Blog Post #8

After reading the article from the Harvard Program on Negotiation regarding online negotiating, I was able to develop and understand the importance of how it is to meet and negotiate in person. You will get better results and outcomes if you meet in person, but due to the changes in the world such as the coronavirus occurring we have moved to online negotiating. When you meet face-to-face, you are able to develop eye contact, body language, and tone of voice, that will help distinguish how the person is feeling. If you don't meet in person, you won't be able to figure out the other persons understanding on how they feel about the topic. It is different when you have a phone call, text message, or email the other person especially when you don't have that person in front of you and you can't tell from their body language on how they feel about the outcomes. I can apply the advice provided in the article to my next upcoming negotiations since now that they are all online, I will be able to illustrate my understanding and interests on the negotiation by providing to the group my values of the scenario. In the article, it demonstrated five guidelines that will help the next negotiation online be more helpful such as considering the likely scope of your deal, toggle between different communication media, give counterparts the benefits of the doubt, be collaborative, and don't make this the new normal. By going through and illustrating all of these guidelines, I will be able to have a more successful negotiation due to the changes that we all have to overcome. We will all have to work through the changes that have been made and demonstrate the importance of videoconferencing with one another can make a difference. We will all provide our value of the negotiation and demonstrate how we feel about everything since we are all videoconferencing and not actually face-to-face. Even though we can still see everyone and their body language, it is still different and it may be difficult to understand how everyone is feeling due to everyone being in a different location. I have already learned from the previous online negotiations is that it is important to make sure that everyone in your group is on the same page and are able to contribute their understanding of the negotiation. Even though not everyone in your group will have on their cameras, it is hard to figure out how everyone is feeling such as demonstrating eye contact or body language since we aren't actually right in front of them. I will make sure that everyone is able to indicate their understanding of the negotiation by collaborating with one another and demonstrate the values that everyone is overseeing. By working with one another and making sure that everyone is communicating, it will make it easier for everyone in the group to figure out how they feel about the scenario. We will be able to communicate through videoconferences instead of emailing and text messages since we might interpret their opinion in the wrong way. It is beneficial to meet with everyone on videoconferences so that you can get a better understanding of what everyone is thinking.