Negotiation in Employee Relations

 

Definition of Negotiation in Employee Relations.

According to Price. A (1997) Negotiation is an ancient art. It is important in fields as diverse as diplomacy, buying and selling, arranging relationships as well as employee relations. Negotiation is a form of decision-making where two or more parties approach a problem or situation wanting to achieve their own objectives - which may or may not turn out to be the same. In the employee relations arena, negotiation usually takes place within the collective bargaining environment."Negotiations are not easy exercises in employee relations. There are very few good negotiators, and even fewer persons enjoy negotiations. Perhaps I should issue a correction: fewer men enjoy negotiations. Women are not only better than men, that is my experience and conclusion, but women also seem to enjoy negotiations" (Patwardhan. V, 2017).

Negotiation process in employee relations.

Figure 1: Stages of Negotiation.
Source: (Lumen, n.d.)

Preparation and planning

At the preparation and planning stage, you (as a party to the negotiation) must determine and clarify your own objectives in the negotiation. It is a time when you take a moment to define and really understand the terms and conditions of the exchange and the nature of the conflict. 

Definition of Ground Rules

Once the planning and strategy development phase is over, it is time to work with the other party to define the ground rules and negotiation procedures. This is the time when you and the other party agree on issues like,

• Who will do the negotiating—will we do it personally or invite a third party?
• Where will the negotiation take place?
• Will there be time constraints placed on this negotiation process?
• Will there be any limits to the negotiation?
• If an agreement can’t be reached, will there be any specific process to handle that?

Clarification and Justification
Once the initial positions have been exchanged, the clarification and justification stage can begin. You and the other party will explain, clarify, reinforce and justify your position or your initial requests. For you, this is an opportunity to educate the other side about your position, and to gain a better understanding of the other party and what they think about them. You could each take the opportunity to explain how you arrived at your current position and include any supporting documentation. Each party could take this opportunity to review the strategy they have planned for negotiation to determine if it is still an appropriate approach.

Bargaining and Problem Solving
This is the essence of the negotiation process, where mutual concessions begin.

You and the other party will use various negotiation strategies to achieve the goals set during the preparation and planning process. You will use all the information you have gathered during the preparation and planning process to present your argument and strengthen your position, or even change your position if the other party's argument is solid and logical.

Closure and Implementation
Once an agreement has been reached, it is at this stage that procedures should be developed to implement and monitor the terms of the agreement. They put all the information in a format acceptable to both parties and formalize it(Lumen, n.d.).

Reference

Alan Price (1996) Human Resource Management in a Business Context. 2nd Edition. Thomson Learning
Vivek Patwardhan (2017) Negotiations in Employee Relations [Online] Available at: https://blog.shrm.org/sasia/blog/negotiations-in-employee-relations [Assecced on: 11th February 2020]
Lumen (n.d.) Stages of Negotiation  [Online] Available at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-organizationalbehavior/chapter/stages-of-negotiation/ [Assecced on: 11th February 2020]