Third Party Negotiation

9 Key excerpts on "Third Party Negotiation"

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  Negotiation Behavior

  • Dean G. Pruitt, Peter Warr(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Third-Party Intervention Third parties frequently become involved in negotiation. They may be called in by one or both sides or imposed by law or the terms of a prior contract. They may also intrude themselves, as when a powerful state in-tervenes in a controversy between two client states that threatens the broader aims of the alliance. Third-party intervention ordinarily has the function of resolving a difficult controversy that is dangerous to continue. But at times, especially in settings and societies that foster extreme politeness, the primary function of a third party may be to legitimize and facilitate the pursuit of self-interest so as to encourage the development of integrative agreements. Three broad classes of third-party intervention can be distinguished: me-diation, fact-finding, and arbitration. In mediation, the third party works with the disputants, helping them reach agreement. In fact-finding, the third party listens to arguments from both sides and produces a set of nonbinding substantive recommendations. Arbitration is like fact-finding except that the recommendations are binding. The first and largest part of this chapter will deal with mediation, which is the concern of the bulk of the literature in the third-party field. After that will be a short section on arbitration. The chapter will end with a section about the impact on bargaining of the availability of various kinds of third-party services, that is, the anticipation of third-party intervention. Very little will be said about fact-finding, because the theoretical literature on that topic is sparse. Mediation Mediation is the most common form of third-party intervention. It is best known by this name in industrial and international bargaining and in marital 201 7 202 Negotiation Behavior and divorce counseling, but it crops up in all conflict situations including those between children on the playground.

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  Industrial Relations in Canada

  • Fiona McQuarrie(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  The intent of bringing a third party into the bargaining process when disputes occur is to help the par- ties resolve their differences without using a strike or lockout as a bargaining tactic. Ideally, a third party is perceived as neutral by both negotiating teams, so he, she, or they can provide suggestions in bargaining without being perceived as promoting the interests of only one side. Since the third party has not been involved in the bargaining process from the beginning, it is possible that they will be able to identify solutions or outcomes that the parties may have missed because of their focus on their own bargaining positions. As we will see, third parties are also occasionally introduced into the bargain- ing process by an order of the government; in such cases, the government uses the third party as a direct or indirect messenger to convey its interest in seeing a speedy resolution to the disagreement. The main types of third-party intervention used in Canadian jurisdictions are con- ciliation, mediation, and arbitration. Depending on the circumstances of the bargaining situation and the relevant legislation, the use of these types of third-party intervention may be voluntary or mandatory. There are also three less common forms of third-party intervention: mediation-arbitration, industrial inquiry commissions, and disputes inquiry boards. We will describe each of these types of third-party intervention and explain when and how they are used. CONCILIATION In all Canadian jurisdictions except British Columbia and Alberta, conciliation is the first possible step in attempting to resolve an impasse in negotiations. The conciliator’s role is to assess the positions of the parties and the reasons for their inability to reach agree- ment. The conciliator will then submit a report of his or her findings to the minister of labour, the parties, or both. Table 10-1 outlines the legislation providing for the use of conciliation.

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  Social Conflicts And Third Parties

  Strategies Of Conflict Resolution

  • Jacob Bercovitch(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Third parties in international conflicts offer proposals and recommendations as a means of influencing perceptions and providing a basis for an agreement. Such proposals can reduce the gap, or narrow the differences, between the parties. They do not, nor can they, pertain to the intellectual and rational process of problem-solving, but to the substantive aspects of an outcome. There may be some debate about the nature and utility of third party’s proposals. There may be circumstances when such proposals are welcome, and circumstances when they are not welcome. There can not, however, be any doubt that third party intervention often takes the form of putting forward proposals and substantive recommendations. The competence of third parties to take an active and directive role in conflict management, to offer solutions and facilitate concessions, and generally provide the critical impetus to a settlement, should be recognized.

  2. Influence . Third parties can also exert influence on the parties through their judicious exercise of power. The sort of power I have in mind is persuasive rather than coercive. The exercise of third party’s persuasion involves the use of threats (deprivations) and promises (gratifications). Despite basic dissimilarities, both these forms of third party behavior are future-oriented, and both are designed to achieve the same effect, namely, to increase the parties’ motivation to reach an agreement, by changing, or manipulating, their perception of costs and rewards.

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  The choice of means, and the procedures for transmitting them to the parties, depends upon the resources available to a third party and their importance to the disputants.

  The evidence from respondents suggests that third parties spend much time trying to persuade disputants to make concessions and that in doing so they are guided by a higher expectation of a settlement. The majority of respondents were of the opinion that:

  • 1) Mediators should bring pressure on the parties, especially in the later stages of their involvement. They should, however, do so with great care and in a not too obvious way.

