A number of top business schools have recently added negotiation skills to their curriculum. Schools like Michigan, Harvard and Stanford are even offering courses in negotiation not directly related to labor-management conflict. How effective are these programs?
According to a report by Dr. Israel Unterman of San Diego State University’s department of management, some are very effective. Continue reading
Believe it or not, even the academics are beginning to see that negotiation skills, processes and procedures have utility beyond conflict resolution, grievance arbitration and collective bargaining.
Two of them, Lane Tracy, college of business administration, Ohio State, and Richard B. Peterson, graduate school of business administration, University of Washington, recently con¬ducted an extensive survey study to determine 1) what conditions support the attempt to solve problems by means of negotiation and 2) what tactics and behaviors facilitate problem solving. Continue reading
According to lawyer-turned-negotiation-consultant Nierenberg, the first step in learning positive negotiation skills is the acceptance of a “win-win” philosophy of negotiating.
“My basic philosophy is that you leave the other fellow something of his own. If you don’t, you’ve planted dragon seeds for the future. What we’re trying to do is replace the out¬dated win/lose approach with a creative approach that will be in the best interests of both parties,” he emphasizes.
This approach to negotiation is often referred to as the need theory of negotiation; Abraham Mas-low refers to it as “….inclusive or synergic negotiating in which all people win.” Nierenberg and others have simply dubbed it the win-win approach. Continue reading