The European Business Review - July-August 2019

74 The European Business Review July - August 2019

toconveytheirpointof viewproperly.It is veryimportantto

managethenegotiationprocessin sucha waythateveryonein

thenegotiationgetsanopportunitytotakepartin theconver-

sation.Oneof thewaystoidentifyotherpeople’sinterestsin

a multipartynegotiation is preparation. It is veryimportant

inthis casetoidentifywhatweknowfor sureandwhatwe

assumethatweknow. LookatFigure1 below.You canuse

thistoidentifyclearlywhatyouknowforsureandwhatyou

think you know. There are two reasonsfor this. The first is to

identifywhatinformationwehavein concreteterms.Thiswill

helpusworkoutwhatquestionswewillhavetoaskwhenwe

negotiate.Theothergoalis topreventusfromactingonthe

basisofsheerprejudice.Quiteoftenin a negotiation,wemake

assumptions on the basis of our biases about what others

want,buttheseturnouttobefalse.Figure1 showshowthe

needsofotherscanbeanalysedbeforea negotiation.

Asweidentifyneedsin thisfashion,wecanactuallyframe

questionsthatwewillneedtoaskwhenweenterthemulti-

partynegotiation.

PowerandAlliances

Another important factor that influencesa negotiator’s

expectations in a negotiation is power. In the case of a

multipartynegotiation,powerplays a verycrucialrole.In

a dyadicortwo-partynegotiation,it is easiertoidentifythe

needs of each side because comparing thesituations and

alternativesof onlytwo sides isless difficult.Inamultiparty

negotiationscenario,itisdifficultto assess the situationsof

everyoneelsecompared toourown.Also,it is important

tonotetherelationshipsbetweenmultiplepartiesinorder

toworkoutwhatkindof alliancestheymightbeforming.

Forminganalliancebeforeandduringa multipartynegoti-

ationis oneof a negotiator’smostimportanttasks.

1.Creatinga formidablealliance.

2.Protectingyourself againsta hostilealliance.

StrategiesforForminganAlliance

AffinityMap

Generally during negotiations,you have to both createan

allianceandprotectagainsthostilealliances.Howcana nego-

tiatordo both effectively? Once again, preparation is key.

Asthesayinggoes,“themore yousweatinpeace,the less

youbleedinwar”:a negotiatorneedsto bereadyforboth

situations.Thetoolwerecommendforuseinpreparingfor

alliancesis a so-calledaffinity map. This is essentiallya visual

representationof theproximityof interestsof thedifferent

partiesinvolvedina negotiation.The aimis toshowwhat

kindsofalliancesarelikelytoemerge.

Let’s assume a company’s top management people are

gettingtogetherfora meetingtodecideonthenewproduc-

tionbudget.Thekeydecisionis whetherthecompanyshould

investinexpandingtheplantfacility.Thevariousexecutives

havedifferentconcerns,asfollows:

1. The chief executiveofficerwants todowhatisbestforthe
   companyin thelongrun.


2. The chief financialofficerwants toreduceoverinvestment
   in theplantfacilitybecauseof higherinterestrates.


3. The chief marketingofficer believes that increased
   productionwillmeanmore stockandthiscouldlead to
   higher sales figures.


4. The chief operatingofficer isof the view that increased
   productionwill mean a higher-scaleand more efficient
   productionandbettermanagementofthefacility.


5. The human resources director is concerned that a
   bigger plant facility will result in increased pressure on
   existing staff, overtime costs and pressure on imme-
   diate recruitment.

It is very important to manage the negotiation process in such a way that

everyone in the negotiation gets an opportunity to take part in the conversation.

Negotiation

Needs Party 1

What I know for sure they need

What I assume they need

Party 2 Party 3

FIGURE 1 - REAL KNOWLEDGE AND ASSUMPTIONS

CEO

Against In favor

CFO

LEAGUE

HR Dir.

CMO

COO

Positions

FIGURE 2 - AFFINITY MAP