Deception or misinterpretation during negotiations is quite common
as a way of gaining advantage (Hoch,
Kunreuther, & Gunther, 2001). Hoch
et. al. (2001) describe two types of lies, lies of omission and lies of
commission. Lies of commission tend to
be more condemnable than those of omission. There are four ways in which information can
be misinterpreted according to Hoch et. al. (2001). The first, Reservation Prices, is highly misguiding since many times what
negotiating partners claim as their reservation price, many times could be
lower then what they claim. This is
easily seen in supermarket mark downs.
Items are advertised as “on sale” when in effective, the price has
really gone from a mark-up to its standard price, manipulating the customer
into thinking there is a discount when there isn’t. The second misrepresentation of information
that can be evaluated is Interests. In this case a negotiator may pretend they do
not share the same interests as their negotiating partner as a ways of asking
for extra concessions. During my
negotiations with the real estate agent when I tried to get the rent price
lowered, we both misrepresented our interests. The real estate agent claimed
that the owner of the apartment was not in a hurry to rent the apartment
because he really didn’t need the money.
I in turn told the agent that I was not in a hurry to find a place and
would be willing to wait for something cheaper. Both she and I had a mutual interest for me to
move into the apartment as quickly as possible but were negotiating for extra concessions.
I waited to pay less for example. The third misinterpretation that is mentioned
is Intentions. Going back to my example when dealing with the
real estate agent for my apartment, the
real estate agent misrepresented information regarding how many people were
looking at the apartment. This is a
common tactic used by real estate agents. When I tried to negotiate the price and
verbalized my intent to wait or search for a cheaper apartment, she told me
that there were other people lined up that had an interest in the apartment and
it would be rented by the next day if I didn’t take it. This was her way of
trying to get me to concede to the original price. A few days later she
contacted me and told me the owner would consider dropping the price if I was
still interested. The last
misrepresentation that can be used is Material
Facts. This is probably one of the
most serious misleading information as the negotiator is bluntly lying about
the facts. I have encountered this type of
misrepresentation of information when shopping on Amazon and a seller gives
erroneous information about the product.
One example of overstating a claim could clearly be seen on my
resume. During my younger years when I
had little work experience I would sometimes over exaggerate my talents or
completely lie about my skill levels in order to get employment. I am a very fast learner and in some instances
was sure that I would be able to do the job yet I also recognized that if I
didn’t have the job experience they were looking for, they wouldn’t give my
resume a second look. In this case I
weighed out the cost and benefit of my deception realizing that the benefit
outweighed the possible cost (getting caught for example) and also justify my deception
by recognizing my quick learning curve (Hoch et. al., 2001) .
I consider myself to be a very honest person and I hold others to
the same ethical standard. I am okay
with white lies but my standard for lying or misrepresenting information is
based on the following guideline which is harming no one. If my deception does not harm anyone
physically, emotionally or mentally, I think it is acceptable.
References
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