Lesson 5

Negotiation
Negotiation Vocabulary

word
part of speech meaning example sentence

alternatives other options We can't offer you the raise you requested, but let's
noun discuss some other alternatives.

amplify expand; give more information Could you amplify on your proposal please.
verb

arbitration conflict that is addressed by using a We're better to settle this between us, because a
noun neutral third party formalarbitration will cost both of us money.

bargain try to change a person's mind by using We bargained on the last issue for over an hour
verb various tactics before we agreed to take a break.

bottom-line the lowest one is willing to go I'll accept a raise of one dollar per hour, but that's
noun my bottom-line.

compensate make up for a loss If you are willing to work ten extra hours a week
verb we will compensate you by paying you overtime.

comply agree I'd be willing to comply if you can offer me my

verb own private office.

compromise changing one's mind/terms slightly in We are willing to compromise on this issue
verb order to find a resolution because it means so much to you.

concession a thing that is granted or accepted I think we can offer all of these concessions, but
noun not all at once.

conflict general term for negotiations It is impossible to engage in conflict

resolution resolution when one of the parties refuses to listen.
noun

confront present an issue to someone directly I confronted my boss about being undervalued,
verb and we're going to talk about things on Monday.

consensus agreement by all It would be great if we could come to

noun aconsensus by 5:00 P.M.

cooperation the working together I have appreciated your cooperation throughout

noun these negotiations.

counter the offer/request which is presented In their counter proposal they suggested that we
proposal second in response to the first proposal keep their company name rather than creating a
noun new one.

counterattack present other side of an issue Before we could start our counterattack they
verb/noun suggested we sign a contract.

counterpart person on the other side of the I tried to close the discussions at noon, but
noun negotiations my counterpart would not stop talking.
word
part of speech meaning example sentence

cordially politely In the past I have had little respect for that client,
verb/noun but today she spoke cordially and listened to my
point of view.

demands needs/expectations that one side believes They had some last minute demands that were
adv it deserves entirely unrealistic.

deadlock point where neither party will give in When the discussions came to a deadlock we wrote
noun up a letter of intent to continue the negotiations
next week.

dispute argument/conflict I was hoping to avoid discussing last year's

noun dispute, but Monica is still holding a grudge.

dominate have the most control/stronger presence Max has such a loud voice, he tends to
verb dominate the conversations.

entitled be deserving of My contract says that I am entitled to full benefits

adj after six months of employment.

flexible open/willing to change We have always been flexible in terms of your

adj working hours.

haggling arguing back and forth (often about We've been haggling over this issue for too long
verb prices) now.

hostility long-term anger towards another I want you to know that we don't have
noun anyhostility towards your company despite last
year's mixup.

high-ball make a request that is much higher than I'm planning to high-ball my expectations when I
verb you expect to receive open the discussion.

indecisive has difficulty choosing/making a They were so indecisive we finally asked them to
adj decision take a break and come back next week.

leverage (bargaining power) something that gives We have a little bit of leverage because we are the
noun one party a greater chance at succeeding only stationary company in town.
over another

log-rolling trading one favour for another After a bit of log-rolling we came to an agreement
noun that pleased both of us.

low-ball offer something much lower than you I was expecting my boss to low-ball in the initial
verb think the opponent will ask for offer, but he proposed a fair salary increase.

mislead convince by altering or not telling the They misled us into thinking that everything could
verb whole truth about something be resolved today.

mutual agreed by both or all The decision to call off the merger was mutual.
adj

objective goal for the outcome My prime objective is to have my family members
noun added to my benefits plan.
 word
part of speech meaning example sentence

point of view person's ideas/ thoughts From my point of viewit makes more sense to wait
noun another six months.

pressure work hard to convince another of an idea He pressured me to accept the terms by using
verb intimidation tactics.

proposal argument to present While I listened to their proposal I noted each of

noun their objectives.

receptive open to/interested in an idea His positive body language demonstrated that he
adj was receptive to our suggestions.

resentment anger held onto from a previous conflict Mary's resentmentstems from our not choosing her
noun to head the project.

resistance a display of opposition We didn't expect so much resistance on the final

noun issue.

resolve end conflict, come to an agreement Before you can resolveyour differences you'll both
verb need to calm down.

tactics strategies used to get one's goals met There are certaintactics that all skillful negotiators
noun employ.

tension feeling of stress/anxiety caused by There was a lot oftension in the room when George
noun heavy conflict threatened to quit.

trade-off terms that are offered in return for Lower payments over a longer period of time
noun something else sounded like a fair trade-off until we asked about
interest charges.

ultimatum a final term that has serious His ultimatum was that if I didn't agree to give
noun consequences if not met him the raise he asked for, he'd quit today without
two week's notice.

yield to give in to another's requests The client will only yieldto our conditions, if we
verb agree to work over the holiday weekend.

