Negotiating and bargain is a basic leadership role. Few leaders have enough formal power to get everything they want without negotiation. Situations call for negotiation include arriving at a price for purchasing another company or satisfying worker demands. The link between negotiating and bargaining is that conflicts can be considered situations that call for negotiating and bargaining, or conferring with another person to resolve a problem.

At first, the demands of the two parties may seem incompatible, but through negotiation a salary may emerge that satisfies both parties. These approaches to negotiation emphasize a strategy of integration or collaboration. Experiments suggest that negotiators who feel anxious tend to make weaker first offers, and are more likely to exit negotiation early. To minimize being and looking anxious during negotiation, train, practice, and rehearse.

Visualize how you will conduct yourself during the negotiation and practice making some of your key statements. An advanced negotiating technique is to begin by soliciting the other person’s or group’s point of view. You can use this information to shape the objectives of the negotiation, and figure out how you will be able to attain them. Most people believe that compromise and allowing room for negotiation include beginning with an extreme demand or offer. But a plausible demand is better because it reflects good faith bargaining.

Rather than clinging to specific negotiating points, one should keep overall interests in mind and try to satisfy them. The true object of negotiation is to satisfy the underlying interests of both sides. A challenge facing the multicultural leader is how to negotiate successfully with people from other cultures. There are also many other differences in negotiating styles and techniques across culture. Considerable study and practice is therefore required to negotiate effectively in another culture.

As with most other leadership situations, you want to conduct yourself in a dignified way and not attempt to maximize gain for yourself and minimize gain for the other side. Negotiating and bargaining, as with any other leadership and management skill, require conceptual knowledge and practice.