Hello and welcome back to our Negotiations blog where we share with you strategies to make you a great negotiator.

In our last post, we talked about ways to handle anger when it is real vs. when it is feigned. But how can you tell? There are a few contextual cues and methods that negotiators may use to help determine whether the anger they are receiving is genuine or tactical.

1. Reputation of the negotiator. Is this a person who commonly uses anger as an intimidation or power tactic? The prudent negotiator will research the other party prior to negotiating to anticipate the attitudes and behaviors that the party may use at the negotiation table. A good negotiator spends five times longer preparing a negotiation than actually negotiating.

2. Type (deal-making vs. a dispute) and stage of the negotiation. Negotiators approach deal-making with optimism. On the other hand, negotiators are likely to approach dispute resolution with pessimism. Genuine anger, then, may occur in the very early stages of dispute resolution negotiations because face has been lost due to the rejection of the claim. In deal making negotiations, genuine anger may emerge in the middle or latter stages of the negotiation as a reaction to emerging conflict or disillusionment over the other party’s behavior.

3. Test the other side. Another way to determine whether anger is genuine or tactical is to test it. Genuine anger should subside when venting is allowed, when breaks are taken, or when the concerns of the angry negotiator are acknowledged. Negotiators using tactical anger to influence the other party to make concessions may continue the emotional assault regardless of these events. Tactical anger cannot be thwarted until the perpetrators recognize that their anger is not generating concessions and their strategy needs to be adjusted.

To review different strategies for dealing with tactical vs. genuine anger, check out our first blog post.

To become an expert negotiator, join our upcoming Negotiations workshops with Holly Schroth:

* November 20, 21, 2008 at UC Berkeley
* January 12, 13, 2008 in San Francisco

NOTE: Excerpt from “Some Like It Hot: Teaching Strategies for Managing Tactical versus Genuine Anger in Negotiations” by: Holly A. Schroth. The full article with citations will be published in Negotiations and Conflict Management Research

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 11:01 am and is filed under Negotiations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.