The word ‘negotiate’ means to confer, bargain, to bring about an agreement or arrange a treaty or prize by conferring. When we negotiate with someone, we try to confer with them to reach an agreement on terms or arrangements affecting both parties.
Negotiation connotes the process of negotiating. Roget’s Thesaurus lists out several words as synonyms for the word ‘negotiate’. These include mediate, intervene, make peace, moderate, arbitrate, intercede, bargain, agree, promise, stipulate, compromise, settle, conclude, haggle, wheel and deal and come to an understanding.
All these words in a sense describe the expanse of negotiation. Negotiation is indeed a part of everyday business life. The parties involved in the negotiation process will have to indulge in a continuous process of exchange of messages.
Image Source: under30ceo.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Negotiation is a goal- oriented process involving face-to-face interactions. Some of the expressions used in the context of negotiation are to work out, thrash out, hammer out, pull off, come to terms about and reach an agreement on. It involves discussion, exploration, consultation, bargaining, persuasion, and resolution.
The entire parties involved endeavour to seek a mutually acceptable solution to the issue through a process of dialogue and intense deliberation. In a negotiation, the parties involved evaluate the merits and demerits of alternative approaches and choices and then arrive at a joint decision.
At the end of a successful negotiation process, all the parties concerned should feel that they have won or secured a good deal under the given circumstances. Negotiation is often hard bargaining and successful resolution of conflicting interests in a spirit of accommodation and a give-and-take approach.