"Getting to Yes"

Paper Summary:

In their book, "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In." Roger Fisher and William Ury provide some timely guidance on how to approach negotiations without losing sight of what is actually important, as well as several steps that can be followed to help achieve this goal. This paper provides a review and analysis of Fisher and Ury's book, followed by the author's personal views and assessment of these issues. A summary of the research is provided in the conclusion.

From the Paper:

"According to Charles R. Epp, it is widely recognized that the overall organizational environment in the United States has become more and more legalized, in the sense that basic decision-making processes and substantive policies in public organizations are increasingly influenced by legal rules and procedural requirements that are enforceable in the judicial system (Epp 2000:407). Marc Galanter (1992) likewise observed that life in the United States (and several other societies) is becoming increasingly subject to legal forms and procedures, influenced by lawyers, and governed by formal regulations. In an essay by Folger et al., the point is made that, "Conflict is, by nature, interactive. It is never wholly under one person's control. . . . Conflict interaction cycles acquire a momentum of their own. They tend in a definition direction -- toward escalation, toward avoidance and suppression, or toward productive work on the conflict" (409). In their book, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, authors Roger Fisher and William Ury provide an excellent introduction to the key elements of a consensual approach to negotiations. All too frequently, they say, conflicts in the workplace are framed entirely around contrasting positions, a tendency that only serves to constrain the scope of possible agreements to the range between the two positions. By contrast, a focus on underlying interests or concerns points to a much wider set of options that take into account the fundamental interests at play. This focus on interests has been widely disseminated through their book, Getting to Yes (Gleason 1997)."

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