Thought-Provoking Thursday: Should You Eat While You Negotiate?
Researchers have long been fascinated by the way certain foods affect our behavior. Over the years, they’ve found connections between tuna and good moods, spinach and an increased ability to concentrate, blueberries and an improved memory — just to name a few. Now, new research from Lakshmi Balachandra of Babson College suggests that eating in general can improve our ability to negotiate.
The study came about when Balachandra — an assistant professor of entrepreneurship with previous experience in venture capital and investment management — realized that the classroom setting for her students’ mock negotiations wasn’t accurately reflecting what actually happens in the corporate world. “A lot of negotiations don’t happen in a conference room,” she said. “Typically you do lunch, dinner meetings.” So, she sent half of her students out of the classroom to places in which they could eat, like cafeterias or cafes. The other half remained in the classroom. The students who negotiated in the cafeteria came back with better results.
It was just an observation at that point, but Balachandra wanted to see if eating while negotiating consistently provided better results. So, she conducted a series of experiments in which her MBA students were asked to negotiate a deal. Half of the students were put in a situation in which there was food (either a restaurant or just a conference room with pizza), while the other half negotiated without food.
The result? Food ruled. The students who negotiated while eating produced profits that were 12% greater than the control groups who negotiated without food.
To make sure that the effect wasn’t coming from the simple act of sharing a task (in these cases, eating), Balachandra conducted another experiment in which half of her students negotiated while doing a puzzle together, while the other half negotiated with no puzzle. There was no difference — sharing a task had no impact on the success of the negotiation.
Balachandra is still trying to assess exactly what is at play here. Is it the act of sharing a meal? Or, perhaps, the biological effect of glucose? She suspects the former.
“The role of food in our world is a very social one,” she said. “All religious events, all these holidays are all structured around the meal. Maybe there’s something hardwired through evolution that drives us to want to work together and be more amenable to get solutions when we’re eating together.”
The applications of this research go well beyond the board room — or, as it stands, the corporate lunch. Balachandra noted that food can improve just about any negotiation: two colleagues in a disagreement over how to split a project, or even spouses at odds over a household matter. “I have completely taken this lesson into my own life,” she said, noting that she has found eating to be useful when she and her husband are at an impasse. “In particular, when you’re facing a situation where you think you won’t be able to find a solution, order some pizza, sit down and eat. Have the conversation over food and see what happens.”
