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International Online Training Program On Intractable Conflict |
Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, USA |
Negotiation is a social process in which training and experience significantly increases effectiveness. This puts less experienced parties at a considerable disadvantage when they negotiate with more experienced parties. The same is true when people with different communication and negotiation styles come together. If one party is self-confident, aggressive, and tends to dominate a conversation, while the second party is insecure and quiet, the former is likely to dominate the negotiation process and so achieve a better outcome.
Mediators recognize this bias, however, and often will try to counter-act its effect by assisting the inexperienced or quiet party in a mediation more than he or she helps the other party. (This is one aspect of what is called power-balancing or empowerment of the lower power disputant.). This does not happen in direct negotiations, however (ones without a mediator involved), and may not be sufficient in any case to completely eliminate the effect of different negotiating styles or experience levels.
Copyright ©1998 Conflict Research Consortium -- Contact: crc@colorado.edu