Defining Negotiation
Disclaimer: The summaries and interpretations provided on this page are unofficial and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS).
Summary
- Negotiation encompasses a wide range of activities beyond making deals, including decision-making, problem-solving, building consensus, allocating resources, and creating budgets
- Many tasks that involve negotiation are not traditionally recognized as classical negotiation challenges
- Negotiation occurs in both professional and personal contexts, from workplace decisions to household responsibilities like who does dishes or takes out trash
- Personal negotiations can involve high-stakes decisions such as where to live or whether to accept job offers in different cities
- Negotiation serves as a foundational leadership skill that leaders primarily use to create impact and make a difference in their organizations and communities
- People who aspire to make positive changes in the world will likely need to rely on negotiation skills to achieve their goals
- The most fundamental negotiation challenge involves two parties attempting to resolve a single issue
- Single-issue negotiations are primarily competitive because one party can only gain more by ensuring the other party gets less
- Negotiations exist on a spectrum from simple two-party, single-issue scenarios to complex multi-party, multi-issue situations
- A used car price negotiation represents the archetypal simple negotiation with two parties and one issue
- Global climate change accords exemplify complex negotiations involving approximately 200 parties and thousands of issues
- Various gradations exist between these extremes, such as two parties dealing with multiple issues
- Understanding where a negotiation falls on the party-issue spectrum provides insight into appropriate processing strategies
- Different negotiation contexts require different tactics and strategies for success
- Simple and complex negotiations are essentially different species of activities requiring distinct approaches
Actionable Advice
- Recognize negotiation opportunities in everyday tasks like decision-making, problem-solving, and resource allocation
- Apply negotiation skills to personal situations including household responsibilities and major life decisions
- Develop negotiation abilities as a core leadership competency for creating impact and making a difference
- Categorize upcoming negotiations by identifying the number of parties and issues involved
- Use the party-issue framework to determine appropriate strategies before entering negotiations
- Adapt your tactics based on whether you're dealing with competitive single-issue scenarios or collaborative multi-issue situations
- Prepare different approaches for simple versus complex negotiation contexts
- Think systematically about negotiation challenges across the spectrum of complexity rather than using one-size-fits-all approaches