Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
Negotiations can move at lightning speed in unpredictable directions, leaving you seconds to instinctively act. Your instinct can be informed by first-hand experiences, formal education, and mistakes. You can boost your instinct by using the negotiation map in this article for tracking where you are and guiding where you and others should go to reach a resolution. This three-part map solves a puzzle that has confounded me for a couple decades. It offers a succinct and practical schematic that has the capacity to incorporate much of the exponential growth in literature and learning since Getting to Yes was published in 1981. I first became acquainted with this schematic six years ago, and have been employing a version ever since for teaching and practice. The map’s first part focuses on preparation—an obvious imperative that can be sacrificed in the rush to reach the second part to negotiate. The final part covers the conclusion of the negotiation. Bruce Patton, co-author of Getting to Yes, elegantly configured the negotiation process around a circle that he calls the circle of value. From a bird’s eye view, the center of the map consists of a negotiation circle with one preparation pathway for entry and two pathways for exiting toward conclusion.
In this article, I illustrate how the map with its seven stops weaves together five essential concepts from the widely used negotiation book Getting to Yes, concepts that are familiar to anyone who has studied negotiations. Negotiators should focus separately on the relationship; advocate for interests, not positions; invent options before selecting them; and use objective standards as a basis for selecting options. Negotiators should also know what is their best alternative to an agreement. The authors introduce a now widely adopted acronym, the BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement), as the benchmark for when it may be better to leave the negotiation room. These five negotiation concepts, along with two others, are incorporated into the negotiation map to complete a unified negotiation model with seven stops. Each stop has the capacity to accommodate a broad range of negotiation choices and techniques that are commonly taught and practiced. The underlying three-part structure with its multiple choices furnishes a handy, stable and expansive map for teaching negotiations and approaching the inevitably unexpected in any negotiation.
Recommended Citation
26 Cardozo J. Conflict Resol. 61 (2024).
Source Publication
Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution
