Negotiation - Reflective Journal

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
Negotiation
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2NEGOTIATION
Negotiation is one of the most important tools that are needed for the purpose of
managing and running a business in a very successful manner. Conflicts are a part of the day to
day business affairs and it is the duty of the managers to solve these disputes by making sure that
they are looking after the welfare and the interests of each and every employee irrespective of
their ethnic or their cultural backgrounds. While I was interning with a top MNC in Australia I
realized that there can be some serious problems with the workplace conflicts if they are not
handled properly. I have realized that biasness often ruins the workplace conflicts more
(Wallensteen 2018). Often the leaders or the managers use some improper negotiation techniques
that degrade the workplace conflicts even more rather then bringing any fruitful solution for the
same.
As per the opinion of Chou et al. (2016) there are many techniques of negotiation that
can be used by the mangers order to solve the workplace conflicts. I was working in sales and
marketing team where we had to work in shifts so that the customers are left un-attended. Thus if
one of the sales representative was done with their shift the other one had to immediately take
over the charge so that the customers or the clients are not kept waiting. However there was a
problem between me and one of my colleagues. I saw that he was never on time and this made
me work over time almost every day. As I joined the organization newly I thought that this is a
problem that happens with many and will soon get over. However the problem was increasing
day by day. In the initial phases, I tried to manage and used to work ever after my shift. I was
getting late for lunch and also in reaching home. The other colleague belongs from the Islamic
faith and used to spend lot of time in doing his prayers. This made him stay absent from floor
and there was no one to attend the customers who had some problems or queries with the sales

3NEGOTIATION
service or the products. Thus there were huge customer complaints and someone was needed to
start for listening to and solving the customer complaints.
As per the opinion of Hamperl and Cimprich (2016), interest based negotiation technique
is used to solve the workplace problems so that both the parties can get their interest solved.
I took this issue to the HR department. They enquired from both of us what the issue was.
I realized that my colleague was not letting me speak. He was mainly trying to prove his point.
As per the opinion of Shim and Kim (2018), there are some styles to be used for the interest
bases negotiation technique. Effective communication style and agreeableness are some of it.
However I realized that these styles were being overlooked in this negotiation procedure. The
HR managers did not pay any special attention to my concerns. They were of the opinion that as
I am a fresher I have to support the company and work for some extra time in the absence of a
senior colleague. I was about to present my opinion but they were not interested in heading my
concerns. Thus I had a very poor experience. I realized that it was not a horizontal or two way
communication process. Going by the iceberg concept the managers only heard about the
smaller part that is the said demand but ignored the larger and the most important part that
is the unsaid need. They just gave attention to the part and not the why part. I was asking for a
resolution that would benefit both of us and none of our interest or demands would be ignored.
The managers had a huge favoritism or biasness in this company. They used to favor only
some their favorite tenure employees who were in the good books while ignored the interest of
the fresher or the new employees.
I was not happy with this solution given by HR department; I realized that the
management does not have any concern about my hopes and expectations. The managers were
just concerned about their work getting done by making me work for long time and attend to