Negotiation is a process of joint decision making between people with different preferences. It has been studied by game theorists using an abstract mathematical approach and by other social scientists using a more real-life-orientated approach. The findings of both research streams have contributed to current knowledge about negotiation skills. Each stage of the negotiation process - exploration, bidding and bargaining, and settling - calls for a distinct set of skills. The exploration stage calls for information-gathering and planning skills. Bidding and bargaining call for using either competitive tactics or collaborative tactics, depending on the negotiation game plan. Key skills in the settling stage include recognizing when it is time to move towards agreement and controlling the drafting of negotiation documents. Future work on the topic of negotiation skills is likely to include further investigation of how negotiation expertise is gained, how information processing influences negotiations, and how the effectiveness of various negotiation skills differs across cultures.

Lisa Hope Pelled