Stages of Negotiation, Part Two

Clarification and Justification

Once initial positions have been exchanged, the clarification and justification stage can begin. Both you and the other party will explain, clarify, bolster, and justify your original position or demands. For you, this is an opportunity to educate the other side on your position, and gain further understanding about the other party and how they feel about their side. You might each take the opportunity to explain how you arrived at your current position, and include any supporting documentation. Each party might take this opportunity to review the strategy they planned for the negotiation to determine if it’s still an appropriate approach.

This doesn’t need to be — and should not be — confrontational, though in some negotiations that’s hard to avoid. But if tempers are high moving into this portion of the negotiation process, then those emotions will start to come to a head here. It’s important for you to manage those emotions so serious bargaining can begin.

Vocabulary:

initial positions – the starting ideas, offers, opinions, or prices that each side holds at the very beginning of a discussion or negotiation, “At the start of the meeting, both companies shared their initial positions regarding the price of the project.”

exchanged – given and received things, information, or ideas back and forth with someone else, “We exchanged phone numbers so we could stay in touch after the holiday.”

clarification and justification – the act of making something clear and easy to understand, while providing good reasons or proof to show why it is right, “The teacher asked for a clarification and justification of my answer to prove I didn’t just guess.”

bolster – to support, strengthen, or make an argument or position stronger with more facts, “He brought extra statistics to bolster his argument during the debate.”

demands – forceful, firm statements or conditions stating what you must have or what someone else must do, “The workers made several demands for higher pay and safer working conditions.”

opportunity – a chance or a good time to do something that you want to do, “Studying abroad gave her a wonderful opportunity to learn a new language.”

educate – to give someone useful information, knowledge, or training about a specific topic, “The doctor tried to educate the patient on the importance of eating less sugar.”

arrived at – reached a specific decision, conclusion, or result after thinking about it or discussing it for a while, “After debating for an hour, the committee finally arrived at a solution.”

supporting documentation – official papers, records, receipts, or reports that provide proof or evidence for a claim, “Please bring your passport and supporting documentation, like a bank statement, to your visa interview.”

strategy – a careful, detailed plan of action designed to achieve a specific goal or success over time, “The company created a new marketing strategy to attract younger customers.”

determine – to officially figure out, discover, or decide something by looking closely at facts or evidence, “The referee looked at the video replay to determine if the ball went across the line.”

appropriate approach – a suitable, proper, or correct way of dealing with a specific situation or problem, “Speaking politely is always the most appropriate approach when dealing with an angry client.”

confrontational – behaving in an aggressive, argumentative, or angry way that is likely to cause a fight or conflict, “You should avoid using a confrontational tone if you want to solve the problem peacefully.”

tempers are high – a phrase used to describe a situation where many people are feeling very angry, stressed, tense, or frustrated, “During the stressful election, tempers were high among the voters.”

come to a head – an idiom meaning a problem or difficult situation reaches a critical point where it can no longer be ignored and must finally be dealt with, “The tension between the two roommates finally came to a head when they had a huge argument over dinner.”

serious bargaining – the main, important stage of a discussion where two sides negotiate heavily to try to reach a final financial or business agreement, “After chatting casually for a few minutes, the businessmen sat down for some serious bargaining.”