Q & A Table of Contents
Negotiation In Business
From: Masud, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Question: How is negotiation skills useful in business communication?
Response: Business negotiation is a process by which parties exchange information to find answers to a variety of questions, such as:
What do you have that will help me achieve my objectives?
What do I have that will help you achieve your objectives?
What is the value of the ideas or items we can exchange — in terms of both money and other measures of value?
What alternatives do you — and I — have to working with each other?
Who needs whom more?
How will any business decision we make have an impact on other stakeholders?
Will other stakeholders be pleased or disgruntled by the agreement we reach?
Can you propose a better way of doing things than I propose — and vice versa?
Who makes the decisions in each party’s organization?
The list of questions can continue indefinitely. Fundamentally, negotiation is all about the exchange of information. The process by which information is exchanged is communication. Unless communication is clear and each party understands what the other party is saying, writing, or otherwise communicating it is not possible to reach an agreement that will really reflect the objectives of the parties.
In many European languages the word for business has the same root as the word ‘negotiate’. Business involves trading ideas and assets — negotiation. Without good communication, business cannot succeed.
I hope this helps your understanding,
Steve
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