Principled negotiation: an evidence-based perspective

Pages66-76
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-03-2017-0014
Date03 April 2018
Published date03 April 2018
AuthorFrederik Reinder Hak,Karin Sanders
Principled negotiation: an
evidence-based perspective
Frederik Reinder Hak
Department of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University,
Beijing, China, and
Karin Sanders
School of Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue that the adaptation of the principled negotiation approach
within organizations demonstrates similarities with the adaptation of evidence-based management and is the
result of cognitive biases and cultural values instead of specific and conscious choices within the adopted
negotiation style.
Design/methodology/approach The a daptation of principled negotiatio n and evidence-based
management are considered as a lack of willingness to be innovative at the organizational level, and when
these ideas are introduced will meet resistance.
Findings The analysis of the principled negotiation approach as an approach which similar to
evidence-based management is vulnerable to cognitive biases and cultural values offers a solution on how
to effectively adapt this approach withinorganizations.
Research limitations/implications Implications for research include a research design to test the
assumptions of this paper to consider principled negotiationsand evidence-based management approaches as
innovative approaches.
Practical implications Organizations and decision makers within organizations can benefit from the
analysis in this paper.
Social implications Companies and parties in a negotiation phase can benefit from the analysis by
paying attention to the cognitive biases and cultural values of the other parties rather than paying attention
to the first offer and the choices made in the negotiation.
Originality/value This is the first paper to analyze principled negotiations from an evidence-based
management perspective.
Keywords Innovation, Cognitive biases, Cross-cultural values and beliefs, Evidence-based management,
Principled negotiations
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Negotiations are an essential part of many business relations (Stoshikj, 2014). Fisher and
Urys (1985) seminal work Getting to Yesand subsequent Getting Past No(Ury, 1991)
popularized the work of the Harvard negotiation project, which developed an innovative
approach to negotiations. These so-called principled negotiations outline strategies and
techniques intend to shift the approach to negotiate from adopting fixed positions to a more
flexible method based on the interests of each party. Each party makes decisions and has a
stake in the outcome of the negotiations. Rather than haggling over a larger share of a fixed
outcome, principled negotiations aim to create a mutually beneficial outcome for parties,
in turn improving, or at least not harming, the (often commercial) relationships between the
parties, and by doing so creates a better business outcome than other negotiation
approaches and strategies (Fisher, 1985; Fisher and Ury, 1985; Ury, 1991).
Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that companies have been slow to utilize
principled negotiation strategies in their negotiations (White, 1984). In this paper,
we argue that the reluctance of companies and decision makers to use this style of
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 6 No. 1, 2018
pp. 66-76
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-03-2017-0014
Received 14 March 2017
Revised 4 June 2017
Accepted 11 June 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
The authors would like to thank the Editor, Prof Thomas Lange, and two anonymous reviewers for
their valuable feedback on a previous version of this paper.
66
EBHRM
6,1

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