Summary Essentials of Negotiation
CHAPTER 1 THE NATURE OF NEGOTIATION
Negotiations occur for several reasons:
To agree on how to share or divide a limited resource (land, money or time).
To create something new that neither party could do on his or her own.
To resolve a problem or dispute between the parties.
Negotiation is a ‘form of decision making in which two or more parties talk with one another in an effort to
resolve their opposing interests.’ Resolve conflicts.
Bargaining = competitive, win-lose situations.
Negotiation = win-win situations.
Characteristics
Characteristics of a negotiation situation:
There are two or more parties. A process between individuals.
There is a conflict of needs and desires between two or more parties.
The parties negotiate by choice. A voluntary process.
We expect a ‘give-and-take’ process. Both sides will modify of move away from their opening
statements, requests or demands to reach an agreement.
Parties prefer to negotiate and search for agreement rather than to fight openly, have one side
dominate and the other capitulate, permanently break off contact, or take their dispute to a higher
authority to resolve it.
Successful negotiation involves the management of tangibles (price or the terms of agreement/issue
itelf) and also the resolution of intangibles (underlying psychological motivations that may directly or
indirectly influence the parties during a negotiation).
Intangibles can affect our judgement and can become a major problem when a negotiator fails to
understand them. Like status and recognition.
Interdependence
Interdependence = when parties depend on each other to achieve their own preferred outcome. Parties need
each other in order to achieve their preferred objectives or outcomes.
Independent parties = able to meet their own needs without the assistance of others. Detached, indifferent,
uninvolved.
Dependent parties = rely on others for what they need. Need help, benevolence, cooperation.
Interdependent parties = characterized by interlocking goals. See above. Potential to influence each other.
Convergent and conflicting goals.
Value claiming and value creation
Types of interdependence affect outcomes:
Zero-sum/distributive situation = one winner or where the parties are attempting to get the lager
share or piece of a fixed resource (money or time). Competitive. Individuals are so linked together that
there is a negative correlation between their goal attainments. One achieves his goal, while the other’s
goal attainment is blocked.
Win-lose strategies and tactics. Distributive bargaining. Claim value.
Mutual-gains/non-zero-sum/integrative situation = when parties’ goals are linked so that one person’s
goal achievement helps other to achieve their goals. Positive correlation between the goal attainments
of both parties.
Win-win strategies. Integrative negotiation. Create value.
Most actual negotiations are a combination of claiming and creating value processes. The implications:
Negotiators must be able to recognize situations that require more of one approach than the other.
Negotiators must be versatile in their comfort with, and use of, both major strategic approaches.
Negotiator perceptions of situations tend to be biased toward seeing problems as more
distributive/competitive than the really are.
,Value may be created in numerous ways, and the heart of the process lies in exploiting the differences between
the negotiators. Key differences among negotiators:
Differences in interests.
Differences in judgements about the future.
Differences in risk tolerance.
Differences in time preference.
The heart of negotiation is exploring both common and different interests to create this value and employing
such interests as the foundation for a strong and lasting agreement.
Whether you should not agree on something in a negotiation depends entirely upon the attractiveness to you
of the best available alternative. BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). Suggests that negotiators
need to understand their own BATNA and the other party’s BATNA. Every possible interdependency has an
alternative (you can always say ‘no’).
Mutual adjustment
Mutual adjustment = both parties can influence the other’s outcomes and decisions, and their own outcomes
and decisions can be influenced by the other. Parties act to influence the other. But, too much knowledge can
confuse. Give-and-take situations occurs.
Bargaining range = the range of possible agreements between the two parties’ minimally acceptable
settlements. When one party agrees to make a change in his or her position, a concession has been made.
Concessions restrict the range of options within which a solution or agreement will be reached.
Two dilemmas in mutual adjustment:
Dilemma of honesty.
How much of the truth to tell the other party? Too much? The other person can take advantage of
you. Not enough? May lead to a stalemate.
Dilemma of trust.
How much should negotiators believe what the other party tells them? The other person can take
advantage of you or will have difficulty in reaching an agreement.
Find the optimal solution through the processes of giving information and making concessions. Aided by trust
and belief.
Two efforts to help create trust and beliefs:
Perceptions of outcomes.
