Short Summary for Chapter 1 & 2

CHAPTER 1 Essentials of Negotiation

Negotiations occur for one of two reasons: (1) to create something new that neither party could do on his or her own, or (2) to resolve a problem or dispute between the parties.

There are several characteristics common to all negotiation situations:
1. There are two or more parties—that is, two or more individuals, groups, or organizations.
2. There is a conflict of interest between two or more parties—that is, what one wants is not necessarily what the other one wants—and the parties must search for a way to resolve the conflict.
3. The parties negotiate because they think they can use some form of influence to get a better deal that way than by simply taking what the other side will voluntarily give them or let them have.
4. The parties, at least for the moment, prefer to search for agreement rather than to fight openly, have one side capitulate, permanently break off contact, or take their dispute to a higher authority to resolve it.
5. When we negotiate we expect to give and take.
6. Successful negotiation involves the management of intangibles as well as the resolving of tangibles.

In negotiation, both parties need each other. A buyer cannot buy unless someone else sells, and vice versa. This situation of mutual dependency is called interdependence. Interdependent relations are complex and have their own special challenge.

Interdependent relationships are characterized by interlocking goals—the parties need each other in order to accomplish their goals.
Two potential consequences of interdependent relationships are (1) value creations and (2) conflict. Negotiation skills and sub-processes are useful in situations where one wants to create value or needs to manage conflict. There is no simple recipe, however, their guarantees positive outcomes in either situation. Negotiation is a craft that blends art and science, and positive outcomes are a consequence of knowledge, experience, careful planning, and some luck. In the next section we discuss aspects of value creation, and in the following section we examine the extensive literature on conflict management.

The other potential consequence of interdependent relationships is conflict. Conflict can be due to the highly divergent needs of the two parties, a misunderstanding that occurs between two people, or some other, intangible factor. Conflict can occur when the two parties are working toward the same goal and generally want the same outcome, or when both parties want a very different settlement
One of the most popular areas of conflict management research and practice has been to define the different ways that the parties themselves can manage conflict.
There are five major strategies for conflict management have commonly identified:
1. Contending (also called competing or dominating)
2. Yielding (also called accommodating or obliging)
3. Inaction (also called avoiding)
4. Problem solving (also called collaborating or integrating)
5. Compromising





CHAPTER 2 Negotiation: Strategizing, Framing, and Planning

Negotiators differ in the goals they select. Goals can be specific (to achieve a particular outcome), or they can be more general (to pursue a broader set of interests). They can also be tangible, such as a particular rate or price or financial outcome; or they can be tangible, such as winning, beating the other, or defending a principle. Goals can shape the frames we adopt, or frames can change the goals we pursue.

There are several major strategies that can be used in a negotiation. Select the strategy that is most likely to achieve one's objectives, and also take into considerations the long term relationship with the other party. Two of these major strategies--competition and collaboration.

Negotiators differ in how they "frame" the problem, issue, or conflict. Frames may be perspectives on outcomes on the related rewards or penalties that go with those outcomes, or they be ways to define "the problem" in a negotiation. What is important is that how one or both parties frame the problem will lead to select some conflict management strategies and ignore others. Therefore, a negotiator needs to attend to the way he or she is defining the problem and specifically be aware that:
- There may be other ways to define it that may make the problem more or less amenable to negotiation and resolution.
- The other party may not be defining it in the same way, which may be contribute to the case or difficulty with which the parties can communicate about the problem with each other.

Negotiations tend to evolve over time according to certain predictable sequences. These sequences comprise the different stages or phrases of a negotiation. The models indicate that negotiation is not a random process but has some predictable elements to it over time.

Goals, strategies, frames, and predictable stages set the background for an effective planning process. There are a number of different planning templates, which tend to emphasize different elements in slightly different sequences. Neverthless, we have tried to present the most important steps in the planning process. Effectively attending to each of these steps should allow a negotiator to be very well prepared for the challenges that he or she is going to face in playing out strategy and meeting to the other party.