Ex.1. This quiz will test your understanding of negotiation vocabulary.

--
1. The parties came to after five hours of negotiating.

2. It was decision to settle our differences out of court.

3. One that always works is to ask your counterpart to speak first.

4. We would have more if we had some more recent statistics to use.

5. They were to our proposal until we made our last demand.

6. We were over prices all afternoon.

 7. I wasn't expecting our opponents to so quickly.

8. When I the client about their promise they agreed to honour it.

--
9. If that is your only I would be happy to concede.

10. The negotiations had already ended in a within ten minutes of starting.

Types of negotiation
If people negotiate (with each other), they talk in order to reach an agreement which is to their mutual
advantage (good for them both). There exist such types of negotiations:
 customer-supplier negotiations;
 merger or takeover negotiations;
 wage negotiations;
 trade negotiations;
Negotiations also take place to settle disputes (decide arguments) such as:
 contract disputes;
 labour disputes;
 trade disputes.
Someone who takes part in negotiations is а negotiator, and someone who is good at getting what they
want is а tough negotiator.
Another word for 'negotiate' is bargain. This is also used to talk specifically about discussing and agreeing
the price of something. Another name for 'negotiator' is bargainer.
Another word for 'negotiation' is bargaining, used especially in phrases like:
 collective bargaining;
 рау bargaining;
 wage bargaining (discussions between groups of employees and their employers about рау and
conditions).
'Bargaining' is often used in these combinations:
Bargaining ploy, tactic – a particular technique used by a negotiator.
Bargaining chip, tool – an issue that a negotiator uses in order to gain an advantage.
Bargaining point a particular issue that a negotiator discusses.
Bargaining power – the degree to which on side is strong enough to obtain what it wants.
Bargaining process – the way that negotiations develop.

Ex. 2. Match the sentence beginnings (1-8) with the correct endings (a-h).

1. After 48 hours of intensive negotiations in which he slept for …

2. One of the problems of protracted negotiations is that achieving agreement саn соmе …
3. After tense negotiations between the hijackers and air traffic control in Cyprus …
4. The agreement оn limiting television violence represents the climax of several months of intense …
5. The painting has been withdrawn from sale and acquired bу the National Gallery …
6. Then violence broke out, and it took six months …
7. The deal was struck only after eleventh- …
8. He's а tough negotiator …

a. the plane was allowed to land at Larnaca airport.

b. hour negotiations between the US, the European Union and Japan.
c. only one hour, Mr Prescott said, 'It has been both tough and incredibly complicated.'
d. of delicate negotiations to put the process back оn track.
e. negotiations between television executives and the National Parent Teacher Association.
f. to bе more important than anything else, including the final decision.
g. and likes bargaining about everything.
h. after last-minute negotiations.
 When you're negotiating with people from other cultures, it's important to think about what they
consider as 'normal' behaviour. You'll need to think about the following:

 body language
 physical contact
 conversational rules
 relationship building
 hierarchy
 attitudes to time

Ex. 3. Mr А is in another country in order to try and get а multi-million dollar order from Mr В
and his assistant, Mr С. Put each problem that occurs in their meeting under one or more of the
headings suggested above.
1. Mr А wanted to start the negotiations immediately, but Mr В suggested а sightseeing tour of the
city and а game of golf the next day.
2. Mr В started asking Mr А about his wife, home and family.
3. When Mr С made an important point, Mr А was silent for two minutes before replying. This made
Mr С very nervous.
4. When talking, Mr В looked directly at Mr А and his two assistants in turn, giving them equal
attention. Mr А started to look annoyed.
5. During а break for coffee, Mr В put his arm around Mr A's shoulders in order to bе friendly.
6. When Mr А was talking, Mr С frequently interrupted him.

