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Collaborative Principled Negotiation
摘要:谈判是社会生活中无时不在、无处不有的现象。随着我国市场经济的'迅速发展和改革开放的日益深入以及全球经济一体化趋势的加强，国际商务谈判已在我国经济发展中扮演了重要角色。但是，传统的输赢理念的谈判方法严重阻碍了谈判的进行。为此，我们引入了一种新的谈判方法-----合作原则谈判法，促使谈判顺利达成双赢。本文通过对原则谈判法四个基本原则、运用及优点作了详细阐述，间或引用国际著名的谈判案例，使大家对这种谈判方法有很好的了解并恰当地加以广泛运用。关键词：问题; 利益; 方案; 标准; 运用; 优点
Abstract
Negotiation is indispensable in our social life at any time and anywhere. International business negotiation has been playing an important role in our country’s economy development with the rapid progress of market economy
, the widen of reform and opening up and the enhancement of economic globalization and integration. However, the traditional negotiations guided by win—lose concept have prevented negotiations from proceeding easily and smoothly .so it’s necessary to introduce a new method for negotiation -----collaborative principled negotiation, to reach a win—win agreement successfully .The thesis goes details into the four fundamental principles, application and advantages of this method with quoting international negotiation cases to help people have a better knowledge of it and use it appropriately and extensively.
Key words: problem, interests, options, criterion, application, advantages
Collaborative Principled Negotiation
Introduction
In the second half of the twentieth century , the rapid development of economy globalization and integration ,by promises of great benefits from free flow of people ,goods, services and capital, have mingled all countries and areas into one interdependent and interrelated body. Resolving political, especially economy disputes and conflicts by peaceful means based on equality and mutual benefit has prevailed in international affairs since countries started to view each other as partners and cooperators rather than adversaries and antagonists. Some scholars and social workers begin advocating a brand new idea, which win—win concept. Collaborative principled negotiation based on mutual success and convergence of interests is a typical example of this concept .Practices demonstrated its high effectiveness in dealing with disagreement and conflicts in international business negotiation ,therefore, it has become widely accepted.
1. Overview of collaborative principled negotiation
Negotiation is regarded as an important and necessary social activity, especially in international business negotiation, a great impulse to social economic development in our modern life. In view of the abuse of traditional win---lose concept of business negotiation, we advocate a brand new method of collaborative principled negotiation, a win---win concept to improve the efficiency and fairness of business negotiation.
Negotiation is the process whereby interested parties resolve disputes, agree upon courses of action, bargain for individual or collective advantage and attempt to craft outcomes which serve their mutual interests.
Collaborative principled negotiation is also commonly known as Harvard principled negotiation, which is developed by Roger Fisher and William Ury in the book Getting to Yes published in 1981.The core and spirit of the method is to reach a solution beneficial to both parties by way of stressing interests and value not by way of bargaining. The method of principled negotiation developed at the Harvard Negotiation Project is to decide issue 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 whenever possible, and that where your interests conflict, you should insist that the result be based on some fair standards independent of the will 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. When the interests
of the involved parties are contradictory, an objective criterion should be applied to.
1. System of collaborative principled negotiation
1.1 Four fundamental principles
It is very important to view each other as cooperators rather than adversaries in internationa
l business negotiation. The process of negotiation is not simply considered as competing but mutual communicating and seeking for common development. Otherwise, they will attack and blame each other, protect and defend habitually each party’s utmost interests and make no concession, which would inevitably lead negotiation into impasse or failure. Instead, they should stand side by side to generate mutual gain and improve their relationship. The interest---based approach of collaborative principled negotiation advocates four fundamental principles of negotiation: 1) separate the people from the problem; 2) focus on interests not positions; 3) invent options for mutual gain; 4) insist on objective criteria.
1.1.1 Separating the people from the problems
Every negotiation has two basic components: people and problems. Separating the people from the problems means separating the relationship issues (e.g. perceptions, emotions, communication, reliability and so on ) from the substantive issues (e.g. terms, dates, figures and so on ) and dealing with each set of issues on its own merits, don’t make substantive concessions in the hope of improving relations.
Human beings are not computers. We are imperfectly skilled in communication, we perceive the actions and words of others differently and we are creatures of long memories and strong emotions. Emotions, personalities, feelings and so on become entangled in the substance of the problem. And so we will tend to take responses to the issues as personal attacks.
