ESSENTIALS OF NEGOTATION CHAPTERS 3 & 4 SUMMARY

CHAPTER 3 Strategy and Tactics of Distributive Bargaining

Distributive bargaining begins with setting your own opening, target, and resistance points. You soon learn the other party's starting points and find out his or her target points and find out his or her target points directly or through inference. Usually you won't know the resistance points, the points beyond which a party will not go, until late in negotiation because the other party often carefully concelas them. All points are important, but the resistance points are the most critical. The spread between them the parties' resistance points defines the bargaining range. If positive, it defines the area of negotiation within which a settlement is likely to occur, with each other party working to obtain as much of the bargaining range as possible.

It is rare that a negotiation includes only one item; more typically, there is a set of items, referred to as a bargaining mix. Each item in a bargaining mix can have opening, target, and resistance points. The bargaining mix may provide opportunities for handling inssues together, trading off across issues, or displaying mutually concessionary behavior.

Examining the structure of distributive bargaining reveals many options for a negotiator to achieve a successful resolution, most of which fall within two broad efforts: to influence the other party's belief about what is possible and to learn as much as possible about the other party's position, particularly about the resistance points. The negotiator's basic goal is to reach a final settlement as close to the other party's resistance point as possible. To achieve this goal, negotiators work to gather information about the opposition and its positions; to convince members of the other party to change their minds about their ability to achieve their own goals; and to promote their own objectives as desirable, necessary, or even inevitable.

Distributive bargaining is basically a conflict situation, wherein parties seek their own advantage--in part through concealing information, attempting to mislead, or using manipulative actions. All those tactics can easily escalate interaction from calm discussion to bitter hostility. Yet negotiation is the attempt to resolve a conflict without force, without fighting. Further, to be successful, both parties to the negotiation must feel at the end that the outcome was the best that they could achieve and that it is worth accepting and supporting. Hence, effective distributive bargaining is a process that requires careful planning, strong execution, and constant monitoring of the other party's reactions.

CHAPTER 4 Strategy and Tactics of Integrative Negotiation

The fundamental structure of integrative negotiation is one within which the parties are able to define goals and engaging in a set of procedures that permit both sides to maximize their objectives.

A high level of concern for both sides achieving their ow objectives propels a collaborative, problem-solving approach. Negotiators frequently fail at integrative negotiation because they fail to perceive the integrative potential of the negotiating problem. However, breakdowns also occur due the distributive assumptions about the negotiating problem, the mixed-motive nature of the issues, or the negotiator's previous relationship with each other. Succesful integrative negotiation requires several processes. First, the parties must understand each other's true needs and objectives. Second, they must create a free flow of information and an open exchange of ideas. Third, they must focus on their similarities, emphasizing their commonalities rather than their differences. Finally, they must engage in a search for solutions that meet the goals for both sides.

The four steps in the integrative negotiations are indentifying and definining the problem, indentifying interests and needs, generating alternative solutions, and evaluating and selecting alternatives. For each of these steps, we proposed techniques and tactics to make the process successful.

We then discussed various factors that facilitate successful integrative negotiation. First, the process will be greatly facilitated by some form of common goal or objective. This goal may be one that the parties both want to achieve, one they want to share, or one they could not possibly attain unless they worked together. Second, they must a motivation and commitment to work together, to make their relationship a productive one. Third, the parties must be willing to believe that the other's needs are valid. Fourth, they must be able to trust each other and to work hard to establish and maintain that trust. Finally, there must be clear and accurate communication about each one wants and an effort to understand the other's needs.