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Neves & Mathias - Proposal of A Pattern Matching Methodology in The Teaching of Negotiation (BALAS 1998)
Neves & Mathias - Proposal of A Pattern Matching Methodology in The Teaching of Negotiation (BALAS 1998)
NEGOTIATION
ABSTRACT
To the Latin America countries, the globalization process has brought important
investment opportunities connected to complex negotiation processes. The teaching of
negotiation is particularly important to the local executives in this particular moment and
context. An exploratory analysis of the application of pattern matching techniques with the
use of movies is presented, with some problems in the teaching of negotiation and the
reasons to use pattern matching. A preliminary tool for pattern matching is also presented.
1 - Introduction
To the emergent economies of Latin America, one of the main facets of the globalization process
has been the generation of investment opportunities derived from complex agreements between
enterprises and countries, as a part of projects of economic integration. Initiatives of external
trade liberalization with easier access to other countries markets, elimination of custom-house
tariffs and other trade barriers, building of economic blocks and the emergence of industrial
restructuring and foreign investment policies have given to the negotiation processes a special
importance to these countries development. Trade agreements have established the direction of
investments in several industries and the participation growth of transactions related to large
economic blocks seems to be inevitable.
In Latin America, the negotiation subjects have special importance, if we consider that the formal
aspects of negotiations have preceded the market issues. As usually said, “the commercial
liberalization goes faster and before than the investments”. Specialists contrast this characteristic
with the Asian integration between blocks of countries: in Asia this integration has been market
led and in Latin America it is policy led (conduced by government and politic actions)1.
This phase in the Latin America economic history requires a particular type of learning, about the
logic and form of the negotiation processes.
This study discusses the possibilities of using a simple instrument for pattern matching in the
teaching of negotiation and presents an example of application.
Some authors have attested to the degree of complexity associated with the teaching of
negotiation2. It is an especially difficult matter to teach considering that the students (in colleges,
MBAs or executives in training programs) have in their own varied backgrounds and knowledge
of some ways of negotiating acquired before the course. They grew up in an interactive
1
Specially interesting informations about these differences can be obtained in URL:
http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/las/prrpweb.htm
2
For a more detailed analysis of this problem, see Mathias et alii (1994).
environment rich in communication that has moulded their minds and has had great influence in
the way they perceive the real world. They have experience, but probably not the expertise 3. The
conclusions that can be drawn from this study, can be grouped as follows (Schank & Cleary,
1995):
a) Facts. A fact can be expressed by an assertion like: “Washington DC is the capital of the
United States” or “I know John”.
b) Cases. Cases are the stories we know, one type being business cases.
c) Skills. Skills are more complex knowledge such as how to dance or knowing how to fix a
car’s motor.
d) Processes. This type of upper level knowledge is more complex. Examples of processes are;
competing for a job, participating in a power game, or communicating and relating to other
persons, and negotiating.
Educators usually concentrate their attention on teaching facts. Facts are easy to talk about and to
test students on. Considered separately, however, facts have little or no utility in the art of
negotiation (as possibly in real life); they must be understood as a whole and also in their own
particular aspects. They must be contextualized and indexed if we want to use them as a tool for
the student to deal with the real world4. The experiences of teaching situations, however, have
often shown that students lack the capability and training required to associate the things they see
in a course with real situations. This may be expressing a lack of perspective and depth5.
The process of teaching negotiation includes the incorporation of new behaviors and abilities on
top of the ones the student has. In executive training, some negotiation courses have as part of
their names the expression “Negotiation Techniques”. This expression promises the possibility of
transmitting practical recommendations on how to act to obtain better results from negotiations.
Some of these courses are based on the assumption that it is possible to improve the performance
of a negotiator if they memorize the facts associated with these recommendations.
The things we know are predominantly in the form of stories (Schank, 1990). So it is easy to see
that the teaching of negotiation by examples, stories, or cases can be an effective way to
stimulate discussion and to introduce the theory into the student's cognitive repertory. This
method is commonly used; it assumes the form of tales narrated by the teacher or written cases
made for the students discussion's.
