beliefs are blinding them
to the opportunities presented in your idea.
Fly Under the Radar Screen
A third option is to position your idea as something so small and unimportant that it
poses no serious challenge to the accepted belief system. In the early 1980s, for
example, it was hard for anyone at IBM to get a hearing for ideas that took personal
computers seriously. According to Paul Carroll's authoritative study Big Blues, lowlevel
internal task forces had forecast that the industry was about to change, but the people
at the top, blinded by their belief that no new markets were left to conquer, refused to
take these warnings seriously. Nevertheless, an IBM senior manager named Bill Lowe
succeeded in obtaining development funds for an experimental PC project that set the
stage for IBM's entry into that market. He did it by keeping the project so small nobody
could be bothered to oppose it. When it became clear that Lowe's little program would
take no resources away from the focus on the company's corporate customers, the IBM
Management Committee let it pass as one of the dozen or so things it approved in a
given week. The PC initiative, in short, flew in under the radar screen of IBM's core
beliefs.

Ask Them to Take Just One Small Step

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Another option is to break your idea into small bites that demand less commitment from
your audience. Psychologists have discovered that people have "anchor positions"on
various beliefs and opinions, and their willingness to be flexible on these positions can
depend on how much they are asked to change. The less you ask of the audience, the
more willing they are to move in your direction. When you run into a wall of resistance,
therefore, don't ask people to adopt your idea in its entirety-as James Webb did at the
State Department. Instead, try asking for permission to run a small-scale "test" or "pilot
project" that does not commit anyone to a final decision. Get them to take one small
step.

Position Your Idea Around a Deeper Core Value

The final cure to belief bias is to reposition your idea so people see it as consistent with
an underlying value that runs deeper than the belief you have collided with. For
example, suppose you are trying to sell your organization on changing to a new
software system and your audience believes that the platform it now uses works just
fine. Attacking the existing platform will simply trigger belief bias and people will stop
listening. However, if you can refocus your audience on the underlying purposes the
existing platform serves-such as efficiency or reliability-you open the door to pitching
your new solution as addressing those purposes in a better way

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Unit 3 Negotiation

In the contemporary world, negotiation has been broadly conceptualized as an inevitable part of
daily life, ranging from holiday plans between spouses to making decisions on the purchase of a
new car, a house or other expensive goods. Others involve collective entities (as illustrated by
deals between unions and a company over severance packages, health, and other benefits;
corporate takeovers and mergers, alliances between airlines or between Internet companies,
etc.). Negotiation is also part of managing international relations through treaty making between
two countries or on a multilateral basis.

The essence of negotiation

Negotiation can be defined as a process to resolve differences in goals that arise from dissimilar
interests and perspectives. In probing to unearth underlying concerns, negotiators share their
views in order to establish the areas of common ground and agreement. Fair, efficient outcomes
can emerge from the exchange of concessions in a search for creative solutions.

At its most basic level, the Strategic Negotiation Process is a step-by-step system that enables
you to blueprint a negotiation by making it possible for you to see and understand a negotiation
from your own perspective as well as that of your customer. Once you’ve gained this
understanding, our process further enables you to manage the negotiation in such a way as to
not only achieve a “win-win” situation but to make it possible for both you and your customer to
come away from the negotiation with more than you anticipated going into it. In other words, it
enables you to create true, measurable business value and go well beyond the concept of “win-
win.”

The traditional view of negotiation is, of course, sitting across the table from someone and
promising, cajoling, threatening, or using any of a wide variety of tactics to get what you want
from that someone. But that meeting is only—or should only be—the final step in a multistep
process. Defining negotiating as only that face-to-face meeting is like referring to this book
simply as publishing. In fact, the process that resulted in this book started a long time before
you picked it up in a bookstore or ordered it on Amazon. I came up with the idea for it and found
a coauthor to work with me; an agent agreed to represent us, and a publisher offered to publish

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it; we wrote it, and it was designed, printed, bound, jacketed, and so on and so on. In other
words, the book you’re holding in your hands is only the final step in the process. And it’s no
different with negotiating. Negotiation doesn’t start when you sit down with someone to work out
the terms of a deal. It starts as soon as you select an account and start selling. It’s all
negotiation, and redefining it as a process is what leads to world-class deal making.

The Strategic Negotiation Process essentially consists of four steps: (1) Estimating the
Blueprint, (2) Validating the Estimation, (3) Using the Blueprint to Create Value, and (4) Using
the Blueprint to Divide Value.

