This is part 6 of our negotiation book, the introduction integrative bargaining.
And we've already covered the idea of distributive bargaining, distributive
being win-lose, integrative is another way to say win-win,
and this is what we always talked about in business, right? I want you to remember
however, I really do think this is a much more rare situation, and even though you
may want this situation, it doesn't mean it happens. Both sides need to be
involved and really need to be honestly working towards that win-win or
integrated integrative situation. So, let's look at an example of what we're
talking about just very quickly, an introduction to this chapter and we
often use a pie as an example of how to understand negotiation, right? We could
have said that distributive bargaining is like a pie or I think we said it was
like a pizza, and if I get one slice you lose one slice, you don't get that slice,
right? The pie is I get this piece, you don't get this piece so, if there's one
piece left
I get it but you don't get it, now of course we could cut the pie in half and
that's called a compromise, and I think it's important to remember that
integrative bargaining is not about compromise rather it's about a win-win
situation where both sides can get what they want without losing what they want,
so they both get what they want without losing anything that they want. That's
different then compromise, compromise means I get half of what I want, I lose
half of what I want, you get half of what you want and you lose half of what you
want. So very different approach, now on the win-win for the integrative
bargaining, we need to think about how does this work? Because the situation is
not very different from a normal negotiation, we both have differences,
both sides have things that they want, goals that they want but the question is
how can we make it win-win?
Well, you know win-win, the key factor to creating this situation is:
both sides, one win-win and both sides understand each other and what they can
give and what they can take that will satisfy both sides. And this is where
things become extremely iffy or difficult, because both sides need to be
very honest and feel comfortable with each other and trust each other, so if I
tell you that what I need to win is ten dollars, but I'm not being honest then
when you give me ten dollars you've lost, because you've given me more than you
could have given. So, we both need to be honest and that is where things fall
apart, because you can ask are you being honest? And of course, they'll say
I'm being honest and you asked me are you being honest? Yeah, I'm being honest of
course everyone says they're being honest, no one says no, I'm not being
honest, I'm not telling the truth at all.
This is a distributive negotiation and I would like to win more than you. Nobody
says tha,t they always say let's make this win-win so how do you know if it
really is win-win? Well, that's the hard part and the easy answer to that but
if the win-win is going to succeed, the integrative solution is going to really
work, then both sides really need to get everything they want, everything both
sides want they get. So, they need to know what their goal is clearly. If you don't
have a goal, there is really no way an integrative negotiation can happen or
succeed, because nobody knows what they want each side just wants to get more,
more, more, more.
That can't happen, so a key point is clarity on the goals and then another
key point is to share the goals. I know your goals, you know my goals so
this is this openness.
We need to be open to each other, both sides need to be open and honest, that is
not an easy thing to do because we have emphasized secret information, haven't-we?
So, what happens if one side is thinking win-win
but the other side is not thinking win-win? I said well, I'm being honest to
you tell me your secret information and you tell me honestly and I tell you my
secret information, but it's not true.
Well, you're gonna lose and I'm gonna win you see so just because we say win- win
doesn't make it happen, there really needs to be an openness, or an honesty
or trust between both of the sides. So, it sounds great that there's a win-win,
but it doesn't really work that way I want you to be careful because the one
thing I worry about is you're going to think
hey, I'm just going to do my RPG, I'm going to play the negotiation game with
our classmates and we're all going to be friends because I trust you and I'm
gonna tell you my secret information and it ends up, you lose.
Why? Because you're not paying attention that it was not open and honest, and it
was not integrated, it was distributed. So integrative is wonderful, it's powerful, it can
make everyone win, but it's rare and it's difficult, it's challenging.