MANUAL TEAMWORK, LEADERSHIP AND NEGOTIATION

TEAMWORK, LEADERSHIP AND NEGOTIATION

• Irritants. Certain expressions commonly used during negotiation have very little value in persuading the other party and yet cause irritation.

- When one party makes a "very generous offer", it is likely to irritate the other party who considers it to be completely contrary to his or her interests. When someone says "as you well know..." and expresses opinions or facts contrary to the other's position, it causes irritation. Effective negotiators avoid expressions that might irritate the other party - why do it, how are you going to get the other person to want to work with you if you are irritating them? • Counter-proposals. Counter-proposals are understood as proposals made immediately after one made by the other party. Research has shown that effective negotiators avoid counter-proposals because: - They come at a time when the other party is less receptive, in fact is waiting for us to analyse their proposal and is not preparing to receive a new one. We indicate to the other party that we are not even considering their offer and that we are not interested in listening to their proposal. The other party perceives this as a blockage or disagreement. • Defence/attack spirals . As negotiation often involves conflict, negotiators may become heated and use emotional, value-laden expressions and feelings. - In moments of tension, defending oneself against the other's supposed attacks can be interpreted as an attack, which generates a spiral of defence and attack that becomes a new nucleus of conflict. Thus, for example, when one manager defends himself against another with expressions such as "Perhaps you are insinuating that my team is not prepared to give a quick and effective response to the

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