Effective Negotiation
Developing a program
Developing a program
To the negotiation lecturer
These notes offer a general outline for a series of ten three-hour seminars and will provide a
basis for most university courses. I hope you find them useful.
Learning objectives
It is assumed that the learning objectives and the general form of any necessary assessment
for the course have already been set. (See ‘Getting started’ for some suggestions.) The session
objectives in these notes are quite general and will need to be revised so that they fit within
the overall objectives that have been set for your course.
Lecture presentations
These notes work on the assumption that students have read the nominated chapter for the
session, so the formal lecture presentations do not repeat this material (apart from
highlighting some key points). One task for the presentations is to check the students’
understanding of the chapter before leading into a discussion about their own experiences and
how the research can guide practical application.
Presentations by practitioners also enrich the participants’ learning experience. It helps to give
visitors some broad guidelines about the course; it is often not until the question and answer
session that the participants tend to loosen up. You no doubt have your own case study
materials and other examples. Discussion of current negotiations, such as those reported in the
newspapers are also valuable, particularly as a lead-in to a topic.
Students learn a great deal by being shown something in the first instance, and then having
the opportunity to practice themselves. Scenes from movies for example, can be used as a tool
to focus on particular negotiation behaviours. (Try the interesting variant of the ‘good copbad cop’ routine as practiced by Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther.)
Such video clips are good discussion starters, but perhaps a better way – if you have the
personality and confidence – is to write a short scenario, and with a colleague or one of the
students act the scene in front of the class.
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The sessions
The outlines for each seminar are only suggestions and the proposed seminars can be split or
extended to meet the course requirements. The topics can be reordered and the material
combined in different ways. In most cases there is more material than can be covered in three
hours and, in any event, it is assumed that you will want to include further material of your
own, particularly as the course progresses through the later sessions. Only the correlating
chapter has been nominated for each seminar, but additional readings can be suggested when
focusing on a particular topic.
The suggested sessions are:
1. An introduction to negotiation
2. The essence of negotiation
3. Being strategic
4. The process of negotiation
5. Managing a negotiation
6. Dealing with differences and exploring options
7. The end-game exchange
8. Negotiating on behalf of others
9. Cross-cultural negotiation
10. Consolidation and review – becoming a better negotiator
It’s important to note that topics within the broad subject of negotiation should not really be
compartmentalised. For example, the suggested seminar sequence nominates seminar nine as
the time to consider cross-cultural aspects of negotiation. However, this should not preclude
you looking at (for example) the question of trust in seminar two from a cross-cultural
perspective. Likewise, elements of ‘the essence of negotiation’ (seminar two) will probably
resurface in every seminar.
Some topics are not covered in this suggested outline. For example, learning about mediation
is a useful way to gain a better understanding about managing the negotiation process (see
chapter 5), but it is a topic in its own right and could easily occupy a whole seminar. Other
topics could also be expanded, depending on your areas of interest and the needs of the
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students – for example, the question of gender, ethics and negotiating in specific situations
(such as negotiating for a new job or a salary rise).
There is no provision in this program for video recording. However, providing students with
the opportunity to view and analyse their own negotiation behaviour is a valuable learning
exercise and should be included if time and resources permit. (This would be particularly
useful after seminar four which focuses on behaviour and observation.)
Course materials
It is presumed that you have developed your own negotiation exercises that you are
comfortable with. However, extra role-play exercises are provided here; most of which are
well used but they can always be improved. Some suggestions about how to organise the
exercises are also included in these notes.
There are some short case studies of negotiation that provide insights into both the strategic
and process aspects of major business negotiations. A number of handouts, some based upon
the checklists or negotiation tools found in the appendices, are also included. These handouts
can be modified to meet the particular needs of the learning task, as can the example review
sheets.
It would be a good idea to browse through the notes for all seminars. You might find an
activity or exercise suggested for a later seminar actually suits your purpose for an earlier one.
As an example, ‘Property Development in Joonderoo’ is an exercise usually used to ‘wrap up’
a semester of teaching, but it could equally be used in the first class to get everyone started.
I hope you find these notes to be helpful and that they provoke you into imaginative and
effective ways of teaching this crucial skill.
I hope your course goes well.
Ray Fells
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Seminar 1
AN INTRODUCTION TO NEGOTIATION
This is essentially an introductory seminar that seeks to establish a reflective focus.
Objectives

