Valuation

1. Introduction

This essay will contain a history that shows different kinds of negotiations, with family and friends. The history basically tells the hard time I had to get what I wanted, a trip to only four countries in South America and paying less than half of the total amount (splitting with my parents). Besides that, there will be a brief dissertation about four chapters of Roger Fisher’s book, “Getting to Yes” and connecting it to the negotiation history.

1. Report

About 2 years ago, my friends and I decided to go on a trip together, but there were some pending situations that needed to be solved. The first one was to decide which continent to go, the most wanted was Europe but South America was the second and way cheaper (mainly due to the exchange rate at the time). We decided South America, what was quite easy comparing to the others decisions.

Right after the continent decision, we needed to decide which countries and which cities we wanted to visit, that was probably the most difficult decision of all. We were in four friends. While one of my friends and I wanted to visit only four countries (Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay), the two others wanted to visit eight countries (Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguai, Colombia and Venezuela). We kept trying to persuade the other part using our arguments, saying that was better to go to places that closer and visit more specific places, but they really wanted to go to more countries. In the end, after a big negotiation, we decided to go to only four countries in spite of eight and one of the friends gave up, so the trip occurred with only three people.

The second part of the negotiation was to convince my parents to allow me to go and pay part of the trip for me, once I did not have enough money to afford the trip entirely. This negotiation was probably even tougher than the first one, mainly because it would be my first time traveling abroad with my friends.

After a rough time showing my arguments and telling them how great it would be this experience for my personal growth, they gave away and allowed me to go. Then, I needed to get a solution about how much of the trip they would pay. The trip was worth about R$6.000,00, however I just had about R$3.000,00 and I did not want to spend it all, to have leftovers for further needs. My first proposal was for them to pay 75% of the price, but they denied. So we kept negotiating until we finally got to an agreement, I would have to pay 40% of the total amount ( R$2.400,00) while they would pay 60% (R$3.600,00). So after all I could go to the trip and still save R$600,00.

1. Conceptual Review

The book Getting to Yes, which has been written by Roger Fisher, contemplates different methods for how to be successful on a negotiation. I will focus my analysis on the second part of the book, “The Method”, which is divided on 4 chapters: “Separate People from the Problem”, “Focus on Interests, Not Positions”, “Invent Options for Mutual Gain” and “Insist on Using Objective Criteria”.

The first chapter of the second part, “Separate People from the Problem”, tries to clarify that in a negotiation you are dealing with a human being, not just with another “part” and that is why most people cannot separate the negotiation itself of the relation with the other part. However, all negotiators have different goals for the negotiation and the relationship, usually the main goal in terms of relationship is to, at least, keep a healthy workplace’s environment, in order to achieve the best possible on the negotiation.

Other point that Roger mentions on this chapter is for you to be as most empathic as you can in a negotiation, in other words you have to imagine yourself on the other part’s situation. This is one of the best and most difficult abilities to own in a negotiation.

During a negotiation the other part can, sometimes, start to reveal negative emotions. At this point you should let them unburden, say everything they need to say, but you can never react to it, because if you do you are probably going to settle a huge fight instead of really negotiate. Furthermore, when you listen to the other part’s complaint, they realize that you care about their problems and usually it turns to a better end on the negotiation.

During the second chapter of the second part, “Focus on Interests, Not Positions”, the author tries to explain and detail what the title already says, to focus on the interest, not positions. To understand this he define both as: interests – what motivate people – and positions – what you decided. In other words we can say that your interests made you have certain position.

The positions tend to be more explicit, so it is easier for you to capture it. However, the interests are not as easy as that and it is very important for you to understand the other part interests. For you to achieve it you need to do two different things. First, you need to be empathic and then ask yourself why or why not they are presenting the specific position.