Research comparing these techniques to the use of directive procedures concludes that under
certain conditions the use of cases promotes a better degree of retention. It is important to note
that when directive methods are used, the students may forget in some months up to 50% of the
subject taught in class (Garvin, 1991).
The use of cases as a class tool can have different applications: exposition;
concepts and theory illustration of a situation; coreography (Rangan, 1995) Another way of
transmitting stories and cases is by the use of movies.
3
Bazerman & Neale (1995, chapter 12) discussed the difference between experience and expertise.
4
As Ellis (1994) says: “ ‘One of the problems that business has is that new employees come in with a school mind-
set’, says GE Capital Corp. Senior Vice-President James A. Colica. ‘They don’t understand things, they just repeat
them by rote.’ ”
5
Or, in other words, a link between the primary knowledgement (the theory) and the secondary one (vision of limits
and application (Russo & Schoemaker, 1989) are necessary.)
The expression “pattern matching” involves two activities: first, recognition and then
comparison. The word pattern has several meanings: it can be a model, a design, an arrangement,
an example, a sample, a regular way of acting or doing something, a pre-defined or expected
route and others. (Guralnik, 1986). A pattern can be understood as a specific arrangement (not
casual or random) of objects or elements that can be found in theory as well as observed in real
life6. In this study we are especially interested in patterns as “a regular way of acting or doing
something” that can be observed in negotiation situations. In this sense we refer to “negotiation
patterns”.
In a certain way, pattern matching is a daily practice to every persons 7. In the field of concepts,
events or processes, everyone has in their repertory could be compared to a pattern stock.
Through interaction with the real world, this stock is in continuous transformation and the ways
of interpreting reality are infinite. While helping with the selection and renovation of that
repertory, the use of movies can enlarge the collection of tools which the student can use to deal
with different situations.
The confrontation between construct patterns and observations about the real world allows us to
validate these constructs. On the other hand, if we are dealing with established concepts, we see
progress in the form of familiarity with and use of these concepts. In the way Kuhn (1991)
understood it, the researcher’s work corresponds to validate the theoretic pattern he knows
through observation8. Thus, the researcher can test the correctness of the theory and make the
needed changes. We can expect from a student in the learning situation the capability to
recognize in the real world some patterns he can associate with the ones in the theory he is
studying. The confrontation of these patterns will correspond in both cases to an attempt to link a
theoretic pattern to another observed in the real world. In Fig. 1 we can see that the task of
converting ideas in theoretic patterns must be completed by organizing the observed data into
observed patterns, in such a manner that comparison between them is possible.
6
Trochim (1997) says that the theories imply certain patterns, but they do not confound with them. The theories are
not out of the real world, but they belong to the ideas dimension.
7
Bush (1996) refers to the reading action as a pattern matching process that involves several levels: “Elementary
features (letters and words) activate specific neuronal elements in visual cortex, tuned to respond to precisely these
stimuli. (...) The process of understanding is neurally the same process as perception - matching input patterns to
already existing patterns in each cortical area”.
8
Volz (1996) describes pattern matching as a simple type of confrontation between any patterns: “(...) in the case
of evaluation, the patterns are those of the theory as visualized and the outcome revealed in the post-tests”.
Figure 1 - Confronting theory and real world observations
(Adapted fromTrochim, 1997)
Theoretical
field THEORIES / IDEAS / HUNCHES
CONCEPTUALIZATION TASK
THEORETICAL PATTERN
PATTERN
MATCHING
Observation
field
OBSERVED PATTERN
DATA ORGANIZATION
OBSERVATIONS /
DATA / MEASURES
Whether we realize it or not consciously, the effort to compare theory and phenomena depends
on the mapping of a concept's system, the analysis of the available data and the indication of
relations between the mapped concepts and the analyzed data. The purpose is to recognize and
compare eventually visible patterns.
To recognize and compare patterns are things largely discussed and known in natural sciences.
In the field of human sciences, however, these procedures are not so common even though the
possibility of its use was discussed in some studies 9. Yin (1989:33) refers to the use of patter
matching as a Donald Campbell idea: “...whereby several pieces of information from the same
case may be related to some theoretical proposition.”
