Negotiation Skills for Managers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Negotiation Skills for Managers - Research Paper Example 2006, p.3). For example, a sales manager and his clients may have contrasting interests. Clients always like to get the job done as cheaply as possible whereas the manager would like to get that job for a price as higher as possible. A compromise is necessary between the manager and his client in order to protect mutual interests as much as possible and for that purpose negotiation is a must. Since sales is a profession in which negotiation takes place quiet frequently, I decided to interview a car salesman of a Toyota dealership in order to get more awareness about various aspects of business negotiations. This paper is written based on the interview I conducted with that Toyota car salesman. My own perspectives of negotiation In my opinion, various types of negotiations occur every day in our life. However, in business world, negotiation occurs between an organization and its clients, organization and its employees, organization and its suppliers, organization and communities in wh ich it operates. However, negotiations between the sellers and buyers are more common in the business world. The seller wants to sell his product for maximum prices whereas the buyer would like to purchase things for minimum prices. Since these two motives are traveling in opposite directions, negotiation is the only way to settle the issues between the sellers and buyers. In short, better deal is the major motive behind every business negotiation. It is not necessary that all negotiation process may end up in victories or failures. In certain cases, both the parties may sacrifice many of their interests to get the work done. Characteristics of business negotiations As per the opinions of the car salesman I interviewed, negotiations can be classified into two different groups; 1) Negotiations that end up in the victory of one party and the failure of the other party 2) Negotiations that end up in victory to both the parties. He has labeled these negotiations as distributive (win-los e) and integrative (win-win). He has pointed out that a win-win or integrative negotiation is always desirable as both the parties may get some benefits out of the negotiation process. Distributive or win-lose negotiations may end up in the victory of only one party at the expense of the other. I asked him about the type of negotiation usually he undertakes and the reasons for that. He has told me that majority of the times he will go for integrative negotiations and only at the unavoidable circumstances; he will go for the distributive type of bargaining. In his opinion, business concepts are changing rapidly. Business management principles in the past and at present are entirely different. Earlier, sales people concentrated more on selling the goods at any cost. They used all positive and negative tactics to sell the product in the past. In other words, the intentions of a salesman in the past were to conduct only distributive negotiations in which the ultimate winner would be the salesman. As a result of such distributive negotiations, many companies lost their customer base as cheated customers or the losing customers started to look for other options. He has mentioned that as per the modern business principles, retaining of the customers is as important as attracting a new customer and therefore

How to successfully implement technological change using Essay

How to successfully implement technological change using sociotechnical principles lessons from case studies - Essay Example The whole electric-power industry felt the consequences" (Strategos, 2008). The problems that occurred at Babcock and Wilcox were attributed to quite a few different factors, namely technological difficulties. The company had built a plant at Mt. Vernon on the Ohio River and had pre-sold an entire year of pressure vessels. Before long, they noticed that every single one of the pressure vessels they were manufacturing was behind schedule (Strategos, 2008). Other problems abounded at the Mt. Vernon plant. Labor shortages, malfunctioning machines, rigid standards, and added expenses plagued the company, causing unprecedented delays to take place. Critics of the company's management team also say that corporate arrogance played a role, as had the choice for the location of the plant in the first place (in an area where labor was short and people were very difficult to train). A lot of money had to be spent in vain training workers that only 33% stayed behind after training to actually work for the company. In addition to being short on labor, the company was also short on skilled labor. The company also had equipment problems. These led to even further delays in getting the pressure vessels out (Strategos, 2008). Its customers were so frustrated by the delays that they began to take partially-manufactured units out of the Mt. Vernon plant and have the company's competitors finish them. The costs associated with these customers waiting any longer were just too high (Strategos, 2008). Kaizen Event for NC Machining According to the case study for this particular machining company "A Kaizen Event helped a jobbing-type machine shop implement workcells and set the stage for dramatic improvements in inventory, delivery, productivity, and quality." In this particular case, the results were that, "In the three months after cell startup, the pump assembly line was never once stopped or inconvenienced by a parts shortage from this cell. WIP inventory went from three months to three days. Productivity improved by about 50%. Capacity was released for increased production demand. Quality improved" (Strategos, 2008). Mechanical Control Cables This case study tells about an older organization that had grown to be very successful, but as has often been the case, met up with technological times and hit a roadblock. Their traditional way of doing things had led to too much overhead. After 2-3 consultants spent a great deal of time at the company and "taught, learned, experimented, and cajoled" (Strategos, 2008). According to the case study for this particular company, "In the end, five workcells were in place and a macro layout showed the locations of remaining cells. Training was well along and teams were developing. Supervisors were learning to deal with the cell environment. Mechtrol carried on this work in the years that followed" (Strategos, 2008). Compare & Contrast The last two cases are similar in structure, but are completely different from the first case. In the first case, major problems are causing unforgivable delays that rocked an entire industry. In the second and third cases, a few relatively minor adjustments in cell layout needed to be made in order to maximize speed, efficiency, productivity, and overall profitability. The decisions were also better thought out in the second and third cases, and the management teams took things impressively slower