Guidance for Principled Bargaining* (Revised 2019)

Guidance for Principled Bargaining* (Revised 2019) James G. Matkin Q.C. .. “ is a Vancouver lawyer internationally known for his work in public policy. He is a former British Columbia, Canada deputy minister of labour and of intergovernmental relations, past President of the Business Council of B.C., and B.C. Law Society executive director. He first taught constitutional law at UBC. He had a major role in designing B.C.labour laws in 1973, and he drafted the first human rights code of BC, floated the Non Obstante clause compromise that was adopted in the Canadian Constitution, and is credited with "cleaning up" the Vancouver stock exchange through his one man commission of enquiry.” From WIKIPEDIA BIO. THE PRIMAY FOCUS OF MY KEY NOTE PAPER published by the Industrial Relations Centre, Queen's University at Kingston, in 1986. Is the work of Roger Fisher and Bill Ury of the HARVARD NEGOTIATION PROJECT. I have applied their 1 ideas successfully in major environmental, labor and constitutional negotiations where I have played an insiders role. 2 FREE PDF BOOK http://www.fd.unl.pt/docentes_docs/ma/AGON_MA_2584 9.pdf FROM THE BOOK - Introduction Like it or not, you are a negotiator. Negotiation is a fact of life. You discuss a raise with your boss. You try to agree with a stranger on a price for his house. Two lawyers try to settle a lawsuit arising from a car accident. A group of oil companies plan a joint venture exploring for offshore oil. A city official meets with union leaders to avert a transit strike. The United States Secretary of State sits down with his Soviet counterpart to seek an agreement limiting nuclear arms. All these are negotiations. Everyone negotiates something every day. Like Moliere's Monsieur Jourdain, who was delighted to learn that he had been speaking prose all his life, people negotiate even when they don't think of themselves as doing so. A person negotiates with his spouse about where to go for dinner and with his child about when the lights go out. Negotiation is a basic means of getting what you want from others. It is back-and-forth communication designed to reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and others that are opposed. More and more occasions require negotiation; conflict is a growth industry. Everyone wants to participate in decisions that affect them; fewer and fewer people will accept decisions dictated by someone else. People differ, and they use negotiation to handle their differences. Whether in business, government, or the family, people reach most decisions through negotiation. Even when they go to court, they almost always negotiate a settlement before trial. Although negotiation takes place every day, it is not easy to do well. Standard strategies for negotiation often leave people dissatisfied, worn out, or alienated — and frequently all three. People find themselves in a dilemma. They see two ways to negotiate: soft or hard. The soft negotiator 3 wants to avoid personal conflict and so makes concessions readily in order to reach agreement. He wants an amicable resolution; yet he often ends up exploited and feeling bitter. The hard negotiator sees any situation as a contest of wills in which the side that takes the more extreme positions and holds out longer fares better. He wants to win; yet he often ends up producing an equally hard response which exhausts him and his resources and harms his relationship with the other side. Other standard negotiating strategies fall between hard and soft, but each involves an attempted trade- off between getting what you want and getting along with people. There is a third way to negotiate, a way neither hard nor soft, but rather both hard and soft. The method of principled negotiation developed at the Harvard Negotiation Project is to decide issues on their merits rather than through a haggling process focused on what each side says it will and won't do. It suggests that you look for mutual gains wherever possible, and that where your interests conflict, you should insist that the result be based on some fair standards independent of the will of either side. The method of principled negotiation is hard on the merits, soft on the people. It employs no tricks ' and no posturing. Principled negotiation shows you how to obtain what you are entitled to and still be decent. It enables you to be fair while protecting you against those who would take advantage of your fairness. This book is about the method of principled negotiation. The first chapter describes problems that arise in using the standard strategies of positional bargaining. The next four chapters lay out the four principles of the method. The last three chapters answer the questions most commonly asked about the method: What if the other side is more powerful? What if they will not play along? And what if they use dirty tricks? Principled negotiation can be used by United States diplomats in arms control talks with the Soviet Union, by Wall Street lawyers representing Fortune 500 companies in antitrust cases, and by couples in deciding everything from where to go for vacation to how to divide thei property if they get divorced. Anyone can use this method. Every negotiation is different, but the basic elements do not change. Principled negotiation can be used whether there is one issue or several; two parties or many; whether there is a prescribed ritual, as in collective bargaining, or an impromptu free-for-all, as in talking with hijackers. The method applies whether the other side is more experienced or less, a hard bargainer or a friendly one. Principled negotiation is an all-purpose strategy. Unlike almost all other strategies, if the other side learns this one, it does not become more difficult to use; it becomes easier. If they read this book, all the better. 4 I The Problem 1 .Don't Bargain Over Positions Whether a negotiation concerns a contract, a family quarrel, or a peace settlement among nations, people routinely engage in positional bargaining. Each side takes a position, argues for it, and makes concessions to reach a compromise. Summary of "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+ Copy Link Google Gmail Facebook Messenger WhatsApp Reddit StumbleUpon Tumblr WordPress Summary of Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In By Roger Fisher, William Ury and for the second Edition, Bruce Patton Summary written by Tanya Glaser, Conflict Research Consortium Citation: Fisher, Roger and William Ury. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, 3rd ed. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2011. <http://www.beyondintractability.org/library/external- resource?biblio=23737>. In this seminal text, Ury and Fisher present four principles for effective negotiation, including: separating people from the problem, focusing on interests rather than positions, generating a variety of options before settling on an agreement, and insisting that the agreement be based on objective criteria. Three common obstacles to negotiation and ways to overcome them are also discussed. 5 A French translation of this summary is available in PDF format. To view it, please click here. In this classic text, Fisher and Ury describe their four principles for effective negotiation. They also describe three common obstacles to negotiation and discuss ways to overcome them. Fisher and Ury explain that a good agreement is one which is wise and efficient, and which improves the parties' relationship. Wise agreements satisfy the parties' interests and are fair and lasting. The authors' goal is to develop a method for reaching good agreements. Negotiations often take the form of positional bargaining. In positional bargaining each part opens with their position on an issue. The parties then bargain from their separate opening positions to agree on one position. Haggling over a price is a typical example of positional bargaining. Fisher and Ury argue that positional bargaining does not tend to produce good agreements. It is an inefficient means of reaching agreements, and the agreements tend to neglect the parties' interests. It encourages stubbornness and so tends to harm the parties' relationship. Principled negotiation provides a better way of reaching good agreements. Fisher and Ury develop four principles of negotiation. Their process of principled negotiation can be used effectively on almost any type of dispute. Their four principles are 1) separate the people from the problem; 2) focus on interests rather than positions; 3) generate a variety of options before settling on an agreement; and 4) insist that the agreement be based on objective criteria. [p. 11] These principles should be observed at each stage of the negotiation process. The process begins with the analysis of the situation or problem, of the other parties' interests and perceptions, and of the existing options. The next stage is to plan ways of responding to the situation and the other parties. Finally, the parties discuss the problem trying to find a solution on which they can agree. Separating People and Issues Fisher and Ury's first principle is to separate the people from the issues. People tend to become personally involved with the issues 6 and with their side's positions. And so they will tend to take responses to those issues and positions as personal attacks. Separating the people from the issues allows the parties to address the issues without damaging their relationship. It also helps them to get a clearer view of the substantive problem. The authors identify three basic sorts of people problems. First are differences on perception among the parties. Since most conflicts are based in differing interpretations of the facts, it is crucial for both sides to understand the other's viewpoint.

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