Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Industry / Kellogg School Corner | 53 truths about negotiations
BackBack

Kellogg School Corner | 53 truths about negotiations

Kellogg School Corner | 53 truths about negotiations

Illustration: Jayachandran / MintPremium

Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint

Count late 2007 as a time of extraordinary accomplishment for Kellogg School professor Leigh Thompson.

Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint

Though published at the same time, each of the four “siblings" is distinctly different. Conflict in Organizational Groups, written with Kristin Behfar of the University of California, Irvine, is the most academic of the works, likely to be cited in research or read by doctoral students. And though Making the Team and Organizational Behavior Today are both textbooks, the former is written for more advanced courses, the latter for more basic courses.

Organizational Behavior Today, Thompson says, takes a somewhat unorthodox approach. The text consists of short chapters written in a practical style. Through online personality tests and interactive activities, a companion website aims to provide students with a better understanding of how they and others behave.

Thompson says she hopes the no-nonsense style and interactive components will help distinguish the work from other organizational behaviour texts.

The publication that is perhaps closest to Thompson’s heart, however, is The Truth About Negotiations. Her first trade book, the publication was inspired by her frequent interactions with businesspeople while performing consulting work or presenting short courses. “Whenever I give a businessperson a copy of my textbook, I always wonder if they will really sit down and read it," Thompson says. “You certainly can’t sit down on a plane ride, for example, and digest a 350-page text."

Her new book, Thompson says, is designed for precisely that. She envisions a time-crunched executive grabbing a copy at O’Hare International Airport before a coast-to-coast flight to prepare herself for an impending meeting.

Written in punchy, two-page chapters, each section can be read and digested in a matter of minutes, not hours.

Each reveals one of 53 truths about negotiations. For example: “Truth 6: Don’t be a tough or a nice negotiator" (it’s a false choice, Thompson says. Successful negotiators must cooperate with the other party to understand the opposing interests, while at the same time remaining competitive enough to claim value for themselves). Or “Truth 27: Reveal your interests" (this is desirable, contrary to what most people think. Negotiators who provide information to the other party about their interests improve their outcomes by 10%, she says).

Adds Thompson: “In The Truth About Negotiations, I tried to address what businesspeople really want to know. For that matter, they’re the same things that a lot of our full-time MBA students want to know. They feel uncomfortable in certain situations and they’re looking for some help. They really believe they are negotiating from a position of weakness. They ask, ‘What leverage could I possibly have?’ That’s a very common question."

Chief among her students’ concerns, Thompson says, is whether or not so-called “win-win" negotiations actually exist. They do, she says, offering an age-old example as proof: Two sisters quarrelling over an orange ultimately decide to split it down the middle. One squeezes her half to make juice; the other grates the peel of the other half to make scones. Only when the garbage collector carts away the remains do the sisters realize both could have easily obtained even more of what they wanted.

“Technically, most negotiations have win-win positions," Thompson says. “There’s more than one thing people care about. Even when you’re talking price, there’s always an issue of payment terms, quantity, quality, delivery and indemnity. The likelihood that both parties have the same order of concerns is statistically very small."

Though many of her students fear their customers have many more choices than they do in a negotiation, their worries are often unfounded, Thompson says. Her best advice: Don’t panic and start dropping the price. “A person has a lot of power. Analyse your BATNA (best alternative to negotiated agreement) from as neutral a position as possible."

Take, for example, a homeowner who is trying to unload some property in the current slumping housing market. Though she may feel trapped, the homeowner could rent out the property or make improvements to increase the home’s saleability.

Another fallacy Thompson dispels: Some people are naturally better at negotiations than others. “I have never met a natural-born negotiator," says the Kellogg professor. “Most people believe that the way a person acts reflects their underlying behavioural traits. I think it really reflects the situation that they are in.

Kari Richardson is a Kellogg staff writer.

Send your comments to kelloggscorner@livemint.com

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Industry News, Banking News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 09 Mar 2008, 11:58 PM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App