The Pre-Negotiation Phase

А Larger Process. Crucial as it is, around-the-table negotiation is only the last stage of а larger process for resolving major international conflicts by peaceful means. In many cases, persuading the parties to а conflict to commit themselves to а negotiated settlement is even more complicated, agonizing, and time-consuming than reaching agreement once negotiations have begun. This is said with а full understanding of how difficult reaching agreement can be.

People involved in negotiation need to think in terms of а process which deals with the obstacles to negotiation as well as the hurdles in negotiation. Unless we enlarge our scope somehow, we're not constructing а theory that is going to be as useful as it might be to the company presidents or the other high officials of state in conducting their policy in different fields of activity.

In urging that we enlarge our scope, we’re acutely aware that we’re walking into the academic buzz so called а "definitional problem." When are we talking about negotiation and when are we talking about the conduct of international relations? As it is said in the popular book “Practical negotiator” "Long before the first formal session begins, the negotiation process begins with the decision made by each party to explore the possibility of negotiating." The question is what do we do before the decision is made? A three-stage model is presented in the mentioned book, which begins with what they call the "diagnostic phase" in which efforts are made tо bring about negotiations. Our argument is simply to reach back even further and more extensively into the period before а decision to negotiate is made and to analyze it in added detail

1. Give your grounds on the importance of the pre-negotiation phase.

2. Discuss the reasons for both sides in the bargaining process to explore the possibility of negotiating (psychological or political, historical or economic, profit, interest, professional obligations etc.)

EXERCISE 4. Train your thinking and communicating.

Translate one of the passages from English into Russian using your dictionary in written form. Discuss your experience of being stabilizer, destabilizer or quasi-mediator in a course of any dispute. Put 10-15 questions to the text. Have (guide) a conversation using your questions in pairs.

1. settled by adjudication – урегулировано через судебное решение

Stabilizers, Destabilizers, and Quasi-Mediators

1. Within each team, members usually hold quite different attitudes. Some tend to settle at any cost. They may be called "stabilizers." They seek agreement with the other side to avoid the disruptive consequences of nonsettlement. Depending on the context of the case, stabilizers see nonsettlement as reverting to lengthy, expensive, or disruptive alternatives, such as litigation, strikes, demonstrations, riots, and wars. These people usually understand negotiation to be а stabilizing process and bring others to the negotiation table in the hope that nonsettlement could be avoided. А second general type, the "destabilizers," do not particularly like the negotiation process. Destabilizers tend to disagree with most of the proposals of thei|г own team and all of the counterproposals of the other side. They would rather see the dispute settled by adjudication than by compromise on а given position.

In the middle on each team there is а third type, the "quasimediators," who play several roles. They are usually spokespersons charged with responsibility for the success of the effort. To those sitting across the table they may simply look like other negotiators, but within their own team they often act as а mediator between the faction of stabilizers and the faction of destabilizers.

2. Internal Team Negotiations. Resolution of differences between the stabilizers and destabilizers is а prerequisite for effective negotiation with the other side, as well as for reaching accommodation with the team's own vertical hierarchy. When а team is considering making an offer, for example, the stabilizers will probably want to present а generous package while the destabilizers may not want to offer anything. The quasi-mediator must begin to explore with the stabilizers why the concessions might be excessive and probably unacceptable to the team's vertical hierarchy and to discuss with the destabilizers why the proposal may be good and why the team should not be so rigid, since the costs of nonsettlement may be unacceptable. Much like а neutral third-party mediator, the quasi-mediator may choose to meet joint1у and separately with the stabilizers and nonstabilizers.

EXERCISE 5. Increase your skills in translating and rendering.

Translate one of the passages of the texts from Russian into English in written form. Look through the text and render it in English.

СИМВОЛЫ

Символы, или знаки, настолько значимы в менеджменте, маркетинге, торговле, бизнесе в целом и прочих сферах деятельности, что существует специальная сфера знаний — символьный менеджмент. Различные культуры имеют различные символы для коммуникации. Ошибки в распознавании значений, приписываемых цвету или другим символам, могут вызвать серьезные осложнения во взаимопонимании у представителей разных культур.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20