Have you ever thought about whether emotions really matter in negotiation, or if we can simply ignore them? It turns out the answer is a resounding yes, they matter, and no, we cannot ignore them! There’s a lot we know about how emotions influence negotiation processes and outcomes, and a lot more we’re trying to find out. In this episode, Dr. Stéphane Côté from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto teaches us important ways that emotions influence us, our counterparts, the negotiation process, and its outcomes. Dr. Côté also explains why it’s important to think carefully about which emotions you show, but not to fake your emotions, because the research shows that people will be able to tell and faking emotions will backfire. Dr. Côté provides research-based insights based on his meta-analyses of the growing body of emotions research, and some practical tips for how we can understand and leverage our own and others’ emotions more effectively in negotiation. 

Dr. Stéphane Côté bio:

Stéphane Côté is Geoffrey Conway Chair in Business Ethics, Professor of Organizational Behaviour, and Director of the Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics at Rotman. His research focuses on how emotional intelligence relates to well-being and performance, and how social class and inequality relate to prosocial and ethical behavior in social and organizational settings. He is an Associate Editor at Administrative Science Quarterly and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, International Association of Applied Psychology and Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He teaches courses on emotional intelligence in the MBA and Commerce programs.

Articles referenced in the episode:

• Van Kleef, G. A., & Côté, S. (2018). Emotional dynamics in conflict and negotiation: Individual, dyadic, and group processes. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5, 437-464. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104714