That participants appreciate the complexity of negotiation

That participants begin to understand themselves as negotiators
Pre-tasks
Reflective exercise: What are my negotiations like? (Handout 1)
Required reading: Chapter 1
Presentation and discussion
Aim: To give an overview of the topic, to motivate students and to develop a self reflective
approach.
Some presentation and discussion topics are:
(a) Introduction to the topic of negotiation, and its importance
This could include an overview of the sources of knowledge and methods of the study of
negotiation (eg. diplomacy, industrial relations, psychology, conflict styles, experimental,
case studies or anecdotal literature). The key point here is to alert students to how the
different sources and methods influence the nature of the recommendations. For example,
many of the recommendations arising out of case studies of international diplomacy
negotiations can be used in other contexts. But we have to take note of the broader context
and generally longer time frames in these negotiations and adapt the recommendations to
our particular context.
(b) The paper by Sebenius (2001), ‘Six Habits of Merely Effective Negotiators’
This is a good example of an overview paper. It can lead to a useful discussion of the six
habits and the students own experiences.
(c) Definition and key characteristics
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(d) Discussion of the characteristics of negotiation
These can lead into some self-reflection tasks:
(i) Students can compare their own negotiation experiences based on the reflective
exercise: What are my negotiations like?
(ii) Students can complete and discuss the self-reflection tools based on Deutsch and/or
Salacuse in Appendix 3 as an initial self-reflection. While undertaking this task, some
students are likely to comment that ‘it all depends’ – that sometimes they act in one
way, sometimes in others. They should be encouraged to reflect on what their natural
inclination is. This can lead to two discussion points. Firstly, they need to know their
instinctive attitudes or behaviours to also know if circumstances are requiring them to
move out of their comfort zone (and so perhaps then being less effective than they
think they are). Secondly, the comment ‘it all depends’ is the start of a strategic
perspective…it all depends upon what?
(iii) Students can discuss their ‘critical incidents’ as a way of learning about negotiation
through when they go wrong. (Alternatively, asking students to think about their
critical incidents can be left to a later class when they have a better understanding of
the dynamics of the process. They can then better analyse why the incidents were
considered ‘critical’.)
(e) The paper by Watkins (1999) ‘Negotiating in a Complex World’
This is another useful introduction, particularly a discussion of his ten propositions about
negotiation. (The ten propositions can be revisited later in the course to see if students still
agree with them or if they think they can improve upon them.)
Class activities
Reflective Exercise: What are my negotiations like? (Handout 2; see appendix 2)
This exercise builds on the tasks in Handout 1 and helps students to become more organised
and structured in their review of a negotiation. It not only helps their reflective learning, but
also establishes a good pattern for effective preparation (see Appendix 1).
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Negotiation Learning: Establishing a starting point for my learning (Handout 3)
This handout – as a starting point – helps participants ‘capture’ their existing knowledge of
negotiation. It’s worth taking copies of completed questionnaires (with the participants’
permission) as it gives a good insight into understanding of the group, and they are also useful
for discussion starters in later seminars.
The questionnaire can also be repeated later in the seminar series to give participants an
opportunity to see what they have learnt and what areas they still want to explore. The
questions should be varied to reflect the issues covered up to that point, as well as any areas
you may want to further emphasise.
Negotiation exercise
It is useful to have a general exercise that can provide a solid negotiation experience that
students can relate to in later seminars. The exercise should not involve too much detailed
information in the roles, as it will detract from the students’ experience of the process.
The first exercise should be used to establish the ground rules for all subsequent exercises.
Some of the risks are that students don’t fully engage in the preparation, or they set out to ‘do
their own thing’ and push beyond the limits of the exercise. The responsibility of students to
their fellow students should be emphasised. When there are several groups undertaking the
role play (as is normal in most classes), then students do need to keep to the allocated
timeframes – otherwise the class as a whole can become disorganised. The first exercise is a
good opportunity to establish the importance of reflection – ‘an exercise is not worth doing if
it is not worth reviewing’.
A good introductory exercise is ‘Arak and Barkan – at war?’. The source of this exercise is
unknown. It has many useful dimensions but can be used to highlight a) the differences
between zero-sum and variable sum issues and the impact these have on negotiation (plus
aspects of competitive/cooperative negotiation more generally), and b) information exchange,
which can be a lead into the next seminar.
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Organisation
This exercise works best with two negotiators on each side; three is acceptable; four is really
too many. You should allow 25-30 minutes for preparation and 30 minutes for the negotiation
itself. Emphasise the deadline (‘you have 30 minutes to reach agreement; if not, then the
generals are already waiting. If no agreement after 30 minutes, then war!’). In practice the
groups near agreement can be allowed to continue for a short while longer, and the typical
negotiation time is around 40 minutes. Also allow 30 minutes for a general debrief.
It is important to bridge across from the students’ experience in the exercise to learning points
which can be applied in actual negotiations. The exercise contains a review sheet, but a more
general one reflecting on competitive and cooperative negotiation can be found under ‘Role
play sheets’, as can some general review questions.
The key points to emerge from this exercise are:
• The order of the issues does not matter
• The nature of the issues – fixed or variable sum, and its impact on how the issue is
negotiated
• Presentation of the issues – big picture first
• That information exchange is crucial (‘hidden’ information includes township values, and
the fact that they are equal, with the implication that both parties can not achieve their
goals; labour/skill resources, mineral resources. Generate information exchange through an
information drip feed.
• Tactics to not disclose – don’t lie, ask a question, summarise or change topic
• Concession making – the importance of fairness (ie. a fair process or equal losses)
• Managing an adjournment – foreshadow the need for a break rather than act suddenly,
clarify the state of the negotiation, leave them with something to do, keep in touch if the
adjournment is extended.
• Review of the outcome – who carries the risk? Are the risks balanced or integrated? Who
owns what? (hidden fixed sum issues, for example, on whose land is any steel mill?) What
is the distribution of benefits in terms of the share to each party, and when are those
benefits likely to materialise over time?
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It would be helpful to refer back to these points as part of your review of later negotiation
exercises.
Review
The seminar should conclude with students being given the opportunity to reflect upon the
key points they have learned about negotiation during the session (See ‘Getting Started’ for
some review questions).
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Seminar 2
THE ESSENCE OF NEGOTIATION
This seminar essentially continues to lay the foundation from the first seminar.
Objectives
That participants understand the practical importance of the core elements of
negotiation (the DNA). The focus is on personality, trust, reciprocity and ethics (power
will be addressed later).
Pre-tasks
Reflective exercise: Making sense of myself as a negotiator (Handout 4)
This is a ‘values’ questionnaire that will lead to the reflective approach
outlined in Appendix 3 (which is most usefully done in a later seminar). An
alternative task is for students to review one of their negotiations in terms of
the DNA of negotiation – personality, trust, etc.
Required reading: Chapter 2
Presentations
It is helpful to start with a review of the previous seminar by getting students to think about
the learning point that they wrote down at the end of that seminar. Look at how it made
any difference (if at all) to any negotiations they have been involved in during the past
week.
This seminar is structured around an experiential exercise, so the content of any initial
presentation should be kept to a minimum. It might involve a review of the exercise
undertaken the previous week, but the primary discussion will occur after the exercise and
after the other activities.
Class activities
There is a risk that doing the class activities and having a discussion on them first might
impact upon the students’ behaviour in the exercise. Given this, it is recommended to do the
exercise first.
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(a) Negotiation Styles
Students could complete a ‘negotiation styles’ questionnaire, eg Thomas-Kilmann Conflict
Mode Instrument (Shell, 2001). Besides considering and comparing their own styles, a
class discussion on whether ‘styles’ are shaped by context could follow.
(b) Negotiation Biases
A discussion about negotiation biases is useful. What are some of the students’
experiences, and how might we counter them?
(c) Personality
The discussion could be broadened to consider the effect of ‘personality’ on negotiation,
followed by a debate over the ‘null hypothesis’ (ie. that personality and gender don’t
matter).
(d) Complete the SINS questionnaire (Robinson, Lewicki and Donahue, 2000)
The SINS questionnaire is an introduction to the important topic of ethics in negotiation.
If there is not time to complete and discuss the questionnaire (or, if you prefer to deal with
the topic of ethics later in the course when students have a better understanding of the
process, behavioural tactics, etc) a good discussion question is, ‘What would you not do to
reach an agreement?’ (This question is based on one asked by John Eales when researching
for his books on sport and business leadership).
The other important topic to be covered in this seminar is the notion of trust. This is best dealt
with as part of the feedback discussion over the negotiation exercise.
Negotiation exercise
The exercise ‘Petrol Pricing and Making a Profit’ has been developed out of the ‘gas station
game’ found in Murninghan (1991) The Dynamics of Bargaining Games Prentice Hall. It is
an iterated Prisoners’ Dilemma game and is a great experiential look at questions of choice
and trust. It also emphasises the important point that the outcome of one’s strategy is
contingent on the other party’s choices. This can also lead into the next seminar on strategic
choice.
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The time taken to complete this exercise will depend on the number of participants/pairs, but
with around 20 participants the exercise should take about an hour, plus allow time for
discussion.
Organisation
This exercise works best if participants can be seated in two rows facing each other and
paired off diagonally. (It is very difficult to run this exercise in a normal case study room with
fixed tiered seating.)
With a class of 20, each ‘station owner’ would be numbered as follows:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
The pairings would therefore be: 1&11, 2&12, 3&13, 4&14, 5&15, 6&16, 7&17, 8&18
9&19, 10&20.
It should be emphasised to the participants in this exercise, that being a petrol station owner is
their livelihood and that their sole objective is to maximise their income. Generate a focus on
the petrol pricing issue as where the money is (that is, try and deter students from basing their
strategy on the attitude that “if I sell cheap petrol everyone will come to me to have their cars
repaired and I’ll make my money that way”). Emphasise the need to maximise profit.
Each participant should be given 10 small cards (obtainable from any newsagent). For each
round, they should write down on a card their station number, the ‘round’ and their decision –
either ‘full’ or ‘cut’. They should record their decision on the record sheet.
It is important to emphasise that there should be no discussion. Participants should be
encouraged to write down any thoughts or reactions on their worksheets, and these can be
discussed later. Some participants may try to write notes on their decision cards, but only
‘full’ or ‘cut’ should be allowed. Anything else should be torn off the card before being given
to the other station owner.
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The lecturer should then collect the decisions of station owners 1 though to 10, then those
from 11 onwards, while at the same time handing over the decision by the other station owner
(for example, collect 11’s decision while handing over the decision of 1). Then hand out the
decisions of station owners 11-20 to stations 1 to 10. It is important to do this systematically
so that each station owner gets the decision from the right station owner on the other side.
Participants should record the decision of the other station owner on their record sheet and
calculate the profit they have made during the previous week. There is space for them here to
note any thoughts, reactions or comments.
Variation
A fun variation of this exercise is for the presenter, at Round 8, to say to the group that
because of a shortage of time, the exercise will have stop at this round (generate a scenario for
example, that the station owner has sold the business). When Round 8 is completed, tell the
students that there will then be another round or two (again for example, that the legal aspect
of the sale has been delayed), and continue on to Round 10.
This variation can lead to a useful discussion later about circumstances where a station owner
takes the opportunity to exploit what they think is the last move, only to have to then deal
again with the person they have just tried to gain an advantage over (which is quite common
in this exercise).
The decisions of each pairing should be put up on a whiteboard, together with the profit totals
of each. For example:
1&11
2&12
1
cut full
full full
2
cut cut
full cut
3
cut full
etc
4
full full
3&13
4&14
5&15
6&16, etc
5
etc
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10
Profit - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - $12,400
$8,800
The quickest way to compile this information is to ask the first station owner in each pair to
call out the decisions of both owners, then for each to give their profit levels. Usually there is
a wide range of sequences of decision – one or two may be ‘full-full’ for all ten rounds; some
may be ‘cut-cut’ for all rounds.
Some questions for discussion include:

Those who started with ‘full’, why did you do this?

Why did those who started with ‘cut’ choose that option?

What was your reaction to the other person’s first choice? (Particularly those who
went ‘full’ but the other person went ‘cut’)

Were those consistently going ‘full full’ ever tempted to go ‘cut? If so, why didn’t
they?

What strategies, if any, did those who went with ‘cut’ think about to try to change the
sequence to ‘full full’? Did they work, and was trying to get to ‘full full’ even an
objective?
It is often useful to ask who did the best in the exercise. Typically, students will point to any
pairs who did ‘full full’ throughout as the most successful, as they achieved the highest joint
profit. But there is usually one or more individual station owner that earns more profit than
either of the ‘full full’ station owners. This leads to an interesting discussion: what is meant
by the ‘best’ outcome and the general presumption that the best is the best joint outcome
(even though it may be at the expense of individual gain). There is are also longer term issues
that need to be considered, plus the risk of one party focusing on achieving a joint gain while
the other party is focusing on individual gain.
This exercise naturally leads to a discussion of the ways to break a competitive spiral –
particularly the five ‘F’s and the GRIT strategy, and how these might apply to negotiations
that the students are involved in.
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The central focus of the exercise is the notion of trust. The discussion can cover aspects of
risk and choice (without which there is no need for choice), whether you can negotiate with
people who are untrustworthy and how to earn trust without making oneself vulnerable. This
discussion can also lead onto the question of ethics (see item (d) under class activities, above).
If the students have previously completed a ‘negotiation styles’ questionnaire (see item (a)
under class activities above) then it might be instructive for them to review their responses in
relation to their actual behaviour. (To minimise the impact that completing the questionnaire
might have on how they then undertake the exercise, one option is for students to complete
the questionnaire but to not do the evaluation. That way they don’t get to work out what their
style is prior to starting the exercise.
Another key point from the exercise is that the outcome of one’s own decision is actually
dependent upon the choice made by the other negotiator. This is an important consequence of
the two-sided nature of negotiation. Typically negotiators tend to think linearly (‘if we do
this, then they will do that’), without recognising that the other party has choices too. This can
be a useful lead in to the notion of strategic choice in Seminar 3.
Review
This seminar should conclude with students being given the opportunity to reflect upon the
key points they have learned about negotiation during the session.
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Seminar 3
BEING STRATEGIC
This seminar focuses on issue strategies (seminar 4 will focus on process)
Objectives

