The Nature of Negotiation

Negotiation is a situation of joint decisionmaking in which:

Two or more distinct parties are involved
Parties have differing interests with respect to one or more
issues
Parties share an interest in reaching agreement, and often
have other common interests as well.
Involves the voluntary sharing or exchange of one or more
specific resources for the resolution of an issue or issues.

Tricia S. Jones, Temp

Dimensions of Negotiation
public versus private
short-term versus long-term
process
goals
relationship

formal versus information

roles
procedures
Tricia S. Jones, Temp

Competitive and Cooperative

Negotiation
Competitive/Bargaining

Advocacy
Information Control
Persuasion
Offer-Counteroffer Process

Cooperative/Principled Negotiation

Inquiry
Information Sharing
Problem-Solving
Interest Exploration Process

Tricia S. Jones, Temp

Choosing the Right Approach

Three basic factors should be considered
Nature of the Problem
Nature of the Parties
Nature of the External Pressures

No one factor will determine the right

approach

Tricia S. Jones, Temp

Nature of the Problem

Procedural/Technical or Distributive?
If distributive competitive

Of Equal Importance to the Parties?

If yes and high stakes competitive

Complex or Simplistic?
If simplistic, single issue more likely competitive

Value or Interest Based?

If value conflict competitive
Tricia S. Jones, Temp

Nature of the Parties

More than two parties?
The more parties the more likely competitive

Do the parties see each other as legitimate?

If no, competitive

Do parties have equal power?

If no, competitive

Do parties trust each other?

If no, competitive

Do they have and want long-term relationship?

If no, competitive
Tricia S. Jones, Temp

External Pressures
Deadlines?
If yes, competitive

Powerful constituencies?
If yes, competitive

Method of impasse intervention (mediation,

arbitration)?
If no, more likely competitive
Tricia S. Jones, Temp