HRMS341 - Post–Negotiation Analysis for the Player

It was only yesterday that I was chatting with my father about a new course and how

interesting it is. I was talking about Negotiations, a course offered by FLAME University to

its BBA under-graduates. While conversing with him, he told me that he read somewhere

that, in life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. This line struck me

like a thunderbolt. I was flabbergasted. It changed my perspective on life altogether. I went

back memory lane just to realise that all my life, I had negotiated with someone or the other

for the tiniest of things. Be it a rikshaw ride or getting a cycle for my birthday; I had to

negotiate for it. Some encounters demanded me being very aggressive, some required me

being resilient, but the idea that I am negotiating in the moment never struck me. I became

better and better with each encounter but, it was all instinctive. It wasn’t until the course that

I realized the importance of learning negotiation.

I remember talking to my friends before the first session of the class, speaking how

negotiation is not a skill that can be learnt; It is inborn. But, my experience in the class taught

me the opposite. The negotiation exercises conducted in the class were very informative and

taught me through a practical approach, how to use the concepts taught in class in a real time

negotiation. Adding a bonus point or grading system to the exercise, gave me that added

motivation to be perform better than the others, and take the exercises much more seriously.

The concepts taught in class were too enriching. I changed my take on negotiation altogether.

I always thought that negotiation and bargaining is the same thing but I was extremely

mistaken. Negotiation creates value, whereas bargaining demolishes value. At the end of a

negotiation, both parties leave the room happy, whereas at the end of a bargain, one party

leaves unsatisfied. Another concept I loved was the vertical vs horizontal influence. For

example, you are selling service to a man named Robert. Now, he knows that there are many
options available in the market who offer the same service. You are in a pinch here. You then

approach his colleague who is easier to convince and tell them to speak to Robert to try out

your service. Robert is now much more likely to strike a deal with you, because a colleague

of the same stature has guided him to do so. You negotiating with Robert is vertical and

hence has lower influence, whereas his colleague speaking to him is horizontal and hence has

more influence on Robert. One more concept which I absolutely loved was the nine steps to

crack a negotiation deal. This concept, covered everything on how to negotiate a deal in your

favour but also building relations with the other party for future deals. The concept covers

everything- own BATNA and IP, opponent’s BATNA and IP, bargaining zone, walkaway

price, aspiration price, etc. After understanding each of the steps, I feel that I can negotiate

like a professional.

The most recent negotiation exercise for the player, illustrated a director and a producer. The

director had to negotiate 11 things with the producer, and points were allotted to each option

of each negotiating piece. At first, it seemed as a very tedious task, as negotiating 11 things

would take a lot of time and we were only given 40 minutes. But after reading the case a few

times, I realised a trick that would help me and my partner make a deal. I realised that in

some negotiating pieces, lesser points were offered than others, and as we were not allowed

to see the other person’s points sheet, my initial strategy was to fight but give away the pieces

with lower points and in exchange ask for the pieces which granted me higher points. I

thought that this strategy had a sure chance to work.

When the 40 minutes of negotiation started, the proceedings didn’t go as planned. His

strategies and my strategies clashed. We weren’t able to come to an agreement at all. We

were both reluctant on not striking a no deal. We then decided to revamp our strategies put on

hold the negotiating pieces where we weren’t agreeing upon and start with the ones which
were easy to strike a deal upon. Many factors affected the negotiating situation. One of the

critical factors was giving options to the opponent. When we were stuck at an impasse, we

decided to give each other a group of things that they would like and then continue with the

negotiation. After grouping 3-4 pieces together, we each wrote down in a piece of paper,

what pieces we really wanted and what pieces we were willing to give away or negotiate.

This made the process very simpler and we were able to come up with an agreement easily.

Another critical factor was understanding what to fight for and what to give away. At the

later stage of the negotiation, my strategy worked well. By grouping 2-3 things together and

giving the other person one of the negotiating pieces, I was able to strike a deal in my favour

for another one. Last Critical factor that I think drove the negotiating process was both the

players having a negotiating mindset and not a bargaining mindset. If me and my peer had

fought for only points, we never would have come to an agreement and strike a deal. The

purpose of the assignment was not to see who gets the higher points. The purpose was to add

both the players’ points and check how much value were they able to create. Bargaining is

value cutter, whereas Negotiation is value generator. The key to value creation was not

making the other person gain less points; it was understating what and why the other person

requires a negotiating piece and putting down your own requests and coming to a common

ground. The more value the two players are able to generate, more likely that both of the

parties have come out happy from the deal. Every negotiation deal should create value.

Through this experience, I was able to learn a lot about myself and others. I learnt that I

prepare myself well, I understand all the factors, but the only drawback is that the strategy I

have formulated, I tend to fixate on that strategy. On the top of my head, I always feel that

this strategy warranties 100% success. But, that’s not the case in the business world or a

negotiating deal. Things don’t go as planned, and you need to be flexible. You have to listen

to the other person, and understand why they require the deal so much. By understanding
that, you may be able to derive the BATNA and IP of the other person. This way, you will be

able to strike a deal faster and in your convenience. The one thing I learnt about others from

this exercise was that people don’t reveal their cards easily, and they always keep with

themselves multiple options. My peer in the player negotiation, never………

This exercise taught me the importance of having negotiation skills. Till the exercise, I was

never aware that I was in fact negotiating with someone else for something. All of the

instances outside class, I negotiated with instinct. But with the exercise, I was able to realise

that with proper planning, preparation and with a patient mindset, I can perform really well in

a negotiation. The classroom experience, even taught me to be aware. No one knows when a

situation may arise where I would have to negotiate, and in this case 11 pieces of negotiation

at once. On comparing with my experiences outside of class, I feel that as I was aware that a

negotiation is taking place, I was more attentive so, I was able to learn a lot.