It’s always more intelligent to negotiate looking for common interest and building long-term relationships than to turn the process into a mere contest. If we’re capable of working with the other negotiator to satisfy the interests of both parties, it’s more likely we’ll find solutions that work for both of us.
There are people who insist on seeing negotiation as a competitive game in which the main objective is to win more than the other side, regardless of the interests at stake. This type of negotiator is elementary and not very sophisticated. It’s not a question of deceiving the other party but of managing to satisfy our interests. Trying to destabilize the other party will only damage the relationship and trust, and we’ll be destroying any possible future relationship.
In the negotiation simulator Merchants, the user learns to negotiate by building bridges, not by tearing them down. Plus, this course on negotiation and conflict resolution prevents the negotiator from using destructive techniques, to be avoided, like the following:
- Deceiving with false facts and data
- Feigning ignorance to extract or avoid revealing information
- Hiding dubious intentions
- Creating uncomfortable situations like:
- Stress (uncomfortable rooms, overly cold or hot temperatures, waits, interruptions)
- Personal attacks
- Threats
- Emotional instability (tears, yelling, etc.).
- Ultimatums
- Applying pressure to gain a stronger position:
- Refusal to negotiation (seeking initial capitulation)
- Extreme and/or escalating demands
- Delays
- Having to submit the proposal to a higher authority
- Last-minute requests
This serious game developed by Gamelearn shows people how to recognize these types of practices to teach them about win-win negotiation oriented towards building long-term relationships. The interesting part of this video game on negotiation is the game-based learning format that allows the user to practice in a risk-free scenario while receiving continuous and personalized feedback to learn about decisions, strategies and errors, as if it were a negotiation with a real person. Merchants is a perfect example of gamification applied to skills development.