The process of negotiating: Strategy and timing as predictors of outcomes

Abstract

Using a simulated employment contract negotiation, this research tested for differences in the use of cuing and responding strategies across four types of outcomes (stalemate, win - lose, suboptimum, and optimum), over time, and across time and outcomes. The use of five strategies varied over time, portraying the negotiating process as one of decreasing flexibility. Results also showed that distributive outcomes were characterized by high levels of positional information exchange whereas integrative agreements were characterized by high levels of priority-information exchange. It was possible to further differentiate two integrative outcomes (suboptimum and optimum) in terms of how two strat..