That participants understand the practical significance of a strategic approach to
negotiation

That participants develop an effective approach to preparation.
Pre-tasks
To review their own negotiations in terms of power and/or critical incidents (revisiting
their notes, Handouts 1 and 2)
Required reading: Chapter 3 (and recap power in Chapter 2)
Presentation and discussion
Aim: To explain the strategic approach and framework
Some presentation and discussion topics are:
(a) Review and Recap
Students will benefit from reviewing their learning outcome from the previous week and it
is useful to have a recap discussion about the notion of trust. Students may have insights
from their negotiations during the previous week that they could share with the class.
(b) The issue versus the process
An important introductory point is to make the distinction between the issue being
negotiated over, and the process through which the issue is negotiated. This class focuses
on the issue and is not concerned with how the issue strategies are implemented, only with
how to decide what the appropriate issue strategy is at any point in the negotiation. This
issue-process distinction helps get past the competitive-cooperative dichotomy. It will be
seen, for example, that standing firm (contending) early might be regarded as ‘cooperative’
(it being an antecedent of value-adding creative compromise), while standing firm towards
the end of a negotiation might be regarded as ‘competitive’. Another key introductory
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point draws on the previous seminar: that the outcome of one’s decision is dependent upon
the choice of the other negotiator.
Note: An alternative way into the whole notion of strategy is to start with the notions of
competitiveness and cooperation. In this case it would be useful to set the reflective
exercise, ‘Making sense of competitiveness and cooperation’ (Handout 5 as a pre-task).
(c) Discussion of strategy
Discuss what the students already understand ‘strategy’ to be. For example, talk about
what they have may learnt from strategic management or marketing classes. A discussion
of the difference between strategy and tactics would is another useful way to explore the
notion of strategy.
(d) The notion of power
Talk about the notion of power as continued from Chapter 2. The key point is how
important power is, but how difficult it is to evaluate. (This is one reason why we typically
overestimate our power position; another being that we forget that negotiation is twosided.) This should lead to a discussion of the interdependence between negotiators (two
parties, with differences, which they need to settle …) and of Fisher, Ury & Patton’s
notion of BATNA. Try applying it to an actual negotiation to assess its usefulness (such as
one recently featured in the news), particularly as it helps get past any instinctive first
reactions as to which party had the most power.
The main focus of the presentation should be to ensure that students understand the
strategy framework and how to use it in practice.
(e) Main elements of the model
Depending on the class it may be sufficient to review the main elements of the model – the
issue strategies, the strategy factors and how these combine to indicate appropriate
strategy.
A point for discussion is the way in which an issue of high importance to self can lead to
both a contending strategy and a creative compromise. Emphasise the need for the quality
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of alternatives to be the same for both parties if they are going to effectively undertake
either of the compromise strategies. The class might also benefit from a discussion on
whether the term ‘creative compromise’ can be improved upon – does it really capture the
idea of creating value?
A key element in the framework is that to complete the ‘expectation of their strategy’
component, a full analysis of the negotiation from the other party’s perspective is required.
This counters the tendency for one-sidedness in preparation.
Alternatively it might be considered appropriate to go through the chapter in more detail,
to review the dual concerns approach and then consider each of the strategy factors more
fully.
(f) Relationships
Discuss the role of relationships and their importance in negotiation. Most students have
examples, especially cross cultural ones, of where the relationship is regarded as important.
There can be useful discussion over the distinction between relationships between
negotiators and relationships between the parties. The framework regards the latter as part
of the outcome – this can be put up for discussion.
(g) Practical exercises
The practical implementation of the strategic approach is best understood through practical
exercises (see below), though if preferred the practical implications that are outlined at the
end of Chapter 3 can be reviewed.
(h) Develop a case study
It would be helpful to develop a case study as an example, or alternatively, use the airline
case, ‘A potential joint venture’.
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Class activities
The discussion of strategy can be quite conceptual, so it benefits from a practical exercise
such as ‘NIMBY’ (Not in My Backyard!), where the participants can work through a situation
and develop a strategy.
(a) The NIMBY case provides a lot of information and scope for reasonable imagination. It is
based on an actual example, but would benefit from being rewritten to suit the local
context.
Organisation
Having familiarised themselves with the case, groups of participants should identify what
facts in the situation need to be taken into account. Let the story speak to you. It is not
necessary to discuss or evaluate these facts, just let the students identify what might seem
to be important.
The groups’ suggestions should be put up on a whiteboard, laid out in a generally random
fashion on the left hand side under ‘The context’, while the strategy framework should be
listed on the right (see below). There will be opportunity to start linking them together
later.
The context
The points
the students
identify are
written here
Strategy factor
Evaluation
Importance of
high/low
low
high
high(ish)
high
high/low
high
low
high
high
issue to self
Concern for
other’s outcome
etc
Working off the information under ‘context’, the participants (either in groups, or the class
as a whole) should evaluate each strategy factor. For example, is importance of issue to
self high or low? Students may well look back into the case for more information, which
will show the risks of making early decisions about what might be important.
Once each factor is evaluated, the appropriate level (low/high, etc) in the framework
should be highlighted (as per Figure 3 in Chapter 3). Very rarely will it emerge that the
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evaluations ‘line up’ for one strategy – this reflects real life. Consider what factors in the
context might be changed which would lead to a re-evaluation and more factors lining up
behind a particular strategy. This aspect of the exercise is good in bringing out the often
forgotten aspect of seeing what might be changed before the negotiations start.
The settlement involved purchasing a nearby property on their behalf, but because of the
way it was handled, the negotiations did not degenerate into a win-lose negotiation on
price.
There is one point about this case that does not come out clearly in the story. When
considering the Main Road’s concern for other party’s outcome, the usual conclusion is
‘low’ (the typical cynical view of the public sector, “I’m from the government and I’m
here to help you”). In this case that was the prevailing attitude prior to the negotiation,
which contributed to the problem. However, the manager given the task of resolving this
issue genuinely felt that his role was to protect individuals from poor bureaucratic
decisions, so his concern for the other party – though perhaps not his organisation – was
high.
An interesting question to pose in the discussion is in trying to estimate the importance of
issue to self for the owner (which needs to be done to estimate their likely strategy). Would
it have made a difference if she (a widow), had had her husband buried on the property, as
can sometimes happen? That was not the case here.
(b) The healthcare exercise (again based on an actual negotiation) has a clearer business
focus. The questions for discussion reinforce the need to take a broad analytical
perspective to preparation. In addition, the questions on the opening and closing offer give
an opportunity to apply the strategy framework.
Conclusion and review
Students will now have two tools that will help them prepare for forthcoming negotiations
(these can also be revisited as negotiations progress). First, students should be familiar with
the process of using the definition of negotiation as a preliminary analysis of the negotiation
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(appendix 1). Secondly, they should feel able to use the strategy framework (appendix 4) to
help guide them manage their approach to the issue under negotiation.
To conclude the session, students should again be invited to review what they have learned.
They could be asked to reflect upon a previous negotiation and what they might have done
differently had they or their negotiating team been more ‘strategic’.
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Seminar 4
THE PROCESS OF NEGOTIATION
The focus of this seminar is on the process of individual interaction between negotiators – the
micro behaviours. This session complements Seminar 3 with its focus on the issue. (These
two seminars can be done in either order, but should be done before Seminar 5 which brings
both issue and process aspects together.)
Objectives

That participants understand the underlying dynamics of interaction between
negotiators