Examples of the use of pattern matching are present in molecular biology 10, in the creation of
computer languages11, in the concept mapping softwares design 12, in the analysis of geometric
problems13 and in studies of artificial intelligence14, to mention just a few concrete and direct
applications.
On the other hand, going up a level of abstraction we have the pattern matching of ideas which
are the essence of refined ways of mental construction and representation. A particularly complex
way of interpreting groups of symbols in a piece of art work (a novel, a romance or a movie, for
example) is in the perception of metaphors as a part of the work’s message, based on certain
patterns which the interpreter would understand as signals that have a symbolic meaning.
Some elements of a work can be understood, for example, as cultural manifestations; since they
are able to express, with limitations, characteristics of the dominant ethics and to be the basis for
critical discussions. In this case, the perspective adopted by the author for the interpretation (his
weltanschaaung) and the objectives of the analysis make up a system necessarily linked with the
message content15. Although subjective, the interpretations and conclusions of a work are not the
author's property: they belong to all the persons who read the work. The author will be working
scientifically if, among other things, his conclusions obey the epistemological principle of
consensibility16, that is, the patterns he is able to recognize must be also recognized by other
persons .
An example of the application of pattern matching, while not specifically calling it that, is found
in Zusman’s (1994) study that analyzes some movies using the Freudian conceptual framework.
In this he proceeded with the decodification of messages in the scenes and of the narrative
structure, using a pre-existent and well-known concept system.
In learning activities, many situations require more framing efforts than direct analysis. In these
cases, the effort of recognizing patterns that can give an orientation to the actions is more
9
In the human sciences, one of the first references to this method was made by Bateson (1972). This author has
referred to the use of “pattern matching” in a large sense, in some parts of his study. In another book, he says: “What
pattern connects the crab to the lobster and the orchid to the primrose and all the four to them and me? And me to
you? And all the six of us to the amoeba in one direction and to the back-ward schizophrenic in another?” (Bateson,
1979; page 8). The author is referring to the ‘pattern which connects”, that is, to the large and systemic relation
between all the known types of living beings.
10
An example is the Stefan Kurtz Project in Arizona. See URL: <http://cs.arizona.edu/personnel/kurtz.html>.
11
An example is the Refus Functional Programming Language. See URL: <http://cognac.informatik.uni-
kl.de/persons/reinhard/refus.abstract.html>.
12
A software created for this purpose is the Metamorph.: “Metamorph locates intersections of concepts in text (...)”.
V. URL: <http://www.vais.net/~ppptac/meta.htm>.
13
An application concerned with geometric problems can be found in URL:<http://www.dei.unipd.it/ english/ rpd/
activities/cj/concepts/F.2.2.html>.
14
Teixeira (1996) sees the artificial inteligence as a discipline in a crytical situation, as a consequence of no
recognizing visual patterns.
15
Comparing two movies, Matthew Shirts (1997) comments the differences of perspective on recognizing the
metaforic expression of cultural aspects. He refers to an Roberto da Matta’s work about ambiguity as a Brazilian
culture’s element.
16
Mariconda (1996) says that the thesis of perceptual consensibility lies on “a faculty which is common to every
man: the ability of recognizing patterns”. He also says: “a thing is consensual (objective) if it can be tested by any
person.”
important than finding causal links, the explanation of phenomena, or the understanding of the
dynamics of the processes.
Without some type of preparation, a person might have problems recognizing these patterns. In
other words, the option for an action must be based on a vision of the kind and the specific type
of action required, based on certain clues that only a trained person can see.
There are advantages in the conscious use of tools for an organized recognizing and matching
pattern effort. In negotiation situations, there should be regularities which a prepared student can
easily recognize. The advantage of validating the recognition and matching processes as an
analysis method is to transfer to the student part of the active responsibility for acquiring
knowledge. This would encourage an active way of learning.
