If I can
evaluate negotiating information in my day to day life I would go with what
Hoch, Kunreuther,& Gunther (2001) discussed of setting goals carefully, look
for justifications, assess underlying uncertainty, and prepare carefully. In
setting goals carefully, I ensure that I set a realistic goal that is at a high
reward and gain, however to remember that I should always set the goal as near
achievable than near impossible. Then
looking for justifications, being able to understand my position of my decision
making and ensuring that I have information to back it up. Without data or
information I would be good as lost when it comes to negotiating for my
personal cause. Assessing underlying uncertainty is what I see as one of the
important factors to negotiating. Failing to ask the right questions to
understand the end state will leave the person into deception and at the
failing end. Finally, when it comes to preparing carefully by establishing a
rehearsal to oneself in what he or she wants to accomplish. Hoch,
Kunreuther,& Gunther (2001) discussed that that when a person is
overwhelmed or caught off guard with unexpected questions they tend to fall
back on deception. Being prepared and being able to understand the product or
situation to sell, success will only come out of it.
Hoch,
Kunreuther,& Gunther (2001) stated “as the benefits of lying rise and the
costs of lying fall, negotiators become more likely to lie.” (p. 2025) When it
comes to gaining one’s personal agenda one will do almost anything to
accomplish it. I remember when data crunching and inputs were crucial to
obtaining more funding for the program that I run. It was coming close to the deadline of
turning our State Plan in with the data to support our claim to receive more
funding. We have had trends that brought our numbers up for us to tweak our
numbers to justify our budget. Every year I go to our headquarters (HQ) in D.C.
to request for more money in which we receive a base line of $500,000. I go
there and request for a firm $800,000 knowing that I will never get it, then
the HQ says we will give you $750,000 with a possible additional funding within
the fiscal year. I have no problem with that so long as I get more than the
base line budget. I just justify my claims of needing the funding with the data
that we collect.
A recent
negotiation where I was duped was with one of my cousins who convinced me into
buying a truck from his dealer for $45,000. He told me the base line of what he
can get me my truck for and he will take care of the rest. I ended up going to
his dealer with $40,000 (initially what my cousin told me) but the dealer told
me he can only let go of the truck for $50,000. The negotiating of $48,000 to
$46,000 was really leaving me in a mood where I didn’t want the truck anymore.
I was so convinced I can get the truck to $40,000 because of what my cousin
told me but the dealer wasn’t having it. Finally, we came to a conclusive deal
of $42,000. Hoch, Kunreuther,& Gunther (2001) discussed that negotiators
are more likely to justify their distortion of information when information is
not known. (p. 2052) in my case is what happened to me, I didn’t even know what
was going on because of what I was told. It was both my cousin and his dealer
who got the better end of the deal for whatever side deal they had going on
without my knowledge.
When
asked to define “how far you would be willing to go to leverage your position?”
I would answer depending on the two factors of personal agenda and morals, I
would use something to effect of what is best for both people, the negotiator
and his or her client. I guess in my experiences so long as I am in the range
of benefitting both parties, it allow me to consciously sleep at night. For
some people they really don’t care which is not shocking, like my example with
my purchase for my truck, but this is a world where personal gain is a must,
and sometimes we just have to embrace or accept that concept.
References:
Hoch,
S., Kunreuther, H., & Gunther, R. (2001). Wharton on Making Decisions (1st edition). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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