Negotiation Tactics and Body Language in Theory and Practice

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Leadership and Human Resource Management - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7, University of Applied Sciences Essen, course: Konfliktmanagement, language: English, abstract: Explanation of the different negotiation tactics and body language styles in theory compared to the actual behaviour of German negotiators.

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Supply Chain Management is a vast topic and enfolds every task involved in the movement

and storage of raw-materials, work-in process inventory, as well as finished goods from the

first design step to the ready-to-deliver good. One topic that influences all the different

steps in the supply chain is procurement. In today¿s world the business competition has

grown, due to the globalisation. Therefore it becomes every harder to get the best possible

goods for the best possible price. That makes it challenging to produce goods cheap and sell

them with an acceptable price on the market. Due to that fact procurement becomes more

important for every company, especially in western countries, because here the wages and

production costs have a higher level as in developing countries.

To stay competitive regarding companies from such countries, procurement can be an useful

instrument. In countries such as UK and the USA Supply Chain Management and especially

procurement has become an important part in nearly every company. Several specialised

Bachelor- and Master-Programmes have been developed to match the demanded requirements

for procurement executives. In Germany such programmes are nearly nonexistent.

Here procurement is not disregarded, but purchasers are often career changers,

thus they are quite often no experts. Many courses of instruction are offered, but they do

not prepare the buyers as good as a complete field of study would do.

This is the part the Bachelor-Thesis will concern. In most works or theories only the negotiation

strategies and tactics are regarded, sometimes in the combination with body language,

but one analysing the actual negotiation behaviour in the standard situations of

German purchasers and comparing them to the theory to find starting points that can be improved

cannot be found. Thus the question arises whether it is true that there is a lack of

information and education in this area.[...]