Critical Thinking: Honesty in Negotiation
Week 2 Critical Thinking: Honesty in Negotiation
Introduction
For mankind, honesty exists in degrees only and is not a perfected and absolute value delivered by anyone all day, everyday; that is my opinion. I read the article entitled “Honesty in Negotiation” by Chris Provis, the crux of which addresses the concept of deception in negotiation and what a person’s obligation is to the truth during the process. In my mind there is not just one road to travel here since we are dealing with other people, and if you do not know them well enough to trust them unequivocally, then you must take into account that they are probably employing deception on some level to gain an advantage; even if it is limited to withholding information, concealment, or exerting influence in an attempt to manipulate a negotiators perceptions towards circumstances that do not exist.
Lies
Almost everyone lies. According to some researchers the average individual tells about 200 lies per day; face to face, spouse to spouse, parent to child, and in every other combination of human interaction possible (Meyers, 2011). Does this mean that these people lie with malicious intent every day? Not especially; people lie for a variety of reasons and it is after all a matter of degree and intent as to whether a reasonable person would take issue with a given lie. Let’s say that your child, niece, or grandson came to you with a picture they drew, that they were especially proud of seeking your approval and it was just scribble; do you lie and tell them it is beautiful, or crush them with the truth? Most caring people would spare the feelings of an innocent 3 year old and tell a so called ‘white lie’ bolstering the esteem of the burgeoning artist, but yet it is a false claim; a lie; a deception. From this innocuous plane onward, lies are told on escalating scales that ascend towards serious and ill intentioned lies. The Merriam Webster defines honesty in part as:” the quality of being
Introduction
For mankind, honesty exists in degrees only and is not a perfected and absolute value delivered by anyone all day, everyday; that is my opinion. I read the article entitled “Honesty in Negotiation” by Chris Provis, the crux of which addresses the concept of deception in negotiation and what a person’s obligation is to the truth during the process. In my mind there is not just one road to travel here since we are dealing with other people, and if you do not know them well enough to trust them unequivocally, then you must take into account that they are probably employing deception on some level to gain an advantage; even if it is limited to withholding information, concealment, or exerting influence in an attempt to manipulate a negotiators perceptions towards circumstances that do not exist.
Lies
Almost everyone lies. According to some researchers the average individual tells about 200 lies per day; face to face, spouse to spouse, parent to child, and in every other combination of human interaction possible (Meyers, 2011). Does this mean that these people lie with malicious intent every day? Not especially; people lie for a variety of reasons and it is after all a matter of degree and intent as to whether a reasonable person would take issue with a given lie. Let’s say that your child, niece, or grandson came to you with a picture they drew, that they were especially proud of seeking your approval and it was just scribble; do you lie and tell them it is beautiful, or crush them with the truth? Most caring people would spare the feelings of an innocent 3 year old and tell a so called ‘white lie’ bolstering the esteem of the burgeoning artist, but yet it is a false claim; a lie; a deception. From this innocuous plane onward, lies are told on escalating scales that ascend towards serious and ill intentioned lies. The Merriam Webster defines honesty in part as:” the quality of being
References: Honesty. (2014). Retrieved August 17, 2014, from Merriam Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honesty Lewiki, R., & Barry, B. (2011). Essentials of negotiation. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Lie by omission law and legal definition. (2014). Retrieved August 17, 2014, from U.S. Legal.com: http://definitions.uslegal.com/l/lie-by-omission/ Meyers, P. (2011). Liespotting: Proven techniques to detect deception. . New York: St. Martin 's Griffin. Provis, C. (2002, December 16). Honesty in negotiations. Business Ethics: A European Review, pp. 3-12. The definition of lying and deception. (2014). Retrieved from Stanford Encyclopeia of Philosphy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lying-definition/