Appunti di strategie comunicative della lingua inglese

STRATEGIE COMUNICATIVE INGLESE – Prof. Cucchi

Negotiating: What does it mean? Why is it important?

Negotiating is a basic means of getting what you want from others. It is an essential skill in

communication in order to find an agreement, but also it is important in politics, business, law, everyday

life. A basic means of getting what you want from others. It is essential both in our personal and

professional life.

What are the factors involved in negotiation discourse in english?

- Distribuitve and integrative negotiations and their respective strategies

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Given the rapporti s central in negotiations linguistic model of rapport management

Topics presented during the course:

- Distributive vs integrative negotiations

- Principled negotiation

- Rapport management

Objectives:

Gain knowledge about:

- Negotiation approaches and strategies

- Rapport management with specific reference to negotiations

Gain the skill of:

- Analysing negotiation discourse

Class project

- How is negotiation represented in TV series?

- Which aspects are represented?

- Which negotiation strategies are utilised?

- How is rapport management?

- How is this visible in language?

a) Transcribe a negotiation scene taken from a TV series/show

b) Analyse the transcript drawing on the constructs and tolos acquired in the course – prepare a

presentation and a report

c) Compare different negotiation scenes – prepare a grid for the exam

The rationale of the project

What does the term “task-based” learning mean?

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Primary focus of classroom activity task

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Language instrument to achieve a specific outcome. Focus on meaning, learners are free to

use any language they want.

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Advantage of TBL for language learning language used for a genuine porpuse, real

communication.

The 4 basic skills involved in knowing and using any language:

- Listen

- Write

- Read

- Speak

Four basic skills:

- Listening (lectures, TV episodes, presentation by colleagues)

- Speaking (in small groups, public speaking)

- Reading (set material, a report)

- Writing (a PP presentation, a report)

Integrated skills:

- Note-taking from oral and written texts

When you do remedial work, you improve for example what you have written. Which tools do you use

when improving a text?

- Reformulation implies that something that is not clear and has to be improved. You understand

that it is not clear by reading or by asking somebody else to read your work. This happens when

we write our thesis, we publish in journals, and we are reviewed by peers (peer reviewing)

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Dictionaries (online) when we realize that something is not clear we can improve using

dictionaries such as Oxford, Cambridge, Collins, Longman, Macmillan (best English dictionaries

→ “big five”)

These are the tools through which we do remedial work.

After correction by peers and using dictionaries, the final step is self-correction, so you decide what to

retain from what other people pointed out and reformulated. The objective is to have a tense more

readable and clearer. Advantages of this project for the acquisition of the different cultures? ¿Do people

learn differently in different cultures? Have you experienced differences between the Anglo-American

and the Italian way of learning? If you haven’t experienced the Anglo-American learning style, do you

envisage any differences?

Advantages of this project with reference to the employability skills?

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Communication skills If we consider oral communication, we can be more specific and list the

factors involved in effective oral communication:

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body language (which inter in part of the broader) ex. Facial expression, gestures (kinesics

+ proxemics).

- Oral and written communication

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Non-verbal communication fluency, tone, rhythm, facial expression.

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Active listening while doing a presentation you understand someone is not paying attention;

important also when talking, over the phone or discussing in pairs. If no one listen to you it is

very difficult to deliver your presentation because you feel the audience is not with you. How do

you convey the message that you are listening in everyday conversation? By saying something or

looking and the person knows she can go on.

- Another important communication skill is giving and receiving feedback to improve. It should

be objective, clear, anonymous, constructive, and not to criticize as it does not enable people to

improve.

Interpersonal skills:

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Teamwork is the most important skills according to employers.

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Negotiation conflict revolution

- Conflict resolution

- Problem Solving

- Decision making (as part of the problem solving)

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Building rapport it may happen naturally but also can be built by spending time together,

asking questions, creating common ground, developing a bond and being empathy (you can feel

how the other person feels, feeling with the other person). Using tact and collaboration are also

important to build a rapport.

- Empathising

- Using tact and collaboration

Problem solving, decision making and building rapport are also relevant while negotiating.

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Critical thinking question what you learn and appropriate what to learn, question what you read, be

critical. These could be:

- Critical thinking (it’s important when deciding what you put in your presentation)

- Problem solving (when you have to solve various problems, decision about organization of the

project and deadlines)

- Decision making

- Negotiating (when discussing with your peers in your groups)

Presentation skills:

- Selecting and organising content

- Delivering the presentation

- Managing time

- Coping with anxiety →

Personal development skills these have to do with being long-life learners.

The opposite is:

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HARD SKILLS technical skills which are specific to each profession and area.

In what circumstances do you have to negotiate at work?

