, height, body type and facial structure will be considered, but in due course. Oftentimes, we relate to others through our own gender, and adjust aspects of our behavior in order to provide accommodation. We also talk to each gender differently as we anticipate how each gender might consider appropriate language and subjects. Consequently, although people usually generalize about the members of a particular gender, men and women do negotiate differently.
To negotiate is to treat with another or others in order to come to terms or reach an agreement; that is, to arrange or settle by conferring or discussing with another. The root of negotiation is found in the latin negotiari- to transact business, and its secondary meaning is, to succeed in passing over, accomplishing or coping with.
When two people have different goals, negotiation is the communications process both enter to get to an agreement that is something both can live with. The major source of conflict is, of course, within ourselves. One has to be attentive to one's own motives and expectations, and one's feelings of fear, rage and shyness that could handicap one's ability to negotiate. The first step, ironically, is not developing a strategy or even learning negotiating techniques; it is to make a commitment to the desired change. It may not be the ideal situation for each negotiator but it can produce an "agreement zone," wherein the negotiators are more comfortable and more inclined to trust their opponent. Psychologist Joan Brozovich sees negotiating as an art: "Negotiation happens when two people or parties both want something that may cost the other something. The art of negotiation is to see this point of conflict as a creative moment. For both can end up getting more that what they originally went after." (Schapiro 6).
Gender difference may be seen in many ways. Some people see gender differences as the contrast between a power struggle (male) and a need to ...