Lies In Negotiation Essay

Often people think that telling lies will persuade the other party to comply with our preferred outcome, but that does not always work. Lies bring more consequences than benefits. The problem with lies is that they are lies; they are fabrications of the mind and does not hold any factual value, thus people tend to forget them, and leaving them more exposed to being caught. Lying in negotiations can come in various forms, but often comes in the form of fraudulent statements. A given statement may be defined as fraudulent when the speaker makes a knowing misrepresentation of a fact on which the victim accepts as true, and causes damage (Lim, 2011, pp. 171-178). If the liar is caught, the liar may be faced with possible criminal charges for falsification, or making false statements. The reputation of the liar would be significantly damaged and relationships would be twisted. Often, if one is caught lying, the trustworthiness of the liar would be severely diminished. The relationships between the liar and the other negotiating party would be damaged. In this case, lying would be considered as a breach in the relationship between the negotiating parties, as it is the cause that the relationship has gone sour. When a sense of mistrust develops, future negotiations would be very difficult, and or near impossible. This is very true in certain Asian countries like China. The Chinese put great emphasis than Americans and Europeans on respect and friendships (Lim, 2011, pp. 240-245), aspects of relationships in negotiations. Thus, if there was a breach in the relationship caused by lying, which leaves an impression of disrespect and unfriendliness, a favorable outcome from the negotiation would most likely be denied. Therefore, for any negot...

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...ible concessions. If the opening offer is set too low, the opposing party may be quick to accept our offer, but the winning negotiator would be left with a feeling of discomfort, called the winner’s curse, as he or she ponders on the fact that they could have made a better negotiation (Lewicki, 2011, pp. 127). This is one of the things that no negotiator can avoid, as it sets the whole negotiation into motion. The opening offer is a risk that all negotiators face when they do negotiations. They have to be able to perceive what to initially offer to the opposing party to be able to come in terms with them, and eventually work their way to a desired win-win situation. As nobody can read the minds of the opposing party, all negotiators can only anticipate on what the opposing party want, and that is a risk that all negotiators have to take when they make negotiations.