English for Social Scientists

Grados en Ciencia Política y de la Administración, Sociología, Economía y Administración y Dirección de Empresas

UNIT 8

Negotiating and persuading

General objectives

In this lesson, you will learn the necessary skills for a good negotiation and the grammar structures to use in a negotiating
environment.

Specific objectives:

1. How to use indirect questions.

2. Use of conditionals.

PART 1. USE OF LANGUAGE

 Conditional sentences
Conditional sentences express factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences. They
are so called because the validity of the main clause of the sentence is conditional on the existence of certain
circumstances, which may be expressed in a dependent clause or may be understood from the context.
Conditional clauses begin with if or a word with a similar meaning and are used to express that the action in the
main clause can only take place if a certain condition is fulfilled. There are three types of conditional
sentences:

- First conditional:
We use this conditional to talk about events that are possible or very likely to happen.
Structure: if + simple present, will (future)
Example: If you don’t try harder you will fail.
- Second conditional:
We use this conditional for unlikely situations in the present or future:
Structure: if + simple past, would (conditional)
Example: If I ate less I would be thinner.
- Third conditional:
We use this conditional to talk about an event or situation that did not happen in the past.
Structure: if + past perfect, would have + past participle
Example: If I had not become a teacher, I would have become an artist.
 Practice 1
Complete the following sentences to make appropriate conditional sentences:
1. If I _____________(visit) Athens last year, I ____________ (phone you).
2. If I _____________ (not tired), I ____________ (not go to bed) early last night.
3. If you _________ (start) coming to the course earlier, you __________ (could pass) the exam.
4. If I ____________ (meet) you before, my life _____________ (be) happier now.
5. If he ____________ (not see) the other car, there ____________ (be) a serious accident.
Margarita Goded Rambaud and Lourdes Pomposo Yáñez, revised 1
English for Social Scientists
Grados en Ciencia Política y de la Administración, Sociología, Economía y Administración y Dirección de Empresas

UNIT 8
 Links for extra practice and self-evaluation.

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/if.htm
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conditional2.htm
http://www1.icsi.berkeley.edu/~kay/bcg/lec07.html

 Imperative
The imperative is a grammatical tense used to form commands or requests, including prohibition or giving
permission, or any other kind of exhortation. We can use the imperative to give a direct order (Shut your
mouth!), to give instructions (Open your books), to make an invitation (Make yourself at home), on signs and
notices (Insert a coin), to give advice (Get some sleep and recover). We can give more emphasis to the imperative
by adding “do” (Do sit down).

 PRACTICE 1

Write a sentence with an imperative verb (affirmative or negative) for the following signs.

Margarita Goded Rambaud and Lourdes Pomposo Yáñez, revised 2

English for Social Scientists
Grados en Ciencia Política y de la Administración, Sociología, Economía y Administración y Dirección de Empresas

UNIT 8

Links for extra practice and self-evaluation.

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/various/imperative.htm

http://www.tolearnenglish.com/english_lessons/imperatives-exercises

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/imperat1.htm

 Indirect questions
Indirect questions are used to ask a sensitive or polite question, trying to add something to the direct
question. For example: “Can you tell me..”, “I wonder..”, “I would be grateful if”, “would you mind telling
me”. You do not need to add the auxiliary “do” or to change subject/verb order.

Example

Can you tell me what you like most about your present job?

Would you mind telling me if you have applied for a similar position before?

