Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
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Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
3M ago
This is Part 1 of a two-part blogpost. Part 2 will be published in February 2024. This blog explores what narrative means for us in the field of conflict resolution as we navigate an increasingly complex global context.
We humans love stories. Wherever we are in the world, whatever our culture, our beliefs and our history, we all have stories to share and we are drawn into the stories others share with us.
Neuroscience explains to us why and how stories have a unique way of engaging our senses and emotions – in a way that facts and figures do not.
Karen Eber’s useful Ted talk demonstrates tha ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
4M ago
Mediation has long been used as a method of resolving disputes. Indeed, the practice of combining mediation and arbitration by the same neutral has been traced back to ancient Greece and Ptolemaic Egypt[1].
In his paper “Varieties of Dispute Processing”, presented to the 1976 Pound Conference, Harvard Professor Frank E.A. Sander proposed that, instead of regarding litigation as the default, disputants might be steered to the dispute resolution processes appropriate to the circumstances of their dispute. His paper envisioned “by the year 2000, not merely a courthouse but a Dispute Resolution C ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
1y ago
As long ago as 1981, in the very first edition of Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher and William Ury proposed the following novel negotiation method:
separate the people from the problem
focus on interests, not positions
invent options for mutual gain and
insist on using objective criteria.
Later in the text they introduced another element of the method – recommending that we work out, before we begin to negotiate with the other party, what is our Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA).
They explained BATNA as “the sta ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
1y ago
I have been musing about what a mediator might say to President Putin given the opportunity. That led me to compose a letter a few weeks ago, with which I have since tinkered. This is merely a thought experiment. The letter goes something like this:
“Dear President Putin
I write as a mediator, a peacemaker. I do so in the hope that there may still be a constructive way to bring an end to the tragic situation in Ukraine.
[note to self: Would PP see this as “tragic”? What other starting lines might such a letter need in order to engage him?]
To do so, my experience tells me that people who disag ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
1y ago
“The world is made, not found.” (W Barnet Pearce)
I had been a mediator for about 10 years before I heard parties’ initial words described as their “opening statement.” This may surprise some readers, though probably not if they began, like me, in family mediation, nor community or workplace. Other descriptions are available, as our broadcasters say. I set out below a range of alternative approaches to this crucial invitation. In reconsidering opening statements in mediation I’m not suggesting one way is superior to another. I hope, rather, to hold our practice up to the light and think about ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
1y ago
It was Thursday, February 24th, 2022. From the morning, I had been mediating a dispute between a grandfather and two of his granddaughters. Then, during the break, I switched on my phone and read the news. Very shocking news. As a person that has spent all his professional life bringing peace and understanding to the places where there was a lack of it, I was horrified. A much stronger and bigger country invaded its neighbour. I had the feeling that my world was falling apart. A world very much determined by consensual dispute resolution. This is the 21st century? Tanks crossing borders of a ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
1y ago
Effective inter-governmental relations among the constituent parts of the United Kingdom are essential in an era of increased devolution of powers, post-Brexit allocation of responsibility and contested narratives about the future of the (uncodified) UK constitution.
Background
One of the rather depressing aspects of the constitutional impasse in the UK is that inter-governmental relations (IGR) between the UK and Scottish (and indeed the Welsh) Governments have appeared to worsen in recent years. This has been exacerbated in the post-Brexit era with the passing of the UK Government’s Internal ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
1y ago
“I think the EU will need to move significantly on both those key points because they’re points of principle.” (Dominic Raab, UK Foreign Secretary, speaking on the BBC this morning)
The Brexit negotiation, despite its dizzying stakes, has triggered a fair amount of wry humour. I’ve poked gentle fun at the protagonists myself: Brexit Irritators: Davis and Barnier on Negotiation; The Brexit Negotiation: More Irritators. But today isn’t funny at all, my stomach tightening at the thought of the chaos and recrimination to come. The trigger? The dread phrase ‘point of principle.’
Dismay
Of course th ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
1y ago
In theory, we expect the parties’ opening statements to be swift, persuasive and forceful. At least, this is what I teach my students in ADR classes. In my mediation room, sadly, this occurs rather sporadically. The communication at the table is, unfortunately, not faultless. I guess every mediator has witnessed long, ambiguous monologue instead of sharp, clear communication that would help the parties to understand and be understood and to influence and be influenced. To facilitate the complicated discussions within the negotiation is, indeed, a large part of mediators’ job.
Once Upon a Tim ..read more
Wolters Kluwer » Negotiation
1y ago
In 2015, I retired as an American law professor. For most of my career, I used some of the basic concepts of our field such as negotiation, BATNA, positional vs. interest-based negotiation, and facilitative vs. evaluative mediation. I wasn’t always comfortable with these terms, but I used them because I couldn’t imagine shifting to alternatives.
As a result of my own and others’ research, I now can imagine some alternatives and a process for developing them.
This post supports a proposal to develop clearer dispute resolution language. This could provide numerous benefits for research, practice ..read more