In the FAZ interview with Nadine Bös, negotiation expert and MBS Professor Jack Nasher talks about how current work in the home office due to the corona pandemic is influencing business communication and professional negotiations. According to Nasher, many communication channels in telephone or e-mail communication are being eliminated. This has an impact on the density of information, but, due to the lack of gestures and facial expressions, especially on the perception of disharmonies and emotions. Particularly when writing e-mails, caution is called for here, Nasher knows: “When I communicate by e-mail, I always have to read it very critically for possible unfriendliness, because I don’t know how the other person perceives what I write.”
But written communication can also have advantages: You have more time to think and are not so easily duped, which is primarily beneficial to less experienced partners in negotiations. However, if you demand something from your counterpart, Nasher still recommends live communication – or, at times like these, a telephone call.
The complete interview in german can be read here (only with subscription to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).
