Let's Make a Deal

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Southern Methodist University
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Social psychologist brings new concepts to the negotiation table

by

Hal Karp

If someone were to ask Robin L. Pinkley if her research makes sense, she could answer with the following: "Yes, of course it makes cents, but the dollars are more important."

Pinkley, chairman of the Cox Schoolís Organizational Behavior and Business Policy Department, is a social psychologist. By definition, social psychologists study human behavior by examining both the individual and the individualís environment and determining how those two translate together. Pinkleyís focus, however, is more specific. Her bailiwick is negotiation and, in particular, salaries and compensation. Due to be published this spring, Turning Lead to Gold: The Experts Guide to Negotiating Salary & Compensation has all the makings of a bestseller.

"Research shows that at least 50 percent of people donít negotiate their salaries," Pinkley says. "And typically, the employerís expectation is that the candidate will negotiate, thus the initial offer is almost always lower than what the employer expects to pay. Just by not asking, you cut your own throat."

And those cuts can be costly. Based on Pinkleyís research, "If a man starts at $50,000 per year, changes jobs every seven years, and never negotiates his salary, after a 50-year career, he will have shorted himself $4 million," she says. "The number for women is closer to $3 million, because women are still not being compensated equally."

What will truly distinguish Turning Lead to Gold is that it will offer what other books on the subject simply cannot. Pinkleyís experience, as a researcher, consultant and lecturer, allows her to bridge the gap between theory and practical application. When not lecturing or conducting research, sheís out in the field working as a consultant for major corporations across the country, teaching everything from working better with new partners after a merger or acquisition to selling cars more effectively. Pinkleyís clients have included: General Electric, Kodak, Mobil, Banc-Tec and NASA.

"For my work to be complete, I rely on an assortment of research methods," Pinkley says. "At the university, I conduct surveys and lab experiments by utilizing the classroom to create and manipulate negotiation situations. My field research, however, which is conducted through my consulting work is the ultimate test. Out in the real world there is more noise, and only there will I see if my theories are powerful enough to produce the same patterns of behavior."

In a negotiation, after you discover what the other side wants, says Pinkley, you can redefine the field by offering to give it to them in a better way. Specifically, the technique is called, "strategic anchoring." According to Pinkley, when a candidate goes into a negotiation session, they typically say, "I really want this job, but I canít take it because I need more money." "And thatís an irrelevant argument," Pinkley says. "Comments like that define the playing field by having the anchor be the money offered."

A candidate following Pinkleyís technique would say: "The current market rate for this profession ranges from this to that, and the reason youíre offering me this job is because you think Iím at the top of the market, and so do I. Therefore, with the top of the market earning this much, thatís what Iím worth." Youíve just changed the anchor from the amount offered to your market value, Pinkley adds, and claiming value is what itís all about.

"If Iím a really good negotiator, Iím going to get more than you expected to give and youíre going to like giving it, because Iíve changed the playing field," she says. "Now thatís a successful negotiation."

Pinkley has the numbers to prove her theories work. Not only does she continue to receive requests from corporate America to teach her magic, but the M.B.A. students she has coached over the years have shown marked improvement in their salary and compensation negotiations. "Many of them are not only going out there and getting higher starting salaries, theyíre coming back with signing bonusesófor their first job out of school," she says.

Negotiation is how we live, Pinkley says. It teaches us how to maneuver in the world more successfully. Itís about your personal and professional life. Itís about understanding other people. Itís about the exchange between two people.

"The bottom line is thisólife is a negotiation," Pinkley says. "For me, itís a philosophy of lifeóone I apply to every single thing I do. Itís not just something I study and teach. Itís what I am."