Shaped by managing how the receiver views the proposed result.
Perceptions of the trustworthiness and credibility of the process.
By conveying images that signal fairness and reciprocity in proposals and concessions.
Give-and-take. Concessions from both parties.
Satisfaction with a negotiation is as much determined by the process through which an agreement is reached
as with the actual outcome obtained.
Conflict
Conflict = a sharp disagreement or opposition, as of interests, ideas, etc. And the perceived divergence on
interest, or a belief that the parties’ current aspirations cannot be achieved simultaneously. Conflict results
from the interdependent people who perceived incompatible goals and interference from each other in
achieving those goals.
, Levels of conflict:
Intrapersonal or intrapsychic conflict.
Occur within an individual. Sources of conflict can include ideas, thoughts, emotions, values,
predispositions, or drives that are in conflict with each other.
Interpersonal conflict.
Between individuals.
Intragroup conflict.
Within a group. Among a team, work group members, within families, classes, living units, and tribes.
Intergroup conflict.
Between organizations, ethnic groups, warring nations, or feuding families or within splintered,
fragmented communities.
Elaborations of elements that contribute to conflict’s destructive image:
Competitive, win-lose goals.
Misperception and bias.
Emotionality.
Decreased communication.
Blurred issues.
Rigid commitments.
Magnified differences, minimized similarities.
Escalation of the conflict.
Major strategies for conflict management in the dual concerns model (concern about own outcomes vs.
concern about other’s outcomes):
Contending (competing/dominating).
Pursue own outcomes strongly and show little concern for whether the other party obtains his desired
outcomes.
Yielding (accommodating/obliging).
Little interest whether they attain their own outcomes, but are interested in whether the other party
attains his outcomes. ‘Let the other win’.
Inaction (avoiding).
Little interest whether they attain their own outcomes, as well as little concern about whether the
other party attains his outcomes.
Problem solving (collaborating/integrating).
High concern for attaining their own outcomes and high concern for whether the other party attains
his outcomes.
Compromising.
Moderate effort to pursue one’s own outcomes and a moderate effort to help the other party achieve
his outcomes.
CHAPTER 1 THE NATURE OF NEGOTIATION
Negotiations occur for several reasons:
To agree on how to share or divide a limited resource (land, money or time).
To create something new that neither party could do on his or her own.
To resolve a problem or dispute between the parties.
Negotiation is a ‘form of decision making in which two or more parties talk with one another in an effort to
resolve their opposing interests.’ Resolve conflicts.
Bargaining = competitive, win-lose situations.
Negotiation = win-win situations.
Characteristics
Characteristics of a negotiation situation:
There are two or more parties. A process between individuals.
There is a conflict of needs and desires between two or more parties.
The parties negotiate by choice. A voluntary process.
We expect a ‘give-and-take’ process. Both sides will modify of move away from their opening
statements, requests or demands to reach an agreement.
Parties prefer to negotiate and search for agreement rather than to fight openly, have one side
dominate and the other capitulate, permanently break off contact, or take their dispute to a higher
authority to resolve it.
Successful negotiation involves the management of tangibles (price or the terms of agreement/issue
itelf) and also the resolution of intangibles (underlying psychological motivations that may directly or
indirectly influence the parties during a negotiation).
Intangibles can affect our judgement and can become a major problem when a negotiator fails to
understand them. Like status and recognition.
Interdependence
Interdependence = when parties depend on each other to achieve their own preferred outcome. Parties need
each other in order to achieve their preferred objectives or outcomes.
Independent parties = able to meet their own needs without the assistance of others. Detached, indifferent,
uninvolved.
Dependent parties = rely on others for what they need. Need help, benevolence, cooperation.
Interdependent parties = characterized by interlocking goals. See above. Potential to influence each other.
Convergent and conflicting goals.
Value claiming and value creation
Types of interdependence affect outcomes:
Zero-sum/distributive situation = one winner or where the parties are attempting to get the lager
share or piece of a fixed resource (money or time). Competitive. Individuals are so linked together that
there is a negative correlation between their goal attainments. One achieves his goal, while the other’s
goal attainment is blocked.
Win-lose strategies and tactics. Distributive bargaining. Claim value.