Blueprinting a Business Deal

Estimate the blueprint. Determine what effect not reaching an agreement will have on
you and the other side. List the items each party would like to have in the deal, identifying the
most and least important.
Validate your blueprint estimation. Gauge the accuracy of your blueprint estimation by using
your knowledge of and conversations with the other party; the wisdom of others in your firm; and
newspaper articles, annual reports, and other publicaly available information.
Use the blueprint to create value. Structure a deal in which you and the other party get not
just what's centrally important to you but additional benefits that make the agreement even more
attractive.
Use the blueprint to divide value. Decide how you and the other party will divvy up the items
of value you've laid out in the agreement.

Before you take the first step, though, it’s important for you to establish a goal for any
negotiation in which you may be involved. One of the mistakes people often make is trying to
plan how to get there before they’ve even determined where they want to go. Establishing a
goal, or not doing so, can have an impact, not only on the planning and execution of a
negotiation, but also on any long-term relationship between you and your customer.
Interestingly, our research has shown that, more often than not, even when people do have
goals in their negotiations, those goals are often inappropriate and, ultimately,
counterproductive.

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Negotiation is a two-way street. It’s a process that involves not just claiming value, but creating
it. Value creation can help resolve conflicts that are otherwise deadlocked, and transform good
deals into great ones.

VALUE CREATION IN NEGOTIATION

A successful negotiation requires a fine balance between claiming and creating value. This
balance is critical, yet often misunderstood.
“Value creation occurs when solutions are found that benefit both parties, or at least benefit one
of them without making the other worse off,” says Harvard Business School Professor Mike
Wheeler in the online course Negotiation Mastery.
This is commonly called win-win negotiation because both parties leave the bargaining table in
the same or better position than they arrived.
On the other hand, value claiming refers to how value is distributed in a negotiation.
“Once value creation has been maximized, securing a larger share for one party necessarily
leaves the other with less,” Wheeler says.
This scenario results in a win-lose negotiation, as one party naturally fares better than the other.
Distributive vs. Integrative Negotiation
Another common way to describe the relationship between claiming and creating value is
through the idea of distributive and integrative negotiation. To understand the difference
between the two types of negotiations, it’s helpful to imagine the value that’s to be exchanged
as a pie.
In distributive negotiation, each bargaining party must vie for their fair share of the pie. If one
party takes a larger slice of the pie, then the other is inevitably left with a smaller piece. This
form of value claiming negotiation results in a win-lose scenario.
In integrative negotiation, the focus is on expanding the pie by finding creative ways to add
value for everyone involved. By focusing on creating value rather than claiming it, both parties
not only leave the negotiation satisfied, but foster goodwill and pave the way for future
discussions.
If you want to become a more skilled negotiator, here are three ways you can add value the
next time you’re at the bargaining table.
HOW TO ADD VALUE IN A NEGOTIATION
1. Build Trust
Trust is a foundational component of any effective negotiation strategy. Deal-making comes with
an inherent level of risk, making it vitally important for you to build a rapport with the other party.

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“If you haven’t established a level of trust—if people think you’re chesting your cards, you’re
bluffing, or whatever the case may be—they have no incentive to be any more open than you
are,” Wheeler says.
Throughout bargaining talks, foster a relationship with the other side by sharing information.
Avoid divulging details that could compromise your position, but show you’re willing to provide
some insight into your strategy and intentions in order to reach an agreement. In turn, the
person on the other side of the table may be willing to do the same.
Express genuine interest in understanding the other party’s priorities, too. Ask open-ended
questions that invite them to explain their stance—rather than just state it—so you can get a
better sense of their motivations.
By forging a connection based on trust, a more engaging and productive dialogue can be had
that encourages both sides of the table to explore opportunities for mutual gain.

Related: Negotiation Tips for People Who Hate Negotiating

2. Find Uncommon Ground

Value creation requires focusing on areas where you and the other party have different interests
and perceptions, rather than commonalities.
“It’s not a matter necessarily of finding things you agree on, but things that you disagree about,”
Wheeler says. “You might treasure something that you own, but somebody else is just nuts
about it. You ought to be able to make a swap there.”
The key is to consider your differences across multiple issues. If you focus on one item at a
time, you risk being locked into a series of win-lose scenarios in which one party comes out on
top. While your highest priority might be Issue A, the other person’s might be Issue B, creating
an opportunity for trade that can benefit both sides without any major sacrifices.
Through finding and capitalizing on uncommon ground, you can not only secure maximum value
for your organization and yourself, but bolster cooperation by satisfying the other side’s needs.
3. Be Agile
Being a successful negotiator involves knowing how to think on your feet. Extensive preparation
is an essential part of bargaining, but even the best-laid plans can go awry. You need to be
ready to adjust to changing conditions.
According to Wheeler, skilled deal-makers understand the importance of agility and
improvisation.