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  Working Through Conflict

  Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations

  • Joseph P. Folger, Marshall Scott Poole, Randall K. Stutman(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The third party’s image is under continuous negotiation. Third parties make bids for an image. These bids can be accepted or rejected by the disputants. If the expertise, neutrality, impartiality, or objectivity of the third party is challenged, there can be significant consequences for the intervention (Bernard et al., 1984). In such cases, the relationships between the third party and the disputants shift. Disputants may gain greater control over the interaction process and revert to patterns of interaction that existed prior to the intervention. Studies of mediation, for example, suggest that disputants are more likely to deadlock in sessions in which a mediator loses objectivity and becomes emotionally involved in the process (Donohue, 1989). Alternatively, if impartiality or neutrality is lost, one party may think the intervention is biased against him or her and withdraw from the process.

  Third parties do not just establish relationships with disputants; they alter relationships between the parties themselves. In particular, third parties influence face-saving between the parties. As discussed in Chapter 6 , disputants are frequently concerned about appearing weak. They can suffer “image loss” if others in the dispute think they will make concessions or crumble easily under pressure. People may act tough and refuse to move from positions they are actually willing to concede, due to fear that giving an inch will mean conceding a mile. Third parties alter this dynamic in an interesting way; they allow movement without altering the relational image the disputants want to preserve.

  When they move from an intransigent position, disputants can claim that it was the third party who suggested the idea or persuaded them to make the concession. As a result, parties can move without suffering damage to their images: They are not weak, they are simply acting under the guidance or pressure of the third party. Significant strides in breaking impasses can occur when third parties shoulder the responsibility for concessions or unpopular options (Carnevale, 1986; Hiltrop, 1989). Without the third party’s presence, options that the parties are actually willing to accept may not even be explored.

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  Negotiating Political Conflicts

  • F. Pfetsch(Author)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  10 The Mediator , the Facilitator 141 Les intermédiaires dotés de confiance valent mieux dans les mau- fi vaises affaires que le contact des personnes directement intéressées – Trustworthy mediators value more in bad affairs than contact with the people directly interested. (Metternich 1820 cited in Metternich 1883) The mediator participates in negotiations as a third party not directly involved in the conflict, as compared to the negotiator, who dir- fl ectly and actively shapes the negotiation procedure as a self-interested party . In the following, I use the term ‘mediator’ or ‘mediation’ as generic term for all peaceful activities which influence solution-ori- fl ented action and are induced by third parties. In the same way that the progression of a conflict can be divided into different phases, we also can categorize the different attempts at media- tion in an analytic model. Bercovitch and Langley distinguish between the context in which the mediation takes place, that is, the nature of conflict, the nature of the parties and of the mediator; the order of events in the mediation process, in which the mediator’s strategy plays a central role; and the mediation result. Third parties try to deescalate or terminate a conflict by non-violent fl means. It is a ‘process of conflict management where disputants seek the assistance of, or accept an offer of help from, an individual, group, state or organization to solve their conflict or resolve their differences without resorting to physical force or invoking the authority of law’ (Bercovitch, 1991: 8). Based on this definition, Bercovitch and Langley developed an actor-context f ramework for the analysis of an adaptive process (see Figure 10.1), in which they distinguish between:

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  The Intermediaries

  Third Parties in International Crises

  • Oran R. Young(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Princeton University Press

    (Publisher)

  44 But the emotional problems, confusion, and conver- gence of events and difficulties typical of crisis environments are likely to add significantly to those misunderstandings. In this context, a well-informed and knowledgeable third party can pursue a variety of tactics to cut through some of the snarls of misunderstanding. Closely related to this point are the advantages of a third party in the effort to main- tain neutral channels of communication for the protago- nists and in acting as a go-between capable of delivering undistorted messages to both sides. The third party ... has the advantage of being outside the emotional field that is created by the conflict. Consequently, he can both receive and give messages to either of the parties without the kind of distortion to which direct messages are subject. 45 Thus it is often of great value for communications to pass through the mediating channels of a third party even when the physical capabilities for direct communication between the principal opponents are excellent. Mention should probably also be made of the role of an intervening party in dramatizing the dangers of failure to reach a positive termination of some kind. Jackson has suggested: . . . disputes are very difficult to solve in which one or both of the conflicting parties believe that, because of the comparative power which lies at their command, there are no substantial risks in a failure to reach agreement. 46 44 IkIe, op.cit., p. 167. 45 Boulding, op.cit., p. 316. 46 Elmore Jackson, Meeting of Minds (New York: McGraw- Hill Book Co., 1952), p. 119. 38 INTERNATIONAL CRISES AND THIRD-PARTY FUNCTIONS And it would appear that this problem is especially great in international crises, both because of the possibly disastrous consequences of an outcome of mutual loss and because of the tendency of the parties to lose sight of these dangers in their preoccupation with the intricacies of strategic bar- gaining.

