“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we choose to
deceive”, this is something my father used to say to me when I was young. When
I gave him my best precocious and puzzled look he told me that it meant that
telling lies usually becomes a complicated mess of lies when you have to tell
more to cover up them all up. When you reach the end you are usually caught and
do not know when or where it all began. I thought my father a fantastic wordsmith;
imagine my chagrin when I discovered that it was Sir Walter Scott who wrote
those immortal words. Moral of the story: don’t lie…ever. Now here I am as an adult and I lie all the
time; to avoid upsetting someone (“Oh no, that cake wasn’t dry”) or to avoid
conflict (“No, I was not checking out that cute bartender”). Often, when
entering into negotiations we are not always truthful; there are several
negotiation deceptions that occur often. Some are more acceptable than others (wait,
what…lying is ok now??). Misrepresentation occurs when a person takes a
position on something which is not entirely true, bluffing occurs when there is
an indication or insinuation of an action with no intention of follow through, deception
is the use of false statements to lead the other party to an inaccurate
conclusion, and falsification is lying out and out.
There are a few guidelines you can follow to safeguard
yourself from deception while in negotiations:
·
Establish trust If your negotiation partner knows
that you are not going to use deception tactics, it is less likely that they
will engage in them as well.
·
Ask direct questions: People are less likely to
lie is asked questions directly
·
Listen carefully: Listen to what is and is not
being said, what questions are being answered and which are not.
·
Pay attention to non-verbal cues: when people
lie, they may give non-verbal cues such as changes in breathing, blushing, and
blinking or averted eye contact.
(Hoch, Kunreuther, Gunther, 2001, p. 196-197)
When
applying for a position with ERAU, the job I was interested in has a Master’s
Degree listed as a requirement. I contacted the Human Resources Department to
inquire whether this was firm requirement. With the information I was able to
pump from one of the recruiters I applied for the job. When I reached the
section where education was to be listed I entered in both my Undergraduate
Degrees as well as input my MS Leadership information as well leaving the
graduation date blank. I was not sure whether it would allow me to proceed with
this information missing. It did however; I believe that it passed me through
the DSS based on the criteria entered. I followed up with a resume and cover
letter where I outlined that while I did not yet have a Masters I was about halfway through with a 4.0 CGPA and
I was expected to graduate March of 2014 with distinction. I then outlined how
my current experience combined with my anticipated MS would make me an ideal
candidate for the position. I misrepresented myself to get my foot in the door
and to hopefully make it to the pile of resumes that go across the hiring
manager’s desk, but I was honest about my shortcomings in my resume while
selling myself on the job.
References:
Hoch,
S. J., Kunreuther, H., & Gunther, R. E. (2001). Wharton on making
decisions. New York: Wiley.
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