Sources of enhancing negotiating power

Sources of enhancing negotiating power

Power of devising a good alternative to negotiations

In learning how to enhance one‟s negotiation skills, we ask individuals to develop „Best Alternative to Negotiated Settlement‟ (BATNA). The idea is to develop the most promising solution/agreement and then improve it to the extent possible. The greater the ability to develop an alternative outside of negotiations, the higher would be the power of that person to secure a favorable negotiated settlement.

Power of elegant solution

In any negotiation, there are several shared and conflicting interests. Although skilled negotiators initiate brainstorming sessions with the team to generate many options to satisfy the legitimate interests of both parties, inventing a good, elegant solution enhances the negotiating power of the negotiators. It enables the negotiators to secure a more favorable outcome.
 Power of legitimacy
The proposed solution should be legitimate as that enhances its acceptability. An outcome is legitimate when:
1. It is fair
2. Law requires it
3. It is consistent with precedent
4. It is the industry practice
5. It is based on sound policy
6. It is legitimate applying some other standards
7. It is legitimate in the eyes of the other side
Such solutions increase the negotiating power of individuals as they become more acceptable.

 Power of commitment

Although planning for commitment is done in advance, commitments are made during the negotiations only. Every commitment involves decision making. Broadly there are two types of commitment:
(a) Affirmative commitments
These are:
 Offers that a party is willing to agree
 Offers that a party is willing to accept under certain conditions, failing agreement
Every offer ties up negotiators‟ hands. Power of positive commitment has the power of invitation to the other party. A skilled negotiator formulates the offer in a manner that would maximize all the above powers of negotiation. It has, therefore, the highest chance of being accepted.
(b) Negative commitments
These are:
 Unwilling to make certain agreements even though they would be better than no agreements
 The threat, failing agreement, to engage in certain negative conduct even though it would be worse than having no agreement
Negative commitment is the most controversial and troublesome element of negotiating power. It is also the last resort of the negotiators. The earlier a negotiator announces a „take-it-or-leave-it‟ position, less likely it would be that he has maximized the cumulative impact of all the elements of negotiation power.

Analysis of the negative commitments suggests

 It is a mistake to attempt to influence the other side by negative commitment at the early stages of negotiation without having made use of other elements of negotiating power.
 If it is made as a last resort, it should be formulated to reinforce and complement other elements of negotiating power and not undercut them. Even then, it should be done in line with the tradition of maintaining a good working relationship and concepts of legitimacy.