- Human resources

- Job responsibilities

- Flexible work

- Job offers

- Salary and compensation

- Budget and resources

Negotiation is a social activity

Example from the business setting:

- Discussion of the daily distribution of worl within an office

- A disagreement over an ambiguous contractual detail between companies

- Organising a massive sales campaign aimed at an overseas market

- Dealing with suppliers/customers/other businesses

- Discussion about job priorities/the distribution of workload

Other examples (in films):

- Hostage negotiations

- Negotiations among nations

Why learn to negotiate?

Many situations will have more than one potential outcome. The benefits to individuals and businesses,

that will result in better profits:

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Better understanding of other’s aims, motivations, and beliefs dealing with interests

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No bad feelings why made bad feelings linked to negotiation? If we find a solution, we will

avoid bad feelings.

- Less stress because we can find a solution and this result in better relationships.

- Better relationships

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Better outcomes, profits We learn how to negotiate, to improve the quality of our

contributions to a particular negotiation.

We learn to negotiate because we want to improve the way we engage negotiation. We want to improve

how we behave in negotiations. Negotiations enable us to understand the other party’s negotiation

strategies.

Role of language in negotiations

Importance of:

- Recognising the power of language ad a negotiating instrument

- Understanding its potentialities

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Negotiations a set of social behaviours enacted through language power of language as a

negotiating instrument.

Why?

- To improve the quality of your contributions to a particular negotiation.

- To better understand the other party’s negotiating strategies

We need to recognize how powerful language is as a negotiating instrument. We want to recognize how

powerful language is to achieve one’s purposes and we want to understand the potentialities of language

as a negotiating tool. How we can use language to achieve better outcomes. Language is used in various

negotiation settings.

But, why do we study negotiations in films/TV series/TV shows? We don’t have access to very sensitive

data such as negotiation in company, we may have access to data related to negotiation in companies

although it’s not easy, for this reason we focus our study on films or TV series negotiation, it’s easier to

have the access.

Films and TV series used to teach and learn English in:

- Medicine

- Law political sciences

- Tourism

- Business meetings

Furthermore, the language used in TV series/films is very similar to a spontaneous speech, it mimics this

one.

With a specific regard to negotiation, we can quote the word of the managing director of the program of

negotiation at Harvard law school, Susan Hackley, of Harvard Law School, who stated: “A surprisingly

wide range of films can be used to highlight negotiation lessons. When I look at films through the lens

of negotiation. I can analyse how people do – or don’t – handle conflict productively”. So, we know in

general that the language in film or tv series is similar to everyday life language and we have words from

the field we mentioned before.

Distributive negotiation

It is characterized by competition among the parties. They try to get as much as possible, the most value

out of the negotiation. With reference to the metaphor of the pie, the parties try to get the biggest part

of the pie to get biggest share of the pie for themselves.

If the parties are competing the negotiation will be confrontational and this kind of negotiation is called

“win-lose” a term which comes from game theory and it’s referred to the possible outcomes of the game,

in particular it’s referring to how each side perceives their outcome, it’s a matter of perception, so this is

important because the two parties may get the same amount of money for example, but one of the two

parties may perceived this as positive and the other as negative. In this case one perceives the outcomes

as positive and one as negative.

Of course, when we are talking about perception, we are also referring to expectations, because we

perceive something as positive or negative with reference to what we expect.

In distributive negotiations resources are fixed and there is competition over the distribution of a fixed

sum of value. With reference to the metaphor of the pie all (= negotiations are not necessarily involving

two parties; we have also multi-parties’ negotiations) the parties involved will try to get the biggest portion

of the pie. Their goals are conflicting, because both want the biggest portion to get as much as they can

since their cause are maximizing their share, their portion of the pie.

Distributive negotiations are based on positions, because each part has its position each party states what

he wants, because each party has a fixed position, these negotiations are characterized by very little

flexibility and lack on focus on relationships, if one wins and the other loses at least one will disappoint.

Very often distributive negotiations are focused on short terms gains.

What about the distributive strategies?

In distributive negotiations the parties generally do not reveal important information about themselves,

their longterm goals. On the other hand, they try to find out as much as possible about their counterpart:

why the counterpart wants the deals, their interests and constraints and the point ai which they are going

to leave the negotiation table (this Is called reservation price or bottom line). The reservation price is

the minimum price that you will sell the product for or the maximum price that you will pay for

something. All the parties will push the other partis to the reservation price.

Why would somebody want to find out the point at which the other person is going to leave the

negotiation table?

Because if I negotiate with you and I will try to find out your reservation price so that I can push you to

your reservation price.

