I found a really interesting concept in negotiations, to give you a little background, I have downloaded a nice book called Negotiations for dummies, and I have found that in one of the first chapters I have to find my ultimate goal in order to be able to negotiate while it is in my view, so I wouldn't compromise my future goals with really less important winnings. So I left the book and I did not continue reading it because as I have mentioned before I am still looking for my target
2 days ago I went to one of the companies construction sites, they were buying steel for the constructions, and I witnessed something I did not expect, a lot of negotiations about the fee of the Bulldozer (I will refer to it as the Earth Moving Machine because this machine is more scary than anyone can imagine)
There was the Lorry carrying the steel, a Bulldozer to load and unload the steel, lots of men.
The way that I can analyze the situation was
the Earth Moving Machine (EMM) owner got a huge point of strength which was he is the only one that can make us all end the day and go to our homes
The Building owner has a point of strength but it is not so effective which is his money, it is a little bit complicated, he has to pay for the Lorry which is carrying the steel and for the men standing, any extra time will be cause anger to arouse specially to the lorry driver who has been there all day long loading the steel
Now the EEM owner is greedy and he is requiring more money for the delay and the change in position (of course the unloading was in a different location) so he started out with 650
On the other hand the guy with the money started out with 175 as he said that the time the EEM worked was only 2 1/2 hours * 70 equals LE 175
Now there was the real beuty of the whole situation
when you look at it from an outsider point of view you would immediatly say that is not fair (and that is what I said) he has been with you for 4 1/2 hours and that is how you should pay them... but I did not speak, and just observed what was happening
after a while they said that for the unloading of the steel they will give him LE.50 over the time he worked which was 2 1/2 hours, which is still not fare from my point of view, just wait a little bit longer.
The owner of the EEM ordered the driver to leave and go to the Garage, Immediatly the driver jumped in the EEM and moved about 20 meters, 20 meters is not a short distance for such a huge machine and it was more than enough to come to another resolution. one of the negotiators picked up his phone and told the owner that he will wake up one of his friends to get him an EEM to unload the steel
and now for the moment of truth they will pay him the whole 4 1/2 hours + LE.100 for the unloading and the owner agrees for a total of 410
let's look at another point of view from the first moment of the problem, he wants more, then he shall receive nothing, let him go to his garage and he will not receive any money for any work he has done and call another EEM which, I was recommending such solutions in the beginning but after what I saw no the first way is much better
Now, the problem is that they are both greedy, one wants to pay less while the other wants to earn more. the beauty is in the way it started, one proposed the maximum while the other proposed the minimum and as you sure noticed they both gave up LE.200 and came to a settlement and in fact this number is the fair number for a naive guy like me would say in first place but if I said so, he would not agree and I would go up for an unfair number for me and more earnings for him.
what happened that night was the pure experience and it is one of the things that can not be taught, just noticed and hope that the next time you would be able to do the same and come out with the best possible solution where you have no time to thing or consider alternatives, because every moment would be a loss for you
I hope I have transfered what I did learn to you and I really hope you benefit from it.
Of course I welcome any comments
