Elements of Principled Negotiation and Application to Workplace Conflicts

Principled Negotiation and Practical Applications
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The principled negotiation approach remains the dominant formative negotiation method globally. It is also widely employed in international negotiation for conflict resolution and dispute management. Principled negotiation is more effective than win-lose outcomes or positional bargaining approaches. Since its initial development, principled negotiation has been employed in different dimensions of dispute management, including decision support, social work, and conflict resolution (Zhang & Constantinovits, 2018). It is an interest-based approach that emphasizes conflict resolution or conflict management. Principled negotiation is tailored to seek a mutually beneficial outcome as both parties are encouraged to collaborate to share and explore the interests that underlie their assumed positions. This paper summarizes the four primary points of principled negotiation and their application to workplace conflicts, the rationales for being the most effective negotiation approach, and areas where it is not applicable. Lastly, the paper evaluates the limitations and advantages of the principled negotiations approach.
Elements of Principled Negotiation and Application to Workplace Conflicts
The four elements of principled negotiation include separating people from problems, focusing on interests instead of positions, generating alternatives for mutual merits, and applying objective criteria (Joosr Ltd., 2016). Regarding separating the individuals from the issue, principled negotiation recognizes that strong emotions can undermine the ability to see the significant issues within the negotiation process, thus complicating the entire interaction. Within principled negotiation, the parties are committed to addressing their personality as well as emotional problems authentically and distinctively from the issues at hand (Shonk, 2023). For instance, when two departmental leaders engage in a heated debate concerning the allocation of resources, they will likely have to experience higher levels of emotional instability that underlie the disagreement. Such a problem can only be solved via authentic listening and other effective communication approaches. This element aims to achieve a better and more effective understanding of the different parties' concerns rather than to win the argument.
The second element relates to focusing on interests rather than positions. Negotiations are likely to waste time disputing over what should win or attempting to establish a compromise between the two interests they have at stake. In this vein, principled negotiation allows negotiators to examine the issue beyond such hard-and-fast positions and emphasize the motivations, wants, or needs underlying the divergent interests. For example, two managers can disagree on where to hold a new technology solution launch event. While one manager prefers the organization premises, the other wants the company to organize the event in a public venue (Shonk, 2023). In this vein, the managers should establish their deeper motivations, and with the comprehension of the respective parties' interests, they can conduct an investigation to establ...