Management
Summary of the Book
The book "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" provides the reader with instructions for engaging in effective negotiation through the use of principles developed by the Harvard Negotiation Project (HNP). In the book, the authors, Roger Fisher and William Ury, paint a context for their proposed negotiation technique by showing the reader two extreme negotiation stances that a negotiator might adopt during the course of a negotiation. The authors term these opposite methods of negotiation "hard" and "soft" negotiation.
The hard negotiator makes threats and demands and sticks to his position at all costs in order to bend the other side to his will. The hard negotiator relies on intimidation and possibly deceit to "persuade" the other side to give in to his demands. Hard negotiators care primarily, and perhaps even exclusively, about winning. They are not concerned about the effect the negotiation process may have on the relationship between the parties. The human aspect of the negotiation is secondary to achieving the best possible result for the negotiator's constituents. In the end, the hard negotiator may win the game, but he will not win any popularity contests.
Soft negotiation is a technique employed by the negotiator who is primarily concerned with avoiding stepping on the toes of the other side. The soft negotiator is concerned more about the people than the issues, more about being fair than about getting the most he can for his side. The soft negotiator will often cave in on his position in order to smooth the negotiation process and ensure that an agreement is reached regardless of whether the agreement is favorable to his side. The soft negotiator may let the other side take what it wants at his expense. This may ultimately cause the soft negotiator to feel resentful and taken advantage of.
The authors present a third method of negotiation -- "principled negotiation" -- which they claim is a negotiation technique superior to both hard and soft negotiation because it is the middle ground. Principled negotiation employs the effective aspects of both hard and soft negotiation without incorporating the negative aspects of either. In principled negotiation, opposing sides work together to resolve a common problem. The authors call this being soft on the people, but hard on the issues. The core principles of the HNP technique are: (1) separate the people from the problem, (2) focus on interests, not positions, (3) invent options for mutual gain, and (4) insist on using objective criteria.
Interpretation of the Book
The first precept of the principled negotiation method is to separate the people from the problem. The authors rightly point out that the negotiators involved necessarily are all human beings with their own emotional reactions, fears, concerns and biases. Thus, even if the situation itself is horribly upsetting to everyone involved, the process of negotiation is eased if the negotiators are not primarily engaged in taking out their angers and frustrations at the negotiators for the other side.
The goal in distinguishing between the people and the problem is to avoid blaming the other side for the problem, but to instead give those on the other side the opportunity to explain their position, fears, and concerns. By listening to the other side, the principled negotiator is able not only to see that those on the other side have their own human emotions, fears, and biases, but that the other side is no happier about the situation than he is and that they have just as much of an interest in making the problem go away. In this way, the problem becomes the common enemy that the opposing sides must work together to conquer. And, the authors reassure the reader, listening to the other side's reasons and concerns will not destroy the negotiation process because "[u]nderstanding their point-of-view is not the same as agreeing with it." (p. 24)
In addition, allowing those on the other side to express their feelings and concerns will likely have the effect of reassuring them that the negotiator is not out to get them and that he is genuinely concerned with solving the problem and not with destroying them or simply winning the argument. By putting a human face on the other side, the principled negotiator may be able to work more easily with the other side and may not be as likely to vilify them.
Significantly, the authors suggest that the principled negotiator will allow the other side to blow of steam and...
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