This Week in Business Skills – Negotiation Outcomes

Normally there are three kinds of outcomes of a negotiation. Those are:  win/win, win/lose and lose/lose. 

Win/win: This is a kind of situation where both the parties or persons involved in the negotiation are benefited by the negotiation. The main aim of this kind of negotiation is to find out a solution that is acceptable to both the parties and the persons and where both the persons have a feeling that the negotiation has worked in their favor. It is always preferable that one should aim this outcome as this helps in establishing a long term

relation with the person you are negotiating with and also helps you develop a good will.

Win/lose: In this situation, only one of the either people or the parties, wins the negotiation and the other loses. This is not usually preferred in the business negotiations. There are some exceptional situations in life where you can go for this kind of negotiation. E.g. if you are selling your bike, there will be no necessity for you to interact with the other person after the deal is over or you don’t intend to keep long term relation with the person you are selling your bike to. So in this kind of situation you can go for a win/lose negotiation, which will turn in your benefit. But these kinds of situations are rare in business.

Lose/lose: This is a kind of outcome where in neither of the persons or the parties that have participated in the negotiation are benefitted. This usually happens, when both the people participating in the negotiation are rigid and are not flexible or have so many limitations. 

Negotiation is an art. It is the art of reaching a compromise that suits both the parties. It is also a context where people try to achieve the best possible results. The more you are skillful in negotiating, the more progress you will make in all areas of personal and professional life.