Personal Bargaining Inventory Paper

Introduction

Negotiation occurs when two or more parties strive to resolve their divergent interests and derive a decision through effective communication and negotiation strategies (Pruitt, 2013). Negotiation is pervasive in our everyday life. Moreover, it is a learned skill that promotes flexibility and adaptability to effectively navigate relationships and potential business partnerships. Many people overestimate their negotiating abilities and enter into negotiations with an inflated sense of their skills, which leads to less than optimal results (Clenney, 2013). Perfecting the art of negotiation requires the understanding of the negotiators personal style, including their communication competency, as well as their values and beliefs.

The results also clarify perceptions on negotiation dimensions, winning and losing, cooperation and competition and power and deception (Lewicki, et al., 2010). The strengths identified from the results of the Personal Bargaining Inventory Questionnaire resonate with me and align closely with my understanding of my beliefs and values. Ethics and morals dominate my expectations of people and heavily influence my interactions. Additionally, I am highly empathetic and am a good judge of character with an uncanny ability to recognize deception. My weaknesses do not reveal any surprises and are supportive of my strengths. I do not like power, cannot lie and remaining friendly is more important than

251). Clenney, 2013, however, believes that “personality, needs, and values will influence a negotiators tendency to be integrative, distributive or adaptable in his or her negotiation skill set (p. 37). Clenney also believes that not everyone can become an effective negotiator in all situations (Clenney, 2013). In order to improve my negotiation skills, I need to not only recognize my strengths, weaknesses, and proclivities, I also need to understand negotiation from a broad perspective.

Best Practices in Negotiation

Lewicki et, al. 2011, identifies ten best practices for improving negotiation skills. The best practices include practical, action oriented solutions such as preparation, identifying negotiation structure, recognizing the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) and learning negotiation paradoxes. They are also comprised of less tangible practices including being aware of intangibles and willing to walk away, as well as actively managing alliances, recognizing that fair and rationality are relative, the criticality of reputation and finally, continuing to learn (Lewicki et, al.