BUS641: Strategic Negotiations and Conflict Management

If you do not ask questions during the negotiation process, then you will not be able to address and resolve the conflict properly. Questions allow for a greater understanding of the issue and will lead to a better negotiation process. During this process, it is also important that you understand your side and what the minimum expectations are for resolution. Again, asking follow-up questions is important to the process and allows for a deeper understanding of the issue from the perspective of each side of the conflict.

By asking questions, you can better understand a situation. Questions may be directed not only to the individuals involved in the dispute but also others who are indirectly involved. This will help to give you a better perspective of the whole process. This works especially well if you are a new manager or new to the company; this research will also help you to better understand your role as a manager in your department. If you have supervised your team for a while, you still may need help understanding the entire conflict, but you may have some information about the individuals involved that may help you during conflict management.

Suppose you have been asked to negotiate and resolve an issue but do not yet understand it. In that case, asking questions to understand the side you will be negotiating for will be imperative. This will allow for a better understanding of the side you will argue for. Once you understand, this will allow you to better understand what the other side needs or wants. The better prepared you are to argue both sides of an issue, the more successful you will be in resolving the issue.

Source: Saylor Academy
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