July 27, 2017
Negotiation is more productive than bargaining, says Human Resource practitioner, Richard Nditsi.
According to him, the dynamics of the labour market now requires negotiation, especially in deciding on salaries and other service condition, instead of bargaining.
Mr Nditsi, the HR manager of Universal Motors, who is urging HR practitioners to adopt and develop negotiation skills, said negotiation leads to a “win-win” situation, while bargaining creates an adversarial situation.
In an interview with ADR Daily, MrNditsi said although negotiation and bargaining skills are essential for the resolution of disputes, they are not to be applied together.
“Negotiation is an interest based mode of settling disputes whereas bargaining is an adversarial way of getting what you want.
“In bargaining, there is one winner and one loser, but in negotiation, both parties win,” he explained.
While Bargaining is a joint process of finding a mutually acceptable solution to a complex conflict, negotiation involves two or more parties conferring with each other to resolve their dispute, without the assistance of an impartial third party, but it could be facilitated by an impartial person if the parties so wish.
“By practice, bargaining and negotiation seem the same, but they are very different. The nature of bargaining differs vastly from negotiation.
“Negotiation is preferable to bargaining because of its nature. Negotiation allows both parties, be it labour and management, to sit down together and talk on an issue to reach an agreement,” he said.
He said because the work environment is dynamic, we need a dynamic mode of settling labour disputes.
“Bargaining is an old way of resolving issues; negotiation is a new way,” he advised.
By: Fred Gadese-Mensah/adrdaily.com
