Communication and Personality in Negotiations

People often take part in negotiations without even being aware of this. Negotiations are the main point of any communication act that involves different people. Every time while communicating with another person, people conduct negotiations: nonverbal or verbal, conscious or unconscious. Human beings are not able to elude negotiations; they can only carry on them more or less successfully. The people, who apply a communicative, interact with other people more perfectly, always win. Heather Aycoth-Zboch, the author of the journal article “Communication and Personality in Negotiation”, who studied the cases of negotiations, proves that.

Using methods and strategies of negotiating, the author of the article demonstrated how it was possible to reach good results in shopping or trade. For example, initiation of discounts in the stores, where they had not been available before, was very effective. Heather Aycoth-Zboch thought that the aim of the negotiations was to make something that first seemed to be impossible in an attempt to gain more. She found out that using a right approach to purchasing could help get a bargain on any goods even in the most fashionable shops and department stores. Heather Aycoth-Zboch (2009) writes:

It is not of great importance if you get a discount for a piece of pizza but it will be wonderful to receive a discount on a necklace from Tiffany…In a number of cases everything, which is required for you, is a bit of training and a little courage to ask.

The author wanted to tell the readers that in the situation with shopping everybody wins. For example, if a person gets a discount in a store, both the shop and the customer will benefit from it. The customer will come in this shop once again to purchase something else, thus, the owner of the shop will get more earnings. If the customer received a discount because he/she was very kind to the shop assistant, possibly, he/she improved the shop assistant’s mood. Thereby the shop assistant’s motivation may rise. The exchange that occurred in such situation had various valuables. Both the purchaser and the shop assistant contributed in that situation. The store got a profit. Thanks to the purchase, the space for other things on the display shelf became vacant for the goods that would be sold faster.

In her article, Heather Aycoth-Zboch gives some universal recommendations on how to conduct negotiations in the sphere of trade, namely how to sell a company or a house, how to purchase a car. However, the author emphasizes that all the negotiations depend on the people, situation, and on the process of people’s communication in that situation. Though some communicative methods are used more frequently than others in shopping, it is required to focus the attention on the people negotiating, on the specifics of the situation, and on its aims.

Despite the fact that the author is also sure that there is no a unique way, there are no even a dozen of ways to purchase or sale of the car, buy air tickets or get accounting services. There exist millions of these methods. Everything depends on the purpose in each particular situation, on the person, who is an opponent, and on a process of negotiating, which have been chosen.

The role of communication in negotiating should be appreciated. Furthermore, for a successful carrying on negotiations and reaching the purposes, it is essential to be able to come into a contact, give reasons competently for the essence of the offer, and play different roles depending on one’s own aims, interests, behavior, and the interlocutor’s values.

However, as the researches and the practice in negotiating show that the role of the interlocutor’s personality as well as the essence of the proposition is even more significant (Mcquire, 2004). Surely, there are people who have abilities to make a right impression upon people intuitively. It is also known that a great number of the world leaders were very far from coping with such tasks and only due to a systematic and careful development, these abilities found a success.

The author is sure that every person has all the inclinations allowing him/her to gain a reputation of a perfect negotiator. Therefore, it is necessary to be conscious of these methods of communication and make them up in a firm and accurate position.

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