ABSTRACT
In professional and personal settings, a negotiation is a form of conflict management. With each party having different, often incompatible goals, negotiation works on engaging in the conflict to come towards a mutual agreement. Negotiation is an integrative, collaborative process where each party gains. However, negotiating with a person in crisis often takes more of the win/lose track, where the person starts working from a single, fixed position, thereby resisting any opportunity to find mutual ground. This chapter focuses on interactional practices negotiators use to un-hinge a person in crisis from a fixed position to overcome their resistance in small steps. We begin with a review of hostage and crisis negotiation guides that explain the benefits of coming across as non-threatening and how to avoid challenging the hostage-taker or person in crisis. Through the analysis, we use actual cases that show when and how challenges can be productive when they are based on the reality and reasoning put forward by the person in crisis. By the end of this chapter, readers will learn how to apply interactional resources such as asking, “Why”, or using the person’s own words to change their stance and become more willing to negotiate.
