L5M15 Questions and Answers

Developing negotiation strategy requires stakeholder consultation to align the negotiation with organisational objectives. Strategy defines direction; tactics are the methods used to achieve it. Planning strategy first ensures tactics serve long-term goals effectively.

The six recognisedbases of powerare informational, legitimate, referent, coercive, reward, and expert. Financial power is not classified separately—it can fall under reward or resource power, but not as a formal category.

“Apprising” means spelling out how a proposal benefits the other party (e.g., efficiencies, cost savings, risk reduction). It’s a classic soft, pull-style tactic that aims to increase willingness by linking options to the counterpart’s interests.

Behaviours thatundermine honesty(e.g.,exaggerated claimsandfavouritism) erode credibility and trust in negotiations. Hardball techniques can be competitive but are not inherently dishonest; lack of a fixed agenda affects structure, not honesty.

While alliances can deliver benefits (e.g., shared resources, economies of scale), they also poserisks, notablyconfidentiality issues(data sharing vulnerability) andpotential disputesover governance, profit sharing, or objectives.

Soft skills are interpersonal and behavioural capabilities that enable effective collaboration and impact, such as communication, influencing, and managing change. Technical/market knowledge and numerical skills are valuable but are classed as hard/technical skills rather than soft skills.

Reciprocated concessionsoccur when both sides trade something of value—such as exchanging discounts for improved terms. This supports balanced negotiation progress and fosters trust.

“Warm and tough” means balancing firmness on issues with respect and empathy in style. Confidence and assertiveness maintain authority while preserving positive tone—ideal for collaborative negotiation.

The “marginal gains” philosophy is that making numerous small, continuous improvements across processes results in significant overall performance enhancement. This principle is often applied to supplier development and continuous improvement programmes.

Positional bargainingstarts from fixed stances and tends toward adversarial exchanges and concession trading, often impeding creative, interest-based outcomes.

Positional bargaining starts with fixed opening stances and trades concessions from those stances. This often reduces flexibility and can make participants defensive or entrenched, inhibiting creativity and joint problem-solving.

Astrategic partnershipis a formal, high-involvement relationship with shared resources and joint governance—appropriate where risk/value is high and close collaboration is essential. Strategic alliances can be looser and not always resource-sharing.

Acting with honesty and integrity safeguards an organisation’s reputation, ensuring public trust and compliance with professional standards. Ethical misconduct, by contrast, risks serious reputational harm and stakeholder distrust.

Primary datais original information gathered firsthand for a specific purpose—such as surveys, interviews, or focus groups. By contrast,secondary datacomes from existing sources. A survey, therefore, is an appropriate primary data-gathering tool.

“Framing” means shaping how issues and proposals are perceived and interpreted. In negotiation, framing the agenda involves influencing focus and direction early in the discussion, ensuring that key topics are viewed from a preferred perspective. It helps establish a positive or strategic tone for dialogue.

Trust in negotiation is built when a counterpart is perceived as both capable (competence) and benevolent (care). Without either dimension, relationships may erode into mere respect or distrust.

Sharing warehousing, distribution, or production capacity is characteristic ofoperations and logisticsalliances—aimed at cost leverage, service improvements, and risk sharing in physical operations.

“Skunkworks” refers to a small, independent unit within an organisation that focuses on innovation and experimental projects. It operates with autonomy and minimal bureaucracy, often outside the main corporate structure, to accelerate development.

“Principled negotiation” (sometimes called the Harvard method) is built on four pillars: (1) separate people from the problem; (2) focus on interests, not positions; (3) generate options for mutual gain; and (4) use objective criteria. Bob’s focus on creating options for mutual gain signals the principled approach.

Separating people from the problem means you treat the relationship and the substantive issues as distinct. Pushback on a proposal is not a personal attack; it’s part of clarifying interests and criteria. Keeping relationship concerns separate helps maintain respect and reduces defensiveness.

When negotiations stall, best practice (according to CIPS) is topause the meetingrather than escalate tension or concede prematurely. Taking a break allows time to reflect, regroup, and explore creative solutions. Other remedies include summarising agreed points, involving a neutral mediator, or escalating strategically.