It’s generally understood that in negotiations problems will be discussed and resolved if talks are going on in a friendly and sincere atmosphere. Unfortunately more often than not high tension is build up due to negotiators’ prejudice against the other party’s intention. It is conceivable that negotiations would be directed to personal disputes and both sides say something hurting each other when such prejudice or misunderstanding exists. As a result negotiators’ personal feeling is mingled with interests and events to be discussed. For example, you may feel very uncomfortable when your counterpart appears arrogant and superior, so you probably throw out something to knock off his arrogance, which may further irritate him and make him take retaliation action. The focus of negotiation is shifted from interests and issues of both parties to personal dignity and self—respect, thus the attacks and quarrels end up with nothing. In other cases your counterpart may misunderstand your intention and openly show his emotion when you make comments on his opinion and events he has described.
People problems often mainly tend to involve problems of perception, emotion, and communication. Perceptions are important because they define the problem and solution. While there is an “objective reality”, the reality is interpreted differently by different people in different situations. When different parties have different understandings of their dispute, effective negotiation may be difficult to achieve. This is what we have been calling framing problems—the problems that people see or define a situation differently, depending on who they are and what their situations are. So it is crucial for both sides to understand the others’ viewpoints. There are seven basic ways for handling the problems of perception.
First, try to see the situation from your opponent’s perspective. The parties should try to put themselves in the shoes of the other to understand that part’s constraints of the situation. You don’t have to agree with their perceptions of the situation. But it is important to understand what they think and feel, and why they think and feel as they do.
Second, don’t deduce your opponent’s intentions from your own fears. It is common to assure that your opponent plans to do just what you fear they will do. This sort of suspicious attitude makes it difficult to accurately perceive your opponent’s real intentions; whatever they do you will assure the worst.
Third, avoid blaming your opponent for the problem. Blame, even if it is deserved, will only make your opponent defensive. Even worse, your opponent may attack you in response. Blame is generally counter--productive.
Fourth, discuss each other’s perceptions. Explicit discuss of each side’s perceptions will help both sides to better understand each other. And discuss will help each side to avoid projecting their fears onto one another. Also, such discussion may reveal shared perceptions. Acknowledging shared perceptions can strength the parties’ relationship, and facilitate productive negotiations.
Fifth, seek opportunities to act in consistently with your opponent’s misperceptions. That is, try to disappoint your opponent’s worst beliefs and expectations about you. Just as it is important for you to have an accurate perception of your opponent, it is also important for them to have an accurate perception of you. Disappointing your opponent’s negative or inaccurate beliefs will help you to change those beliefs.
Sixth, give your opponent a stake in the outcome by making sure they participate in the negotiation process. If your opponent doesn’t feel involved in the negotiation process, then they are unlikely to feel involved in its outcome. Conversely, if they feel that the process is in part their process, they are more likely to accept its conclusion. The more that the party is involved in the process; the more likely they are to be involved in and to support the outcome.
Seventh, make your proposals consistent with the principles and self—image of your opponent. Each side should try to make proposals that would be appealing to the other side. All the parties to a negotiation need to be able to reconcile the agreement with their principles and self—images. That is, they need to feel the final agreement doesn’t compromise their integrity. Proposals which are consistent with your opponent’s principles and which don’t undermine their self—images are more likely to be accepted.
Understanding the other side’s perceptions will improve communication and enable a party to re—frame its proposal in way that makes it easier for the other side to say “yes”.
People problems also often involve difficult emotions—fear, anger, distrust and anxiety for example. These emotions get intertwined with the substantive issues in the dispute and make both harder to deal with. People often react with fear or anger when they feel that their interests are threatened. The first step in dealing with emotions is to acknowledge them, and try to understand their source. The parties must acknowledge the fact that certain emotions are present, even when they don’t see those feelings as reasonable. Dismissing another’s feeling as unreasonable is likely to provoke an even more intense emotional response. The parties must allow the other side to express their emotions. They must not react emotionally to emotional outbursts. Symbolic gestures such as apologies or an expression of sympathy can help to defuse strong emotions.
Communication is the third main source of people problems. Negotiators may not be speaking to each other, but may simply grandstand for their respective constituencies. The parties may not be listening to each other, but may instead be planning their own responses. Even when the parties are speaking to each other and are listening, misunderstandings may occur. To combat these problems, the parties should employ active listening. The listeners should give the speaker their full attention, occasionally summarizing the speaker’s points to confirm their understanding. It is important to remember that understanding the other’s case doesn’t mean agreeing with it. Speakers should direct their speech toward the other parties and