In а successful negotiation, everyone should leave the negotiating table happy with the outcome:
there shouldn't bе winners and losers. The negotiators should try to reach а win-win solution: an agreement
of equal benefit to both sides. This саn bе achieved in а number of ways.
Ex. 4 One way of furthering negotiations is probing (asking the right questions and listening
carefully to the answers). Here are some probing questions:
a. What is the situation on production at your plant at the moment?
b. What sort of quantities are you looking for?
c. What are we looking at in the way of discount?
d. What did you have in mind regarding specifications?
е. What were you thinking of in terms of delivery dates?
f. How important to you is the currency for payment?
Match the replies (1-6) to the probing questions (a-f)
1.Perhaps 100 units per year over five years.
2.We саn offer ten per cent if the quantities are right.
3.We'd like to see а ten per cent improvement in performance.
4.We'd prefer US dollars.
5.We'll need the first 30 units in six months.
6.We're operating at full capacity.
Ex.5. Read and translate the text into Ukrainian
Lack of preparation in a negotiation almost always sets a person up for failure. First and foremost, each party
must clearly define their own goals and objectives. Secondly, each party must anticipate the goals of the opposition.
This may require doing some background research. Finally, each party must come up with various alternatives to
their main objectives.
Collaborative Negotiating
In business, the goal of negotiating parties should always be for mutual gain. This type of win-win negotiation
is often called collaborative negotating. The opposite of collaborative negotiating is
called competitive negotiating. The goal of competitive negotiating is for one party to win and the other to lose.
Dishonest practices, such as lying, manipulation, intimidation, and bribery are often used in this type of
negotiation.

Main Principles of Collaborative Negotiating:

 Resolve previous conflicts ahead of time.
 Deal with issues, not personalities.
 Commit to listening more than speaking: The more you know about your counterpart, the more likely you

will achieve your goals. You cannot convince someone of something when you do not know anything
about them, or what their own needs are. A common mistake is to prepare one's next question or point
while the opponent is speaking.
 Establish trust in the onset.
 Develop a common goal
 Discuss a common enemy.
 Take opponent's views/needs into careful consideration: Not only do you want to win this negotiation, you
want your opponent to win as well, so that he or she will negotiate with you again in the future.
Ex. 5.1. Ask yourself some preparatory questions before beginning talks with the other party:
 What is my main objective?
 What are all of the alternatives I can think of?
 Why do I deserve to have my goals met?
 What will my opponent's counter proposal likely consist of?
 How can I respond to this counter proposal?
 When would I like to have this issue resolved?
 What market research/homework do I need to do to back up my cause?
 What is my bargaining power compared to my opponent's?
 What do I know about the principles of negotiating?

Ex. 6. Read the text paying attention to the underlined phrases

Sometimes one side is in а stronger position than the other: they have more bargaining power. For
example, during а recent strike at Lamda Inc., the company was in financial difficulty and the public was оn the
workers' side, so Lamda was negotiating from weakness. The strikers' union knew this: they were negotiating
from strength.
The union made demands: objectives were so important that they were unwilling to change them. They
wanted а 15 per cent рау increase. Later they moderated these demands, and said they would accept ten per cent.
However, their demand for а week's extra holiday was non-negotiable: they would not accept l ess.
Lamda said they were being forced to accept something that they did not want. They accused the
union of making them negotiate under duress.
Eventually Lamda conceded to most of the union's demands and gave them what they wanted. The
media said that Lamda had backed down, climbed down and given in.
The feelings had been very strong оn each side: the dispute was bitter, and the negotiations were
confrontational and adversarial.
Ex. 6.1 Which expression best describes each of these statements about а miner's strike? Sometimes there is
more than one possible answer.
1. Of course, the company had enormous stocks of соаl that had already been produced but not sold
and it suited them if there was no more production for six months.
2. The union wasn't in а good position. Apart from the enormous соаl stocks, there are thousands of
реорlе already out of work.
3. In the beginning, the union said they wanted а рау increase of 100 per cent, and nothing less was
acceptable, but later they realized this was unrealistic, and said they would accept less.
4. Eventually the miners went back to work. The strike had produced nothing for them.
5. Of course, the mining company had been very aggressive towards the miners.

Although using tricks isn't recommended, there are negotiators who:

 issue threats, final offers or ultimatums: they say that the other side must accept something, with very
bad consequences for them if they refuse.
 lie and bluff: they threaten to do something that they do not intend to do, or are not able to do.

