Negotiation theories and principles
To address the complex technical and human issues in negotiation, several important negotiation theories and principles have been developed, which mainly include game theory, economic theory, behavior theory, and negotiation theory.
Game theory seeks to get at the essentials of decision making and the associated strategies in situations where two or more parties are interdependent, and where, therefore, the outcome of their conflict and competition must be the product of their joint requirements and the interaction of their separate choices (Bacharach and Lawler 1981).
Classical game theory approaches are essentially static models in which it is assumed that each player decides in advance before the game actually starts, what move he/she will make to maximize his/her own gain in any possible situation that may arise (Gulliver
1979).
Economic theory seeks to develop dynamic models of process, involving offers and counteroffers and interdependent concession making. In contrast to the classical game theory, there is no concern for the discovery of once-and-for-all strategies, but rather an
intention to examine how the bargainers should interact in terms of their expectations of each other (Young 1975). Economic models analyze the processes through which the demands of the participants converge over time toward some specific point on the
contract curve.
Behavior theory focuses on the complex human factors of negotiation. It attempts to analyze the negotiation processes in which negotiators influence each other’s expectations, perceptions, assessments, and decisions during the search for an outcome,
thereby affecting the outcome. Much attention is given to the nature of changing expectations and negotiators’ tactics, and to the significance of uncertainties of information, perception, and evaluation—all matters that tend to be ignored by game theory and economic theory (Zartman 1977). The learning model is an important behavior model that views negotiation as a learning process. Negotiation strategies are contingent and contain errors, and expectations will change; this will lead in turn to a modification of each party’s choice of strategy. What has occurred previously is used as a standard of assessment by which to choose what to aim for and what to do next.
Negotiation theory represents the qualitative aspect of negotiations. Negotiation theory is the study of the exchanges between parties designed to reconcile their differences and produce a settlement. Negotiation theory aims to assist during the negotiation process
so that the qualitative characteristics of a negotiation are taken into consideration.
Improving negotiation process
Research done by Feniosky Pe –Mora and Tadatsugu Tamaki show that the issue of the project structure and delivery system is an important driver of negotiation, because they define the temporary formal and informal relationships among the different parties in a project and subsequently, they define the framework of conflict negotiations within that project. Therefore, it is expected that different delivery systems can be more or less effective in terms of dispute prevention or dispute resolution, depending on the project in which they are applied. Understanding of such relations can help participants to plan and prepare for negotiations on conflicts that they may take part in. Their research indicates that keeping change-order record and index of negotiation effectiveness would provide information on the characteristics of the negotiation process, disadvantages of different delivery systems and help project participants to plan and form contracts in the future.
Computer based improvements for negotiation process
Inefficiency has been widely recognized as a common problem in negotiation. Currently the main trend in improving negotiation processes is to develop an efficient computer based system that will speed up negotiation. There are two types of negotiation support systems used or being developed: expert and decision analysis systems, and multiagent systems. First provide suggestions to human negotiators, which may help to in negotiation process and reduce time. However, it does not really solve the main problems of negotiation, like: different goals of participants and getting them to an agreement. Second directly negotiate with each other about negotiation items to reach an agreement within a specified time frame. In this system autonomous agents is acting on behalf of project participants and can directly negotiate with each other to resolve construction claims.
In 1998 Pe -Mora and Wang proposed a collaborative negotiation methodology and a computer agent named CONVINCER to facilitate/mediate the negotiation process in large-scale infrastructure projects. By obtaining the interpretation of negotiation characteristics in architecture/ engineering/construction (A/E/C) industry, the methodology has integrated the concepts of game theory with the concept of negotiation theory to help guide negotiations toward sustainable outcomes. He pointed out five major characteristics in the A/E/C industry that have to be considered in a negotiation: collaborative-competitive nature, domain dependent barrier, strategy-influenced outcome, project delivery system, and globalization trend.
SpaceSolver is an Internet-based software package that uses new algorithms developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, for solving multidimensional nonlinear inequality constraints on continuous variables. Solution spaces are proposed, instead of single solutions only, to support collaborative tasks during design and construction. Currently, partners involved in construction projects typically assign single values for subsets of variables and then proceed, often after tedious negotiations with other partners, to integrate these partial solutions into more complete project descriptions. It also contains many features that are useful in collaboration, such as data management and protection tasks for shared and private data for collaborative projects.
Conclusions
Since building construction involves so many people from different fields, negotiation occurs very often and has a big influence on construction processes, like change in costs or deadlines. So it is important to try to improve commonly used techniques of negotiations. Both computer based software and more intensive analysis and records of past negotiations may dramatically improve and speed up negotiation process.
References:
Feniosky Pe–Mora,Tadatsugu Tamaki (2001). Effect of Delivery Systems on Collaborative Negotiatons for Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects- (J. of Management in Engineering/ April 2001/ 121)
Pe -Mora, F., and Wang, C-Y. (1998)-Computer-supported collaborative negotiation methodology ( J. Comp. in Civ. Engrg., ASCE,12(2))
Gulliver, P. H. (1979)- Disputes and negotiation: A cross-culture perspective,
(Academic, San Diego)
Bacharach, S. B., and Lawler, E. J. (1981). Bargaining: Power, tactics
and outcomes (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco)
Young, O. R., (1975) Bargaining: Formal theories of negotiation (University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Ill)
Zartman, I. W., (1977) The negotiation process: Theories and applications (Sage,London)
Z. Ren, C. J. Anumba, and O. O. Ugwu. (2003)- Multiagent System for Construction Claims Negotiation ( J. Comp. in Civ. Engrg., ASCE,7(2003))