Negotiators will also try to find about other options, this is known as BATNA (Best Alternative TO a

Negotiated Agreement). What are the other options?

Negotiators want to know what the other negotiators will do if that negotiation fails. They want to know

what happens if they don’t reach an agreement, has my opponent another option, or am I the only option.

USEFUL TERMINOLOGY:

- When we talk about moves, we are talking about a specific methodology namely genre analysis

which consists in identifies different phases in the text where each phase corresponds to a specific

communicative purpose. Each move corresponds to a specific communicative purpose.

Moves that can be identified in negotiations are:

- exchanging information about each other or talk.

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bidding when the first offer is made.

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bargaining offer and counteroffer are made. Negotiators try to find a

compromise.

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settling and concluding the negotiator decides either to reach an agreement

or decide that no agreement is possible and none of them reach a negotiation.

The other two phases, at the beginning and at the end, are:

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preparation phase in which one of the two parties talk about the negotiation

which is going to take place.

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comments on the outcomes phase after the negotiation in which the

members of the two parties discuss about what has happens.

This analysis is important because we can identify what happens in the phases. These moves are

not necessarily found in a linear fashion, so this means that the negotiators may conclude the

negotiations and then reopen it.

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Transactional goal what you want to achieve, e.g. obtain a loan, sell a car, solve a problem.

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Aspirational point or target price the aspirational point is what you want to achieve, your

ideal outcome. It can be expressed in terms of money, non-monetary or can be the combination

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of the two. TIP: establish optimistic aspirations suppose you have pessimistic goals, are you

likely to get something very good if your goal is pessimistic? No. If your goal is 5.000 are you

likely to get 10.000? No because you didn’t ask for 10.000. nobody can get more than his

aspiration point. If you have a high aspiration point you are more likely to make suitably

aggressive demands.

Integrative negotiation

It is the opposite of distributive negotiations, and it is characterized by collaboration among the

parties. The negotiators are concerned with how they can create neutral value, not the maximum for

themselves. The assumptions that it is possible for the parties to reach mutual gains it’s possible for all

the parties involved to be happy with the outcome of the negotiation. Therefore, both the parties get

their contribution for creating neutral value, all the parties collaborate to reach a “win-win solution”, a

solution about which all the parties perceive the outcomes as positives. This kind of negotiation is

knowing as interest-based negotiations, and it’s characterized by the fact that the parties negotiate about

multiple issues. It assumes that all the parties can win, and it is based on the fact that many negotiations

will involve a variety of issues, not just one. The idea is to extend, enlarge the pie by bringing in multiple

issues. This kind of negotiations has a potential to overcomes differences and find mutual interests.

Integrative negotiations need to be more creative because they need to invent solutions for mutual

gains. In this kind of negotiation there will be more flexibility in decision making to consider aspects

that you didn’t consider in the beginning and there will be positive effect on building relationships. So,

this type of negotiation is for sure or appropriate when people want to establish long term relationships,

which is almost always the case in business setting because you don’t want to lose the costumers.

INVENT OPTIONS FOR MUTUAL GAIN

DIAGNOSIS

As valuable as it is to have many options, people involved in a negotiation rarely sense a need for them.

In most negotiations there are four major obstacles that inhibit the inventing of an abundance of options:

1) premature judgment; 2) searching for the single answer; 3) the assumption of a fixed pie; and 4)

thinking that “solving their problem is their problem.” To overcome these constraints, you need to

understand them. →

1. Premature judgment Under the pressure of a forthcoming negotiation, your critical sense is likely

to be sharper. Practical negotiation appears to call for practical thinking, not wild ideas. Since whatever

you say may be taken as a commitment, you will think twice before saying anything.

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2. Searching for the single answer If the first impediment to creative thinking is premature criticism,

the second is premature closure. By looking from the outset for the single best answer, you are likely to

short-circuit a wiser decisionmaking process in which you select from a large number of possible answers.

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3. The assumption of a fixed pie A third explanation for why there may be so few good options on

the table is that each side sees the situation as essentially either/or-either I get what is in dispute or you

do. A negotiation often appears to be a “fixed-sum” game. →

4.Thinking that “solving their problem is their problem” A final obstacle to inventing realistic

options lies in each side’s concern with only its own immediate interests. Shortsighted self-concern leads

a negotiator to develop only partisan positions, partisan arguments, and one-sided solutions.

PRESCRIPTION

To invent creative options, then, you will need to 1) separate the act of inventing options from the act of

judging them; 2) broaden the options on the table rather than look for a single answer; 3) search for

mutual gains; and 4) invent ways of making their decision easy.

Separate inventing from deciding

Since judgment hinders imagination, separate the creative act from the critical one; separat