Negotiation and

Presentation Techniques
Lecture 5 – Negotiation II.
The Three Dimensions of Negotiation
Previously on the NPT…
Negotiation II.
The Three Dimensions of Negotiation:
Content
Process
Relationship
Video analysis
Case Study
Designing a Successful Negotiation

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No negotiation is
independent from its
environment

• The negotiation influences its environment – the

environment influences the negotiation.
• Negotiations are not held in closed systems.
• All negotiations have a reason-for.
• Negotiations always have an impact on the environment.
What do we mean by environment?
• Our position, our state
before the negotiation.
• The partners position and
state before the negotiation.
• Everything the result of the
negotiation may have an
impact on.
• Everything that we call the
result of a negotiaion.
 What is the result of a
negotiation?
• Something must change, this is why we start a negotiation in the
first place, the same applies to the partner.

• The status-quo, i.e. the world before the negotiation will not stay
unchanged, because even with no agreement, we do not lose
the experience we gained during the negotiation. This is not always
good news, but there is nothing we can do about it.

• Maybe we managed to destroy our relationship with the partner

with the negotiation.
Dynamism of negotiations

• Our status is in perpetual change in the course of a

negotiation.
• The NT approach follows this change in the status.
• Our model establishes a three-dimensional space, in
which the status of the participants can be visualized.
THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF NEGOTIATION

N RE
CONTENTLAT

PROCESS
ION
SHI
P
Content of a Negotiation
What are we negotiating about?

• Everything that we negotiate about.

• It does not have to be constant; the
content may change during the
negotiation.
• The parties may agree to change
what they negotiate about: our goals
and the other party’s goals may also
change, can be refined.
Process of a Negotiation
How do we negotiate?

• How do the positions of the

partners change in the course
of the negotiation – flexibility?

• Why do the positions change?

• What are the techniques,

tricks to achieve the goals?
Relationship of the Negotiating parties
What happens to • Negotiations are being held in
the relationship of complicated environments.
the partners as a • The parties are related to each
result of the other before and after the
negotiation? negotiation.
• The negotiation has an
impact on their
relationship.

Eg. in the case of peace negotiations,

the agreements may have long-term
effect on the relationship of the countries.
Validity of the model
• There are alternative models for the study of negotiations.
• We could look at other factors, parameters, too.
• However, the above mentioned three dimensions (content,
process, relationship) cannot be neglected.
CASE STUDY
Exhibition organiser Hungarian
(ORG) Newspaper (HN)

VS.

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The situation:
• The Hungarian pavilion of a prestigious foreign
exhibition won the right to organize with a plan that
built on the image material of a Hungarian
newspaper (HN) to a significant extent.

• The organizers of the exhibition (ORG) wanted to

give a picture of the whole period since the
change of regime (1989), by exhibiting all the
photos published in the newspaper, for some During the
documentary purpose, in a rather eye-catching way. preparation of the
tender, the
• A very expensive paging machine was also newspaper agreed to
designed and manufactured for this: the structure include its images in
was planned to function as an “exhibition object”, a the exhibition.
kind of mobile sculpture.
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Broken trust

• However, as the preparation of the exhibition progressed,

the suspicion arose that the exhibition might be a kind
of professional flick: objectively, i.e., for documentary
purposes, but also on a pillar, and at the same time
making the newspaper ridiculous.

• Therefore, the newspaper, a few months after winning the

tender, already at the drafting stage, unexpectedly
withdrew its consent.

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Involving legal expert
According to ORG, who won the exhibition, the time remaining until the exhibition did
not allow the development of a new concept:
• the omission of one of the three main motifs of the exhibition seemed a very serious
conceptual loss to the ORG. In addition, the production of the paging machine was
already in an advanced state, and the shutdown of the project also predicted a serious
financial loss.

• ORG sought the opinion of a legal expert on the

matter whether there is an obstacle to use the
images of the newspaper without the consent of the
newspaper?

• The legal expert gave the information that ORG

is free to use the image material, it will not
encounter any copyright barriers. 16
Involving supreme authority
The ORG and his team used the footage without the consent of the
newspaper and created the exhibition.

• Direct preparation and equipment works for the exhibition took place at the
foreign location when the newspaper reported a violation of copyright
and related rights to the police and applied to the highest authority
(the Ministry) under the supervision of the institution directly responsible for
the exhibition (the institution which issued the tender and had direct
responsibility for its implementation after the organizer).