Mutual-gains/non-zero-sum/integrative situation = when parties’ goals are linked so that one person’s
goal achievement helps other to achieve their goals. Positive correlation between the goal attainments
of both parties.
Win-win strategies. Integrative negotiation. Create value.
Most actual negotiations are a combination of claiming and creating value processes. The implications:
Negotiators must be able to recognize situations that require more of one approach than the other.
Negotiators must be versatile in their comfort with, and use of, both major strategic approaches.
Negotiator perceptions of situations tend to be biased toward seeing problems as more
distributive/competitive than the really are.
,Value may be created in numerous ways, and the heart of the process lies in exploiting the differences between
the negotiators. Key differences among negotiators:
Differences in interests.
Differences in judgements about the future.
Differences in risk tolerance.
Differences in time preference.
The heart of negotiation is exploring both common and different interests to create this value and employing
such interests as the foundation for a strong and lasting agreement.
Whether you should not agree on something in a negotiation depends entirely upon the attractiveness to you
of the best available alternative. BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). Suggests that negotiators
need to understand their own BATNA and the other party’s BATNA. Every possible interdependency has an
alternative (you can always say ‘no’).
Mutual adjustment
Mutual adjustment = both parties can influence the other’s outcomes and decisions, and their own outcomes
and decisions can be influenced by the other. Parties act to influence the other. But, too much knowledge can
confuse. Give-and-take situations occurs.
Bargaining range = the range of possible agreements between the two parties’ minimally acceptable
settlements. When one party agrees to make a change in his or her position, a concession has been made.
Concessions restrict the range of options within which a solution or agreement will be reached.
Two dilemmas in mutual adjustment:
Dilemma of honesty.
How much of the truth to tell the other party? Too much? The other person can take advantage of
you. Not enough? May lead to a stalemate.
Dilemma of trust.
How much should negotiators believe what the other party tells them? The other person can take
advantage of you or will have difficulty in reaching an agreement.
Find the optimal solution through the processes of giving information and making concessions. Aided by trust
and belief.
Two efforts to help create trust and beliefs:
Perceptions of outcomes.
Shaped by managing how the receiver views the proposed result.
Perceptions of the trustworthiness and credibility of the process.
By conveying images that signal fairness and reciprocity in proposals and concessions.
Give-and-take. Concessions from both parties.
Satisfaction with a negotiation is as much determined by the process through which an agreement is reached
as with the actual outcome obtained.
Conflict
Conflict = a sharp disagreement or opposition, as of interests, ideas, etc. And the perceived divergence on
interest, or a belief that the parties’ current aspirations cannot be achieved simultaneously. Conflict results
from the interdependent people who perceived incompatible goals and interference from each other in
achieving those goals.
, Levels of conflict:
Intrapersonal or intrapsychic conflict.
Occur within an individual. Sources of conflict can include ideas, thoughts, emotions, values,
predispositions, or drives that are in conflict with each other.
Interpersonal conflict.
Between individuals.
Intragroup conflict.
Within a group. Among a team, work group members, within families, classes, living units, and tribes.
Intergroup conflict.
Between organizations, ethnic groups, warring nations, or feuding families or within splintered,
fragmented communities.
Elaborations of elements that contribute to conflict’s destructive image:
Competitive, win-lose goals.
Misperception and bias.
Emotionality.
Decreased communication.
Blurred issues.
Rigid commitments.
Magnified differences, minimized similarities.
Escalation of the conflict.
Major strategies for conflict management in the dual concerns model (concern about own outcomes vs.
concern about other’s outcomes):
Contending (competing/dominating).
Pursue own outcomes strongly and show little concern for whether the other party obtains his desired
outcomes.
Yielding (accommodating/obliging).
Little interest whether they attain their own outcomes, but are interested in whether the other party
attains his outcomes. ‘Let the other win’.
Inaction (avoiding).
Little interest whether they attain their own outcomes, as well as little concern about whether the
other party attains his outcomes.
Problem solving (collaborating/integrating).
High concern for attaining their own outcomes and high concern for whether the other party attains
his outcomes.
Compromising.
Moderate effort to pursue one’s own outcomes and a moderate effort to help the other party achieve
his outcomes.