Of course, you саn always call someone's bluff: pretend to believe them, when you know they
are bluffing. When negotiations get stuck, and don't progress, there are а number of things you саn do:

 Underline common ground: the areas where agreement has been reached.
 Reassure the other side оn key points that have been decided: confirm that you have not changed your
mind.
 Ве willing to compromise оn your original objectives: bе ready to accept less than you wanted in exchange
for compromises from the other side.
 Identify the exact obstacles or sticking points: the problems that are causing negotiations to become
difficult.
 Postpone discussions until later so that each side саn reconsider its position.
Ex. 7. Match the sentence beginnings (1-5) with the correct endings (а-е).
1. Boeing offered the idea of а 600-plus seat jet to airlines last autumn
2. Тhе country's trade negotiators are trying all sorts of tricks to protect their farmers
3. Тhе TV presenter gave his bosses an ultimatum that he would leave the show
4. Тhе company said they would fire all of us if we didn't accept the deal
5. Over the past two years, Mersey Docks number of 'final' offers

a. for example, allowing only whole chickens to Ье imported, not chicken parts.
b. But European plane industry executives are convinced that Boeing is bluffing.
c. the last one being f 28,000 to each docker involved in the dispute.
d. if Miss Taylor was allowed to stay as co-presenter.
e. but we called their bluff - we refused and has made а, six months later we still have our jobs!
Ex. 8. In the following conversation, Geoff (a Sales Executive) updates his manager Sally on how the
negotiations he is involved in are progressing. From the context, try to guess what the meaning of the
words/phrases in bold are. Then do the quiz at the end to check if you are right.
Sally:'So Geoff, how's everything with your current negotiations?'
Geoff:'Well, some are going well and some are going not so well.'
Sally:'OK, well tell me first about the negotiations with Beaver.'
Geoff:'It's not going well at all. In fact I don't think we're going to win the contract. We've reached a deadlock on
the price of the project. As you know we made them a very reasonable offer, it was very competitive. They came
back with a counteroffer on Monday where they not only wanted a 20% reduction in price, but also wanted to
have 24 hour customer support instead of the 18 hours that we offered them. I told them that in what they are
demanding, we could not do it, because we would make a large loss. But it didn't change anything, they won't
budge.'
Sally:'They were just seeing how you would react. You did the right thing by not reducing our offer. The worst
thing you can do now is to panic and back down and give them a much lower price. I would advise you to give
them time, they will know it's an unreasonable counteroffer. The negotiation is still in its early stages. There's a
long way to go yet.
Maybe it's not as bad as you think, at least the negotiations haven't broken down and they are still
continuing. It's common for negotiations to stall over issues like this. I would think that it'll start again when
they've had time to think about it. I negotiated with them 3 years ago and their chief negotiator tried to bluff me, by
saying 'This is the price we'll pay. Take it or leave it!'. I told him we would have to leave it, and they changed their
mind two days later. It was like a game of poker.'

Geoff:'I hope so. Anyway, I have some good news about Clayton Logistics. It's progressing very well with them.
We've reached a compromise on the price and scope of the project. They are very happy with the terms and
conditions that we are offering them. In my opinion, I think they are ready to sign. I'm meeting them next week.
So, I'll be hopefully bringing back a 4 year deal then.'

Sally:'Excellent. It's a big company and it should be good for a lot of follow on business. Oh, by the way, it looks
likely that we'll have to renegotiate the Pemberton Contract. They're currently having a lot of problems because of
the crisis and they contacted me about reducing the cost on their existing support contract. So, if you're not busy, I
would appreciate if you could take care of it.'

Geoff: 'No problem.'

Ex. 8.1. Below is a definition/description of each of the words/phrases in bold from the above text. Now fill in
the blanks with one of these words/phrases in bold. Only use one word/phrase once and write it as it is in the
text.
1. When a negotiation isn't moving or progressing, is …
2. When a negotiation can't progress because of a fundamental disagreement, is ….
3. When somebody who has refused to make a compromise, then does it, is …
4. The actual details of an agreement, are called the …
5. An amount of money that one side/party proposes to pay the other for goods or services, is an …
6. The name of an 'offer' that one side/party makes after rejecting the other side/party's offer, is a …
7. When you try to deceive the other side/party that you'll stop the negotiations unless they agree to your demands,
even though you really don't want to or can't, is …
8. When a negotiation has finished without any agreement being made, is …
9. The beginning phase/part of negotiations, is often called the … .
10. When somebody won't change their position in a negotiation, they …
11. When a negotiation is going OK, it is …
12. When one side/party wants to change a part of an existing contract, is …
13. A phrase that means that somebody is going to make a deal, is …

Ex. 8.2. Now that you understand the business negotiation essentials vocabulary, practice them by creating
your own sentences in English with the new words/phrases.

Active Vocabulary:

consensus
dispute
to high-ball
to low-ball
а tough negotiator
negotiation / bargaining
а win-win solution
bargaining power
made demands
to be non-negotiable
to get stuck, not to progress (about negotiations)

References
1. Mascull B. Business Vocabulary in Use, Advanced / Bill Mascull. – Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2004. – 178 p.
2. McCarthy M. Business Goals/ Michael McCarthy. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. – 184
p.