Negotiation Vocabulary
Source: pon.harvard.edu/category/glossary
Zone of Possible Agreement
The bargaining range created by the two
reservation values. The ZOPA defines a “surplus”
that must be divided between the parties. (Robert H.
Mnookin, Scott R. Peppet and Andrew S.
Tulumello, Beyond Winning [Belknap Press, 2004],
19). See Also: Creating Value Through Haggling,
Setting the Stage for Negotiation Success,
Dealmaking: Six Strategies for Creating or
Claiming Value Through Haggling, Conflict
Management: Becoming a Team Player.
Reservation Value or Reservation Point
Translation of BATNA into a value at the table –
the amount at which you are indifferent between
reaching a deal and walking away to your BATNA.
(Robert H. Mnookin, Scott R. Peppet and Andrew
S. Tulumello, Beyond Winning [Belknap Press,
2004], 19)
Positional Bargaining
An approach to negotiation that frames negotiation
as an adversarial, zero-sum exercise focused on
claiming – rather than creating – value. Typically,
one party will stake out a high (or low) opening
position (demand or offer) and the other a
correspondingly low (or high) one. Then a series of
(usually reciprocal) concessions are made until an
agreement is reached somewhere in the middle of
the opening positions, or no agreement is reached
at all. (Bruce Patton, Building Relationships and
the Bottom Line: The Circle of Value Approach to
Negotiation [Harvard University Press, 2004], 288)
Harvard University
Department of Government
Position
A proposed outcome that represents one way
among many that issues might be resolved and
interests met. Explicit demands made during a
negotiation often represent a party’s position,
although the underlying interest may be broader
and quite different. (Michael L. Moffitt and Robert
C. Bordone, eds., Handbook of Dispute Resolution
[Program on Negotiation/Jossey-Bass, 2005], 280)
Interests
A party’s basic needs, wants, and motivations that
are potentially at stake in a negotiation. The
measure of success in a negotiation is how well
your interests are met. (David A. Lax and James K.
Sebenius, 3-D Negotiation [Harvard Business
School Press, 2006], 69)
Integrative Negotiation
Negotiations in which there is a potential for the
parties’ interests to be integrated in ways that create
joint value or enlarge the pie. Integrative
negotiation is possible when the parties have some
shared interests or opportunities to realize mutual
gains through trades across multiple issues.
(Michael Watkins and Susan Rosegrant,
Breakthrough International Negotiations [Jossey-
Bass, 2001], 31)
Anchoring
An attempt to establish an initial position around
which negotiatiors will make adjustments.
(Richard Luecke, Harvard Business Essentials:
Negotiation [Harvard Business Press, 2003], 49)
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Aspiration Value or Target Point
Outcome to which you aspire that would serve your
interests much better than your best alternative.
Your aspiration value should aim high (much
research has shown that negotiators with high
aspirations on average do better), but also be
supportable by arguments about why this value is
reasonable. (Robert H. Mnookin, Scott R. Peppet
and Andrew S. Tulumello, Beyond Winning
[Belknap Press, 2004], 34)
BATNA
Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. The
true measure by which you should judge any
proposed agreement. It is the only standard which
can protect you both from accepting terms that are
too unfavorable and from rejecting terms it would
be in your interest to accept. (Roger Fisher and
William Ury, Getting to Yes [Penguin Books, 1991],
100-01)
Coalition
Structures that become possible when three or more
parties negotiate, and parties ally together to exploit
or buy off each other. Coalition dynamics can arise
across the table (between parties in a dispute) or
behind the table (among individuals on one side or
the other). (David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius)
Concessions
The things one side gives up in order to deescalate
or resolve a conflict. They may simply be points in
an argument, a reduction in demands, or a softening
of one side’s position. (from http://www.
colorado.edu/conflict/peace/glossary.htm)
Harvard University
Department of Government
Distributive Negotiation
A type of negotiation in which the parties compete
over the distribution of a fixed pool of value. Here,
any gain by one party represents a loss to the other.
Also known as a zero-sum negotiation or win-lose
negotiation. (Richard Luecke, Harvard Business
Essentials: Negotiation [Harvard Business Press,
2003], 2-3)
Negotiation
Back-and-forth communication designed to reach
an agreement between two or more parties with
some interests that are shared and others that may
conflict or simply be different. Negotiation is an
intrinsic part of any kind of joint action, problem
solving, and dispute resolution, and may be verbal,
nonverbal, explicit, implicit, direct, or through
intermediaries. (Michael L. Moffitt and Robert C.
Bordone, eds., Handbook of Dispute Resolution
[Program on Negotiation/Jossey-Bass, 2005], 279)
Principled Negotiation
The name given to the interest-based approach to
negotiation set out in the best-known conflict
resolution book, Getting to Yes, first published in
1981 by Roger Fisher and William Ury. The book
advocates four fundamental principles of
negotiation: 1) separate the people from the
problem; 2) focus on interests, not positions; 3)
invent options for mutual gain; and 4) insist on
objective criteria.
Framing
The process of defining what a problem is about.
Just as a frame can be placed around a photograph,
including some portions of the picture, but
cropping other portions out, people can define
some aspects of a problem as important, while they
ignore (or are unaware of) other issues that do not
concern them.
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