Group negotiations

Take a tree branch and try to break it. You'll probably do it without any effort. But take more of them and it's not an easy task anymore. Groups were always stronger, than solitary units. Our ancestors did it and it's no difference in negotiations.

What I saw during our group negotiations during classes, was the initial feeling that I should find somebody who is similar to me. It wasn't only about the common interests we're supposed to share, but also the negotiation style or even the way we speak and behave. Humans are willing to have relationships with people who are like them and that's the fact. From the very beginning I wanted to cooperate with somebody, who was willing to do so. 

I found it during Jordan Electronics negotiations, when Zack and I quickly realized that we have common goal and also the aggressive way of negotiating. Me and him started to draw some kind of charts, to come up with imaginary numbers and behave that we're actually professional and know more than our opponents. Then we decided to find somebody, who shared at least some of our thoughts and that was Rafal. With leader girl (I forgot her name, sorry) who wasn't definitely comfortable with her role we quickly imposed our way and solution. Justin was just condemned to loose this battle. 

On the other hand, during Florist - Bakery - Grocery negotiations I tried to cooperate against Kuba, but my potential ally didn't catch a bite, cause I wanted to go there totally competitive. However, we started to push Kuba into corner a little, cause we've found that we need the same things. When Kuba realized what is happening, he tried to blow up the whole negotiations. It was a very aggressive and dangerous strategy. More like walking on the thin line, than having a mutual agreement, which is good for everybody. 

Eventually, we came up with the "even" agreement and met in the middle. I wasn't fine with that, cause this equality felt like a failure for me. The goal was to "get as much point as I could". Everybody got 300 or something like that, so it was an optimal decision for the whole group, yet not so good for me personally.

I couldn't be on the last negotiation classes, so I can't really describe my feelings about those group conversations, yet I also have a thought, which I found when writing the paper for tomorrow's classes. 

I realized, that when you're in the group, it's easier to make the final offer, which is like "take it or leave it". Being in the group gives you this kind of power: "who is not with us, is against us". I think that is also how the mob works. You just sometimes know, that you can do it, so you use your advantage. It is actually sociologically possible, cause everyone doesn't want to be excluded from the social group. If there are 3 people saying something and there is only you against them - probably you will bend. It's just easier to go with the flow, which is kindly sad, cause I see how much we can be influenced. Even if it leads to stupid decisions.