That participants understand the significance of language and
recognition/observation
Pre-tasks
Reflective exercise: Making sense of competitiveness and cooperation (Handout 5)
Required reading: Chapter 4
Presentation and discussion
Aim: To examine the processes of communication
Presentation and discussion topics are:
(a) Recap and review
The session should start with a review of the previous week and the students’ own
experiences. It might be useful to explore whether any of their negotiations have involved
clear periods of creative compromise (genuinely adding value), in contrast to clear-cut
compromises (trading off and splitting the difference).
(b) Competition or cooperation
One way to focus more closely on the patterns of interaction is to start by broadly
discussing the nature of competitiveness and cooperation in negotiation. Students can
discuss their responses to the pre-task (Handout 5), or instead, work in small groups to
quickly draw up two lists of ‘competitive’ and ‘cooperative’ examples as a starting point
for discussion.
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(c) Discussion
The concluding introductory discussion point is whether there is any support, either from
the research or from the students’ own experience, for the proposition that most activities
in negotiation can be either competitive or cooperative.
(d) Language
The critical point, so far as being effective in negotiation is concerned, is that if there are
phases and tasks in negotiation then we need to be able to recognise them. Furthermore, if
we can’t recognise what is being conveyed from across the table, then we are less likely to
make an appropriate response. The purpose in focusing on language is to enhance the
students’ awareness of how language can be used to shape the progress of a negotiation.
(e) Standard models of communication
If appropriate, review the standard models of communication (assuming that participants
have covered the topic earlier, perhaps in an Organisational Behaviour class).
(f) Research methods
Provide a brief overview of the research methods that are used to examine dialogue, as an
introduction to what the participants themselves will be doing in the exercise.
Class activities
Use a standard exercise to test the participants’ listening skills (or lack thereof), as it
highlights the fact that people tend to half-hear and then infer.
Negotiation exercise
The objective of the practical exercises is to make participants more aware of language and
how they can shape a dialogue through appropriate responses. The exercises can also be used
to show the importance of reciprocity information exchange (elements of negotiation’s DNA).
Expect these exercises to take up most of the time available in the session.
Because the focus is on the interaction, the exercises chosen should be low context (that is,
not have a great deal of background information to absorb). Participants should be
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encouraged to strive for the best possible outcome, but to focus more on the process rather
than the outcome.
If time permits there should be two negotiation exercises. If this happens, ensure that the
structure of the second exercise is different to the first.
Many negotiation researchers use a simple three-issue negotiation exercise and provide details
of the exercise in their research papers. These exercises usually provide the opportunity to
trade off low and high value items, and outcomes are assessed through a pay-off structure.
They can take 15-20 minutes to reach an agreement and so provide an opportunity for a wide
range of negotiation behaviours (though scope for genuinely creative ‘outside the box’
solutions is limited and often precluded, given the nature of the pay-off structures in the
participants’ role information). The context of these negotiation situations can easily be rewritten to relate to local circumstances while retaining the essential structure of the exercise.
(More recent exercises tend to be more complex, but for these purposes the first negotiation
exercise should be uncomplicated.)
The ‘Book Deal Negotiation’ exercise (sourced from Lewicki, R.J., Saunders, D.M. and
Minton, J.W., 2003, Negotiation Readings Exercises and Cases, Irwin McGraw-Hill) is
suitable as a second exercise. It contains more issues and therefore ‘hides’ the underlying payoff structure on each issue (so students do not recognise it as being similar to the three-issue
negotiation). As an alternative, an exercise similar to ‘Road Rage’ might be used for either the
first or second negotiation. Two versions are provided here to allow for different sized
groups.
As a preliminary to the exercises it is necessary to outline the statement categories which will
be used. Handouts 6 and 7 are based on one set of statement categories that relate to the tasks
of negotiation as presented in chapters 6, 7 and 8. However, other coding schema can be used.
Time needs to be spent ensuring that students begin to understand the differences between
each statement category. This can be done by providing examples of statement types using the
context of the negotiation exercise they will be using. (For example, if the exercise involves
buying or selling electrical goods then the examples could relate to the retail context.) If time
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and resources permit, then a short, carefully scripted role-play could be written to include
each statement category. This could then be acted out in front of the class.
The exercises give participants the opportunity to enhance their observation skills. This is
done by requiring them to ‘code’ the statements of another negotiator using a coding sheet.
This is a difficult and tiring task because it requires a lot of concentration, so participants need
to be regularly encouraged to ‘code’ the statements of the person they have been asked to
observe. If the exercise is done properly it provides the students with rich feedback about how
they negotiate. However it is important, to accurately judge the mood and tolerance of the
group. If necessary, at some point allow them to just negotiate the actual exercise without
bothering to code the statements.
The benefit of having two exercises (if time permits), is that the first can be of low intensity,
while the second is an opportunity to reinforce the skills at a higher level. The level of
intensity can be set in two different ways. Firstly, the categorisation of statements can be
broad (as in Handout 6) or they can be more precise (as in Handout 7). Secondly, the
negotiation group can comprise of up to four participants, which gives them more ‘breaks’
between coding and time to contribute to the negotiation themselves. (One way to do this is to
have each participant code the statements of the person on their left.) Or the negotiation can
involve just two negotiators; this requires the participants to code and negotiate concurrently
and is therefore far more intense. You should exercise your own judgement, based on your
knowledge of your students, when deciding the level of intensity that you want the students to
engage in.
The first exercise can be quite short – 15 to 20 minutes should suffice. At the conclusion of
the exercise, each participant can see what their neighbour ‘scored’ them, and the group as a
whole can discuss what the data told them about how they – individually and collectively –
were negotiating. An alternative approach (if the negotiation is likely to take 20 minutes or
longer), is to call a forced adjournment after 10 minutes and get the group to compare their
codings. They can then resume negotiating (and preferably continue coding) through to the
conclusion of the exercise when they again review what they have done.
Participants can then undertake a second exercise to heighten their skills. (One option is to
delay this second exercise to the start of the following seminar so the participants can come at
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it ‘fresh’). If using a role-play such as ‘Book Deal’, the exercise can be organised in a number
of ways. If negotiating two-on-two (ie. two participants working together in each role), then
each participant observes one of those across the table, but not the one observing them. A
one-on-one negotiation is harder because each participant has to code the person talking
directly to them (which is what we do in a negotiation, of course, but it can seem harder when
it is made more explicit). One way to do this is to require each participant to code, and record,
the other’s statement before responding.*
Whatever the format, the procedure is for the participants to negotiate and code for about five
minutes, then stop and discuss their coding data before resuming the negotiation and coding.
After a further 5 minutes, stop and review again. Typically, participants will just want to
negotiate the issues rather than code. If so, allow them to do this as they are probably going to
ignore the coding anyway.
If you use either of Handouts 6 or 7, you may find that participants have coded statements on
the left of the sheet (the issue statements), but few process the related statements on the right
of the sheet. If this is the case, encourage them to try more summarising, etc. as these are the
‘lubricants’ of a negotiation.
In discussing the exercises participants may find that they made more ticks (√) towards the
top of the page at the start of the negotiation, and more ‘exchange’ ticks as the negotiation
progressed. If so, they should begin to recognise that their negotiation was moving through
phases – more information exchange early and more exchange later. They might also be able
to comment on whether they can discern any reciprocity in the types of statements that were
being made, such as one information statement leading to another.
Review
Students can review their learning by considering which statement category they can try and
use more frequently in their negotiations in the coming week.
*
This approach draws on the conference process exercises developed by Honey and his colleagues.
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Seminar 5
MANAGING A NEGOTIATION
This seminar focuses on the broader aspects of the negotiation process by bringing together
both issue and behavioural aspects.†
Objectives

That participants appreciate the practical importance of managing the process

That participants appreciate the use of imagery
Pre-tasks
Reflective exercise: Making sense of my negotiations (Handout 8)
Required reading: Chapter 5
Presentation(s)
Aim: To explain the notion of phases in negotiation.
Some presentation and discussion topics are:
(a) Recap and review
This session seeks to bring together the issue and behavioural aspects, so it will be
important to recap the notion of strategic choice and how it may be sequential (or at least
how the issue strategies might change during the course of the negotiation). Similarly,
review the importance of language and whether sequences emerge out of the definition.
Students can be encouraged to draw on their own experiences of the previous week’s
exercises and any recent actual negotiations.
(b) The tasks in negotiation
Students will need an overview of the tasks in negotiation that build on the previous
week’s exercises and lays the foundation for the next two weeks.
†
The approach taken in the book is to provide the broad context and then look more closely at the three tasks in
Chapters 6, 7 and 8. An alternative approach is to deal with the tasks first and then do this seminar on integrating
them into the overall process of reaching agreement.
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(c) This will lead into the notion of phases and of the need to manage the negotiations, which
in turn will lead onto the use of imagery to grasp the dynamics of negotiation and
presentation of the Nullarbor (or another) model.
(d) Deadlocks
It is useful to talk about deadlocks and why negotiations falter. Explore the idea that
deadlocks are opportunities to review the progress of negotiation, rather than be a terminal
crisis. Students may have critical incidents or other ‘war’ stories to relate to, and if they are
willing, these can be discussed in terms of issue strategies and process dynamics. If
students are warming to the metaphor of rail imagery, there are good ideas about
negotiations ‘going off the rails’, etc.
(e) Mediation
The process of mediation provides good insights into how an agreement-reaching process
should be managed. (Note: mediation is a rich topic in its own right and could easily fill a
whole seminar.) From a negotiation perspective, two key elements are, (1) how to use
‘mediation’ skills to manage one’s own negotiation, and, (2) how to react to a mediator if you
become party to a mediation.
Class activities
(a) At the start of the class or presentation, ask students to be imaginative and ‘draw’ a
negotiation. (Many will just draw two people sitting across a table, but some will be more
creative.)
(b) Generating imagery of negotiation – work in groups to develop an image of the
negotiation process. (You’ll need large sheets of paper and a range of coloured pens for
this task.) Encourage groups to be imaginative. The drawing has to show something which
has a start and a finish, and a number of stages that in some way can be descriptive of the
three tasks (perhaps deadlocks and alternatives). The range of images students develop in
this task will be broad.
Note: You can also ask students to revisit their scripts in the final class, by which time they
should have a much clearer idea about the negotiation points so that they can then
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incorporate these into their imagery. Developing an individual script of negotiation can
also be an assignment task or an element in a learning journal.
(c) If this seminar is held half way through the semester, participants may benefit from doing
the deep reflection exercise now (appendix 3 or other reviews, such as Handout 9
‘Negotiation learning: a progress test’).
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Negotiation exercise: Phases
You may decide to do a second exercise to reinforce the learning experience from the
previous week. If so, this is best done at the start of the seminar before moving onto the topic
of phases.
The notion of phases implies a substantial negotiation, as does the idea that negotiations need
to be managed. So if you decide to use a negotiation exercise to specifically reinforce these
aspects of negotiation, then it must be one that has a number of issues and a rich context. The
exercise should give students the opportunity to prepare, develop and manage issue strategies.
It should involve lengthy periods of interaction, requiring students to be more alert to the flow
of the process.
Note: There may be a timing issue particularly if the class has involved an initial exercise on
language and observation. The presentation and activities, particularly those generating
imagery of negotiation, may mean there is not enough time for a major negotiation exercise.
An alternative is to use an exercise that focuses on the role of a mediator, such as the
‘Mediation at Transport Incorporated’ exercise. This exercise involves a manager in the
mediation role.
Organisation
The mediator’s role is the most difficult in the exercise and needs the most time to prepare.
Because the purpose of the exercise is to learn about negotiation from a mediation
perspective, a good way to organise it is to give all participants the background and role of the
Employee Relations Manager. In groups of four, they should work out an effective approach
for the ER manager together.
There is much research available about how to be an effective mediator that is beyond the
scope of chapter 5, but the ‘ten point plan’ will provide a sufficient framework for
preparation. Give two of the groups the supervisor and manager roles and allow them time to
prepare. Then have either two ER managers or one taking the role, the other as an observer,
swapping places after about ten minutes. Those with the supervisor and manager roles should
make life difficult for the mediator (within the boundaries of the case).
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This exercise contains a review sheet based on the negotiation tasks of differentiation,
exploration and exchange. A review sheet based on more traditional models of mediation is
provided in ‘role play sheets’.
Review
Students should reflect upon a negotiation that has not gone very well and think how the
process might have been handled differently. What was the process problem? What would I
do if I encountered a similar problem in a negotiation of my own?
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Seminar 6
DEALING WITH DIFFERENCES AND EXPLORING OPTIONS
This seminar takes a closer examination of the tasks within negotiation.
Objectives

