Sunday, March 10, 2013

Principled Negotiations - Freedom from Arbitrary Systematization


Although I was unable to make timely inquiry and receive a response from Simon Cowell, the industry professional whom I would most like to interview relative to the topics detailed in the Full Sail University, Negotiating and Deal Making (NDM) course textbook, Getting to Yes…; I was able to gain valuable answers to most of my proposed questions. My first question, “Please elaborate on some of the primary ground rules that you establish in conducting negotiations and discuss how these rules assist in producing mutually beneficial agreements,” was practically addressed by Jake, host of The Voluntary Life.  In his podcast Jake references our course textbook, Getting to Yes and suggests some of the following very fundamental ground rules for conducting win-win negotiations:
1.     Write everything down.
a.     Organize a trusted system for keeping track of all correspondence pertaining to each negotiation project in one place, i.e., create folders or tags.
b.     Send an email after each discussion summarizing pertinent details of the negotiations and soliciting participatory communications and confirmation.
c.     Act as secretary to the negotiation process.
2.       Be explicit about standard terms from the onset of negotiations.
a.     When and how you expect to be paid.
b.     State how you want to conduct business succinctly.
c.     Stipulate how modifications will be handled.
3.     Limit Indemnity.
Following these primary rules will serve as pillars of freedom from subsequent confusion and disputes and will facilitate reaching agreements that result in achieving mutual pursuits of happiness between parties.
Associate Professor in the School of Communication Culture and Technology at George Town University, J P Singh, addresses my second question, “How do you effectively keep the negotiations focused on the issues rather than the positions of the people involved in the negotiations?” In The University of Oxford Podcast giving incite into JP Singh’s book, Negotiation and the Global Information Economy, Professor Singh stresses the importance of a diffusion of power and diplomacy as effective tools in adjusting positions so that mutual gains will result. Interestingly, Singh accounts for social interactions in changing positions and develops a philosophy of how and when interests are changed based on expanding social perceptions through interactions. He also focuses attention on negotiations being based on problem solving as mush as on strategy. Singh’s theories will help in my entertainment business by assisting me to remain confident and steadfast in my status relative to conducting negotiations with powerful negotiators.
The IDN Podcast with International Dispute Negotiation host Michael Mcllwrath, and mediation mogul, William Ury, Co-author of our course textbook, Getting to Yes… with William Fisher, superbly answers my third question, “Will you please give an example of a situation wherein you used objective third party criteria to reach a just agreement?” Absolutely intriguing mediation strategies by Ury provide compelling support for Mediation as an evolving attractive third party response to resolving conflicts based on fundamental ground rules that results in settlements by the “ballot rather than the bullet.” Ury identifies the basic principle of listening as one of the standard tools of negotiation necessary to the process of getting to the substantive interests of creating win-win constructive resolution and resolving negotiation impasse. The attention given by the host and Ury, to a situation wherein the larger community, those who surround the parties, became the objective third party criterion used to obtain fair resolutions is impressive.  It focused my attention on the importance of garnering community support from family communities, as well as, from online social communities while building the SunVine enterprise.
References
The Voluntary Life. Entrepreneurship Part 7: Negotiation. Retrieved March 7, 2013, from
       http://youtu.be/jWSGF7GR0FM.
University of Oxford Podcasts. Negotiation and the Global Information Economy. Retrieved
       March 6, 2013, from http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/negotiation-and-global-information-economy-
       audio
IDN Podcast No. 101--William Ury on Negotiating Toward a Better World (Nov. 23), Retrieved  March 6, 2013, from http://www.cpradr.org/Resources/ALLCPRArticles/tabid/265/ID/736/IDN-Podcast-No-101-William-Ury-on-Negotiating-Toward-a-Better-World-Nov-23.aspx