Development of a Validated Scoring Instrument for Businesses to Help Measure Negotiation Styles in Business Partnerships

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1. Relevance to Business Practice

1.2. Academic Relevance

1.3. Theoretical Contribution of this Thesis

1.4. Thesis Structure

2. Literature Review – Negotiation Style Scoring Instruments

2.1. Psychometric Properties – An Overview

2.1.1. Reliability Indexes

2.1.2. Validity Indexes

2.2. Historical Development of Approaches to Measure Negotiation Behaviour

2.3. The Managerial Grid

2.4. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict MODE Instrument

2.4.1. Critical Assessment of the Theoretical Foundation

2.4.2. Critical Analysis of the Psychometric Properties

2.5. The Conflict Management Message Style Instrument

2.5.1. Critical Assessment of Theoretical Foundation

2.5.2. Critical Analysis of the Psychometric Properties

2.6. The Hall Conflict Management Survey

2.6.1. Critical Assessment of the Theoretical Foundation

2.6.2. Critical Analysis of the Psychometric Properties

2.7. The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-II

2.7.1. Critical Assessment of the Theoretical Foundation

2.7.2. Critical Analysis of the Psychometric Properties

2.8. The Organizational Communication Conflict Instrument

2.8.1. Critical Assessment of the Theoretical Foundation

2.8.2. Critical Analysis of the Psychometric Properties

2.9. Conclusion

3. Discussion of an Integrated Theoretical Foundation

3.1. Attitude-Behaviour Theorising

3.1.1. The Theory of Reasoned Action

3.1.2. Critical Assessment of the TRA

3.2. Developing a New Model for the Explanation of an Individual’s Behaviour

3.2.1. Predispositions

3.2.2. Strategy

3.2.3. Tactics

3.2.4. Relational Influencing Factors

3.2.5. Situational Influencing Factors

3.3. A Model for the Classification of Negotiation Styles

4. Development of the Negotiation Styles Scoring Instrument

4.1. Construct Definition

4.2. Object Classification

4.3. Attribute Classification

4.4. Rater Identification

4.5. Scale formation

4.6. Enumeration

4.7. Designing Scenarios to Define Different Negotiation Situations

5. Empirical Validation of the Proposed Negotiation Style Scoring Instrument

5.1. Methodology

5.1.1. Participants

5.1.2. Procedure and Results

5.2. Discussion of the Results

6. Suggestion of a New Negotiation Style Scoring Instrument

7. Summary and Conclusions

8. References

Research Objectives and Themes

The primary objective of this thesis is to develop and empirically validate a new scoring instrument that accurately measures a manager's negotiation style specifically within the context of business partnerships. The work seeks to address the gap in existing academic literature where current instruments fail to account for the interplay between an individual's stable negotiation predispositions, their planned strategies, and their adaptive tactics when influenced by specific relational and situational variables.

• The impact of relational factors, such as interdependency and the behaviour of the other party, on negotiation outcomes.
• The integration of attitude-behaviour theorising and the interactionism approach to explain negotiation behaviour.
• The critical evaluation of existing conflict and negotiation style instruments regarding their psychometric properties and theoretical foundations.
• The development of a measurement scale using the C-OAR-SE procedure to ensure content validity.
• The influence of situational context, such as negotiation issues (claiming vs. creating value), on the choice of negotiation tactics.

Excerpt from the Book

Chapter Summaries

1. Introduction: Outlines the practical and academic relevance of negotiation styles in business partnerships, establishing the need for a new validated instrument.

2. Literature Review – Negotiation Style Scoring Instruments: Provides a comprehensive critique of existing conflict and negotiation instruments, evaluating their theoretical foundations and psychometric properties.

3. Discussion of an Integrated Theoretical Foundation: Develops a conceptual framework based on attitude-behaviour theorising to explain negotiation behaviour as a result of predispositions, strategies, and tactics.

4. Development of the Negotiation Styles Scoring Instrument: Applies the C-OAR-SE procedure to generate items and design the structure for the new scoring instrument.

5. Empirical Validation of the Proposed Negotiation Style Scoring Instrument: Describes the empirical study conducted with postgraduate students to test the validity and reliability of the proposed instrument.

6. Suggestion of a New Negotiation Style Scoring Instrument: Presents the final version of the refined scoring instrument based on the empirical findings.

7. Summary and Conclusions: Summarises the findings, discusses limitations, and suggests avenues for future research.

Keywords

Negotiation, business partnerships, negotiation style, scoring instrument, psychometric properties, attitude-behaviour theorising, C-OAR-SE, reliability, validity, managerial grid, conflict management, negotiation strategy, negotiation tactics, interactionism, business management.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the fundamental focus of this thesis?

The thesis aims to develop a new, empirically validated scoring instrument designed specifically to measure a manager's negotiation style within the context of business partnerships.

What are the primary research themes explored?

The core themes include the integration of individual predispositions with strategic and tactical choices, the influence of relational and situational variables on negotiation behaviour, and the development of measurement scales that meet rigorous validity standards.

What is the primary goal or research question?

The goal is to fill the academic gap left by existing instruments that treat negotiation behaviour as a stable, context-independent trait, and instead provide a tool that captures the dynamic nature of negotiations in inter-organisational settings.

Which scientific methods are employed?

The work utilizes a literature review to identify shortcomings in current models, followed by the application of the C-OAR-SE procedure for scale development and an empirical survey involving postgraduate students to test the instrument's validity and reliability.

What does the main body cover?

The main body examines existing psychometric instruments, discusses the theoretical foundations of human behaviour (specifically attitude-behaviour theorising), details the methodology for creating the new scoring instrument, and presents the empirical results of the study.

Which keywords best characterise this research?

The work is characterised by terms such as negotiation, business partnerships, psychometric properties, C-OAR-SE, conflict management, and attitude-behaviour theorising.

How does the proposed model handle different negotiation situations?

The model incorporates relational and situational factors by designing specific scenarios (building blocks) that represent variations in interdependency and negotiation issues, allowing managers to tailor the assessment to their specific business context.

Why is the "C-OAR-SE" procedure used instead of traditional factor analysis?

The author argues that traditional factor analysis and internal consistency checks are insufficient for ensuring content validity. The C-OAR-SE approach prioritizes theoretical definition and content validity, which the author contends provides a more robust foundation for developing measurement instruments in the social sciences.