• It seemed that the police procedure would not put an end to the case
before the opening of the exhibition, or even during the opening hours.

Moreover, the supreme authority was frightened by the impending

scandal and put pressure on the responsible institution, which put
pressure on the exhibitor-director not to display the images.
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Lose-lose
Finally: The “solution” was that the images, along with the
paging machine, appeared “obscured” at the exhibition.

In essence, neither the paging machine nor the image

material fulfilled its exhibition function!!!

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ANALYSING THE CASE STUDY

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ASPECTS OF THE ANALYSIS LEVEL OF
CONTENT,
Who are the actors?
• What is their relationship with each other? PROCESS AND
• When did they enter the situation? CONTACT?
How many rounds was the negotiation?
• When did they discuss?
• What did they discuss?
• What was the entry point?
• What agreement was reached?
• What was the exit point?

What is the main problem, conflict point?

• When did it appear?
• Who tried to solve it and how?
• With what result?
Where could the situation have been reversed?

• What could have been the so-called breaking point?

• What and when should have been done differently to achieve a win-win result?
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The 3 dimensions of a Negotiation:
Content
What is the negotiation about, what is the negotiation
topic, what do we want to agree on, decide, etc.?
• Under what conditions does the newspaper make its
images available?
• For how long?
• Do you have a say in the concept of the exhibition?
• How will the newspaper appear at the exhibition?
• Are they writing a contract, are there any clauses for
performance or withdrawal from the contract, etc.?

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The 3 dimensions of a Negotiation:
Process
What are the steps of the negotiation, what is the dynamics of the negotiation,
how smooth is it, where are the bottlenecks, what type of negotiation, is there a
history of the negotiation, etc.?

• E.g. How many times do the parties sit down to negotiate? Will a new negotiation be
initiated when the problem arises, and the newspaper begins to back down? Are
third parties involved in the process? What type of negotiation do they negotiate?
How do each negotiation position change? Do they request a break, postponement,
etc.? 22
The 3 dimensions of a Negotiation:
Relationship
What is the relationship and mood of the negotiating partners, do
they have a goal to build a long-term good relationship, do they
have a relationship history, etc.?
• Have the parties worked together, and do they want to in the
future?
• How open are they to each other's needs and interests?
• Why could distrust develop, and was there an attempt to
remedy it?
• Did the parties have the initiative to solve the problem?
• Why was it necessary to involve a third party? To what extent
has this changed their relationship so far? 23
The „Bermuda Triangle” of Negotiations
External, upper power - based on binding legal regulations

Th
er
ei t of
sa se ng e
o
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n o l d
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e
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e e xib u th Th les onfl ruc s a
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x.

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Designing a successful Negotiation

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Time
How many meetings should the negotiation consist of?
• Is it worth/necessary to sit down in one or more rounds to discuss?

Is there an external time constraint?

• Is there any external or internal constraint that determines when an
agreement needs to be reached? Is it an urgent matter or a longer
decision-making process?

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Attending people and parties
Who should take part in the
negotiation?

• How many people go to

negotiate on both sides?
• Who do they represent?
• What is their age and gender
distribution?
• Do they have a similar status or
not?

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Finding the right persons
Are you sure that you are negotiating with the right person?
• It is possible that the person we are talking to does not actually have the
authority to decide certain questions, does not have enough information
to answer the questions that are important to us, so she is not competent
in the matter.

You may want to ask how the

negotiation process usually
takes place to find out who you
should actually sit down to
negotiate with. It is advisable
to involve a third party in the
hearing (e.g., independent
expert, lawyer).
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Atmosphere and tools
Defining the atmosphere:
• preparation of atmosphere and
technical tools, documents,
refreshments.
• attunement: it takes a little time
to make contact, get to know
each other.
• determining the time frame for
the occasion.
• coordination of agenda items.

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Location and setting
• The choice of location has a
message value: at your office/ at
my office? Maybe at a third,
neutral place?

• Arranging the seats: may

inadvertently radiate a position of
power, change the dynamics of
the negotiation,
strengthen/weaken the position of
one party etc.
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Thank you for your kind attention!

Krisztina Ecsediné Szabó, PhD:

szabo.krisztina@gtk.bme.hu