Negotiation and mediation

We have known for some time several important truths or truisms about the role of negotiating as a technique in dispute resolution. First, it seems by far the most common dispute resolution technique in most, if not all, sectors of social relations ³ . This should be an unsurprising point to make in the context of a functioning social community, particularly one based largely around exchange activities of various kinds. It helps explain the plethora of instructional manuals on the topic, largely geared to the business world. However, most such manuals rightly observe in their introductions that we are in fact negotiating a great deal of the time in human encounters although we may refer to it by other labels -influencing, persuasion, argument, putting our point of view across, sorting things out, being diplomatic, and so on.

Negotiating is a basic means of getting what you want from others. It is back-and-forth communication designed to reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and others that are opposed.