An Ability To Commit As An Important Part Of Negotiations

Commitment in a negotiation refers to a promise made by the party to honor you end of the deal. Commitments and negotiations go had in hand. An ability to commit is an important part of negotiations (Antoni, C. (2004)). The more irrevocable the commitment is, it is more favorable to the negotiating party. Parties may choose to have a high degree of irrevocability depending upon the type of the negotiation they are in. For one time negotiation, the degree of commitment is lower than negotiation scenarios, where the parties come together often, it is expected to have a higher degree of irrevocability so that the negotiating parties trust each other in the long run. During negotiation it is always important to make general commitments but not be specific about what is being committed to. Since the other party will hold the party accountable for their commitments, making general commitments like "I am fully committed to reaching a successful negotiation". For me during negotiation I look to what extent the other party keeps their commitments. If they break their commitment even once, it would be very difficult for me to trust them again. I would rather walk away from the deal than make a deal with someone I don't trust.

An instance that comes to my mind it when I was looking for an apartment. I had recently relocated to Northern Virginia for work and was looking for a place to rent. I wanted a private parking for my car. Since I was looking for a place closer to DC, it meant that parking spots were usually paid and not free. This was closer to winters which is usually considered off season and there are plenty of deals available as people generally do not move during winters. I did some research and finally liked an apartment which fit in my needs. I went and met the leasing officer. He was very friendly and showed me around the place. He also offered me a free parking spot if I signed a lease for 18 months. I was initially looking to lease for a year, but since he really was ready to give a free spot which was about 100$ a month extra I was willing to commit to 18 months. Since I did not have all my documents at the moment, I filled in the application form and told him that I will be back the next day with the pending documents and first month's rent. I was very excited about the place and looking forward to move in. The next day I went in, there was another lady, who said, that she will be taking care of my application process as the other person was not in. I explained to her on the agreed price and free spot. She flat out said that they do not give free spots for 18 month lease and I would need to pay extra for it. I let her know, that this is the discussion I had with the other agent, who told me that he was willing to give me a free spot if I sign an 18 month lease. The lady I was negotiating with mentioned that free spots are only available for lease terms of more than 2 years and above and most likely it was an error on the other agent's part. Although she apologized for the error, this left me with a very experience. I decided not to sign a lease and instead went with another property which offered me a similar rate.

To be honest, going into the negotiation, I was ready to pay for the parking spot. It was not a big deal breaker for me. But when he first offered me a free spot and then reneged on it, I was not comfortable about having a long term association with the community.