Boersma, Kees

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Organization Management Journal Volume 12 Issue 1 Article 2 2-1-2015 The Way You Talk to Me: Bringing the Voice Back in Negotiation Practices Kees Boersma VU University Amsterdam Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/omj  Part of the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, and the Organizational Communication Commons Recommended Citation Boersma, Kees (2015) "The Way You Talk to Me: Bringing the Voice Back in Negotiation Practices," Organization Management Journal: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 2. Available at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/omj/vol12/iss1/2 Organization Management Journal, 12: 3, 2015Copyright © 2015 VU University AmsterdamISSN: 1541-6518 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15416518.2015.1012416LINKING THEORY & PRACTICEThe Way You Talk to Me: Bringing the Voice Backin Negotiation PracticesKees Boersma1Co-Editor1Department of Organization Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsThis time the Linking Theory & Practice section containsa unique and agenda-setting article. Christophe Haag andElizabeth Fresnel raise attention for the role the sound ofthe human voice plays in negotiation activities in their arti-cle “Implementing Voice Strategies in Extreme Negotiations:A Conversation With Christophe Caupenne, Successful FormerCommando of the French RAID Unit.” Just a note about theFrench RAID unit: It is a unit that is renowned in France fordealing with hostage and kidnapping situations and the RAIDguys are national heroes there. Caupenne is quite famous inFrance for his expertise as a negotiator. He was on French TVconstantly during the recent hostage crises in mid January as acommentator; however, the RAID unit could never get involvedbefore a move had to be made by French police since the per-petrators evidently came out with bullets flying in a bid to bekilled in the process, which is what happened.Paying attention to the nonverbal nuances in the actual soundof one’s voice is valuable for those who are interested innegotiation, conflict resolution, and persuasion in difficult cir-cumstances. For a long time, most of our knowledge about theseissues was based on the study of formal rules and procedures,on written protocols, and on the way formal organizationalstructures can be established to support negotiation. It is onlysince organization and management sciences have taken a lin-guistic turn that studies have appeared about the details ofempirical material that lends itself to representations in theform of language, such as conversations and texts (Alvesson& Kärreman, 2000). But how organizational language—that is,negotiation—actually sounds has been a blind spot.Address correspondence to Kees Boersma, Department ofOrganization Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, VU UniversityAmsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081c, 1081 HV Amsterdam, TheNetherlands. E-mail: f.k.boersma@vu.nlThis article fills that gap. It presents an exclusive interviewwith Caupenne, the expert in the practice of negotiation in cri-sis situations. The authors’ idea is to investigate how his voiceand vocal strategies psychologically impacted critical nego-tiations that he undertook. Caupenne was involved in manylife-or-death situations throughout his career, especially hostagecrises and kidnapping incidents. In addition to the interviewthat the authors undertook, the second author of this article,Elizabeth Fresnel, made an electrolaryngography analysis of hisvoice. From Caupenne’s testimony we can learn how the voiceplays a key role in regulating the emotion at times of difficultnegotiations.The authors don’t focus on the academic debate. Instead,toward the end of their contribution, Christophe Haag andElizabeth Fresnel formulate three basic and practical steps asadvice for business negotiators: Always listen to the other’svoice to detect that person’s emotions; when you open yourmouth, create empathy by accommodating acoustically; andif necessary, use a deeper voice to assert power. The authorsrightly state that the “voice has been the medium for men’swords since the dawn of time,” and with this article, Christopheand Elizabeth bring the voice back in our understanding of thesuccess and failure of negotiation processes.REFERENCEAlvesson, M., & Kärreman, D. (2000). Taking the linguistic turn in organi-zational research challenges, responses, consequences. Journal of AppliedBehavioral Science, 36(2), 136–158.3

The Way You Talk to Me: Bringing the Voice Back
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The Way You Talk to Me: Bringing the Voice Back in Negotiation Practices

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