http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com 77formost of the negotiators(four out
of six),whilethebudgetallocationwas
a vitaldecisionforonlythreeof them.
Eventually,as theexecutivepredicted,it
was the decisionabouttheequipment
that occupiedmostof thetime atthe
meeting. One reason why it created a
little bit of conflictwas becausealmost
everyone had assumed that it might
not be a very important issue forthe
restof thenegotiators.Hence,theyall
broached the subject slightly later in
the conversation and eventually, this
created a significantamount of chaos
andconflictintheteam.Alongwiththe
affinitymap, aVIAmatrixforthenego-
tiatingpartieshelpstoidentifypotential
alliesveryquickly.
EstablishingtheCore
Theownerof a familyenterpriseonce
sharedaninterestingstorywithus.The
eldestbrotherin thefamilyranthebusi-
ness operated across Central America
andtheenterprise.Thisbrother– let’s
call himRamón – was almost 70 and
wantedto delegatemoreresponsibilities
to histwo youngerbrothersand their
six sons. (Each of the three brothers
had two sons.) Ramón was the presi-
dentand CEOof the companywhile
histwo brotherswere vicepresidents.
Ramón’s two sons and four nephews
were all involved in the business and
looked after different operations.
However,Ramónwantedtorestructure
thebusinessintodifferentautonomous
businessunitsandalloweachsonand
nephewto take onmore of a leader-
shiprolein thoseunits.Healsowanted
histwo brothersto take over hisrole
gradually, with one brother becoming
the company president and the other
brother the CEO. For a few months,
Ramóntalkedtoeveryoneindividually,
butwithoutrevealinghisplans,in order
to find out what everyonereally wanted
both personally and professionally.
Finally,hecameupwitha plan.Atoneof
thequarterlymeetingsfortheperfor-
mancereview,Ramóncalleda meeting
ofhisbrothers,sons,andnephewsand
unveiledhisplanforrestructuringthe
business.Everyonewelcomedtheidea
of changeintheorganisationandalso
showedwillingnesstotakeongreater
responsibility. However, as Ramón
told them what he thought everyoneFIGURE4 - VIACHARTOFISSUESANDPARTIES
Vital VitalVitalVitalVital Vital VitalVitalVitalVitalVitalVitalImportant VitalImportant Important ImportantImportantImportantAdditionalAdditional AdditionalAdditionalAdditionalBounded negotiability refers to our ability to see a limited range of issues as
“negotiable.” It is largely influenced by our preparation and how issues are
presented in a negotiation. That is why it is important to understand all the issues
beforehand and to try to get the complete picture before the negotiation begins.
should be doing, the enthusiasm
started to wane. In fact, the meeting
came to no conclusion, and Ramón
had to stop talking about restructuring
because he feared that tensions might
increase and he did not want a rift in
the family. He was puzzled that his
idea had been received so coldly, since
he had thought everything through in
such detail and had tried to do what
was in everyone’s best interest. After
a few months, everyone got together
again at the wedding of an employee’s
daughter. Ramón felt it was safe to
mention restructuring because, even if
someone got angry, no one would want
to make a scene at the wedding. This
time, though, Ramón could not talk to
everyone at the same time. At his table,
he was seated with his wife, his two
brothers and their wives. Ramón started
talking to his brothers about his plan,
and then their wives also got involved
in the conversation. Ramón’s wife was
very dear to both of his brothers, who
treated her like an older sister. By the
end of lunch, Ramón had convinced
his brothers and secured a commit-
ment from them and their wives that
they would do everything possible to
persuade their children. Slowly, over the
next two months, Ramón convinced his
sons to back the restructuring plan and