Communication and Personality 1

Running head: COMMUNICATION AND PERSONALITY IN NEGOTIATIONS PAPER

Communication and Personality in Negotiations Paper

Connie A. McLaren

University of Phoenix
 Communication and Personality in Negotiations Paper

Negotiations are an important part of life and people do more negotiating than they

realize. Negotiations are not always about large elaborate issues. Negotiations can be about

topics such as who will cook and who will clean up. They could be about where the family will

go to eat dinner or what movie they will go see. Negotiations take place on grander scales too. In

the business world, negotiations could be multimillion-dollar deals being negotiated or small

issues like what type of new copier to purchase. Simply, negotiations are a part of everyday life

realized or not.

Negotiating is comprised of many elements. Communication is obviously an important

element of negotiating. Without some form of communication, it would be impossible to

complete a negotiation. Communication is “an activity that occurs between two people: a sender

and a receiver” (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2006, p. 163). Many forms of communication are

involved in negotiations. Types of communication include verbal communication where two

parties actually speak to each other, either in person or over an electronic device, such as a

telephone. There are nonverbal forms of communication, such as facial expressions, hand

gestures, and body language, used during face-to-face communication. In addition, there are non

verbal types of communication that are used in electronic communication, known as emoticons

and are a way for the person writing the e-mail, blog, or instant message to relay their facial

expression or mood by choosing a cluster of symbols. For instance, a semicolon and a right sided

parenthesis would create a smiley face, indicating the originator is happy about the topic.

People can communicate with each other through various channels. Not so many years

ago the most common methods of communication were face-to-face, over a land line phone, or

by mail. With the advancements in technology, people can communicate almost anywhere and
anytime. A large majority of people now carry cell phones so they can speak with someone at

anytime or anywhere but these cell phones now have Internet access and people have the option

of emailing, texting, or chatting online with another party. Additionally, many people now have

laptops they carry with them everywhere, or they have a computer at home. Communicating with

people has become extremely easy to achieve. Unfortunately, many people are finding they do

not actually speak to people as often as they once did.

Personality is another element of negotiation that can have an impact on the outcome of

negotiations. A person’s conflict style plays a large part in his or her negotiating abilities.

Someone who is assertive will be more inclined to be stand firm in what his or her goal is and

not be willing to negotiate as easily as a person who is less assertive Psychologists have

identified five personality characteristics, known as the “Big Five.” The five traits are

extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness. Extroversion

describes people who are outgoing, assertive, and talkative. Agreeableness types are people who

easily agree, cooperate, are flexible to ideas, and situations. Conscientiousness types goal driven,

responsible, and organized. Emotional stability refers to those who are secure and confident in

the situation and who they are. Openness refers to people who are creative, open-minded, and

inquisitive. (Lewicki et al., 2006)

Negotiating is not always fun but at times is a necessary part of one’s workday. In my

own experience, I had an employee who had been promoted to the customer service department.

Prior to her promotion we were, best friends and spent a much of our free time together when we

were away from work. This person had been my sounding board on my bad days and was fully

aware, I thought, of the environment in which I worked. She was offered the position without me

knowing about it until after the offer had been made. A short time after she started in customer
service, I was promoted to supervisor of the department, now I was her boss. Our work situation

was very difficult and put a strain on the friendship as well. She had come from the plant side of

the organization and did not possess the professionalism and computer skills necessary for the

position in which she now held. As her supervisor, I not only had to mentor her, I had to coach

her when necessary. After a few months of written and verbal coaching’s, my supervisors were

strongly suggesting I let her go. They were convinced they had not made a good choice by

selecting her to replace the person who had left. A large part of me agreed with them. However,

because we had been such close friends, I felt an obligation to her of sorts, to not give up on her.

She was placed on six-month probation, and I performed monthly evaluations with her. Each

month, for the first four to five months, there was little change in her behavior or performance.

She was bitter and felt she was being singled out and was being nit-picked. This was an

extremely difficult period and many times, I wished I could just let her go. I was being

scrutinized for allowing her so much time to prove herself and would go to bat for her each time

there was a discussion about letting her go. I was negotiating with my supervisor’s almost daily,

to allow me to keep her. I would point out the good qualities she possessed and remind them that

she had come from a very different work environment. I would give specifics on how the

evaluations were going and how hard I was being on her. During her evaluations, I would beg

her to wake up and pay attention to what I was telling her. She was fully aware that I was going

to bat for her and that others had given up and were ready to replace her. I had to tell her that if I

was forced to let her go from the department there was no job for her on plant, if I let her go, she

would no longer have a job or income to support her two daughters. These negotiations between

my supervisors and I and myself and my employee went on for about six months or better.

Eventually, something finally clicked for this person and the light bulb went on. A year later, she
has totally changed. She is now very dependable, pays closer attention to her work, makes fewer

errors, and takes accountability for the errors she does make. She has a much better

understanding of the job and what is expected of her. She recently covered the department during

my medical leave and performed an excellent job. She recently told me, she looks back on the

person she was a year ago and sees how she is not the same person and understands now how

frustrated we all must have been with her and her performance. She is grateful that I did not give

up on her, despite the way it was beginning to make me look as a supervisor.

Negotiations can be a task that is resolved right away or it can be something that goes on

for months, or maybe even years in some cases. Depending on the topic, negotiations can be very

personal and full of emotion. A person’s passion for the item or subject being negotiated will

have a large impact on how long and hard he or she will negotiate and how long.
 Reference

Lewicki, R. J., Saunders, D. M., & Barry, B. (2006). Communication. In J. E. Biernat, R.

Blakenship, & A. J. Clelland (Eds.), Negotiation (Vol. Fifth Edition, pp. 162-182).

Retrieved from University of Phoenix, MGT/445.