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Negotiation

Section 03:
Negotiation Contexts

Chapter 12:
Coalitions

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 A Situation with More Than Two Parties

As negotiators are
added, negotiations
become more complex.

This chapter focuses on

what happens when
parties form coalitions
to strengthen their
bargaining position
through collective
action.

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 What Is a Coalition?

A coalition is a collection of two or more parties within a

larger social setting who pursue mutually desirable goals.
• Coalitions are interacting groups of individuals.

• Coalitions are deliberately constructed and issue oriented.

• Coalitions exist independent of formal structure.

• Coalitions lack formal structure.

• Coalitions focus on goals external to the coalition.

• Coalitions require concerted member action.

An essential aspect is that members try to achieve outcomes
satisfying the interests of the coalition, not the larger group.

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 Types of Coalitions

A potential coalition is an emergent interest group.

• A latent coalition has not yet formed into an operating coalition.
• A dormant coalition previously formed but is currently inactive.

An operating coalition is currently active and in place.

• An established coalition is stable and ongoing indefinitely.

• A temporary coalition operates for short time on a single issue.

A recurring coalition may have started as a temporary one,

but due to unresolved issues, it may need to remobilize.

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 When Do Coalitions Form?

Coalitions form all the time in families, politics, and business.

• The fundamental dynamic is the same.
• Parties come together to pool their efforts and resources in pursuit of
common or overlapping goals.
• Forming coalitions has the simplifying effect of reducing the number of
actors at the negotiating table.

Control over resources is the basis for two critical pieces of

the coalition formation process.
• What each member brings to the coalition.

• What each member should receive if the coalition forms.

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 When Do Coalitions Form?
A Classic Coalition Game
The 4–3–2 game illustrates when and why coalitions form.
• Players are given unequal votes, with five needed to claim a prize.
• Players must determine whom to ally with and how to split the prize.
• The 3–2 coalition is the most common.
• The most common distribution of the pool is 50–50 or a small
advantage to the three vote.

Occasionally, stable coalitions are broken.

• Four may lure two or three away with a big incentive.
• If four then deflect, the defector is stuck and cannot return to the other
side, who is still angry about the defect.

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 When Do Coalitions Form? The
Nature of Coalition Inputs
People form coalitions to preserve/increase their resources.
• These resources serve as coalition inputs.
• In organizations, coalitions form around key resources such as
information, money, or control over future direction.
• Coalition inputs may also include effort, ability, skill, and expertise.

Coalitions can form around a shared sense of social identity.

• When parties see themselves as part of a common social category.

• They can form around emerging categories as the parties become

acquainted.
• Coalitions formed on social identities are not “rational” and do not help
achieve negotiation objectives.

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 When Do Coalitions Form?
Social Dilemmas
Coalitions form in order to avoid the poor outcome that will
occur if individuals act alone in a self-interested manner.
• A classic anecdote is “The Tragedy of the Commons.”

The concept of a social dilemma applies to a number of

contemporary issues.
• Common dilemmas can be avoided only if a large number of people
accept responsibility for taking advantage of a limited good.
• Common dilemmas often become an unending downward spiral but
there are ways to increase pro-social responses.
• Expand communication between individuals, educate them, and ask
for a commitment to limit their resource use.

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 How Do Coalitions Develop?
Coalitions Start with a Founder
A founder recognizes that they cannot get what they want by
themselves.
• Persuasion efforts alone may be successful.
• Early on, the founder may have to give away a lot to gain a little.
• As the coalition grows, others will join on their own.

There are two key factors that define the founder’s ability to
build a coalition.
• Successful founders have extensive networks.
• Founders’ benefits from early coalitions are likely to be small.

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 How Do Coalitions Develop?
Coalitions Build by Adding One Member at a Time
Coalitions rarely come together in a single event.
• Coalitions are typically built by adding individuals one at a time.

The founder is instrumental in driving this process by using

one of several criteria.
• The prospect has something important to bring to the coalition that will
enhance its strength.
• The prospect wants less than other people to be a member of the
coalition.
• The founder can make some form of promise or commitment to the
prospect about future rewards or benefits to be derived.

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 How Do Coalitions Develop?
Coalitions Need Opportunities to Form and Grow
Motivation may not be enough if the parties don’t have the
right opportunity to explore their mutual interests.
• In a multiparty negotiation, some may find it hard to form an alliance
unless they can have side conversations apart from the main table.
• Opportunities for side conversations in small groups give greater voice
to minority points of view.
• Smart leaders will think carefully about whether they want to allow or
encourage side conversations.

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 How Do Coalitions Develop? Coalitions
Need to Achieve Critical Mass
Coalitions continue to grow through pairwise discussions and
matching processes.
• At some point, they reach a “joining threshold” and others begin to join
on their own.
• There is a point when a coalition reaches critical mass and finds that
further growth is easier but at the same time less necessary.

