Negotiation Fundamentals

"Nearly all negotiations are characterized by four phases - preparation, opening, bargaining and closing...

Most negotiations are defined by 3 characteristics:

There is a conflict of interest between two or more parties. What one wants is not necessarily what the others want.

Either there is no established set of rules for resolving the conflict, or the parties prefer to work outside of an established set of rules to develop their own solution.

The parties prefer to search for an agreement rather than to fight openly, to have one side capitulate, to break off contact permanently or to take their dispute to a higher authority...

The actual negotiation process depends on the following factors:

The goals and interests of the parties
The perceived interdependence between the parties
The history that exists between the parties
The personalities of the people involved
The persuasive ability of each party...

There are two types of negotiation process that differ fundamentally in their approach and in the relative prospects for the stability of the agreement that is reached.

The first is called the integrative or win/win approach. In these negotiations the prospects for both sides gains are encouraging. Both sides attempt to reconcile their positions so that the end result is an agreement under which both will benefit - therefore the resultant agreement tends to be stable. Win/win negotiations are characterized by open and empathetic communications and are commonly referred to as partnership agreements.

The second is called the distributive or win/lose approach. In these negotiations each of the parties seeks maximum gains and therefore usually seeks to impose maximum losses on the other side. This approach often produces agreements’ that are inherently unstable..."

Read more in this Negotiating Skills Online Tutorial.