Q & A Table of Contents
Why Positional Bargaining Is Dumb
From: Ronnie, Praetoria, South Africa
Question: I would like your comment on the idea that " Position based bargaining is inefficient, endangers ongoing relations and becomes increasingly ineffective..."
Response: Here are some thoughts you might be able to use:
The positional approach to negotiation, in which the process is viewed as a zero-sum game, does greater damage to the positional bargainer than other parties. A positional bargainer has locked himself/herself into position; moving out of that position will most likely yield a loss of face. Even worse, moving away from a position may well diminish the credibility of the positional bargainer so substantially that her/his reputation suffers.
Positional bargainers, by taking that approach, are making it clear that they do not intend to 'play fair' in their negotiations with others. People who feel they have been dealt with unfairly are going to be reluctant to enter into agreements or, if they must do so, they will be on the lookout for opportunities to breach unfairly-reached agreements they've felt forced to make. Since successful negotiation is a process by which people reach agreements each party is ready, willing, and able to fulfill, when there is an unfair process yielding an agreement a party is neither ready, nor willing and perhaps not able to fulfill, that is a failed negotiation.
The long term consequences of using a positional approach include greater difficulty in finding people willing to negotiate with you, a reputation for narrowness and closed-mindedness, and thus great difficulty establishing and maintaining the reciprocity which is fundamental to rewarding human relationships.
Good luck and may you enjoy fair negotiations.
Steve
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