Negotiation

Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties, intended to reach an understanding, resolve points of difference, gain advantage in outcome of dialogue, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, to craft outcomes to satisfy various interests of two people/parties involved in negotiation process. Negotiation occurs in business, non-profit organizations, government branches, legal proceedings, among nations and in personal situations such as marriage, divorce, parenting, and everyday life.

Types of negotiation

Negotiations can be divided into two general types: Distributive negotiation and Integrative negotiation.

Distributive negotiation is also sometimes called positional or hard-bargaining negotiation. It tends to approach negotiation on the model of haggling in a market. In a distributive negotiation, each side often adopts an extreme position, knowing that it will not be accepted, and then employs a combination of guile, bluffing, and brinkmanship in order to cede as little as possible before reaching a deal.

Integrative negotiation is also sometimes called interest-based or principled negotiation. It is a set of techniques that attempts to improve the quality and likelihood of negotiated agreement by taking advantage of the fact that different parties often value various outcomes differently.

Stages of negotiation

Negotiations typically progress through five stages: Preparation, Information Exchange, Bargaining, Conclusion and Execution.

Negotiation strategies

There are many different ways to categorize the essential elements of negotiation. One view of negotiation involves three basic elements: process, behavior and substance.

Negotiation in international relations

In international relations, negotiation is often the primary method of dispute resolution used by countries, as opposed to more aggressive means such as war.

See also

• Conflict resolution research
• Game theory
• Negotiation theory
• Online dispute resolution
• Peacekeeping
• Trade negotiation

External links

• Negotiation - From the current issue of Negotiation Journal
• Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School

Negotiation Resources
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