Synopsis
As discussed throughout the book, Negotiation is a universal human behavior greatly impacted by a number of assumptions, behaviors, attitudes, contexts, constraints and other factors. And yet, most people (including professionals whose success depends upon their negotiation performance) approach negotiations with only scant awareness of what they are doing, or why. Our ability to prepare for a negotiation, diagnose a negotiation and ‘change the game’ of a negotiation is vastly improved by deliberately increasing our knowledge and enhancing our skill through study, practice and reflection. Several fields of social science have contributed to the research and practice of negotiation. Practical applications of negotiation knowledge and skill are apparent in all facets of life: from difficult family conversations to job interviews to bargaining with nervous armed groups at a military checkpoint. Negotiations pervade our life. The context may be transactional (making a deal), or it may be conflict or dispute-related, or be elsewhere in the spectrum. Negotiation is a key skill in the repertoire of people who are committed to building peace, working for peaceful change, and otherwise changing hearts and minds in a non-coercive context. It is important to understand too the coercive applications of negotiation in order to better know how to deal with them. Following the material presents in this manuscript, the lesson is both descriptive and prescriptive as we learn how negotiation processes truly are conducted, with all their defects and creative possibilities, and how they should or could be conducted as we grow in knowledge and experience. Both approaches contribute to our understanding of negotiation as a dynamic social and interpersonal process, in which unexpected outcomes abound; surprises, paradoxes and turning points are not uncommon and cooperation sometimes emerges from the chaos. There is an important self-awareness thread that runs throughout the book so that each learner gains a deeper understanding of their contribution to negotiation problems and capacities for overcoming them. Ultimately, each reader confronts the challenge of how to optimally shape the processes of negotiation for successful outcomes. The intended learning outcomes of the Book are centered in: Understand the barriers that impede agreement and constrain negotiation; Develop a broad understanding of the capacity to overcome such barriers and optimize both processes and outcomes of Negotiation; Understand the range of analytical components that must be mastered in order to understand and conduct dynamic complex negotiations; Enhance the ability to diagnose negotiations, and to prepare for them; Gain insight into one's own skill level and one's contribution to the processes and outcomes obtained; Practice skills in changing negotiations from distributional to integrative encounters in a safe environment; and, Increase improvisational behavioral repertoire.
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