ARE WOMEN DISADVANTAGED IN PRINCIPLED NEGOTIATION AND MEDIATION?

In 1981, the book Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury, popularized the concept of principled negotiation. Principled negotiation requires that the parties involved develop a level of mutual trust, understanding and agree to cooperative principled negotiation. Only with mutual trust are negotiating parties willing to share information and forgo distributive bargaining tactics. 

Two of the defining aspects of principled negotiation focus on interests rather than positions and inventing options for mutual gain. Perhaps the major point of principled negotiation is understanding and addressing the interests parties hold that led them to the positions they take during negotiation. Fisher and Ury contend that parties should discuss their interests without debate over validity to arrive at options that satisfy their respective interests. Parties must be willing to share relevant information critical for effective solutions.

Many mediators encourage participants in mediation to utilize the principles of interest-based bargaining.

Justine Kirby writing in the Otago Law Review argued that principled negotiation simply does not recognize the Negotiator’s Dilemma, that is, principled negotiation promotes being more open, co-operative and seeking to meet the other parties’ needs. All behavioral characteristics more likely to be found in women who are then disadvantaged by “adherence to principled negotiation’s one-sided approach, which ignores the reality the hard decisions that must be made during negotiations.” 

Conflict scholars have long acknowledged that relationships involve both conflict and harmony. Some negotiation scholars also acknowledge that negotiation involves both cooperation and competition. For anyone to adhere rigidly to principled negotiation, they will be at a disadvantage with another party who acts both cooperatively and competitively. Negotiation during mediation realistically involves aspects of both cooperation and competition. Being skilled in both is more likely to benefit any participant.