Summary
Contents
Subject index
This first edition of Communication and Negotiation, edited by Linda L. Putnam and Michael E. Roloff, provides a much needed discussion of the links between communication and negotiation … In fact, this text would be an excellent resource guide for psychologists, social psychologists, psychotherapists, and marriage counselors, as well as all other parties interested in managing conflict through negotiation.” –Contemporary Psychology “References to contributors … for whom applied issues in industrial relations have been to the fore–are fairly frequent. This is testimony to the sheer thoroughness of the organization of the book, and to the conscientious approach of the authors commissioned to write the relevant separate chapters…. This book is a useful pointer to the knowledge we have to hand.” –The Occupational Psychologist “This publication is a profound review of the state of the art of that speciality of communication research which deals with human negotiation or bargaining activities…. [The book] provides an interesting and well-structured entry to the understanding of the variety of factors involved in the communication processes that constitute a two-party negotiation. To LIS researchers, in particular in the fields of information management and information (seeking) behavior, this publication may offer important insights and methodologies as well as novel ideas with respect to investigating particular phenomena occurring prior to, during, or preceding the use of information (retrieval) systems…. Communication and Negotiation is a useful companion to researchers who wish to dig deeper into empirical and theoretical investigations of the aspects of the negotiation processes…. Communication and Negotiation brings forth many ideas relevant to LIS research, and within its firm communication approach the publication serves well as a profound review of research in a historical context of the negotiation and bargaining phenomena.” –The Library Quarterly “Communication and Negotiation is volume 20 in Sage's Annual Reviews of Communication Research series, and offers the professional presentation and excellent quality one would expect from a work that is part of such a long tradition…. This volume offers quite a valuable summary of the state of the art in communication theory as it applies to negotiation. Researchers in other primary disciplines need to be aware of this work as it overlaps heavily with other disciplinary viewpoints….” –The Alternative Newsletter In recent years, a number of universities have established formal centers for studying conflict and dispute resolution. Scholars, too, have created new journals to focus exclusively on the study of conflict processes. Communication and Negotiation provides a synthesis of the research in this area by consolidating alternative perspectives on communication and negotiation, reviewing the work of noted communication scholars, and suggesting directions for future research. Contributors explore three major aspects of negotiation communication: a) strategies, tactics, and negotiation processes; b) interpretive processes and language analysis; and c) negotiation situation and context. In addition, these studies examine bargaining planning, frames and reframing, and relational communication with opponents, constituents, and audiences. A showcase for communication scholars as well as an extremely useful reference book for negotiation theorists, Communication and Negotiation is one of those rare books with wide interdisciplinary appeal. Scholars and students in political science, psychology, economics, management and organizational behavior, sociology, law, and industrial relations as well as the communications fields will especially profit from this remarkable new collection.
Phase Structures in Negotiation
Phase Structures in Negotiation
TIME MATTERS in negotiations; a negotiation begins, unfolds, and concludes. Ann Douglas's (1957, 1962) seminal case studies and later work by Gulliver (1979) and Morley and Stephenson (1977) describe negotiation as unfolding in a series of stages or phases. Phase models provide a narrative explanation of negotiation processes; that is, they identify sequences of events that constitute the story of a negotiation. In this approach a phase is a coherent period of interaction, characterized by a dominant constellation of communicative acts. This constellation serves a set of related functions in the movement from initiation to resolution of a dispute. Phase models address how and why negotiation behavior changes over time as parties interact.
Phase Structures
A phasic view of negotiation is compatible with assumptions widely shared by communication researchers, namely, that negotiation is a process and negotiations are constituted by communication (Putnam & Jones, 1982). Despite this affinity and despite work in small group research (see Fisher, 1970, 1982; Poole, 1981, 1983a, 1983b; Poole & Roth, 1989), communication scholars have devoted little attention to phase models of negotiation. This neglect is unfortunate because phase research enables scholars to explore how interaction changes over time, how the longitudinal structure of negotiation is related to input and outcome variables, and how interventions (such as change of bargainers) influence the development of a negotiation (Holmes & Poole, 1991).
This chapter examines conceptual and methodological issues of phase analysis by casting developmental processes as the central question for communication perspectives on negotiation. First, this chapter positions phase models in relation to dominant approaches to negotiation. Second, representative prescriptive and descriptive phase models of negotiations are reviewed. Third, theoretical and methodological challenges inherent in phase research are explored. The fourth and final section centers on future directions for phase analysis of negotiations.
The Uneasy Place of Phase Models in Negotiation Research
To understand the relative scarcity of phase analysis, this chapter positions phase models in relation to four communication perspectives on negotiation: mechanistic, psychological, interpretive-symbolic, and systems-interaction (Chatman, Putnam, & Sondak, 1991; Putnam & Jones, 1982; Putnam & Poole, 1987). In the negotiation arena, the psychological and systems-interaction approaches are dominant, even though interest in interpretive-symbolic approaches is growing (see Keough, Chapter 5, this volume; Wilson, Chapter 8, this volume; Francis, 1986).
The mechanistic and psychological perspectives are rooted in variance forms of explanation. In mechanistic research on negotiation, the precursor variables of communication channel or opportunity to communicate are associated with bargaining outcomes. Psychological negotiation research focuses on the negotiators, in particular on the variables of attitudes, cognitions, message content, information transmission, and responses to messages. Neither mechanistic nor psychological approaches address process issues or the way sequences of events in time constitute negotiations. Moreover, researchers in these areas do not develop longitudinal or phase models.
The interpretive-symbolic and systems-interaction perspectives typically surface as process theories. The former addresses how “meanings are created, maintained, and modified through interaction” (Chatman et al., 1991; see Putnam & Holmer, Chapter 6, this volume). The interpretive-symbolic perspective includes discourse analytic and rhetorical approaches. Explanation of the social world within the interpretive-symbolic perspective occurs at the level of turn, act, or interact. It is a micro-analytic approach that often neglects larger interaction structures such as phases (Putnam, 1984). For example, Francis (1986) uses conversational analysis to identify a number of collaborative acts that constitute the negotiation work of talking topically and talking as a team. He explains short sequences of turns at talk, but he does not address how these sequences fit together in developing the negotiation over time. Wilson (Chapter 8, this volume) reviews a number of discourse analytic studies that identify face-saving or facework sequences. In each case, a facework episode is framed as an isolated event that can be examined independently of the sequence of events surrounding it.
...
- Loading...
Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL
-
Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
-
Read modern, diverse business cases
-
Explore hundreds of books and reference titles
Sage Recommends
We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.
Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches