Page 11 - Mini-Module 2

Improving Your Negotiation Skills

In order to become better at negotiation the beginning principal needs
to be aware that there are two types of negotiation.

The first is called Positional Negotiation. It is the most well known type
of negotiation and is often called Bargaining. It is the sort of
negotiation that takes place in a street market stall where you might
‘bargain’ for a better price. The Seller wants to get the most money
he/she can, while you want to get the item as cheaply as you can, so
you offer prices backwards and forwards, and give reasons for why you
should get it cheaper than is being asked. Many principals are quite
good at bargaining.
The second type of negotiation is called Interest Based Negotiation.
This is less well known, but is very important in schools where money
and price are not issues, but interests are very important. In Interest
Based Negotiation the Parties educate each other about their needs
and concerns, then jointly problem solve how to meet these needs.
The key to being good at negotiation in schools is to master the skill of
interest based negotiation.

As Bargaining (who known as positional negotiation) is the better
known form of negotiation, we will start by looking briefly at what is
involved in this form of negotiation.

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