This week, you are asked to engage in a new negotiation event and utilize your growing skill set. In other words, negotiate the purchase of something, the restaurant for dinner, time off at work, household chores with your children, or any other situation that works well for you and that you can complete in the first part of the week (before the initial post is due). Of course, the earlier in the week you start, the better prepared you can be for the negotiation. Whatever negotiation you try, challenge yourself. Make it something both meaningful and worthwhile for strategic negotiation.

For the first paragraph of your initial post, describe the negotiation event that you are using for this week’s discussion, including the participants, the key issues, and the outcome.

For the second part of your initial post, evaluate any one of the following starter bullet points, using research on course concepts to support your analysis:

• Negotiations most often occur between two people having a meaningful relationship, such as spouses, coworkers, and suppliers and customers. Therefore, relationships tend to influence present and future interactions, however cordial or adversarial they might be. The dynamics of a relationship and its importance to each party also affect the strategies used and the outcomes reached in a negotiation. How did the relationship impact the negotiation event? How did it influence your preparation, your choice of strategy, and the outcome?
• Relationship is only one type of interest that might surface in a negotiation. Our course material also notes that substantive and process interests affect negotiations. Evaluate the various types of interests that existed in the negotiation (could be expressed or implied interests). How did those interests contribute to the outcome?
• Present negotiations often set precedents for future negotiations. Evaluate the influence your negotiation might have on future negotiations with the same party and different parties. Explain what precedent has been set for the process, for the relationship, and for the styles and strategies.
• Reputation, trust, and fairness are the key considerations in a negotiation when a long-term relationship is at stake. How did reputation, trust, and justice or fairness impact the way you negotiated with that person? If the relationship was already strong, how did the negotiation further enhance the relationship? If the relationship was not a good one, how might the way you negotiated repair or further harm it?
• Coalitions preserve or increase an individual’s resources. There is, typically, a gain in leverage, power, or resources or the likelihood of reaching a goal when forces are joined. Examples of coalitions include political alliances, two children agreeing to work together to gain parental permission, and a buying group in a professional association where the higher number of members can get added member discounts. What coalitions were present in your negotiation? If a coalition was not present, what coalition might have been possible to create greater advantage? Evaluate whether the coalition (present or possible) is likely to be long term or short term. How could the coalition be broken, and what would be the effect on the negotiation?
• Negotiations can sometimes include multiple parties. For instance, in addition to a buyer and a seller, a real estate transaction may include a real estate broker, a financial source, an insurance agent, a surveyor, and property inspectors. What multiple parties were evident in your negotiation? Describe what challenges were presented by the increased number of negotiators in your multiparty negotiation. How did having multiple parties influence the outcome?
• Conclude your post with a summary paragraph that synthesizes one or two key issues or points of your initial post.