Negotiation

Negotiation

What is Negotiation?

In simplest terms, negotiation is a discussion between two or more disputants who are trying to work out a solution to their problem. Such interactions, for example, include the process of resolving disputes, agreeing upon courses of action, bargaining for individual or shared advantage, or crafting outcomes to satisfy various interests.   Negotiations typically take place because the parties wish to create something new that neither could do on his or her own, or to resolve a problem or dispute between them. The parties concede that there is some conflict of interest between them and think they can use some form of influence to get a better deal, rather than simply taking what the other side will happily give them. They prefer to search for agreement rather than fight openly, give in, or break off contact. Negotiation is thus a form of alternative dispute resolution.
Negotiation involves three basic elements:
    • Process - refers to how the parties confer: the perspective of the negotiations, the parties to the negotiations, the strategy used by the parties, and the sequence and stages in which all of these play out.
    • Behaviour - refers to the relationships among these parties, the communication between them and the styles they adopt.
    • Substance - refers to what the parties negotiate over: the agenda, the issues (positions and - more helpfully - interests), the options, and the agreement(s) reached at the end.
When parties negotiate, they usually expect give and take. While they have interlocking goals that they cannot accomplish independently, they usually do not want or need exactly the same thing. This interdependence can be either win-lose or win-win in nature, and the type of negotiation that is appropriate will vary accordingly. The disputants will either attempt to force the other side to comply with their demands, to modify the opposing position and move toward compromise, or to invent a solution that meets the...