Page 225 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Unit 10: Integrative Bargaining

Notes

Source: Linda Putnam, "Are You Asking the Right Questions?" Negotiation 3 (March 2005): 7-9. Used by
permission.
10.8 Interest-based Bargaining (IBB)

The practice of interest-based bargaining (IBB) has emerged in recent years as one of the most
visible innovations in negotiations. It has also become the subject of considerable debate and
discussion among labor relations practitioners and scholars. Some claim that IBB represents a
critical improvement that will revolutionize the bargaining process. Yet others see IBB as just a
new label for what Walton and McKersie called “integrative bargaining” in their 1965 book, A
Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations, or as simply an implementation of what Fisher, Ury, and
Patton introduced as “principled negotiations” in their landmark 1991 book, Getting to Yes. The
concept did not catch on then, and in fact was met with considerable skepticism by labor relations
professionals until recent years. Today IBB is a fully developed approach to bargaining, including
a set of principles, going beyond the concepts of these early works. According to a recent
national survey of 1,557 negotiators, approximately 80% of management negotiators and 60% of
union negotiators who have employed IBB prefer it to traditional bargaining methods.

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Caution Integrative refers to the potential for the parties’ interests to be [combined] in
ways that create joint value or enlarge the pie. Potential for integration only exists when
there are multiple issues involved in the negotiation. This is because the parties must be
able to make trade-offs across issues in order for both sides to be satisfied with the outcome.

10.8.1 Principles of IBB

Interest-based bargaining has a different philosophy from that of distributive or traditional
integrative methods of negotiation. At the core, it requires negotiators to think of themselves as
joint problem solvers who seek solutions to mutual problems or issues of interest. The Federal
Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is often credited as having developed the basic
principles and steps of IBB. A 2000 report by the FMCS noted that IBB was the training method
most requested by new negotiators.
The principles and steps of IBB are as follows:
1. Sharing of information: Both sides fully share all relevant information including economic
forecasts, financial data, industry reports, costs, and so forth.
2. Willingness to forgo power or leverage: The parties strive to find mutually agreeable
solutions to issues of concern and commit to not using their perceived power or leverage
to sway the other party. Objective standards instead of power are used to evaluate options.
3. Brainstorming to create options: When issues are presented, rather than state their position
or demand, as is common in traditional bargaining methods, the parties engage in
brainstorming sessions to identify new options to resolve the issues. These options are
mutually agreeable to both parties.
4. Focusing on issues, not personalities: By discussing the interests that underlie the issues,
IBB negotiators can treat others with dignity and courtesy because they are not focused on
discrediting the position of the other party. IBB advocates claim that in traditional

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