Recently, the major article on our local news sites reported a large corporation was undergoing a major financial restructure when they faced substantially reducing revenues. It was a struggle to meet payments on its billions of dollars of debt and they had no choice but to go into voluntary administration. You may have read similar stories, or this may be happening to you!
Now that World Cup soccer fever is on the rise again (congratulations to the Socceroos on qualifying for the World Cup 2018) we can reflect on all those 'negotiations' players have with referees. Almost all of which will fail. This is despite the sometimes extended on-field dialogue and dramatic nonverbal pleading. The yellow or red card decision remained in place.
A major difficulty acknowledged in negotiation and conflict resolution research is that parties tend to exaggerate the degree to which the other party’s interests oppose their own. This egocentric view is commonly held as a true belief – or it may be used as a negotiation tactic to enhance power and control.
Emotion versus logic. Which takes precedence? At times we all experience strong feelings and during stressful situations, these can erupt.
When you're caught up in the heat of a complex, high-risk negotiation, how much attention do you give to your ethical base? After all, in the tough world of commercial negotiation it’s ‘dog-eat-dog’! Or is it?