That participants understand the importance of differentiation and uncovering
underlying interests

That participants appreciate the pragmatic nature of finding solutions in
negotiation
Pre-tasks
Required reading: Chapters 6 and 7. Refer to the tables at the end of the two chapters.
Presentation
Aim: To explain the importance of laying a good foundation in a negotiation
Some topics include:
(a) The Getting to Yes model
It is useful at some point to talk through the Getting to Yes model (the four main
components and the seven elements of negotiation) and the general approach it prescribes.
It forms the core of many negotiation training courses (particularly in the legal arena), and
so it is important to understand the essence of the model – if only because the person
sitting across the table might well have been trained in it.
The approach taken in Effective Negotiation is to focus on the importance of uncovering
underlying interests, but takes a more pragmatic approach than is portrayed in the views of
‘negotiate over interests, not positions’ and ‘invent options for mutual gain’. (The intuitive
rationality of the model sometimes leads to overly positive presentations as to how
negotiation actually works. Getting to Yes is a prescriptive, not descriptive model.)
(b) It is helpful to give examples of negotiations where interests were uncovered to find a new
value-adding solution and to also draw on the students’ experiences. There can be useful
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discussions about why (if this is what occurred) underlying interests were not uncovered
and what might be done differently next time.
(c) The first figure in each of chapters 7 and 8 provides a framework for what ought to occur
in a negotiation. A key point is that ‘cooperation’ does not mean ‘making concessions’.
Some other points about the practical aspects are:
• That contending the issue is important for both parties so they can push through to a point
where they want to look for creative options jointly.
• The importance of information exchange in discerning any underlying interests
• The importance of good preparation in uncovering underlying interests. The result is that
in thoroughly prepared negotiations, both sides should fully understand the other side’s
interests from the outset. Creating value can therefore occur more at the dealprospecting stage rather than at the deal-making stage (see appendices 8).
• The importance of creating an open environment and carefully managing one’s
behaviour, rather than expecting a full problem solving/brainstorming exercise.
(d) As seen in seminar 3 on strategy, the context has a strong influence in shaping what might
unfold in a negotiation. Concept tests can be used to bridge between these strategic aspects
and the management of phases (see ‘Learning more deeply’ for these two examples).
Essentially, each scenario has different contextual factors present (or missing in the case of
the integrative one). For example, the first distributive scenario is a single zero-sum issue
with no further relationship, and in the second integrative example, what is missing is an
evenness of information held by both parties. If short scenarios such as these are written,
they can be a basis for discussing what might need to be changed to facilitate an
information exchange (differentiation) and creativity (exploration). Exploring the
interaction of issue and process in this way helps to get students to reconsider the notion
that creative value-adding solutions can be found just be being ‘cooperative’.
Class activities
(a) If used in an earlier seminar, ‘Arak & Barkan’ can be revisited to examine the case (and
the students’ experiences) from an interest-based perspective. Similarly, recent cases from
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newspapers may also be analysed in terms of the interests and positions of the parties
involved.
(b) The tables at the end of each chapter can be used as a basis for group discussion and
critique.
• How useful are the suggestions? What examples have there been of them working in
previous exercises or other negotiations?
• What responses can be developed to deal with occasions when things to avoid start to
emerge? Negotiators will find it easier to manage these situations and keep the process
on track if they have thought in advance – and quite specifically - about how they will
react. Making a distinction between the issue and the process is important so that the
temptation to deal with competitiveness by making concessions is resisted. It might also
be useful to recall the lessons learned about reciprocity and building trust from the
‘Petrol Pricing’ exercise (Seminar 2).
(c) As a contrasting perspective, the questions developed by Brett & Gelfand (2006) offer a
different way of looking at how negotiations work and how solutions are found. Although
they examine the assumptions behind negotiation to highlight cultural differences (see
table 10.5 in chapter 10), their approach can be used here. Rather than ‘west’ and ‘nonwest’, students can be asked to develop comparisons between ‘positional’ and ‘interest
based’ approaches, or more broadly between ‘competitive’ and ‘cooperative’.
(d) Competitiveness can undermine differentiation and exploration activities, so a discussion
of competitive tactics and how they might be countered (appendix 6) is useful. This also
serves as an introduction to the following seminar on the negotiation end-game (exchange).
Negotiation exercise
There are a large number of exercises described in journals (particularly in the International
Journal of Conflict Resolution) that provide opportunities for participants to develop an
interest-based approach to negotiation. Some are rich in context and tend not to have a
numerical pay-off matrix (that is, the outcomes are not defined in terms of a points value in
the participants’ role information), and these give participants more freedom to explore and
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create options. It is helpful to rewrite any such cases for the local context (but note that it is
appropriate to still acknowledge the original source of the exercise).
Other exercises are designed more precisely so that there are opportunities to create value
through appropriate trade-offs, yet the situations are written such that the adding value tradeoffs are not easily apparent. The benefit of these exercises is that the outcomes of the
negotiations can be compared, and then the review of the exercise can focus on what
participants did or did not do to achieve the differing outcomes. A general preparation
worksheet listed under ‘Role play sheets’ is based on the definition of negotiation, but it is
structured to guide the participants to take an interest-based approach to their negotiation.
If not already used, ‘Mediation at Transport Incorporated’ can easily be adapted as a one-onone negotiation exercise, though even in its mediation format it can be used as an exercise to
focus on managing the differentiation and exploration phases well.
Review
Students can be asked to pick one negotiation behaviour which they think will help improve
their information exchange (differentiation), and another which they think will help in finding
creative solutions, and commit to using these in their next negotiation.
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Seminar 7
THE END-GAME EXCHANGE
This seminar focuses on managing the competitive dynamics in negotiation.
Objective
That participants learn how to manage the inevitable competitiveness effectively
Pre-tasks
Familiarisation with the background information of the BondForm exercise (if it is to be
used)
Required reading: Chapter 8
Recommended reading: Appendix 8 for insights into business negotiation
Appendix 6 and recap chapter 6
Presentation
Aim: To outline the main elements of the competitive dynamic in negotiation.
Some presentation and discussion topics are:
(a) Review and Recap
Review the students understanding of cooperation and their experience of genuinely valueadding negotiation, particularly how those outcomes are achieved. Reinforce the point that
‘cooperation’ does not mean ‘making concessions’. If the review point at the end of the
previous seminar was to identify a differentiation and exploration behaviour and to try
them out, then the students can also discuss their experiences.
(b) End-game review
Review the different ways an end-game can unfold. This will draw on both the (strategic)
issue and process aspects of negotiation, and again highlight the importance of BATNA
(ours and theirs). The figures and boxes at the end of the chapter can be reviewed. It might
be useful to revisit some earlier exercises for students to consider whether the end-games
tended towards the competitive or more cooperative patterns of exchange.
(c) Lead in to the BondForm exercise
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As a lead in to the BondForm (or similar) exercise, it might be useful to, (a) recap the
importance of differentiation and information exchange as a foundation for later claiming
value, and (b), emphasise the importance of finding the other party’s BATNA and
positioning the final offer close to it if the objective is to claim as much value as possible
(as it will be in the exercise).
(d) End-game Imagery
There can be some useful discussion around the end-game imagery of a negotiator as a
tight-rope walker – trying to keep a fine balance between achieving the best outcome for
one’s party, and making concessions that are necessary to reach an agreement rather than
have the negotiations deadlock.
Note: Rather than have a presentation, a different approach is to use a major competitive
exercise to lead the students through the main elements of a competitive end-game strategy.
Class activities
(a) Arak & Barkan (or any other exercise used in earlier seminars) can be used as an
opportunity to practice framing. This can be done by putting participants into small
groups to do one or both of the following role tasks:

One role is as a reporter for a stridently nationalistic newspaper. The group has
to write a briefing paper for the editor so he can write an appropriate editorial
in support of the government against the invader. The group should frame the
situation competitively.

