ABSTRACT
Unlike litigation, business negotiation requires the consent of both parties. For this reason, negotiating involves the management of expectations. Both parties need to undertake negotiations with realistic expectations-not outcomes, but expectations. In mathematical terms, we can express this negotiation principle thusly:
Negotiation Expectations = Satisfaction = Δ (anticipation – reality)
“You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.” —Al Capone
The term “negotiating in good faith” is more of a legal principle than a factual case. Negotiations occur primarily for three main reasons: (1) the need
to agree on how to share or divide a limited resource, (2) to create something new that neither party could attain on their own, and (3) to resolve a problem or dispute between the parties.
