2nd Module - Positional bargaining and principled negotiation

From Peacebuilding

This module is concerned with understanding the difference between positional bargaining and principled negotiation. For Roger Fisher and William Ury - founders of the Harvard Negotiation Project – when people argue over positions they have a tendency to dig in, or radicalise their position, to become defensive and identify themselves with it. The more they do this, the more it is difficult to change their position, at the risk of “loosing face”. By paying primary attention to their – and the other side’s – position they tend to overlook their and the other side’s underlined concerns and interests. Every negotiation takes place at two levels: at the level of the substance at stake and at that of the process for dealing with that substance. The first level is about what you negotiate, the second is about how you do it. Fisher and Ury focus on how we negotiate and propose a method – named principled negotiation - for doing it better.

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• Fisher, Roger, Ury, William, Patton, Bruce, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, New York, Penguin, 1991, (1981).

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Activities you can use when working on this content include:

• Acting Bargaining. Two volunteers are given a script and asked to act it while other participants watch. The script simulates a bargain between customer and shopkeeper; the two proceed arguing over positions and progressively digging in. Useful to introduce participants to positional bargaining.

• Role Sketches. Quick role-plays involving negotiation skills. Participants are provided with short essential profiles of their characters so that much is left to their improvisation. If you use this activity to help participants reflect on positional bargaining and principled negotiation, you will need to focus debriefing questions on exploring the difference.

• Soft vs. Hard. This activity can be used when working on Soft and Hard positional bargaining. By supporting one or the other style, it stimulates participants to explore deeply the characteristics of positional bargaining.

• ...And Then, How Do We Proceed? "Andrew, 16-year-old, has an argument with his parents. He runs and locks himself up in his room. Cecile and Bernard are up to confront him." A simple scenario with three roles to play, leaves plenty of room for participant's improvisation.