The second role is as an advisor who has to prepare a briefing paper for an
international mediator who is evaluating the prospects for a constructive
involvement. This perspective should cause the group to write a more
integrative account of the situation.
Another way of getting students to think about framing is to take a negotiation, perhaps
one reported in the newspapers (it can be any type of negotiation or issue where persuasion
is required), and pose the question, ‘we need to get the other party to agree to …..; how
will you make your points in order to get their agreement?’
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(b) Students can be given a broad scenario for a negotiation and be asked to fill in the detail to
invite a contending strategy. A second group can be given the same scenario and have the
task of writing a context so that the parties veer towards a creative compromise. (To do this
properly, students should use the strategy framework.) This could also be a major project
with presentations in the last week.
(c) Appendix 6 provides examples of competitive tactics and can used as a basis for a
discussion on the students’ own experiences – for example, whether the tactics or the
recommended responses are effective, or whether other tactics could be added to the list.
As a project, students could be asked to review other books (particularly those on sales
negotiation or with a ‘negotiate and win’ perspective) for competitive and closing tactics;
with their task being to develop counter tactics.
Negotiation exercise
BondForm is a managed exercise that helps participants experience and improve the
competitive contending/conceding strategies. The exercise is based on an actual negotiation,
but it has been rewritten and a set of financials have been created for it. (Note: the exercise is
a good lead-in to the next seminar on constituency negotiation and for discussions of business
negotiation case studies in the final seminar.)
The nature of the exercise means that there is little scope for exploration and creativity. This
is deliberate (as well as reflecting the actual negotiation), as the intent of the exercise is to
focus on managing competitiveness. Essentially, the process involves information exchange
and then the management of the issues through contending, clear-cut compromise and
conceding strategies. For example, one issue on the table is the difference in technical
capabilities between the two companies. In an actual negotiation there might be a prospect for
technical cooperation that would open up new possibilities; however technology transfer is
also a risky issue. One company might well find it is ‘transferring’ its sole competitive
advantage. But in both the negotiation itself and in this exercise, these broader possibilities
detract from the key issues. To keep the exercise focused, the negotiations should be over the
Western Australian component of the contract.
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The exercise itself can take up to three hours. It is useful to make a presentation on the
dynamics of competitive negotiation first (information exchange and the end game), but it is
equally feasible to launch into the exercise straightaway. You can save up to half an hour by
giving participants the background information in advance. Negotiating two-on-two is the
best arrangement and the parties will need another half hour to prepare once they are given
their roles. The participants can be left to negotiate an outcome, which can take around 45
minutes. However, to strengthen the skill development aspect it is useful to manage the
participants’ progress through the exercise.
Each role contains a preparation page, and the participants should be expected to complete
their preparation in this way (as it important to encourage a disciplined approach to
preparation). They could also do an analysis using the strategy framework (from Seminar 3) if
you think the strategic aspect needs reinforcing. This is a complex situation with detailed
information as well as ‘missing’ information, so it is worth monitoring the participant’s
progress and giving some broad direction when necessary. Students will usually get to work
on the costings but forget the big picture (which they are directed to by some key financials
being highlighted.) They also tend to focus on what they know, rather than on what they don’t
know. Later in their preparation participants should be encouraged to think about the other
party’s reason for getting involved in a negotiation, because they typically forget to do this.
Participants should also be encouraged to think ‘big numbers’ – this is the oil industry and
there is a lot of money to be made for those willing to try. Competitiveness can also be
engendered by stating that part of the review will be to compare outcomes – who has made
the most profit for their company.
For the negotiations themselves, the negotiating teams will need space to adjourn, but if
possible, it is helpful to have the groups in relative proximity (such as in the four corners of a
large room) so that the negotiations can be ‘managed’. After approximately 10-15 minutes
you can call a forced adjournment – “this is Brisbane; there has just been an afternoon storm
and the power is out so you have to stop negotiating. Take this as an opportunity to go into
private session and review your progress.”
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If the participants are thinking about the process as well as the issue, this first period of
negotiation should be about differentiation and information exchange. There should not be
any claims or offers on the table at this early stage. Participants, in their separate teams,
should be asked to consider the question: What do you now know that you did not know when
you started the negotiation? This is a test of how effective their information gathering and
exchange has been. They should then be asked to consider: “What do you still need to know,
and how will you find out?” This should lead them on to crafting the questions that they need
to ask to get the information.
It is helpful to monitor the groups in their review, and if necessary prompt them with the
question, ‘do you know how much the other party needs to reach an agreement with
you? (Two parties with differences which they need to settle …) After about 10 minutes
you can say that the power is back on and negotiations can resume. Some groups may
not be ready, but participants should be encouraged to continue in the differentiation
phase.
After a further 10-15 minutes of negotiations, call for another adjournment and review
of progress. By this stage the participants should have fully canvassed the issues and
perhaps be putting initial offers on the table. However, often there are still
misunderstandings. One way of drawing attention to the need to check the state of
negotiations is to ask the teams as part of their review: “What are the issues that need to
be covered in the final agreement?” This approximates to drawing up a list of topics to
be covered in an MOU.
The issues are:

Duration – start and completion dates

Risk – who carries how much risk and for what

Bonuses

Price (In this case, other complicating issues include: technology transfer,
whether WATCG should make the units but SMPL install in Western Australia,
and whether WATCG can make units for elsewhere.)
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If you discern that the two parties are unclear of the issues, you can suggest that one
person from each side meet in an informal meeting to clarify their list of issues. There is
no need to ensure that the parties cover the full range of issues (often the question of a
completion bonus for WATCG never arises), simply the parties themselves should take
stock as to what their key issues are before putting their final offers on the table.
In the last negotiation session, parties should be coached into making a final offer and
sticking too it. The participants must think about where to pitch their offer, how to
frame it and how to draw the other party into agreement. Remind them that the final
agreements will be compared as part of the review. The last period can take over 20
minutes and it may be necessary to start imposing some time limits to encourage final
concession making (or contending!) to get to a point of agreement (for example, they
need to get to the airport to make a flight back to Perth).
The exercise contains a review sheet which can be the basis for discussion about what
might usefully be learned for future negotiations. It is important to emphasise that even
the most cooperative negotiations have elements of competitiveness, either because
some issues are fixed sum, or because of constituency or other pressures. All
negotiations have an ‘end game’, so it is wrong to compartmentalise some negotiations
as being ‘competitive’ and others ‘cooperative’. A good negotiator will know how to
manage competitiveness over issues and the end game constructively, and are not
seduced into concessions by being over-conciliatory.
Review
The review sheet for this exercise includes questions that encourage participants to think
about practical implications. The final review of the class can be to get students to write down
one practical implication that they feel is most relevant to their negotiations. Alternatively
they can consider which competitive situation or behaviour by others that they find most
difficult to deal with, and write down one way they plan to handle it in future.
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Seminar 8
NEGOTIATING ON BEHALF OF OTHERS
This seminar focuses on the challenges of managing parallel negotiations.
This is probably the most difficult aspect of negotiation to teach effectively. It is difficult to
fully convey the impact of constituencies, because the constituencies themselves differ so
widely (compare a board of directors with a group of workers standing on the picket line).
This is an aspect of negotiation where the experience of practitioners as visiting speakers is
particularly useful.
Objectives
That participants understand the need for careful management in constituency
negotiations.
Pre-tasks
Analyse a constituency negotiation using the negotiation checklist (Appendix 2).
Required reading: Chapter 9
Presentation
Aim: To show how the core dynamics of the process of reaching agreement are affected by
the presence of constituencies.
Some presentation and discussion topics are:
(a) Review and recap
Review the students’ understanding of both the issues and process aspects of negotiation
(strategies, phases and tasks).
(b) Aspects of negotiating on behalf of others to focus on can include:

The need for very careful analysis

Identifying the intra and inter-party negotiations and taking a strategic approach to
each (see chapter 3)

