Negotiations
This course has been helpful to me throughout the period I have taken learning it. It has been very useful in helping me gauge and understand myself as a negotiator. Through the examples and the assignments that I did in this course, the MBTI profile was the most useful tool in my development as a negotiator. I use Thinking judgment to logically rationalize the causes and effects while Intuitive perception helps me look for patterns the conflict follows and solve it. After completing the MBTI Profile analysis, I feel like I have used much of the time analyzing and comparing various styles of management in a conflict situation. The situations (most of which I found myself in), and knowing about them will not only help me solve them but also sharpen my skills as an exceptional negotiator.
Initially, I was a novice in conflict negotiations because I found most conflicts infuriating and thus, I avoided most of them. Hence, I would often solve the conflict without being mindful of the outcome and the impact it would have on the negotiating parties. This course has helped me have confidence in myself during negotiations and assume that no matter how severe the conflict is, negotiation will always provide a positive outcome if not fully solve the conflict. In the Problem Analysis papers such as the one between Jess and I, I, have been able to appreciate the concepts and skills I acquired throughout that negotiation.
I had not fully understood my options and capabilities, especially before the MBTI profile was completed. I later came to realize that my negotiation styles slightly leaned towards being accommodating. Therefore, after understanding this aspect, I spent much time looking for more options and strategies that are less leaned on the accommodating aspect. I also explored more styles that I came to understand that I could be able to employ exceptionally well. The MBTI profile has been closer to me every time I am in a situation related to conflict or work. On that, I had more opportunities to fully analyze the scenario and adjust it on a per-scenario basis.
Conflicts are part of our societies and are the nature of human beings. However, society sees it “normal” to avoid confrontational behaviour during negotiations, which I think, should not be the case. Nonetheless, the positive side is that I have run into fewer conflicts and had the chance to amicably solve them with the intent of ensnaring myself from them and satisfying the parties involved with a fair outcome. Minor disagreements between my instructors and I have always turned into prolonged discussions on how I can improve my role in the organization and how best I can deliver to their expectations.
Confronting a person has become much simpler now, thanks to my MBTI profile. I have known how to approach situations carefully without backing down, surrendering or being too forceful in conflict scenarios. During my internship, I have had an opportunity to lead a small group of colleagues, and numerous conflicts existed within the group; ranging from missed deadlines, unmet objectives etc. Therefore, since I was well armed with negotiation and conflict management techniques, I realized that avoiding or forcing a conflict sometimes does the trick. It allows the leader to have more time in exploring ways to prevent the same conflict from ever happening again.
An example is when I assigned a small task to group members, and the deadlines were not met. I made a decision to either force them to redo the work or avoid the conflict altogether. Forcing them to redo the task, in this case, was fair because they had promised to finish it before the deadline. Throughout the period, I had to force many members of the group to finish the tasks within the stated deadline because they simply dragged on projects for too long, thus impeding the workflow. I found that this technique is easier to use since I acted within the power bestowed to me by the organization and the strategy worked exceptionally well.