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Summary QLLM385-Week 4 – Nature of negotiation – readings
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Week 4 – Nature of negotiation – readingsSimon Roberts & Michael Palmer, Dispute Processes: ADR and the Primary Forms of
Dispute Resolution (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp 113 – 142
A: The nature of negotiation
The features of negotiation involve bilateral exchanges in which information flows in both
directions, understanding is achieved, and an outcome is reached. It involved communication
leading to joint decision-making where parties retain control.
There must be a medium of communication that allows messages to pass between the parties,
parties must formulate and successfully communicate to each other their goals, parties must
identify and evaluate the options available to them. Sometimes the convergence of goals will
result in an agreed outcome without shifts of position. Any discussion of the nature of
negotiation must show sensitivity to the environment within which negotiation takes place.
It’s not just money that may be at stake, it may be other things like prestige or recognition of
values that parties may be negotiating about. Gulliver labels this as ‘preference set’ which
differs between the parties.
Bilateral negotiation may also not be a true picture of the happenings as the parties may
represent corporates/loose groups. The structure of negotiation is also complicated by the
intervention of third parties.
P Gulliver – a fundamental characteristic of negotiation is the absence of a third-party
decision-maker. The absence/presence of an authoritative third party produces a difference in
the nature of the decision-making process. The decisions are made by the parties themselves.
At least one party must move toward the other and there must be a gradual willingness to
coordinate and collude.
A party’s preference set comprises of ordered evaluation of issues and conceivable outcomes.
The ordering allows for an assessment of what is acceptable or not or unavoidable. These
preferences are modified by evaluating the costs of achieving the outcomes and the strengths
of the two parties. However, evaluation of preferences is often imprecise and vague,
preferences are not necessarily consistent with each other, and evaluations and preferences
are not fixed but are subject to change during the course of the negotiations.
B: Intra-party and multi-party negotiations
Under more complex conditions of multi-party negotiations, the processual shape of
negotiation holds steady even though complications may arise e.g. the communication
arrangements, presence of more parties. These complicate the information exchange and
decision-making.
Intra-party negotiations – even in bilateral negotiations, there is often a loose-knit coalition so
there is consultation between the constituent elements within each coalition. Each side is
often an arena within which individuals/groups are intent on securing positions and outcomes
reflecting their own interests. Lawyers will be recruited to bolster a team’s ability to analyse
the position and performance of the other side and improve its own approach. Not all the
team members will have the same degree of commitment to their side’s cause. Internal
, weakness may manifest during the course of the negotiation. Intra-party negotiations involve
their own dynamics of processes of information exchange and sometimes to a joint-decision.
Gulliver – internal differences can complicate the cyclical model of negotiation in a complex
team where the need is to present a monolithic front e.g. a rogue worker within a union in
negotiations with another party.
There is a possibility that the real purpose of constructing a negotiating team is not the
negotiations but the achievement of a level of cohesion within a group of people.
Colosi – the conventional model of negotiation obscures much of the complexity of the
bargaining process. Team members often have conflicting goals and values and some sort of
internal consensus must be found before negotiations with the other side can begin.
Multi-party negotiations – these are found notably in international disputes, political disputes
and large-scale commercial litigation. Sometimes a preliminary agreement is reached
between several of the parties to stand together against one or more of the other parties. As
parties increase in number, the goals and interests become manifold.
Colosi – once trust is established in the negotiation process and in each other, the negotiators
will find they no longer need a mediator.
C: The Processual shape of negotiation
A number of writers have attempted to formulate a developmental process model, identifying
the phases through which negotiations must pass if they are to reach an agreed outcome.
Stenelo and Douglas proposed a three-phase model of negotiation.
Philip Gulliver’s eight-phase model was based on his research into East African communities
and labour disputes in North America. According to Gulliver, there is a (i) cyclical process
involving the repetitive exchange of information, assessment and adjustments of expectation
and (ii) the developmental process involving movement from the initiation of the dispute to
its conclusion and implementation.
The developmental model consists of overlapping sequences with emphasis on interaction
-search for an arena
-formulation of an agenda and working definition of issues
-preliminary statement of demands and offers, exploration of dimensions and limits of issues
-narrowing of differences between parties, agreements and identification of other
-preliminaries to final bargaining
-final bargaining
-ritual confirmation of the outcome
-implementation of outcome/arrangements for it.
Arena – parties need to find a medium that will enable communication to pass freely between
them. Arena can consist of a physical location. An arena is constituted whenever messages
pass between parties, receive attention and elicit response.
Identifying issues and forming an agenda – parties formulate and communicate the issues as
they see them. Sometimes parties find that there’s no disagreement between them but if
there’s issues still to be solved, an agenda is formed where the issues are ranked and
prioritised.
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