The notion of separation as both a risk and an opportunity

Unilateral rather than joint problem-solving creativity
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
The effect of constituency on exchange and how a negotiator might need to help
the other manage their own constituency to a point of agreement.
(c) Broaden the discussion to consider other aspects of collectivity in negotiation. One aspect
is whether multi-party negotiations can stay genuinely multi-dimensional, or whether they
become a series of transient two-party negotiations. This can lead into a consideration of
linked negotiations (where the outcome of one leads onto another negotiation). Another
aspect is the different impacts of constituencies (who have negotiators acting on their
behalf) and audiences who have an interest in the outcome but no part in the proceedings.
Discussion of these topics will generally lead back to the importance of taking a
considered strategy approach to the negotiation.
Class activities
(a) Get students to draw the structure of a constituency negotiation that they have been
involved in. Essentially it is taking a much closer look at who/what the two parties are, and
how there can be parties within parties. Although appendix 7 relates specifically to
workplace negotiations, the approach outlined there can be modified for other contexts.
(b) An alternative approach (particularly if the students are employed) is to get them to do an
audit of the negotiations that occur within their current organisation (similar to the example
at the beginning of Chapter 1). This can highlight the inter-related nature of negotiations
within an organisation.
(c) Get students to review some of the early research (1970s) into inter-group negotiations, as
early researchers investigated many of the different relationships between constituency and
negotiator (different ways to get one’s negotiation instructions; different ways to report
back the negotiated outcome, etc). Students can be asked to relate these to their work
situations, particularly within the context of a management hierarchy.
Negotiation exercise
Perhaps the best way for students to begin to appreciate the difficulties of constituency
negotiation and of being a representative negotiator, is to get them involved in a complex
negotiation. One type of complexity is that of multiple parties (as in the Harborco exercise – a
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‘Harvard Program on Negotiation’ case). Most of these cases involve negotiators acting on
behalf of diverse constituencies, but it is even better if the roles can be written so that some of
the participants are constituents, requiring there to be a further negotiation between
themselves and their representative.
One difficulty with the organisation of these types of cases, is that representatives get to do a
lot more negotiating, but the constituents – although probably shaping events – find they
spend a lot of time waiting around. A way to overcome this is to have the negotiation
conducted outside of class time. Negotiators can arrange meetings with their constituents and
the other party as needed, and actual negotiations can be conducted over email, phone, or
even Skype.
The ‘Water Water Everywhere’ exercise has been developed to explore the complexities
found in many negotiations. Its core structure is based on an actual case, but it has been
reworked to disguise it and ensure a balance of challenges is present for the two sides. It is a
new exercise and although it has been trialled, there is probably room for improvement as a
learning tool.
Organisation
The exercise requires both parties to negotiate positions internally before meeting with the
other party. Naturally there are overlaps between the positions of individuals on either side.
Participants need time to absorb their individual roles. The negotiators on each side also need
time to develop their collective position and strategy. There are usually lengthy adjournments
as each party will try to develop single responses to new proposals. It is not often that the two
parties stay as one problem-solving group.
It is helpful to give participants the general information prior to class so they can familiarise
themselves with the context. The individual roles are relatively straightforward, so therefore
15 minutes individual preparation time should suffice. Summary sheets should be collected,
and if necessary, each participant’s departmental or specialist interest should be reinforced
prior to them meeting as a team. Soft initial positions (but not interest based ones) could be
toughened up.
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The three negotiators on each side may need up to 30 minutes to reach an agreed position and
to get ready for the joint session. The negotiations between the government and company
representatives may take up to an hour.
If possible, it is valuable to add a further layer of intra-group tension by having people in the
roles of ‘Premier’ and ‘CEO’ (one person can do both if necessary, though it is less credible
for the participants). This adds the useful dimension of negotiation teams having to present
their position for review (which happens in major negotiations, so it is useful skill to
develop). The ‘Premier’ and ‘CEO’ can be as dogmatic and strident as they need to be. They
can also impose deadlines by setting specific times for the negotiating teams to report.
(Lecturers can manage the progress of the exercise through these deadlines.) If necessary,
they can also provide ‘advice’ to their party, but the general purpose of their role is to make
the participants feel the tensions associated with being a negotiation representative.
Allow a further 30 minutes for the exercise should the roles of ‘Premier’ and ‘CEO’ be
included.
Negotiator
Individual preparation
Constituency Element
Report to ‘boss’
Prepare a team approach
Report to CEO or Premier
Negotiate with the other party
Possible interventions by CEO or Premier
Agreement
Report back to CEO or Premier
The instructor’s notes provide some suggestions for how the context can be changed during
the course of the negotiation, to add to the tension and complexity. These notes also include a
review sheet. The focus of the post-exercise discussion should be on how well the students
managed the complexity of the negotiation, and how they might relate their experience to
their real-life negotiations.
Review
As with other seminars, the participants should be asked to review their key learning points
and identify action points for when they are:
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(1) a representative negotiator
(2) a member of a negotiating team, and
(3) part of a constituency.
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Seminar 9
CROSS-CULTURAL NEGOTIATION
This seminar looks at finding way through the generalities about culture to discover the
practical impact on how negotiations are conducted.
Objectives
That participants closely examine the impact of cultural differences on negotiation.
That participants enhance their understanding of their own approach to negotiation.
Pre-tasks
Investigate the impact of culture on negotiation for one particular country (see Class
Activity A, below)
Required reading: Chapter 10
Presentation
Aim: To provide an approach for anticipating and handling cultural differences in negotiation.
Some presentation and discussion topics are:
(a) Review and recap
In addition to reviewing the students’ learning points from the previous week, it is also
useful to review their understanding of the overall process (phases and tasks). The
approach to cross-cultural negotiations being taken here is that culture impacts on the
fundamental process of negotiation, as opposed to creating an alternative process.
One way to provide a framework is to start broadly so that students develop a cultural
awareness. You can then focus increasingly on how cultural differences may (or may not)
influence how negotiations are managed.
(b) Articles
The article by Sebenius (2002) ‘Caveats for Cross-Boarder Negotiators’, is a useful
introduction to the difficulties in cross-cultural negotiations. No doubt the students
themselves and the newspapers can provide other stories of challenges that can arise. The
article by Salacuse (1998) ‘Ten Ways that Culture Affects Negotiating Style: Some Survey
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Results’ is also a good introduction (see Class Activity D, below). Contrasting the
Sebenius, Salacuse and one of Brett’s papers, is another useful way to show the different
ways in which the question of cultural difference in negotiation is investigated and
reported on.
(c) Notions of Cultural Difference
Review the notion of cultural difference, only going into greater depth if students have not
encountered the research earlier in their studies. While reviewing all the dimensions of
difference, perhaps the greatest focus should be given to individualism/collectivism,
different perceptions of time and the high/low context of culture and communication. This
last point builds on the issues of communication and language that were also explored in
Seminar 4.
(d) The presentation can link back to Seminar 5 and the task of managing the negotiation by
considering the deadlocks in negotiations in different cultures. What do they look like? How
do they emerge? How might they be handled? Consider these questions through the three
issue, process and behaviour questions.
Class activities
(a) The pre-task can be organised in a number of ways, depending on the students’ level of
prior knowledge. If they have already studied the frameworks of cultural difference, then
they can be given one of these and asked to use it to investigate how people from a
particular country might negotiate. If they are less familiar with these frameworks, then
they might be directed towards, for example, books on international management or
marketing, in order to gain preliminary insights into how people from a particular country
may negotiate. This can be an individual or group task, and they can either select a country
themselves or be allocated one. If there are students from a range of countries within the
class, you could ask them to provide insights about their own country.
(b) This initial pre-task can be developed into a class activity (or an assignment task – see
‘Getting started’) to develop a cultural profile. An example template for developing a
cultural profile is given below, but this template should be constructed to focus on
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particular aspects of cultural difference and negotiation that you want to emphasise to the
class.
The class discussion can compare and contrast the different profiles. You may find that the
profiles of some countries are so similar that they can be combined. Equally, it might be
found that some dimensions of culture (for example, that negotiators are either
individualist or collective), occur in many profiles and/or have a more dominant effect on
behaviour than some other dimensions. The aim is to adopt ‘Ockham’s Razor’ and to look
for the simplest explanations.
You can also ask students to complete the cultural negotiation checklist found in appendix
9, though it is probably more appropriate to set this task after the seminar either as an
assignment task or even as a major presentation in the final class.
(c) Creating images of negotiation.
Having developed their country profiles, you can ask students to capture the essence of
their chosen country’s approach to negotiation through drawing or finding an appropriate
image. They can even to develop a full script (to improve on the guitar and banquet
imagery of Chapter 10). Alternatively, they can be asked to take the Nullabor Model
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(Appendix 5) or any other imageries that have been developed, and rework it to make the
cultural elements more explicit.
(d) Ask students to score themselves against Salacuse’s 10 dimensions. If they are provided
with the countries that were included in his survey, asking which they think will be the
highest/lowest on each dimension can lead to useful discussion about perceptions and
stereotyping. (It can also lead to discussion about reaching conclusions on small sample
sizes.)
(e) Some discussion provokers include:

If the Chinese mindset is so strongly influenced by Sun Tzu and The Art
of War, what use are problem-solving approaches?

If there are cultural differences, why is Fisher & Ury’s principled
approach being taught everywhere? Is it a case of the ‘McDonaldisation’
of negotiation?

