Leadership Chapter 10 :High-Performing Team Leadership

In this chapter, we learn that, because teams are so commonly found in most organizations today, there is need for managers to learn how best to work with teams and to help ensure that teams perform at their peak.There is need for careful thought to be put into deciding whether to form a team for a particular purpose to meet a particular need, or to work through individuals acting alone and once the decision to form a team is made, there is need to ensure that the team has focus and delivers the results for which it was formed.Managers need to understand the people side of teams and learn how to address issues such as cultural differences, different personality types within the group and varying expectations of members from the team and the team experience.In the organised private sector here in Nigeria, there is a prevalence of teams in many organizations. There are sales teams, marketing teams, production teams etc. focused on helping organizations achieve their set goals and objectives. Hence, understanding team dynamics is crucial to one’s success as a manager.

Leadership Chapter 9 : Meetings Leadership and Productivity

With managers spending between 70 and 90 percent of their workday communicating, a great deal of this time is spent in business meetings.When meetings last too long or attendees fail to take meetings seriously or wander of topic during meetings, meetings tend to lose their value in organizations.Hence, it is essential that managers learn how to plan properly for meetings, manage meeting problems and conflicts effectively and ensure that meetings to into positive action for the organization.

Leadership Chapter 8: Cross-cultural literacy and communication

In this chapter, we learnt how emotional intelligence relates to leadership style and how cultural literacy relates to how effectively one communicates as a leader.There are definite steps that can be taken to improve one’s emotional intelligence and how well one.As a leader, one’s listening skills can also be improved upon.In communicating, there is need to pay close attention both verbal and non verbal communication elements in order to succeed as a leader.Mentoring is key part of leadership communication and providing feedback is essential to developing staff that report to us as managers.In the context of emotional intelligence, psychological tools like the MBTI can be used to understand oneself better and help identify possible areas for improvement.

Chapter 7 Ethics in Negotiation

This chapter focuses on the primary factors that negotiators consider when they decide whether particular tactics are deceptive and unethical. The negotiation process raises several critical ethical issues. Much of what has been written on negotiating behavior has been strongly normative about ethics and has prescribed “should” and “should nots.”

Discussions of business ethics frequently confuse ethical versus prudent versus practical versus legal criteria for judging appropriate conduct. Most of the ethics issues in negotiation are concerned with standards of truth telling-how honest, candid, and disclosing a negotiator should be. Some negotiators may cheat or steal, but most of the attention in negotiator ethics has been on lying behavior.

From time to time, most executives find themselves compelled, for their own interests or the interests of their companies, to practice some form of deception in their dealings with customers, suppliers, labor unions, government officials, or even other key executives.The purpose of using marginally ethical negotiating tactics is to increase the negotiator’s power in the bargaining environment.

Chapter 6 Finding ad Using Negotiation Leverage

In this chapter i have considered elements of the art and science of communication that are relevant to understanding negotiations.

I first addressed what is communicated during negotiation. Rather than simply being an exchange of preferences about solutions, negotiations cover a wide-ranging number of topics in an environment where each party is try to influence the other. This was followed by an explanation of three issues related to how people communicate in negotiation; the use of language, nonverbal communication, and the selection of a communication channel. I also examined how to improve communication in negotiation by the use of questions, listening and role reversal.

In the final two sections of the chapter  I know how to improve communication in negotiation, and special communication considerations at the close of negotiation, basically, know when to shut up!

Personally I believe that the need for effective communication in negotiation can not be over-emphasized. It is what makes or mars a negotiation, it is what determines, to a large extent, the outcome of a negotiation process. Thus, I must have a good command and understanding of communication, both verbal and especially nonverbal.

Chapter 5 Negotiation Perception, Cognition and Emotion

In this chapter,  learnt about how psychological perception is related to the process of negotiation.

We also learnt about cognition which is the process of using information to make decisions about tactics and strategy within which framing and cognitive biases come into play.

It is essential that, as managers, we avoid cognitive biases in the negotiation process.

Chapter 4 Negotiation Strategy and Planning

In this chapter, we learnt about how negotiators should plan and prepare before starting negotiations.

Failure to plan and prepare and develop a negotiation strategy can lead to outright failure in negotiation or poor performance as a negotiator.

As a negotiator, you should set clear objectives with regards to what you want to get out the negotiations. You should ensure that you do your homework and gather as much information as possible to act as a guide in preparing one’s bargaining mix.