Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, Bruce Patton

Overview

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER• Learn the secret to successful negotiation with this proven, step-by-step strategy—now updated and revised.

“The authors have packed a lot of commonsensical observation and advice into a concise, clearly written little book.”—Bloomberg Businessweek

One of the key business texts of the modern era, Getting to Yes has helped millions of people learn a better way to negotiate. Based on the work of the Harvard Negotiation Project, a group that deals with all levels of negotiation and conflict resolution, it offers readers a straightforward, universally applicable method for reaching mutually satisfying agreements—at home, in business, and with people in any situation. Read Getting to Yes to learn, step-by-step, how to

• disentangle the people from the problem
• focus on interests, not positions
• work together to find creative and fair options
• negotiate successfully with anybody at any level

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143118756
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/03/2011
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	13,465
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.67(h) x 0.66(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Roger Fisher is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law Emeritus and director emeritus of the Harvard Negotiation Project.

William Ury cofounded the Harvard Negotiation Project and is the award-winning author of several books on negotiation.

Bruce Patton is cofounder and Distinguished Fellow of the Harvard Negotiation Project and the author of Difficult Conversations, a New York Times bestseller.

Read an Excerpt

 Chapter 4: Invent Options for Mutual Gain
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Getting to Yes"
by .
Copyright © 2011 Roger Fisher.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ..... xi
Introduction ..... xvii

Part I: The Problem ..... 1

Chapter 1: Don't Bargain Over Positions ..... 3

Part II: The Method ..... 15

Chapter 2: Separate the PEOPLE from the Problem ..... 17
Chapter 3: Focus on INTERESTS, Not Positions ..... 40
Chapter 4: Invent OPTIONS for Mutual Gain ..... 56
Chapter 5: Insist on Using Objective Criteria ..... 81

Part III: Yes, But ..... 95

Chapter 6: What If They Are More Powerful? ..... 97
Chapter 7: What If They Won't Play? ..... 107
Chapter 8: What If They Use Dirty Tricks? ..... 129

Part IV: In Conclusion ..... 145

Part V: Ten Questions People Ask About Getting to Yes ..... 149

Analytical table of Contents ..... 189
A Note on the Harvard Negotiation Project ..... 199
Question 1: "Does positional bargaining ever make sense?"
Question 2: "What if the other side believes in a different standard of fairness?"
Question 3: "Should I be fair if I don't have to be?"
Question 4: "What do I do if the people are the problem?"
Question 5: "Should I negotiate even with terrorists or someone like Hitler? When does it make sense not to negotiate?"
Question 6: "How should I adjust my negotiating approach to account for differences of personality, gender, culture, and so on?"
Question 7: "How do I decide things like 'Where should we meet?' 'Who should make the first offer?' and 'How high should I start?'"
Question 8: "Concretely, how do I move from inventing options to making commitments?"
Question 9: "How do I try out these ideas without taking too much risk?"
Question 10: "Can the way I negotiate really make a difference if the other side is more powerful?" And "How do I enhance my negotiating power?"

Introduction

Like it or not, you are a negotiator. Negotiation is a fact of life. You discuss a raise with your boss. You try to agree with a stranger on a price for his house. Two lawyers try to settle a lawsuit arising from a car accident. A group of oil companies plan a joint venture exploring for offshore oil. A city official meets with union leaders to avert a transit strike. The United States Secretary of State sits down with his Soviet counterpart to seek an agreement limiting nuclear arms. All these are negotiations.

Everyone negotiates something every day. Like Moliere's Monsieur Jourdain, who was delighted to learn that he had been speaking prose all his life, people negotiate even when they don't think of themselves as doing so. You negotiate with your spouse about where to go for dinner and with your child about when the lights go out. Negotiation is a basic means of getting what you want from others. It is back-and-forth communication designed to reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and others that are opposed.

More and more occasions require negotiation; conflict is a growth industry. Everyone wants to participate in decisions that affect them; fewer and fewer people will accept decisions dictated by someone else. People differ, and they use negotiation to handle their differences. Whether in business, government, or the family, people reach most decisions through negotiation, Even when they go to court, they almost always negotiate a settlement before trial.