Why is it that we have to change our approach when we go overseas, but
negotiators from other countries don’t change their approach when they
come to our country?
(f) One way to look more closely at the language of negotiation, and in particular high and
low context communication is to critically examine the ‘west’ and ‘non-west’ tables in
Chapter 10.
(g) Another way to focus on differences in communication is to provide a broad context of a
negotiation (or use an exercise they have done before that they are familiar with), and then
present the students with brief scenarios – ‘the other party has asked you to outline your
position’ or ‘the other party has rejected your offer’. The students then have to write
responses that explain what they would say and do next which reflect firstly low and
secondly high context ways of communicating.
Negotiation exercise
If the class is multi-cultural (and if care is taken) then it might be instructive to organise
negotiation exercises on cross-cultural lines and so students can directly experience and
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reflect on the impact of culture. One option is to organise an exercise from a previous seminar
on those grounds (ie. when the focus was on another aspect of negotiation rather than culture)
but then discuss the experience in this seminar.
Asking students to adopt culturally specific roles would seem to encourage stereotyping
rather than enhance learning. However, giving the participants instructions to particularly try
some of the behaviours from the ‘west’ and ‘non-west’ lists in Chapter 10 (at the appropriate
stage in the negotiation), can help strengthen the students’ awareness of different ways of
communicating.
Review
Students should consider the main insights they have gained from the issues covered in the
seminar. Not everyone can expect to be involved in cross-cultural negotiation so it may be
more appropriate to ask students to consider what they have learned about how other people
negotiate so that they can include it in their own behavioural approach to improve how they
themselves negotiate.
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Seminar 10
CONSOLIDATION AND REVIEW – BECOMING A BETTER
NEGOTIATOR
Objectives
To consolidate the students’ learning.
This final class might involve a major exercise or major group task (it can be
assessable). It is also an opportunity to cover any other specific aspects of negotiation
which have not already been addressed.
Pre-tasks
Some of the class activities will involve preparation prior to the class.
Required reading: Perhaps recap chapters 1 and 2
Presentation
Aim: The presentation (which might be split into segments throughout the seminar) can serve
one or more purposes:

To present new material – a specific topic, or negotiations in a specific context

To review the course as a whole, particularly those aspects which might have
proved contentious or you wish to emphasise

To assist students to prepare for a forthcoming negotiation.
Class activities
Although listed here, many of these activities can be used earlier classes. Examples of group
tasks that help consolidate the students’ understanding of negotiation include:
(a) Negotiation case studies
Analysis of negotiation case studies, through consideration of the parties’ issue strategies
and handling of the process. The dynamics of the negotiation can be explored in a number
of ways, such as (1) trying to envisage the script the negotiators might have been working
to, (2) trying to envisage the options of each party at any turning points or critical incidents
during the negotiation (3) by posing some hypotheticals (they did ‘X’, but what if they had
done ‘Y’?)
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(b) The thespian exercise
Students in groups of four or five, have to develop a scenario that demonstrates a
particular aspect of negotiation. For example, they may decide to demonstrate the
behaviour of reflecting revisiting, an exercise done earlier in class or an actual
negotiation, and develop a short five minute script (just a broad sequence of who is going
to say what in general terms). One of the negotiators might do all the wrong things, while
another utilises the reflecting behaviour. Other ideas are:

A negotiation where one negotiator is trying to be competitive or cooperative

A demonstration of reciprocity/tit for tat

How to handle a ‘final' offer, etc.
There seems to be no limit to the imagination or technical ability of students when they get
to work on their thespian exercise. In one class for example, two negotiators sat face-toface at a table in class and were positioned so that as they negotiated, ‘thought bubbles’
appeared above their heads on the wall behind them. The students were able to show how
negotiators working through the strategic options. Another group took negotiation scenes
from the film The Godfather, showed each to the class and then acted each out again while
trying to utilise the principled negotiation approach.
While the presentations tend to be a bit of fun, the real learning has taken place within the
group as they debate the particular aspect of negotiation they have chosen to focus on.
They need to examine it in precise terms in order to work out how best to present it. The
presentation can be supplemented by a class discussion – the group can be asked to prepare
a handout showing the research support for their chosen aspect of negotiation.
(c) Write a complete negotiation role-play exercise
A more formal variation of the thespian exercise is to get student groups to write a
complete negotiation role-play exercise, complete with learning objectives, context, roles
(a payoff structure if appropriate), and review discussion questions.
(d) A test based on ‘what if ?’ scenarios
These can be developed from topics or situations that have been discussed in previous
classes. Examples might be:
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
What if… having sorted out a number of issues, the other negotiator ups the ante and
makes a considered (or even unconsidered) attack on your position?

What if… you encounter a ‘super assertive’ person (or a control freak)?

What if… there are lots of interruptions?
Students can compare answers, and the reasons they think their particular response would
work. Perhaps have a vote on what is the best response.
(e) The consultancy bidding presentation
This is described more fully in the assessment section of ‘Getting Started’.
(f) Generating a negotiation script
This can be done either individually or collectively (the latter being a review of what was
done in seminar five if developing a script was an activity in that seminar). Given that they
are now at the end of the course, students should be encouraged to make the negotiation
points explicit (as in the Nullarbor example, appendix 5.)
(g) Generating a profile of a ‘good negotiator’
The purpose is to identify what it is that good negotiators do that makes them ‘good’. In
the good negotiator task students could be asked to identify the five characteristics that
distinguish good negotiators from others. It is important that they are very specific. To say
that ‘good negotiators prepare well’ is not sufficient. What is it precisely that they do in
their preparation that makes them good? They may feel they need to list more than five
points (or have some sub points!). The reason for only nominating five is to get them to
focus on key characteristics or behaviours, rather than come up with an endless wish-list.
As part of the process they might want to think about what good negotiators don’t do and
what poor negotiators do that makes them ineffective (which ultimately leads back to the
question of what good negotiators do instead). Students will be expected to justify their
choice of characteristics or behaviours. The ensuing class discussion might lead to a
consensus list.
Another approach would be to have students select and debate what they found to be the
most useful ‘helpful and not so helpful’ lists from the book.
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(h) Developing a new observation sheet
This activity has the same objective as the good negotiator task, but it approaches it in a
different way. It requires the students to focus on observable characteristics and behaviours
– therefore it is harder. As with the good negotiator exercise, it is helpful to consider what
not to do. An example is given in the appendix ‘Learning more deeply’.
(i) A review of earlier questionnaires
If students had completed self reflection questionnaires earlier in the course then they
could be asked to review these (or given one of them again to complete anew). They can
reflect upon what they have learned and how their answers have changed.
Negotiation exercises
It is useful to have a final exercise, even if it is not reviewed (though reviewing it would be
valuable).
There are a large number of available comprehensive negotiation exercises set in different
contexts, such as Eurotechnologies Inc (in Lewicki, R.J., Saunders, D.M. and Minton, J.W.,
2003, Negotiation Readings Exercises and Cases, Irwin McGraw-Hill) and the Playground
case (written by Halpern J.J. and Connelly, D.L. and found in International Journal of
Conflict Management, 1996). Time spent on rewriting one of these cases to suit the local
context often enriches the case from the students’ perspective (while still acknowledging the
source).
An exercise such as the Towers Market (available from the Dispute Resolution Research
Centre, Kellogg Business School, Northwestern University, Ill.) introduces new multi-party
dynamics. Property Development in Joonderoo is a similar exercise (though with a different
type of pay-off structure). It is based on an exercise found in Mastenbroek, W. (1989)
Negotiate Basil Blackwell, though the roles have been rewritten and renamed to reflect the
location of my university.
The exercise works well with four people in each of the four cases (six in a team is probably
the maximum). If tables and chairs are set in each corner of the room, then these can serve as
the ‘offices’ of the four companies (a nameplate on the wall also helps. Participants need a
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way of identifying their company – even sticky labels are okay). It helps if you can prepare
title deeds for the sixteen blocks which are distributed to the companies at the start of the
exercise (an example is given, but perhaps change the names. I produce them on very stiff
card). You should be the title deeds officer and your ‘office’ can be a whiteboard with a
‘map’ of the sixteen blocks and who owns them. When a deal is done, you can update the
‘map’ so that everyone can see who owns what.
Participants typically make false assumptions about what other companies want, and it takes a
while before the students realise that one of them (at least) is going to end up with a substandard outcome. There is usually lots of dealing (and sometimes double-dealing), and lots
of proposals conditional on other proposals. Sometimes frustration builds as they can’t close
deals, but neither are they sure they can trust others to do a collective four-way negotiation.
You will probably have to introduce a time limit (you can do this by announcing an increase
in stamp duty, so they have to get the deals done otherwise the increased duty will take all
their profit). Alternatively, a mediation exercise is another a good way to consolidate the
process aspects of negotiation (though perhaps a bit less fun than the ‘property development’
exercise).
If the students have been working on a major exercise through the course then they could
report on their outcomes and reflect on their experiences in this last class.
Review
A good way to end the class is to get the participants to think about what they have learned
and how they will apply this in future. The participants can get a sheet of paper that they can
later keep in their files, and be asked to do the following:
Write down the name of someone you have to negotiate with in the coming
week or two.
Write down (in just two or three words) the issue that you have to negotiate
over.
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Write down something you now more fully understand about negotiation,
something you have learned through participating in these seminars/enrolling in
this unit.
Write down what you are now going to do differently as a result, next time you
negotiate.
*These questions can be made into a formal one page handout.
Conclude by asking the participants that when they negotiate with the person over this issue,
that should follow through on the things they have written down. Explain that if they leave the
seminars with the view that it was all good, then in practice their negotiation behaviour may
not change much. But if they focus on changing one thing about how they negotiate then they
are likely to improve their negotiation behaviour. They can then revisit what they have
learned and choose another aspect of negotiation to focus on, and make it part of their natural
way of negotiation. Step by step, they will improve the way they negotiate and achieve better
outcomes.
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