Negotiations and Conflict- Josh Malament

I felt i did pretty well in the negotiation exercise, although my score suggested otherwise. I was very surprised at the low score i received. It partially had to do with my lack of understanding of the point distribution, but it mainly had to do with making the game too realistic. In doing so, i became too accommodating to the recruit. There wasn't a lot of direction as to the state of the situation. How bad did we want this recruit? Did we have other recruits? Was this recruit the most qualified? and so on. This information would have factored into the negotiation process and determined who really had the power.

Since there wasnt much information to play off, i felt that playing the role of the recruiter, coming to a conclusion, and having a little fun in doing so was the main objectives of the exercise. I didn't have much of a preconceived notion towards my negotiation partners strategy or mine for that matter, which may have been handicapped my chances at success from the beginning.

My performance in the exercise partially reflects my approach to conflicts in the rest of my life. In the exercise i was very passive and accommodating. In real life i find myself to be accommodating, but much more aggressive when it comes to my needs and wants. I aggressively pursue a win-win outcome and try to be as efficient as possible while achieving that outcome.

I was satisfied with the outcome before i found that my score revealed i was a complete push over. After, i believe i could have been more aggressive in order to come to a more even outcome. From this exercise i was able to learn and practice a simple negotiation process, but more importantly i learned that despite the situation, i should use my personal approach to the conflict to prevent the chance of being too accommodating and passive, which may leaving you feeling like your outcome was win-win, but in actuality you gave too much and gained not enough.