Collective bargaining, labor negotiations, sales, marketing, business management, foreign and domestic policyāthese are the primary contexts addressed by the many books and articles available on the subject of negotiation. The approaches to negotiation represented by these texts vary by type and purpose. Some are lengthy books by sociologists and other students of human nature, which often dwell on theory. These tend to be the heaviest books, chock full of detailed analyses of what is effective in various negotiation contexts and why. Others are lightweight volumes, presenting a guide to negotiation in four easy lessons (worksheets included). Then there are the practical guides, breaking the process down into as many as twenty-five steps, with detailed instructions for each. There are also books that serve well as reference works, providing lists of tactics for the reader to choose, depending on the immediate need. Almost any of these books can be of use to cultural resource managersāthose involved in archaeology, historic preservation, natural resource conservation, ethnography, and the conservation of cultural artifactsāwho work with others to protect public interests. Then why add this book to those already available?
Three reasons: First, most people do not have the time or the interest to wade through books and articles on business negotiations in order to extract the various approaches that work specifically in the context of cultural resource management. Second, existing books each tend to focus on a single negotiation context, such as contract negotiations. Cultural resource managers typically negotiate with others in a number of very different contexts, working with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and professions. The approach to negotiation presented here focuses on five different negotiating contexts typically encountered by cultural resource managers.
Finally, books and articles on negotiation tend to focus either on theory or practice. Some take an academic approach, considering how psychology or communications affect negotiation. Others focus only on the process, outlining very specific steps that work in one kind of negotiating situation. This book strikes a balance, providing background on negotiation as a function of communication, some information about peopleās basic motivation and personality, an overview of the components of the negotiating process, and practical advice for applying these concepts in a number of negotiating situations.
Itās important to note the distinction between books about situations in which negotiation take place and books that focus on negotiation itself. A number of useful works provide valuable information regarding the circumstances under which cultural resource managers negotiate with others. Some address legal issues, such as Julia Millerās A Laypersonās Guide to Preservation Law or Thomas Kingās Cultural Resource Laws & Practice: An Introductory Guide. Others provide specific suggestions for navigating regulatory procedures, such as Kingās Federal Planning and Historic Places, which focuses on the Section 106 process. Similarly, Olivia T. Meyers considers situations in which negotiation practice comes into play in Building Support through Public Relations.
Although these works suggest the importance of the strategies and behaviors involved in successful negotiation, they do not address those strategies and behaviors directly. As an analogy, consider taking a trip by automobile: a roadmap can help you determine the direction you should go but does not address the specific skills required to drive the car. All drivers at one point learned the skills required, consciously focusing on the individual actions necessary to start the car, navigate through the streets, and respond to external signals and events to determine when to speed up, slow down, or stop. After driving for a long time, these behaviors and skills become internalized: most people who have been driving for many years do so almost unconsciously. In responding to negotiating situations, it is natural to rely on approaches that have worked for them in the past. But what works in terms of negotiating with a spouse or employer may not always work in other negotiation situations. Driving on the expressway requires a different set of responses than driving in town.
Like a driverās manual (though more interesting, I hope, to read), this book can help cultural resource managers consciously select techniques and behaviors in an effort to drive negotiations to favorable conclusions. Specific objectives include providing an overview of the negotiating process, knowledge of the practices that lead to success, and an understanding as to why these approaches work. In order to comprehend why a particular negotiating technique is helpful, it is necessary to see how it furthers communication and contributes to the negotiating process in particular contexts. With these goals in mind, the next chapter provides:
Chapters Three through Seven each focus on one stage of the process, suggesting specific practices best suited to the five negotiating contexts. Chapter Eight presents approaches that are helpful when negotiations stall. Chapter Nine wraps up the discussion and provides some suggestions for other resources that focus on negotiation practice and theory.