Practical negotiation in 90 minutes

Stephen Morse

Management Books, 2005.
130 pages.
Paperback £9.99. ISBN: 1-85252-456-6.

Reviewed by Christopher C. Ridgeway

Why would a coaching psychologist want to read a book on negotiating, and if they did, why this one ?

Coaching psychologists, from my consulting experience, usually have to negotiate: contracts with clients, associates, and with those who clients might be referred to. Therefore, negotiating skills would appear to be important. Does this book provide them ? The book commences with an exploration of what negotiation is. This exploration, five pages of 130, seems redundant, as do the two pages of definition. The exploration of models of negotiation, completed in five pages, is overly brief and not very helpful. It is difficult to perceive what the three pages on the background, attitudes and profile of the negotiator are supposed to achieve; but for me it provides little new knowledge.

The chapter on preparation is rather better than the initial one, but unfortunately for the coach, the case study or Honsang Motors, offers little except to emphasise the need for preparation.

The section on Psychological Preparation, brings us to Chapter 3, where Morse draws on TA and social (behavioural styles). With no references, it is hard to understand, in any exact way, where the, ‘consistent patterns of actions that a person uses when in the presence of other people’ (p.39), comes from. However, the paradigm, analytic, driver, amiable, expressive (Merrill & Reid, 1960’s!!), could well be useful for coach style analysis. However, the book’s limitations are again emphasised by the book’s brief (two pages) on T.A. Little could be gained from this very short piece. A similar comment would be made about the paragraphs on motivation. Maslow, McClleland (wrongly spelled as Maclleland), Marshall, Pavlov, Freud, Veblen and Hobbes. It would provide very little additional knowledge, for most coaches.

The structure and strategy of negotiation should be a chapter that those who are not experienced negotiators would gain from, but, as with other parts of the book, it is so short, that additional knowledge is small. An example would be the input on cultural differences where an outline is contained in less than a page.

The chapter on body language could spark an interest in what, for me, is an important subject. However, as with the rest of the book, it is too short to give more than the briefest of introductions.

Overall, not a book for the coaching psychologist, but it does identify the need for the development of entrepreneurial skills, however, there are other negotiating skills books which provide much more for 90 minutes reading.

Christopher C. Ridgeway