The Pfeiffer Book of Successful Communication Skill-Building Tools

Chapter 38. The Negotiation-Stance Inventory

H.B. Karp

With the emphasis on both teamwork and individual empowerment in today's organizations, the development of negotiation skills is particularly important. However, there is an important step that precedes that skill development: learning how one views the process of negotiation. Some people see negotiation as an odious experience to be avoided at all costs; some see it as an opportunity to obtain essential resources, thereby benefiting themselves, their opponents in the negotiation, and the organization. There are also stances between these two extremes.

The author's contention is that some people may possess the necessary skills to negotiate, but they are unwilling to participate in the process. For these people, training in negotiation skills would be inappropriate. Therefore, the author has designed an instrument that helps the respondent to clarify his or her own attitude toward negotiation. This instrument would provide an excellent beginning to a workshop on negotiation: It can be completed in about ten minutes, respondents score their own inventories, and the instrument is accompanied by both an interpretation sheet and a rationale sheet.

Introduction

Organizations are becoming increasingly more team oriented and, at the same time, more focused on the empowerment of the individual worker. With this orientation, the need to negotiate from a position of strength and confidence has become extremely important to those who are accountable ...