6 - teams

• Differences between two-party and multiparty negotiations:

  1. Number of parties (and negotiations are bigger); Exchange should be more open if one party has higher status
  2. Informational and computational complexity 
  3. Social complexity
  4. Procedural complexity (with turns to speak)
  5. Strategic complexity (can't keep track of everyone's behaviour)
• 4 consequences of strategic complexity:​

  1. Exchanges are subject to surveillance by the audience​
  2. Negotiators who have control will start to act strategically to fulfill their objectives​
  3. Negotiators can explicitly engage in coalition building as a way to organize people​
  4. When a relationship is in place, parties extensively incorporate the element of time into negotiations
• Coalition --> A collection of two or more parties within a larger social setting who work together to pursue mutually desirable goals 
• Members are trying to achieve outcomes that satisfy the interests of the coalition, not necessarily those of the larger group within which the coalition is formed 
• 3 types of coalition:

  1. Potential coalition (latent and dormant)
  2. Operating coalition (established and temporary)
  3. Recurring coalition
• Latent coalition: emergent interest group that has not yet formed into an operating coalition
• Dormant coalition: interest group that previously formed but is currently inactive
• Established coalition: relatively stable and ongoing across an indefinite time span
• Temporary coalition: operates for a short time and is usually focused on a single issue or problem
• Recurring coalition --> when issue or problem does not remain resolved
• Parties who pursue enlightened self-interest are likely in their dealings with others to use authentic tactics. This requires parties to:

  • Say no when they mean no ​
  • Share as much information as possible​
  • Use language that describes reality ​
  • Avoid repositioning for the sake of acceptance 
• 5 possible roles for coalition partners​:

  • Allies --> high agreement and trust​
  • Opponents --> low agreement and high trust​
  • Bedfellows --> high agreement but low trust​
  • Fence Sitters --> no stance on issue​
  • Adversaries --> low agreement and trust
• Build the team considering 3 different types of expertise​:

  • Negotiation expertise (having at least one member who understands negotiation dynamics)​
  • Technical expertise (in the domain)​
  • Interpersonal skills (to reduce probability of communication error)​
• 3 challenges to team negotiations:

  1. information processing
  2. stereotyping
  3. group extremism
• • Common knowledge effect – Tendency to withhold information that is unique (even though this is often the reason for creating a team in the first place)​
• Group polarization --> Groups often take more extreme positions than individuals