BUSINESS: The Ultimate Resource

February 2005 Upgrade 29

MANAGEMENT LIBRARY
Getting to Yes
by Roger Fisher and William Ury Why Read It?
Negotiation is an important skill in many aspects of business and personal life. The authors claim that people can become more effective negotiators by moving from adversarial haggling to constructive joint problem-solving, a solution they call principled negotiation. Both Fisher and Ury have conducted negotiations at extremely high levels in business, politics, diplomacy, law, and international relations. They write with authority and have the experience to offer practical advice and insight into each stage of the negotiating process.

Getting Started
The authors offer a number of negotiating principles that, they claim, will lead to successful outcomes:

dont bargain over positions; separate the people from the problem; focus on interests, not positions; invent options for mutual gain; insist on objective criteria.

Contribution
1. The importance of effective negotiation Negotiation involves everyone, the authors claim. People use negotiation to handle their differences at work and in personal life. However, they believe that standard negotiating strategies tend to leave one or both parties dissatisfied. They describe two types of negotiators:

soft negotiators who may make easy compromises to avoid conflict hard negotiators who want to win at all costs

The authors propose a third way, using what they call principled negotiation. Its aim is to decide issues on their merits, rather than on will.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2005

BUSINESS: The Ultimate Resource

February 2005 Upgrade 29

2. Avoid bargaining over positions Fisher and Ury point out that, traditionally, people take positions and defend them. The matter is only resolved through concessions. This approach can harm relationships, and that can be damaging to future negotiations. In this approach, emotions become entangled with logic, so it is important to separate people from problems. 3. Separate people from problems The authors prompt us to remember that negotiators are people with emotions. Negotiators are therefore just as interested in ongoing relationships as in dealing with the immediate problem. Understanding the emotions of the other side is important, because they can act as a barrier to rational discussion. It is important to understand the other persons perspective and find out what is important to them. Listening actively and acknowledging the other partys perspective is critical. The authors explain how successful negotiators try to make the other party own the problem so that they fully participate in reaching a satisfactory conclusion. Communication is an important part of this process, helping to build working relationship that can reduce the element of confrontation. 4. Focus on interests, not positions Fisher and Ury recommend looking for the underlying interest in negotiations. Interests may not conflict, although positions do. They suggest finding out or asking why the other side takes a particular position, and acknowledging those interests as part of the problem. 5. Invent options for mutual gain The aim of negotiation is a single conclusion, say the authors. Introducing other options may appear to slow down the process, but, they claim, it can make the outcome easier to achieve; enlarging the pie can help to provide what appears to be mutual gain. They believe that brainstorming can help to determine the options because during brainstorming, no decisions have to be made and creativity is encouraged. 6. Insist on objective criteria Finally, according to Fisher and Ury, it may be possible to decide on the outcome by reference to an independent or objective authority. The standards should be fair and acceptable to both sides. Comparable criteria from other negotiations may also be acceptable.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2005

BUSINESS: The Ultimate Resource

February 2005 Upgrade 29

Context
Negotiation is a critical element of business. The book looks at the process of negotiation independently of business processes such as sales, customer service, or union negotiations. The authors build on their own experience of negotiations in politics, diplomacy and the law. Although not all of the examples relate directly to business, it is possible to apply the same principles to business situations of many types.

The Best Sources of Help

Fisher, Roger, and William Ury. Getting to Yes. London: Arrow Books, 1997.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2005