MGMT 100 AMU Week 6 lesson Asserting Influencing and Negotiating Human Relations American Military University
- Week Six
Lesson Overview
What do you do when you receive that flaming email from one of your employees? Do you flame back or step away from the computer. Notice I asked what you did vs. what you want to do? How good are you at negotiation? Have you ever purchased a car and wondered what just happened? This lesson is for you!
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:- Identify effective interpersonal skills and specific features of cognition, personality and intelligence, necessary for understanding human behavior in a work setting
- Define key leadership traits and strategies, for developing leadership potential
- Examine motivational climate in work situations and apply appropriate motivation strategies
- Apply tactics for improving relations with coworkers and customers
In this lesson, we will discuss:
- The art of negotiation and asserting–what is your bottom line!
- Influencing
- Assertion
The following activities and assessments need to be completed this week: Assignment
There are no assignments due this week
Week 6 Forum
Bob, is a disgruntled employee…what about Bob…more in the Forum
Introduction
What do you do when you receive that flaming email from one of your employees? Do you flame back or step away from the computer. Understand your reactions will give you skills to distinguish between assertive, non-assertive and aggressive behavior. I’m also going to discuss Passive-aggressive behavior and even though it is not covered in our text, I feel it is worth mentioning.
Interpersonal Behavior
Many people in organizations face difficulty when it comes to influencing others, they just can’t seem to move forward or freeze in their tracks. How do you handle that situation? Are you a take the bull by the horns person or just hope that it all blows over? How well do you handle conflict? Are you assertive enough? Take a look at the list of behaviors and think about how well you handle conflict.
ASSERTIVE
NON-ASSERTIVE
AGGRESSIVE
PASSIVE- AGGRESSIVE
Analyze Your Behavior Response
Smoking is a good example that can illustrate these four styles of behavior that we discussed. Here is a common dilemma for some people, you are riding in a friend’s car and they smoke. Assuming that smoking really bothers you, think about how you would respond if your friend asked if you mind if they smoke? How would you respond in this situation?
- ASSERTIVE
- NONASSERTIVE
- AGGRESSIVE
- PASSIVE AGRESSIVE
ASSERTIVE
Your assertive response could be:
“I’m sorry, but yes it would bother me, I’d prefer if you did not smoke”
How Cultural Differences Play a Role in Behavior
Cultural Differences in assertiveness can be seen from as far as the East as to the West. In many eastern cultures (i.e. Japan) it is frowned upon to speak up and possibly offend someone or cause them to “lose face”. Rather than embarrass a person, some eastern members of eastern cultures will remain silent or even not admit that they feel their values or views are not being honored.
In the west, especially the United States, most people stand up quite adamantly for their views or values to be accepted and will vigorously defend themselves if they feel taken advantage of.
How Gender Play a Role in Behavior
Are there differences in how each gender handles assertive, non-assertive, aggressive and passive-aggressive behavior? While I think that there is still some reticence on some females to speak up, these lines are also blurring as women continue to move into positions of power in the workplace and are a significant portion of the working population. In the first half of this lesson, we looked at some of the behaviors that define if we are assertive, non-assertive, aggressive or passive-aggressive. Some of these attitudes will play into the roles of negotiation also, the next topic in our lesson for this week.
Negotiating
Everyone knows that employee, the one that does not want to change or takes no part in change. What if that employee worked for you? How would you handle the conflict? How good are you at negotiation? Have you ever purchased a car and wondered what just happened? If so then this lesson is for you!
Managers can employ several negotiating behaviors and strategies. Knowing which one to use (or is being used against you) is important in not only business but also life. If you are married, you know exactly what I mean–think about when you are deciding where to eat supper on a date. You want sushi, however, your other wants steak? How do you negotiate? What is your target? To make your date happy or eat sushi? And what is your limit? If steak is all the restaurant served, would you not go? Remember, each of us always has targets and limits in regards to negotiating.
Negotiation and Conflict Management Strategies
Lamberton and Minor (p350) also discuss three strategies in regards to negotiation and conflict management. The three strategies are Win-Lose, Lose-Lose, and Win-Win. These are just three simple outcomes to some negotiations; however, in a two choice outcome (Win or Lose) there are really not that many options.
WIN-LOSE
LOSE-LOSE
WIN-WIN
Cultural Differences and Negotiation
What if you are tasked to negotiate in another country, do you think there are any differences in our cultures?
- Europe
- Asia
- Central America
Select a hot spot to learn more.
The Four Parts of a Negotiation
Lussier (p309) gives us a great plan to follow when negotiating, the four parts to negotiation are to Plan, Negotiate, Postpone and Reach Agreement or Not.
THE FOUR PARTS OF A NEGOTIATION
- PLAN
- NEGOTIATION
- POSTPONE
- AGREEMENT