Negotiation overview.

Stephen Stuart is the president of the Humanist Society of Victoria in Australia. In his presentation, he discussed the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement or BATNA. He touched points on some of the things that we went over in class. He begins by mentioning how our egos can interfere with the negotiation, especially when the BATNA is a good one. People are reluctant to change their minds on their BATNA once they realize it may not be a realistic objective. He also goes on to discuss how you should never settle for an outcome that is less than your BATNA. The best way to ensure a favorable and fair outcome is to research the true and realistic values of an agreement.

In the Stanford webinar video, they discussed how we tend to see negotiations as competitions. The go on to further explain the importance of finding a mutual benefit for both parties. They define negotiation in this video as a process where two or more parties discuss what they are willing to give up and gain in order to attain a mutual beneficial outcome. Dirty tricks are discussed on this video. He uses the example of making demands extreme if you are seeking a counter offer and to make it less extreme if you are seeking to get your offer accepted.

This last video focuses on separating the people from the problem. This video discusses having a high emotional intelligence to notice the physical changes in a person when the negotiation starts to goes south. They discuss the importance of focusing on the positional bargaining aspects rather than the people or personal emotions. This tool is helpful in negotiations not only because it keeps the negotiation on track, but also can help create new ways to create a win-win situation for both parties.