 PRACTICE 1

Write indirect questions for the following direct question or orders

1. Do you know the truth?

2. Are you giving her the money she needs?
3. Where is the theatre?
4. Give me help.
5. Go to my conference.

Links for extra-practice and self-evaluation

http://www.e-grammar.org/indirect-question/

http://www.eslbase.com/grammar/indirect-questions

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/

What_is_the_difference_between_direct_and_indirect_question Margarita Goded Rambaud and

Lourdes Pomposo Yáñez, revised 3

English for Social Scientists
Grados en Ciencia Política y de la Administración, Sociología, Economía y Administración y Dirección de Empresas

UNIT 8

PART 2: READING AND WRITING SKILLS

1. INTRODUCTION: THE ART OF NEGOTIATING

The art of negotiating involves finding a balance between achieving the best possible result while at
the same time establishing a mutually beneficial working relationship with your counterparts. Both
counterparts have to invent options for mutual gain rather than negotiating on a win-lose basis. The
former tries to expand the pie by discovering new options while the latter sees negotiations as a
fixed pie where the more one side wins, the more the other side loses. The problem with fixed
positions and a win-lose orientation is that most business relations involve long-term cooperation.
Negotiations are a case of give and take, and good negotiators are sensitive to the priorities and
musts of the other side. Beating theother side into submission, even though it may give you a sense
of victory, is certainly not the way to establish the atmosphere of mutual understanding necessary for
an outgoing business relationship.
In negotiating you have to consider some important points:
- Establish interests and not positions. Establishing interests is a two-part process. First, you must
clearly establish your interests; second, you must strive to understand your counterparts’ interests.
You should try to put yourself in the others’ shoes and let them know that you have tried to
understand their position.
- Give importance to socializing and protocol. Almost every case will begin with socializing before
sitting down at the negotiating table. This can involve the exchange of business cards and “gifts” and
conversation with compliments, expectations for a mutually beneficial relationship, and sharing of
interests and hobbies. Breaks in the negotiations will also provide an opportunity for socializing and
for sounding out individual members concerning their feelings about issues.
- Listen and observe actively. Entering negotiations with a preconceived notion or a fixed position will
prevent you from listening to and observing your counterparts. Listening can help you pick up signals
as to how far your counterparts are willing to go to meet you. Try to use expressions such as “As I
understand your position” or “If I understand correctly”.
- Know your limits. Before the negotiations set your opening offer and your resistance point-the point
you would resist going beyond. Factor into your resistance point the concessions you would require
moving beyond that point. Finally, set your bottom line -the limit you are willing to go before
breaking off negotiations.

(Adapted from English for International Business)

 PRACTICE 1

Summarize the main points, according to the text, to get a good negotiation outcome, and say if you agree or not and why.

 READING COMPREHENSION: EXERCISE 2

Margarita Goded Rambaud and Lourdes Pomposo Yáñez, revised 4

 English for Social Scientists
Grados en Ciencia Política y de la Administración, Sociología, Economía y Administración y Dirección de Empresas

UNIT 8

THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSUASIVE SKILLS

Effective negotiators achieve their results partly by understanding the factors that influence people’s attitudes and behavior, and
partly by exercising a range of skills that can be described in general terms of persuasion. All managers need to develop these skills
because much of a manager’s activity is concerned with resolving issues on which people have different views but need to agree
about solutions. The better a manager is at convincing other people of the need to accept or support a particular course of action,
the less frequently serious disagreements will get in the way of progress, or decisions have to be imposed by senior management.
The effective manager is a persuasive manager.

There is no single characteristic of persuasiveness: it is an amalgam of skills such as:

- style (confrontational or collaborative)

- considering the other person’s viewpoint

- talking and listening

- probing and questioning

- using adjournments

- concessions and compromise

- summarizing

- reaching agreement

- body language.

(Adapted from Negotiating, persuading and influencing (2004: 35)

 PRACTICE ONE

Write your description of each of the skills named in the article to reach persuasion and check your answers by
reading the book by Fowler (2004).

Bibliography

Fisher, R., Ury, W. and Patton, B. (1991). Getting to yes: Negotiating and Agreement without giving in. New
York: Houghton Hiffin.

Fowler, A. (2004). Negotiating, persuading and influencing. London: The Cromwell Press.

Mills, H. (1990). Negotiate: The Art of Winning. Singapore: Singapore Institute of Management and Heinemann
Asia.

Rodgers, D. (1998). English for International Negotiations: a Cross Cultural Case Study Approach. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Margarita Goded Rambaud and Lourdes Pomposo Yáñez, revised 5