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 How Do Coalitions Develop?
Coalitions Exclude
Coalitions don’t just add members; they also exclude
members.
• Those left out may be worse off as a result, or they may be better off.

The exclusion of parties may depend on the communication

channels through which coalition politics plays out.
• Groups that interact face-to-face are less likely to exclude a party than
those interacting through a text-based online communication system.
• Exclusion is less likely when side conversations are not allowed and
communication is publicly shared.

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 How Do Coalitions Develop?
Weak Ties Can Be Strong
Coalition founders often seek the weakest, as they may need
to be in the coalition the most and will demand the least.
• Founders with a large, diverse network of weak ties are often in a
better position to form a coalition.
• Than those with a small, uniform network of strong ties.

In organizational settings, there are “veto players”—senior

managers or others in formal authority positions.
• They are not likely to be coalition founders as they are unwilling to
give much away and have difficulty selling others on membership.
• Instead, they are likely to wait until others approach them with
attractive offers.

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 How Do Coalitions Develop?
Many Coalitions Form Quietly and Disband Quickly
Coalitions do not have to be permanent to be effective.
• Successful coalitions are focused and seldom meet formally.
• When critical action is needed, they mobilize and then disband.
• Communication channels may play a role is this efficiency.

There are several reasons why it is risky for a coalition to

remain intact after the successful resolution of an issue.
• Revenge of the vanquished.

• Turmoil within.
• Desire for anonymity.

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 Standards for Coalition Decision Making

Decision rules parallel three standards of fairness.

• An equity standard argues that those contributing more should receive
more, in proportion to the contribution.
• An equality standard argues that everyone should get the same.
• A need standard argues that parties in need should receive more.

In general, parties argue for the standard that is most likely to

serve their individual needs.

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 Power and Leverage in Coalitions

The dynamics of power and influence are central aspects of

the formation and maintenance of coalitions.

Leverage issues in coalitions are discussed from two

perspectives.
• The issue of strength versus weakness in coalitions.
• The types of power that underlie coalition formation.

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 Where Is the Strength in Coalitions?

The more resources a party holds or controls, the more likely

that party is to be a critical coalition member.
• Such a person will be central to pulling the coalition together, dictating
its strategy and influencing the distribution of the resource pool.
• This is known as the strength-is-strength argument.

The goal may be to form the smallest winning coalition.

• Parties with relatively fewer resources may be stronger.
• Their weaker resource position leads them to ask for less from the
winning pool, so they are a desirable coalition partner.
• This result is often referred to as the strength-is-weakness argument.

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 How is Power Related to Coalition Formation?

There are three key types of power in multiparty negotiations.

• Strategic power emerges from the availability of alternative partners.
• Normative power comes from perceived fairness in outcome distribution.
• Relationship-based power is shaped by the compatibility of preferences
between two or more parties.

Relationship dynamics can significantly affect the formation

and stability of coalitions.
• Parties see themselves aligned in the future and so work together.
• They perceive compatible preferences and common interests.
• They develop trust, and confidence in each other to work together.

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 How to Build Coalitions: Some Practical Advice

A practical approach proposes a strategy of empowerment

and positive politics—the pursuit of enlightened self-interest.
• Parties who pursue enlightened self-interest are likely to use authentic
tactics with others.

The dominant driving force of a coalition is vision, so think

about potential coalition partners along two dimensions.
• Do they agree with your objectives?
• Do they generate (from you) high or low levels of trust?

Combining the two dimensions of agreement and trust

reveals five possible roles for coalition partners.
• Allies, opponents, bedfellows, fence sitters, and adversaries.

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 How to Build Coalitions
Allies and Opponents

Allies agree with the goals Opponents have conflicting

and vision and are trusted.
Treat allies as friends.
Expect them to tell the truth
and act in your best interest.
goals and objectives.
They are trusted as
principled and candid in
opposition.
They push the negotiator to
be better and stronger.
Negotiators expect
opponents to play by the
rules and play to win.

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 How to Build Coalitions
Bedfellows and Fence Sitters

Bedfellows highly agree on Fence sitters will not take a

vision or objectives.
But with low to moderate
levels of trust.
Low trust arises when either
side won’t share information.
Bedfellows are created by
either party.
stand on a given issue.
They may fear getting
locked into something.
They also may truly not
know what they want to do.
The negotiator can have
little trust in fence sitters.

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 How to Build Coalitions
Adversaries
Adversaries are low in agreement, but unlike opponents,
adversaries cannot be trusted.
• Many people become preoccupied with adversaries.
• Adversaries often behave in ways that parties find unacceptable.
• The more you focus on trying to convert other people, the more they
adhere to their own beliefs.
• A long-term focus on adversaries can lead to paranoia and
dysfunctional behavior in organizations.

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