Negotiating with Difficult People [Good Cop – Bad Cop]
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When confronted with a difficult person in any type of negotiation, the default position may seem to be “tit for tat”; if the other person is difficult, then you become more difficult in an attempt to out dominate the other (and potentially dominating) person.
But a recent blog post in Harvard PONS entitled, “When Dealing with Difficult People, Try a Complementary Approach” by Katie Shonk (August 27,2020) suggests a different approach. Research indicates that the best results are achieved when one person in a pair of negotiators uses a dominating approach while the other uses a complementary approach.
In an experiment administered by Scott Wiltermuth of USC in Los Angeles and Larissa Z. Tiedens and Margaret Neale of Stanford University, they asked pairs of participants to negotiate a complex merger of companies. Some of the participants were told to take on a dominating style through body language and otherwise while other participants were told to take on a deferential style- again through body language and otherwise “…working to make sure the other party felt respected.” (Id.)
The results? :
Read original articlePairs in which one negotiator behaved dominantly and the other submissively (as instructed) reached the best deals, as measured using a point system. These pairs of complementary-style negotiators outperformed pairs made up of same-style negotiators, including two dominant negotiators, two submissive negotiators, and two control-group members. The dominant/submissive pairs achieved their superior success thanks to their complementary communication style, in which the dominant negotiators stated their preferences directly and the deferential ones asked questions. (Id.)
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