Blog 7 - Pros and Cons of Negotiating.......as a Team!

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for checking back in! This week's blog post is about the pros and cons of negotiating as a team with reference to our readings. This week's readings are about Negotiating Teams (how appropriate for this topic). Negotiating in teams can have its benefits, but also its hindrances and I will discuss them below.

Pros

• You have a support system readily available to back up your side.

Within reading 3.12 of the text, the authors discuss the idea that you can help assure your own success with a coalition. The authors present the idea that a coalition, "can fortify an inherently fragile design, keep it strong and viable throughout your negotiations process, and provide a uniquely formidable lever in structuring your success". This basically states that as fragile your side or a proposal may be, you have a strong support system that can be leveraged to support your claims.

• When you lack knowledge, skills, and experience, a team can provide that with more members.

Shortly after reading 3.12 I found section 3.13. This is not in the required readings, but I found that it supports my point. The authors state that, "gathering a team can be a smarter choice than trying to go it alone" and " teams are more effective than individuals in many situations". The old saying goes that two heads are better than one, and in certain negotiations this could still be true. Some negotiations are better alone such as a bartering with an individual and some salary negotiations, but others would have a great benefit to have a team on their side.

For example, in our in-class negotiations, if there was an opportunity to form a coalition with another person, then we would take that opportunity. Typically, there was a member of that team that knew much more than I, and they were able to provide a great rebuttal to a point that was brought up that I had no idea how to answer.

The authors even have a neat table with some guidelines at the end of section 3:

3 Guidelines for Teams Facing Negotiations
1. When choosing teams, diversity of experience should trump friendship.
2. Debate substantive differences and defuse personality issues.
3. Assign roles, brainstorm possible scenarios, and choose a decision rule.

Cons

• Sensitive information has greater potential to be leaked when discussed with a team

The authors have a whole section in section 3.12 about sensitive information. It states:

In all coalition meetings, it’s wise to prepare for disclosed information to find its way into the media within 24 hours. If you have any information that is highly sensitive to public exposure, a coalition meeting is probably not the best place to disclose it.

This generally states that the more people in the negotiation, the greater potential for information to leak out to the general public.  So if anyone is planning on discussing any information about Project Scorpio (gaming console announced for holiday of 2017), don't plan on doing it with a lot of people.

• Coalitions are imperfect and fragile in their design

Also within section 3.12 the authors state this very idea within their text:

Coalitions are by their natures bound only by a few mutual objectives, and because individuals possess many interests and complex motives, it can be difficult to predict when unity has begun to weaken. Never depend upon a coalition to sustain cohesion. They have a habit of disintegrating at precisely the most personally vulnerable moment. If you know this at the outset, you can better prepare for the eventuality.

Coalitions are formed almost as quickly as they are broken. Conflicts in positions and personal interests can interfere with the direction of a coalition. It is almost a guarantee that a coalition that has formed will at some point or another dissipate and cease to exist. For this reason, coalitions can be tricky and untrustworthy. If they are recognized as fragile, imperfect things, then it could be beneficial for all members.

Well, that's it for this week, Tune in next week for some great negotiation content. Thanks again for the read!

Sincerely,
Bret Thomas