Chapter 17: NEGOTIATIONS

How do you prevent impasse?

*One of the best ways to resolve an impasse is to avoid having one occur. It may be possible to avoid an impasse at the last moment by being very aware of changes in the negotiation process.

What are the characteristics of the issues?

*The first dimension that can cause negotiations to reach impasse are characteristics of the issues. 1) Value Differences: many negotiations that reach impasse can be traced to fundamental differences between the parties. 2) High-Stakes Distributive Bargaining: Negotiation impasses may also result from distributive bargaining when there is no apparent overlap in the bargaining range. 3) Risk to human health and safety: Finally, some negotiations-- particularly those in the area of health and the environment-- reach an impasse because the threat to human welfare is clear and apparent because the issues themselves are rooted in complex science that is difficult for a layperson to understand, much less believe and trust.

What are the main ways to resolve impasses?

-Agreement on rules and procedures -Reducing tension and synchronizing de-escalation -Separating the parties -Tension management -Acknowledging the other's feelings: active listening -Improving the accuracy of communication -Role reversal -Imaging -Controlling issues -Fractionate the negotiation

How do you enhance the desirability of options to the other party?

-Give the other party a "yesable" proposal -Ask for a different decision -Sweeten the offer rather than intensifying the threat -Use legitimacy or objective criteria to evaluate solutions

THE NATURE OF DIFFICULT TO RESOLVE NEGOTIATIONS AND WHY THEY OCCUR What are some important points to note in the NATURE OF IMPASSE?

-Impasse is not necessarily bad or destructive (although it can be) -Impasse does not have to be permanent -Impasse can be tactical or genuine -Impasse can be partial -Impasse perceptions can differ from reality *Intransigence: can be defined as a party's unwillingness to move to any fallback position through concession or compromise.

What are characteristics of the negotiation environment?

-One party is interested in the current contract and the other is interested in creating a long-term strategic partnership -When negotiators learn that they have very different understandings about what they are negotiating, the risk of impasse increases 1) RENEGOTIATION of existing agreements: 1. postdeal negotiations 2. intradeal negotiations and 3. extradeal negotiations -Postdeal negotiations are negotiations that occur as existing agreement is expiring -Intradeal negotiations: occur when an agreement states that negotiations should be opened at specific intervals -Extradeal negotiations: occur when it appears that there is a violation of the contract, or in the absence of a contract reopening clause

How do you reduce the tension and synchronizing de-escalation?

-Separating the parties -Tension management -Acknowledging the other's feelings: Active Listening -Synchronized De-escalation 1) Exactly what the concession is 2) That the concession is part of a deliberate attempt to reduce tension 3) That the other side is explicitly invited to reciprocate in a specified form. 4) That the concession will occur on a stated time schedule 5) That each party commits to make the concession without knowing whether the other will reciprocate

How do you establish common ground?

-Superordinate goals -Common enemies -Common expectations *Establish the need for creating shared expectations *Educate and inspire to create a new covenant that all will agree to follow *Envision desired outcomes for the future, and then develop common ground rules that will enable the group to reach them *Promote full participants by giving everyone a voice in the process *Be accountable by honoring the agreements contained in the new covenant *Evaluate, modify, revise, and recommit to these new principles as necessary -Manage time constraints and deadlines -Reframe the parties view of each other -Build trust -Search for semantic resolutions -Use analogical Reasoning

What are ways to manage impasses?

1) Cognitive resolution: is needed to change how the parties view the situation. 2)Emotional resolution: Involves changing how parties feel about the impasse and the other party, as well as reducing the amount of emotional energy they put into the negotiation. 3) Behavioral Resolution: Explicitly addresses what people will do int he future and how agreements they make about the future will be realized.

What causes impasses and Intractable Negotiations?

1) Divisiveness: the degree to which the conflict divides people such that they are "backed into a corner" 2) Intensity: The level of participant involvement, emotionally, and commitment in a conflict 3) Pervasiveness: the degree to which the conflict invades the social and private lives of people 4) Complexity: The number and complexity of issues, the number of parties involved, the levels of social systems involved in the conflict, and the degree to which it is impossible to resolve one issue without resolving several others simultaneously.

What are characteristics of the parties

1) How to define our self 2) Comparing our self to others 3)Perceptions of Power 4) Revenge and Anger 5) Conflict Management Styles PARTIES OFTEN PREFER TO AVOID CONFLICT IN A NUMBER OF WAYS: -Aggressive avoidance-intimidate others to keep them away -Passive avoidance: try to ignore the other -Passive aggressive avoidance: put the blame on the other party and walk away -Avoidance by claiming hopelessness -Avoidance through surrogates: Deflect the conflict to an agent or representative to take the other on -Avoid through denial: Make believe it isn't there -Avoidance through premature problem solving -Avoidance is folding

What are the fundamental mistakes that cause impasses?

1) Neglecting the other sides problem 2) Too much focus on price 3) Positions over interests 4) Too much focus on common ground 5) Neglecting BATNAS 6) Adjusting perceptions during the negotiation

What are the six strategies that can be used to resolve impasses?

1) Reaching agreement on rules and procedures 2) Reducing tension and synchronizing the de-escalation of hostility 3) Improving the accuracy of communication, particularly improving each party's understanding of the other's perspective. 4) Controlling the number and size of issues in the discussion 5) Establishing common ground where parties can find a basis for agreement 6) Enhancing the desirability of the options and alternatives that each party presents to the other

What are ways to improve the accuracy of communication?

1) Role reversal- can help negotiators place themselves in the other party's shoes. One purpose of role reversal is to highlight areas of commonality and overlap between positions; however, this cannot be achieved unless such compatibilities actually exist at east one party moves toward them by suggesting ideas. 2)Imaging *Describe how they see themselves *Describe how the other party appears to them *State how they think the other party would describe them *State how they think the other party sees themselves

Define controlling issues

FRACTIONATE THE NEGOTIATION *Fractionating: is a method of issue control that involves dividing a large conflict into smaller parts 1. Reduce the number of parties on each side 2. Control the number of substantive issues involved 3. State issues in concrete terms rather than as principles 4. Restrict the precedents involved, both procedural and substantive 5. Search for ways to divide the big issues 6. Depersonalize issues: separate them from the parties advocating them

What are characteristics of the negotiation setting?

Includes: -Temporal issues -Relational issues -Cultural issues

Agreement on the rules and procedures

PARTIES CAN TRY TO MANAGE IMPASSES BY OBTAINING MUTUAL AGREEMENT ABOUT THE RULES THAT WILL GOVERN THE NEGOTIATION: -Determining a site for a meeting (changing the site or finding a neutral location) -Setting a formal agenda outlining what may or may not be discussed and agreeing to follow that agenda -Determinign who may attend the meetings -Setting time limits for individual meetings and for the overall negotiation session -Setting procedural rules, sucha s who may speak, how long they may speak, how issues will be approached, what facts may be introduced, how records of the meeting will be kept, how agreements will be affirmed, and what clerical or support services are required -Following specific dos and don'ts for behavior

Define tractible, intractible and impasse

WHAT CAUSES IMPASSES AND INTRACTABLE NEGOTIATIONS? -Negotiations evolve as time and the issues, parties, and context change. *A negotiation becomes more TRACTABLE when it becomes easier to resolve, and *INTRACTABLE when it is more difficult to resolve. Intractable negotiations may pesist over a long period of time and *When there is no further progress they are at an IMPASSE.