LAWS90210 Chap.8 Negotiation and Conflict Styles
Negotiation and Conflict Styles
Negotiation seeks mutual agreement and requires preparation across interests, alternatives, options, information, communication, relationship and products. The course also distinguishes avoidance, submissive, compromise, competitive and cooperative styles, alongside distributive and integrative negotiation. This chapter shows that style follows the structure of the dispute.
It turns positions into interests, maps the no-agreement alternatives and converts options into implementable terms. The seven preparation elements form a connected system rather than a checklist.
Interests explain why an outcome matters; alternatives define what happens without agreement; options create possible trades; information tests assumptions; communication controls exchange; relationship affects future value; and products translate agreement into precise commitments. Weak preparation often confuses a position with an interest or treats an optimistic wish as an alternative.
By pricing delay, uncertainty and implementation, a negotiator can identify a realistic bargaining range without pretending that every conflict contains hidden joint gains. Conflict style is also contextual. Cooperative work can create value when priorities differ or the relationship continues, yet openness can be exploited where trust is low.
Competition may protect a clear entitlement in a narrow one-off dispute but destroy opportunities or increase enforcement cost. Avoidance and submission may be rational when value is small, timing is wrong or power prevents safe engagement, although they carry their own risks. The analytical task is to match style to information, stakes, relationship and power, then design safeguards.
A good agreement concludes with responsibilities, timing, contingencies, verification and a route for resolving later disagreement, because apparent consensus without implementation detail is not a durable product.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Negotiation and mutual agreement
- 02
Seven-element preparation
- 03
Interests and positions
- 04
Alternatives and bargaining power
- 05
Conflict styles
- 06
Distributive and integrative strategy
Worked example · free
Build a package for two users of one hall
- 1Separate the exclusive-access positions from timing, noise, storage and security interests.
- 1Identify realistic alternative venues or dates and their costs.
- 1Create an integrative package across morning, storage, evening and transition.
- 1Record access, cleanup, liability and unexpected-delay terms as the product.
Key terms
- Interest
- An interest is the underlying need or concern that explains why a negotiated outcome matters.
- Position
- A position is the stated outcome or demand a party initially advances.
- Alternative
- An alternative is the realistic course available if no negotiated agreement is reached.
- Distributive negotiation
- Distributive negotiation focuses on claiming value where parties treat the amount as fixed.
- Integrative negotiation
- Integrative negotiation searches across several issues for trades that create joint value.
- Conflict style
- A conflict style is a strategic pattern such as avoidance, compromise, competition or cooperation used in responding to disagreement.
Negotiation and Conflict Styles FAQ
What are the seven preparation elements?
They are interests, alternatives, options, information, communication, relationship and products. They should work together rather than become a recited checklist. Interests explain the problem, alternatives define the no-agreement position, options create packages and products turn agreement into precise implementable terms.
Is cooperative negotiation always best?
No. Cooperation can create value where parties have different priorities or an ongoing relationship, but it may be exploited when trust is low or interests are directly opposed. A narrow, low-value, one-off dispute may justify direct distributive bargaining or principled compromise instead.
What is the difference between interests and positions?
A position states what a party demands, while an interest explains why the outcome matters. Opposed positions can conceal compatible interests. Asking about timing, risk, relationship, cost and implementation can reveal trades that are invisible when negotiation remains fixed on a single stated demand.
Exam move
For every scenario, write positions on the left and interests on the right. Add each party's realistic alternative and the cost of no agreement. Generate options across at least three issues, then choose a style that fits the relationship, information and value structure. Finish by drafting precise implementation terms. Use a seven-box preparation sheet and require evidence in every box.
Under alternatives, distinguish the best realistic no-agreement action from an aspiration. Under information, mark what is known, inferred and strategically undisclosed. Under products, draft actual clauses rather than writing agreement. Then connect boxes with arrows: an interest should motivate an option, an option should improve on an alternative and the product should implement the trade.
Missing arrows reveal where the plan relies on hope rather than analysis. Practise style selection by changing one variable at a time. Keep the dispute constant but alter future relationship, urgency, power or information, and explain why the preferred style changes. For integrative problems, seek differences in timing, risk, tax treatment or priorities rather than assuming cooperation automatically creates value.
For distributive problems, set a reservation point and justify it through the alternative. Review each plan for ethical and legal limits on information tactics. End with a contingency: specify what happens if performance is late, data proves inaccurate or circumstances change. That step turns a psychologically informed negotiation into an enforceable and reviewable arrangement.
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