Principled Negotiation

Principled Negotiation

Fisher & Ury. 1981. (View Paper → )

Negotiations commonly follow a process of "positional bargaining," a win-lose paradigm where each party begins with their stance on an issue, and through bargaining from separate opening positions, an agreement is reached. This is typically seen in price haggling, where each party has a bottom line figure in mind. Fisher and Ury argue that positional bargaining often fails to produce beneficial agreements due to its inefficiency in reaching agreements, neglect for the other party's interests, involvement of ego, and encouragement of stubbornness, consequently damaging the parties' relationship.

The authors define principled negotiation an effective way to negotiate and lay out 4 principles to follow:

1. Separate the people from the problem
2. Focus on interests not positions
3. Invent options for mutual gain
4. Insist on using objective criteria