Negotiation In A Nutshell (Foreword)

Negotiation in a Nutshell
By Arlene Bastion
Foreword By Patrick Khoo

Foreword In his Inaugural Address as the President of the United States of America on 20 January 1961, John F. Kennedy presented his vision of peace throughout the world. During a time when the world lived in the shadow of possible global annihilation by a planned or accidental nuclear exchange, President Kennedy urged all people to “...never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”

And that is precisely the spirit in which each of us must approach the fine art of negotiation. However, the problem for most people is precisely this fear of negotiating, of saying the wrong things, drawing up ill-conceived plans, committing to difficult promises, or making erroneous judgment calls and so on. This fear often prevents people from practising their negotiation skills, which is an important step to becoming an effective negotiator.

Here is a book that takes the fear out of negotiation by consolidating all the tips, references, and views about the negotiation process into one volume. The examples are clear and concise, the steps from planning to execution are detailed and comprehensive, while the reading and language used is light-hearted and effective. Indeed, Arlene Bastion has even covered difficult topics such as psychological, gender and cross-cultural factors, thus making this book both an excellent “how-to” guide for the uninitiated beginner, as well as a dog-eared reference for the seasoned expert.

Negotiating effectively could mean the difference between success or failure – and at very high levels, even life or death. As such, all people, not just businessmen like myself, but policemen, social workers, parents, educators, salespersons, indeed, anyone whose day-to-day activities bring them into contact with other people, need to know how to negotiate well. By following the steps, tips and examples in this book, I believe you will never again fear to negotiate, or for that matter, negotiate with fear.

Patrick Khoo
Managing Director
Digital Artifact
August 2004

Preface Many books on negotiation promote one point of view, one aspect, a particular approach or strategy. My nutshell view approach is to simplify and present all that is usually said about negotiation in a comprehensive and palatable manner. The book has no noble ambition to create masterful negotiators. It intends to increase awareness of the basics of negotiation, with the added dimension of some issues that arise, from ethical, cross-cultural and gender considerations. Brief attention has also been given to some prominent psychological factors, of power, personality, and perception, as well as to the all-important communication and interpersonal skills in negotiation, including examples of language use.

Such a simplified overview can be of particular use to businesspersons interested in personal and professional self-development, students of negotiation, anyone wanting to enhance their knowledge and understanding of what negotiation entails. It can be the platform from which persons can work to maximize their effectiveness as negotiators.

There is nothing magical or mystical about negotiation. It actually consists of activities we do every day: propose, proposition, compromise, make concessions, bargain, persuade, argue, convince, make a case for. We can negotiate successfully without realizing it or without having read this book. But undeniably, the awareness of how these everyday skills can be geared and angled, developed and mastered, consciously and deliberately applied to any negotiation situation, can definitely maximize our potential for negotiation success.

Dr Arlene Bastion
Nanyang Technological University
August 2004

Table of Contents

One         Introduction                        1
Two         Knowing What It Is All About        4
Three       Approaches, Strategies, Styles      11
Four        Tactics                             30
Five        Planning and Preparing              40
Six         Doing It                            67
Seven       Working Toward Agreement            85
Eight       Closure                             94
Nine        Interpersonal Skills                113
Ten         Argument                            139
Eleven      Power, Personality, and Perception  154
Twelve      Issues                              165
Thirteen    Conclusion                          187

Share this article:   f g t l