Negotiation and Conflict - Christine Cho

Last week I was the candidate during the negotiation. I think I did well in the negotiation. I wasn't surprised with my actual score on the negotiation compared to the score of my partner. When I went into the negotiation, I actually thought about my own situation and what it would take for me to leave my company. By setting goals on negotiable and non-negotiable items, I felt that the negotiation was successful. One of the things I used were comparisons to my current benefits package. I have three weeks of vacation, two weeks of paid shutdown, and two weeks of personal (sick) days. In addition, when we were negotiating pay I asked the recruiter to consider my current pay structure of a salary and bonus. In order to negotiation a higher bonus, I mentioned that I would demonstrate my worth by the time bonuses were paid out. Going into the negotiation, I didn't have any pre-conceived notions of my partner other than that I knew there were some benefits that the recruiter would gain points on if I would accept.

I think my performance in the negotiation reflects my general approach to conflicts in life. My goal was not to one-up the recruiter, but to get a fair deal out of the negotiation. In this exercise, I'm working with someone who represents a company I plan to work for in the future. Do I really want to have a reputation of being money driven? In reality, the goal of negotiation is to find a compromise that both team are happy with. Sometimes this is not possible, but if both parties understand why the decision was made, I believe the negotiation is still a success. Interestingly, I wrote a paper of negotiation for the MBA program, and Asians tend to reach a compromise in negotiations because of the strong values towards group harmony.

In comparison to some of my classmates, I'm happy with my score in the exercise. As an outsider, what perception do others have of someone who negotiates the best package? In the same spirit, how does a candidate feel about a company that doesn't pay them what they feel they are worth? Some of the other topics we have already discussed play into this exercise, such as self-awareness. People participating in this exercise should be aware of how they are being perceived. In the workplace, negotiation is about balancing what you want and what you are willing to give up. People need to be willing accept that everything will not go their way.