Page 223 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Unit 10: Integrative Bargaining

10.5.1 Recognition of the Relationship Notes

Integrative bargaining can be more easily utilized if the parties involved value a long-term
positive relationship. Negotiations between parties who place value on their relationship will
be substantially different from negotiations between parties that do not value their relationship.
Therefore, a second key to integrative bargaining is for the parties to openly recognize they
have a valuable relationship that they seek to maintain after the negotiation process has ended.
Thus, unlike purely distributive bargaining situations, the negotiators acknowledge that their
continued relationship is of equal or even greater importance than one-time distributive gains.
If this is not the case, then the negotiations will likely resort to a distributive process.

10.6 Collaborative Atmosphere

A third key to integrative bargaining is to start with a collaborative atmosphere, which, according
to negotiation consultants Peter Stark and Jane Flaherty, requires several things of each party.
First, begin by looking for all factors of importance that can be negotiated, and therefore avoid
the common pitfall of “fighter pilot lock-on” over just one issue, such as price. For example, if
you contact a vendor about buying a large quantity of new computers, don’t jump to lock on the
price per unit. Instead, ask exactly what variables can be negotiated, such as delivery cost and
date, financing, extended warranty, 24-hour on-site service, loaded software, training, or quantity
discounts. All of these issues can be important factors in the overall price or deal, and should be
considered, as well as the price.
Second, consider the needs and concerns of the other party and don’t assume they are identical
to your needs and concerns. In the computer example just cited, you might jump to assume that
the vendor is only concerned about price and service. However, in one such situation, the
vendor was a new company that needed to achieve a critical level of volume in less than 30 days,
and wanted to add people to its training classes to give them critical mass—and therefore was
willing to sell the computers at almost no profit, as long as they could also sell the training
service package.
A third way to foster collaborative atmosphere is not to assume you know the “real” needs of
the other party. In many negotiations, each party has both explicit needs, such as the product or
service, but also has implicit needs, which might include the long-term relationship, loyalty,
trust, and so forth. Negotiators often verbalize their explicit needs, but only through careful
questioning and listening can you learn their implicit needs. In the computer example, only
through the use of probing questions and attentive listening could the buyer discover the
vendor’s implicit need to sell the training service package.

Thus, effective questioning and listening to responses is a critical negotiation skill. Yet research
on the interaction in negotiation sessions has indicated that negotiators typically spend more
time arguing for their positions and defending their instance on issues than they do asking
questions. With the effective use of questions, negotiators can gain important insights into the
implicit needs and concerns of the other party, and therefore respond with proposals that are
more likely to reach a settlement.
Furthermore, the effective use of questions can break a pattern of arguing for and against
positions and move negotiations into conversations that uncover the true interests of the parties,
and therefore potential positive outcomes. Why do even experienced negotiators spend more
time defending their positions and not enough time asking questions? When asked that question,
they admit that “asking questions leaves them feeling vulnerable and open to exploitation.
How can negotiators ask questions that advance the negotiation process? Linda L. Putnam, the
former director of the Program on Conflict and Dispute Resolution at Texas A&M University,
provides a variety of “Tactics for Success” in Box 10.3. Of course, some negotiators use questions
to make the other party feel vulnerable! How should you respond to a loaded question?

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