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:
- The chief executiveofficerwants todowhatisbestforthe
companyin thelongrun. - The chief financialofficerwants toreduceoverinvestment
in theplantfacilitybecauseof higherinterestrates. - The chief marketingofficer believes that increased
productionwillmeanmore stockandthiscouldlead to
higher sales figures. - The chief operatingofficer isof the view that increased
productionwill mean a higher-scaleand more efficient
productionandbettermanagementofthefacility. - 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