American negotiating style

Everyone's different. Especially in negotiations. You may have your personal style but most probably it will be affected by the country of your origin. I am not an American, but I'll try to point out some advantages and disadvantages which you have, as I have noticed them.

Americans usually are prepared - they know what is their resistance point, what they should demand. They speak clearly and plainly - during the negotiations in the class, all the instructions and proposals from my friends were straight, and there was no hidden message which I could miss. On the other hand, from my experience, Americans are very distributive - they don't focus on cooperation, rather want to win as much as possible for themselves. Naturally, negotiations are not a zero-sum game, and American negotiators know that - but they rather take than give. The good thing is that the opening position is never their final position. That is something I really appreciate, as it gives a lot of space for creativity. Unfortunately, Americans do not care much about relationships. That it really easily seen in the small talk. Two welcoming sentences and raedy to go! I really do not like this impatience. The last thing I complain about is the very popular cultural minimization, which is when one's (in this case American) own cultural norms need to supersede the cultural expectations of others. But there is a good thing at the same time! Americans' personality is super strong and there's not much that can break them.

Don't get me wrong, Americans taught me a lot, your culture is very different, especially in negotiations. That was the best experience I could get, and I appreciate it a lot.

How about teams?

I hate it. I hate it when someone's my representative and s/he loses. Why should I ever trust anyone? Does it even make sense? I know my issue best, I can do whatever I want on my own.

Well, no. Here come the times, when you're not able to be a sole warrior. One man is simply not as creative, or has as much knowledge as his/her friends combined in negotiations. Are you selling a house? You don't have an agent? Good luck! Remember that you may not have enough data about the industry. You may not have enough connections. Some negotiations are so much complex that you'll simply not be able to perform well without an ally.

And now my little thoughts from the class - I really love to work individually. It is difficult, yes, but gives much more satisfaction. But sometimes there are times, when I'm not prepared enough. What's then? My team members are my salvation. What's the catch? Conflicts. Unfortunately, I don't have much experience about that, as mostly we had "instant" agreements within a group. But I wish I were in a very complex, very difficult situations and I made many mistakes. Why? To learn and remember. I wish you all some difficult experiences, so you can grow stronger.

Happy thanksgiving!

Decision-Making Biases

The most prominent assumption is that decision-makers are rational. What's the truth? How does it correspond to the reality? Every day world proves that people make mistakes (and they will). Sometimes, however, being irrational is a good thing. I remember that once in a class we had a negotiation where we had to agree on a very important contractbetween two companies. Although bluffing might have been stupid, I lied about having second offer from different company to threaten the opposite party, so they become anchored and set their price lower. That was one of the decision-making biases - risk seeking. Individuals will take irrational risks when the potential payoff is unusually large. They could have not believed me. I could have lost the entire contract... But they did believe me and we agreed, although it was irrational for them to make a deal.

Another bias I (this time) suffered from was my very first negotiation in this course. I was so much anchored, so much closed minded that I couldn't see that there's no payoff from the deal we had. That is called "Escalation of Commitment" and I will remember that good lesson 'til the rest of my life.