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Description of the negotiation

The negotiation took place over three sessions and was not successfully completed in part because of the deadline and partly because of a long hiatus due to my partner not responding.

My partner chose not to remain anonymous and made comments which led me to believe she was not taking the exercise seriously. However, this may have been due to our cultural differences (she is Russian). There was enough ambiguity in her comments to lead me to believe, with hindsight, that I may have wrongly interpreted her warmth and friendliness.

Over the course of our negotiations we were able to come closer to a common position. However, I'm not sure we could have successfully completed the negotiation. Again, possibly because of cultural differences, I could feel a fundamental difference in approach. I wanted to get straight to business while she seemed to want to know who she was dealing with - not an invalid negotiation and business strategy. She seemed to be first looking to establish a relation of trust while I took the approach that trust would come as a result of a fruitful business alliance.

Assessment

I was pleasantly surprised to find the negotiation package extremely useful, especially for the initial preparation. It helps to better define your parameters and is a valuable aid in setting objectives and keeping them.

I think the exercise would have been more useful and successful if the negotiation deadline had not been so short. In essence, I've come around to my partner's way of thinking. It's good to know whom you are dealing with in a negotiation. A more relaxed pace would have allowed us to be more sensitive to each other's positions.

Comparison

Initially, I thought a face-to-face negotiation would necessarily be superior. I've since changed my mind. A face-to-face meeting is, of course, very useful for getting to know someone quickly but it does have numerous possible pitfalls. For example, what if one of the parties reacts negatively to some aspect of the other's appearance or demeanour? A face-to-face meeting adds all sorts of elements of personal risk ranging from body language to cultural sensitivities. The anecdotal evidence of friendship and romance over the Internet points to the possibility of establishing meaningful relationships with little or no face-to-face interaction. I do think it takes more time over the net than face-to-face. If two people are going to like or not like each other, I think the result will be the same whether the interaction is face-to-face or over the Net. However, I think any animosities will appear much more quickly in a face-to-face meeting.

I found a Net-based negotiation more relaxing than face-to-face. It is easier to give an offer due consideration since you don't feel the pressure of someone looking over your shoulder. You can also let your guard down and not worry about your reactions or body language. A smile or frown won't betray your feelings. It is also easier to formulate your offers and counter-offers for similar reasons.

Critique

I think on-line negotiations can be useful in the following cases:

1. When the negotiators are truly looking for win-win scenarios under relatively benign circumstances. Intense labour negotiations, for example, would be bad candidates.
2. When the negotiators' personalities are compatible with an on-line scenario.
3. When the negotiation scenarios are relatively uncomplicated. NAFTA could not have been negotiated on-line.
4. When negotiations are bilateral. Multilateral negotiations often require the forming of alliances and negotiators must be in a position to see how they are developing.
5. When time is not a big factor.

On-line negotiations will certainly be very useful in cases where negotiators already know each other and they are bargaining over relatively simple or well understood services or commodities. In fact, in such cases, I think it may even be possible to automate negotiations with initial parameters set by the negotiators and the outcome guided by Inspire as a mediator (the most impressive feature of the package).