The process of framing situations to a conceptual framework can be divided into five distinct
mental processes: (1) pre-selection of the object; (2) recognition; (3) comparison; (4) measuring
the degree of similarity (5) indexation. To execute these mental processes, the use of a pattern
matching process can be designed as follows:
a) Initially the student would draw on a group of previous conceptualization efforts,
that are not a part of the situational context and are organized in a way the student can
use.
b) the organization of the concepts by mapping in a way that makes easy the later
effort of detecting patterns;
c) the selection of data, using first a general pattern;
d) the systematic and detailed register of data;
e) the comparision between the mapped concepts and each registered situation;
f) the detection of relationships, by similarity, between concepts and situations;
g) the organized evaluation of the similarities between concepts and situations;
h) a sinthesis effort, which interatively returns to the framework used as a reference
structure for the evaluation of the found patterns which leads to convergence with the
intention of building a picture for contextualization.
With little adaptation, this sequence can be applied to the analysis of several type of phenomena,
situations or processes. As much in the quantitative as in the qualitative works, the researcher
must give the most attention to the use of trusted ways of real world representation and to a
process of concept mapping that is not distorting the original framework.
Example: Scene V. 17. 1251 – Fifth scene, begun at the 17th minute, at 1251 tape rounds.
18
We used the abbreviation “BN” which means: “Bazerman and Neale (1995). Negociando Racionalmente
(Brazilian version)”.
IV) CROSS-REFERENCE TABLE – BAZERMAN & NEALE CONCEPTS X SCENES
Minute 17 31 33 88 106
The way of structuring the negotiation affects the disposition of obtain an agreement (p. 48)
(Structuring the Dotation effect (emotional links) affects the negotiator position (p. 53)
To structure positively the negotiations provokes concessions of the other party (p. 58)
(Information Perspective is affected by the problems seen by the person (p. 63)
Availability) The vision of the real world depends on the person’s specialization (p. 63)
No use of anchors just because some type of information is available (p. 65)
The use of trusted information and not the available one (p. 66)
Cap. 7 The return of a transaction is worse if just the other part has informations (p. 71)
19
The quantity of information (“chunks”) which an individual can retain in its short term memory is an average
of seven (7+2 or 7-2) for George Miller (1956) apud Hayes (1989). Some persons, however, have a bigger
retention ability that permits, for example, to be a excepcional software programmer (Cringely, 1996).
it will be possible to deal with phenomena that have a mutual influence. The student will
notice many types of relationships in the film, including its parallel plots, secondary events
and processes which are manifested in different dimensions that are important for the
analysis.
The advantage of using in the classroom movies not made for training purposes is that it leads
to spontaneous learning of attitudes. To see a movie that is taken out of its original context
and to make an effort to decode its messages using an active point of view implies a form of
distancing which is useful in situations where it would be important to see phenomena as a
complex system of signs to be decoded. In other words, as a manifested and perceptible form
of a process an external observer can see. The new reading of a work of art out of its original
context reinforces the notion of a real world framed by an uncommon perspective.
The intention of using a systematized reference framework to analyse a pre-selected group of
situations from a movie is an important element of the learning process. The student can
easily distinguish between the role of a spectator and the active agent. He will realize if that is
the case, his own lack of vision and depth. If he can see the effort to identify patterns as a
distinct task, he will develop techniques to work on this task in particular. Being familiar with
pattern matching efforts, he would be able to select an alternative in a repertory of possible
action courses.
The training on pattern matching can help the student to understand that the negotiator's
posture in a real situation can benefit from building an organized reference framework for
framing situations based on perceptible elements.
The practice of recognizing and matching patterns given by the didactic experience with
movies can help the student to acquire some habitual skills:
Distinguishing between mental functions of recognizing, selecting, comparison and
analysis;
seeing the effort of recognizing patterns as counscious and intentional task;
working with a pattern hierarchy, in which a main pattern can exist with other
subordinated patterns;
using certain tools for organizing and systematizing the situations dealt with.
We can perceive the real world by dealing with differences as well as establishing regularities
and similarities. Considering that the understanding of phenomena begins with the
recognition of patterns (and these patterns can be structured in theories or not), in order to
make a diagnosis about the adequacy of the existing conceptual and theoretical frameworks
we need to measure how successful we are in recognizing the related patterns. Eventually this
search will bring new perspectives to the understanding of the phenomena being studied. This
perception is critical to the general building of based on attempts to confirm or contest the
conventional and well-established way of understanding some aspects of reality. So, the effort
to create and improve tools and methods of pattern matching can be as useful to the advance
of scientific research as to the purpose of learning.
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