Types of Relationship in a Negotiation

In this video I'd like to talk to you about once again the effects of relationships on

negotiations but primarily I want to identify the types of relationships that exist in a negotiation

Generally there are three types of relationship that can appear in any negotiation

These are business only, friendship or social only relationships and then a mix or multiplex

of these two types, business and friendship in the negotiation. In the business only negotiation where you have a business relationship only, generally

this is the most straightforward in that it allows for a tendency called market pricing

That is, we identify a value for the various interests associated with the negotiation

either the direct interest or the direct interest and the indirect interest in the negotiation

And we put a price a value on it right And that allows us to effectively frame up the negotiation set a target point set a reservation point that type of thing Okay now that is extremely difficult to do in other forms of negotiation such as friendship

only or multiplex mixed negotiations. Okay, one difficulty in a business only negotiation is that you have a great deal of social comparison

that tends to go on. So status or socio-economic status or structural status in the organization often has a big

impact which once again causes that tendency towards social comparison. And if you're wondering what is social comparison, you can get more information on our other

video addressing that tendency. Okay, now moving on to friend or friendship-only relationships where you are negotiating with

someone that you have those close familial or social ties to, right? But it's not a business

relationship. Now, these tend to be very difficult, okay? There's a lot of constraints there based

upon your past interactions One notable constraint is the impact of cultural and exchange norms Now cultural norms are our tendencies based upon our culture that tells us to take care of to

guard the interest of, to meet the needs of the other person, right? A communal

type approach to how we live or interact with others. Exchange norms is how when

you have a finite amount of resources how you allocate those resources. Okay

Now, one interesting thing is these two tendencies cause parties to lean more towards an equality

or equity-based approach rather than a form of approach that is based upon, well, excuse

me, an equality-based approach rather than an equity-based approach or a competitive

approach wherein you attempt to grab more value or allocate value more efficiently based

upon inputs. So, that being said, it tends to hinder the ability to arrive at an integrative negotiation

because ultimately because of these exchange norms, you're mismanaging the interest in

the negotiation or the allocation of interest So the actual objectives of the negotiation are thwarted in that way Okay Now to the mixed relationship the multiplex relationship what we often call embedded

relationships where you have a business relationship with a person, but you, or the other party

to the negotiation, but you also have some sort of friendship, social, familial relationship

with them. Okay. difficult once again because you have those different norms coming in and

affecting the negotiation process but much of your negotiating is affected by

the prior experience you have with that individual on the social level. These are

known as sticky ties. So once again it makes it very difficult to adequately

seek to grab value or to maximize the allocation of value amongst the parties

in the negotiation. Okay, now the thing to remember once again the types of

relationship that you have in the negotiation are business only, friendship only, and then a combination of the two known as multiplex or embedded relationships