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“However you happen to see yourself as a negotiator, most people you deal with likely have a
different style, at least to some degree,” Wheeler says in a previous blog post. “To succeed,
therefore, you must be agile. That means flexing yourself so that you deploy different skills
depending on the situation and whom you’re dealing with.”
Over the course of talks, keep your overarching goals in mind, but refine your tactics as you
listen to the other side and learn more about their point of view. Have an idea of the best- and
worst-case scenarios that could play out so that you can be prepared to propose solutions to
challenges as they arise.
By taking a nimble, creative approach to negotiation, you can uncover new and exciting
avenues for trade and achieve greater outcomes than you initially thought possible.

NEGOTIATION SKILLS
1. Communication
To achieve your ideal outcome at the bargaining table, it’s essential to clearly communicate
what you’re hoping to walk away with and where your boundaries lie.
Effective communication skills allow you to engage in a civil discussion with other negotiators
and work toward an agreeable solution. Deal-making naturally requires give and take, so it’s
important to articulate your thoughts and actively listen to others’ ideas and needs. Without this
skill, key components of the discussion can be overlooked, making it impossible for everyone to
leave the negotiation satisfied.
2. Emotional Intelligence
Emotions play a role in negotiation, for better or worse. While it’s important not to let them get in
the way of reaching a mutually beneficial deal, you can use them to your advantage. For
example, positive emotions have been shown to increase feelings of trust at the bargaining
table, while feelings of anxiety or nervousness can be channeled into excitement.
A high degree of emotional intelligence is needed to read other parties’ emotions. This can
enable you to more easily pick up on what they’re implying rather than explicitly stating. In
addition to understanding what you and others are experiencing throughout a negotiation,
emotional intelligence can help you advantageously manage and use emotions.

Related: The Impact of Emotions in Negotiation

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3. Planning
Planning ahead with a clear idea of what you hope to achieve and where your boundaries lie is
an essential step in any negotiation. Without adequate preparation, it’s possible to overlook
important terms of your deal.
First, consider the zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) between you and the other negotiating
parties. ZOPA, sometimes called the bargaining zone, refers to the range in a negotiation in
which two or more parties can find common ground. A positive bargaining zone exists when the
terms that both parties are willing to agree to overlap. On the other hand, a negative bargaining
zone exists when neither party’s terms overlap.
Next, it’s beneficial to understand your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA). If
your discussion lands in a negative bargaining zone, your BATNA is the course of action you
plan to take if the negotiation is unsuccessful. Knowing your BATNA ahead of time can help
ensure you have a backup plan in case an agreement can’t be reached and avoid leaving the
table empty-handed.
4. Value Creation
Creating value in a negotiation is one of the most powerful skills you can add to your toolkit.
To illustrate its importance, consider this analogy: When participating in a negotiation, each
party is typically concerned with obtaining the biggest “slice of the pie” possible. With each party
vying to maximize their slice, this inherently means some will be forced to leave with a much
smaller piece.
To break free of this traditional idea of negotiation, experts suggest shifting your goals from
growing your slice to growing the whole pie. The benefits are twofold: First, each party can
realize greater value; second, a sense of rapport and trust is established, which can benefit
future discussions.
5. Strategy
In addition to thorough preparation and the ability to create value, you need a clear
understanding of effective negotiation tactics. Knowing what works and what doesn’t can allow
you to create a tailored strategy for every negotiation you participate in.
To develop a strong negotiation strategy, consider the following steps:

• Define your role

• Understand your value
• Understand your counterpart’s vantage point
• Check in with yourself

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Following this process ahead of each negotiation can enable you to formulate a clear plan of
action for the bargaining table. By understanding the roles of those involved, the value each
party offers, and your counterpart’s advantages, you can better prepare to work toward a
common goal. Checking in with yourself throughout the discussion can also help ensure you
stay on the path to success.
6. Reflection
Finally, to round out your negotiation skills and develop your proficiency, you need to reflect on
past negotiations and identify areas for improvement. After each negotiation—successful or
not—reflect on what went well and what could have gone better. Doing so can allow you to
evaluate the tactics that worked in your favor and those that fell short.
After evaluating your strengths and weaknesses, identify areas you want to work on and create
a plan of action. For example, if you had trouble aligning your goals with your counterpart’s,
consider reviewing concepts like ZOPA and BATNA. Or, if your negotiations often leave you
feeling dissatisfied, you could benefit from learning new ways to create value.

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Unit IV Confrontational Communication

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Module IV

Research Paper
Writing

Analytical Communication II