Although negotiation takes place every day, it is not easy to do well. Standard strategies for negotiation often leave people dissatisfied, worn out, oralienated-and frequently all three.

People find themselves in a dilemma. They see two ways to negotiate: soft or hard. The soft negotiator wants to avoid personal conflict and so makes concessions readily in order to reach agreement. He wants an amicable resolution; yet he often ends up exploited and feeling bitter. The hard negotiator sees any situation as a contest of wills in which the side that takes the more extreme positions and holds out longer fares better. Hi wants to win; yet he often ends up producing an equally hard response which exhausts him and his resources and harms his relationship with the other side. Other standard negotiating strategies fall between hard and soft, but each involves an attempted trade-off between getting what you want and getting along with people.

There is a third way to negotiate, a way neither hard nor soft, but rather both hard and soft. The method of principled negotiation developed at the Harvard Negotiation Project is to decide issues on their merits rather than through a haggling process focused on what each side says it will and won't do. It suggests that you look for mutual gains whenever possible, and that where your interests conflict, you should insist that the result be based on some fair standards independent of the will of either side. The method of principled negotiation is hard on the merits, soft on the people. It employs no tricks and no posturing. Principled negotiation shows you how to obtain what you are entitled to and still be decent. It enables you to be fair while protecting you against those who would take advantage of your fairness.

This book is about the method of principled negotiation. The first chapter describes problems that arise in using the standard strategies of positional bargaining. The next four chapters lay out the four principles of the method. The last three chapters answer the questions most commonly asked about the method: What if the other side is more powerful? What if they will not play along? And what if they use dirty tricks?

Principled negotiation can be used by United States diplomats in arms control talks with the Soviet Union, by Wall Street lawyers representing Fortune 500 companies in antitrust cases, and by couples in deciding everything from where to go for vacation to how to divide their property if they get divorced. Anyone can use this method.

Every negotiation is different, but the basic elements do not change. Principled negotiation can be used whether there is one issue or several; two parties or many; whether there is a prescribed ritual, as in collective bargaining, or an impromptu free-for-all, as in talking with hijackers. The method applies whether the other side is more experienced or less, a hard bargainer or a friendly one. Principled negotiation is an all-purpose strategy. Unlike almost all other strategies, if the other side learns this one, it does not become more difficult to use; it becomes easier. If they read this book, all the better.

Editorial Reviews

This is by far the best thing I’ve ever read about negotiation.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith

“The authors have packed a lot of commonsensical observation and advice into a concise, clearly written little book.”
—Businessweek

“A coherent brief for ‘win-win’ negotiations.”
—Newsweek

“Getting to Yes has an unrivaled place in the literature of dispute resolution. No other book in the field comes close to its impact on the way practitioners, teachers, researchers, and the public approach negotiation.”
—National Institute for Dispute Resolution Forum

“Getting to Yes is a highly readable and practical primer on the fundamentals of negotiation. All of us, as negotiators dealing with personal, community, and business problems need to improve our skills in conflict resolution and agreement making. This concise volume is the best place to begin.”
—John T. Dunlop

“This splendid book will help turn adversarial battling into hardheaded problem solving.”
—Averell Harriman

“Getting to Yes is a highly readable, uncomplicated guide to resolving conflicts of every imaginable dimension. It teaches you how to win without compromising friendships. I wish I had written it!”
—Ann Landers

“Getting to Yes is powerful, incisive, persuasive. Not a bag of tricks but an overall approach. Perhaps the most useful book you will ever read!”
—Elliot Richardson

“Simple but powerful ideas that have already made a contribution at the international level are here made available to all. Excellent advice on how to approach a negotiating problem.”
—Cyrus Vance

From the Publisher

If you're searching for a book to help you with conflict resolution, look no further: This universally praised volume, known for its effective "separate the people from the problem" philosophy, is the definitive guide for would-be negotiators who want to turn antagonism into collaboration. Although countless workshops and corporate seminars have been based on this book, it's worth noting that its principles are equally effective in managing domestic and personal clashes. So, if there's a relationship that's not working for you, pick up a copy of Getting to Yes and start making it better.

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