ABSTRACT
Possibly the most important form of cooperation takes place when members of an organization or their representatives attempt to agree about sharing or exchanging something among themselves. This behaviour is known as negotiation, irrespective of whether the agreement aimed for concerns money, aims, procedures, personnel, influence, work, resources, time or other things. This list immediately emphasizes the fact that no one can fulfil an organizational function without continually having to negotiate. Moreover, many organizations are tending towards forms of decentralization whereby vertical control via assignments is being replaced by horizontal agreement by means of negotiation. This chapter will shed light on the background of the process and the outcome of negotiations. However, an account of the chosen restrictions, definitions and theoretical elaborations will first be given.