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  Using Conflict in Organizations

  • Carsten K W De Dreu, Evert Van de Vliert, Carsten K W De Dreu, Evert Van de Vliert(Authors)
  • 1997(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Walton's (1969, 1987) work is based on the premise that a moderate level of conflict has a variety of positive consequences for the organization, including increased motivation and innovativeness. Walton also maintains that an opti-mum level of tension, i.e. a moderate degree of stress, is necessary for productive confrontation, since it induces a sense of urgency and related problem solving behaviours. He therefore outlines some third party inter-ventions that are useful to escalate the conflict, such as sharpening the issues between the parties or exchanging emotional reactions between them. An important implication is that conflict sometimes needs to be stimulated or intensified before it can be adequately managed or resolved. Fisher (1972) developed a generic model of third party consultation based on the pioneering initiatives of Walton, Blake and Mouton, and other creative scholar-practitioners including Burton (1969) and Doob (1970). The typical Third Party Consultation 195 design in this approach involves a workshop format in which the parties, or influential representatives of the parties, come together with a third party team for an extended amount of uninterrupted, private, low-risk discussion, usually lasting a few days. The model emphasizes the facultative and diag-nostic functions of a knowledgeable, skilled and impartial third party in helping the antagonists to directly confront the issues dividing them. Conflict analysis is engendered by fostering an open, nonadversarial and nonargu-mentative form of discussion, and by the third party's suggestions of concepts and processes that may apply to the dispute in question. In addition to diag-nosing the conflict, improving communication and inducing motivation for problem solving, an important third party function is that of regulating the interaction.

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  The World of Negotiation

  Theories, Perceptions and Practice

  • Amira Galin(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • WSPC

    (Publisher)

  PART FOUR

  Third Party Intervention in the Negotiation Process

  Passage contains an image

  Chapter 12

  Voluntary, Compulsory and International Mediation

  “An ounce of mediation is worth a pound of arbitration and a ton of litigation.”

  Joseph Grynbaum

  1.  The Traditional Model versus the New Mediation Model

  Mediation can be defined as a third-party intervention in negotiation between disputants, conducted in order to help them overcome a conflict. The history of mediation is as old as that of negotiation. Since people of all cultures have always had disputes, mediators emerged to influence, persuade or advise the involved parties, in order to facilitate a reasonable mutual agreement between parties, instead of using force.

  1.1.  Traditional Mediation Models: A Few Examples

  Traditional mediation came in different forms and styles among various cultures according to region, class, age and gender differences. For example, traditional Chinese mediators were elder males, respected in their community, who shared social or family ties with the disputants. The mediator’s informal intervention concluded with an offer of various options including persuasions which could lead to forming an agreement.1 Such options often went beyond the disputed issues, and included ethics, sacrificing individual interests in an attempt to maintain harmony, focusing on the good of the community, as well as other appropriate conducts of behavior.2

  In ancient Greek society, mediation practices were highly valued and therefore believed to be appropriate not only for humans but also for Gods. The mediators could be either female or male, as long they were able to influence the disputants by acquiring their trust. In addition, the Greek mediators were perceived as ethical individuals with empathic abilities, and the talent of presenting ideas that could help disputants reach an agreement.3

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  Intermediaries in International Conflict

  • Thomas Princen(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Princeton University Press

    (Publisher)

  To settle on one point over any other is a distributive question and the negotiators are back to the problems inherent in distributive bar- gains. The determining feature of all bargains, distributive and integra- tive, is, once again, strategic interaction. THIRD PARTIES AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE BARGAIN Given that bargaining structure affects bargaining behavior and, conse- quently, the likelihood of reaching agreement, how does the structure of the bargain relate to third-party intervention? In a distributive bargain (or, the distributive component of an integrative bargain), the disputants' primary problem is to choose among available agreement points, none of which may have prominence and none of which may be "fair." Third parties may perform several functions in this regard. Some, say, major powers, may elect to coerce the parties into accepting one point. Others may accept the disputing parties' invitation to make a decision for them and to serve as judges or arbitrators. Short of settlement by force or voluntary adjudication, a third party can enter a distributive bargain to assist, or influence, the parties in their negotiations—that is, to serve as an intermediary. In this role, the third party can provide a sounding board for both sides' positions. It can either separate the parties and shuttle back and forth or bring them together for face-to-face dialogue. It can add in- centives for agreement. It can threaten to walk out if agreement is not forthcoming, and so on. 9 These techniques are based on one or more of three elements characteristic of intermediary intervention: reconfiguring the bargain; making a proposal; and pooling information. BASES OF INTERMEDIARY INFLUENCE 37 Reconfiguration An intermediary reconfigures the structure of a bargain in one of two ways. First, the number of parties changes from two (a simplification I use throughout this study) to three.

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