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You've Got Agreement: Negoti@ting Via Email
Abstract
Full text available for download at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1392474
Astonishing amounts of negotiation are now conducted by e-mail - often with scant regard for underlying strategy, or even common courtesy. The authors unpack why this happens, and propose methods that will better prepare students for the realities of future business.
... Yet another issue receiving attention is that of matching the simulation's storyline with the media through which it is conducted. With online education proliferating -as a stand-alone venue or as a support venue for face-to-face courses -incorporating online simulation is often necessary (see Matz and Ebner 2010) or recommended (Ebner et al. 2009) and enjoys particular advantages for student assessment (Nelken 2012). To maintain student engagement, simulation designers will need to negotiate the technological leap into the computer-mediated world. ...
... Designers need to consider the characteristics of online communication as they envision the dynamics they intend to evoke through the simulation. Additionally, the storylines and plots that serve as the background for online simulations should be matched to real-life transactions and interactions likely to be conducted online (Ebner et al. 2009). A storyline incorporating parties in separate locales negotiating the price of a domain name (see, e.g., Manwaring 2003) makes "online sense." ...
Full text available for download at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2203646
Negotiation educators have long considered the use of role-play simulations an essential classroom teaching method, and have had high expectations regarding their suitability and efficacy for teaching. In this article, we review the literature, examining the degree to which simulations deliver on these perceived benefits - finding that simulations enjoys only limited advantages over other teaching methods. We note three trends that have developed as part of this re-evaluation process: improving the way simulations are conducted, deemphasizing the use of simulations as a teaching tool while seeking new methods, and finding paradigm-changing uses for simulations. With regard to this last trend, we describe our own experiments assigning students to design their own simulations, rather than participate in them as role-players. Among other benefits of the design method, we found that designers showed greater improvements in concept learning and motivation than did role-players.
... 12 f) Design simulations suitable for the communication medium the negotiation is conducted through. In a previous piece, we have suggested that the content of negotiation courses needs to change to reflect the fact that a great deal of our negotiation processes are not conducted " at the table " in any physical sense, and courses must incorporate units or content regarding negotiation conducted at-a-distance (Ebner et al. 2009). Such a shift will likely include having students conduct role-plays through online communication channels (for more on the why and how of incorporating such simulations, see Matz and Ebner, Using Role Play in Online Negotiation Teaching, in this volume). ...
... While many negotiations do take place in the face-to-face mode, this is quickly changing. We have already recommended incorporating email negotiation into negotiation courses (Ebner et al. 2009 ). Taking this one step further, teachers might attempt to replicate the reality of modern interactions in which a negotiation process might be conducted using multiple methods for message interchange. ...
Full text available for download at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1916794
Ebner and Kovach consider the critique of role-plays previously offered in this series (see particularly, Alexander and LeBaron 2009) – and reject it. They argue that what is needed is not to move away from simulations, but to use the critique to devise more efficient, more convincing, more authentic, and more sensitive simulations. They outline a series of tactics within this strategy.
... As technology adapts and communication moves from in-person to virtual and other remote modes (such as text messaging), some attorneys may adapt to prefer remote forms of negotiation. Negotiating at a distance (email communication) has certain advantages: more focus on the facts and the reasoning of the argument, reduced unconscious bias, and equal participation between parties (Ebner et al., 2009). However, participants are also more likely to "act tough and choose contentious tactics" when they are not face-to-face (Ebner et al., 2009, p. 435). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has initiated lasting changes in a traditionally staid and inert court system. This study employs a courtroom communities perspective to examine how courtroom workgroup members perceived COVID-19’s impact on their work, their workgroup relationships, and the future of criminal court procedures. It analyzes data from semi-structured interviews with 22 prosecutors, 17 defense attorneys, and 10 judges in Milwaukee, WI, and St. Louis, MO. We find that moving to virtual proceedings limited opportunities for informal interaction. The immediate impact was to upend the courtroom communities’ familiarity, proximity, and stability with implications for plea negotiations and case resolution. Nevertheless, most participants supported using virtual proceedings for certain types of court hearings. Public defenders were more likely than prosecutors, judges, or private defense attorneys to express concerns about technological difficulties for defendants. We conclude by discussing policy and practice implications and identifying areas for future research.
... Both studies employed a scenario-based approach (Fugate et al., 2012;Thomas et al., 2011) that mimicked an online, buyer-supplier negotiation. This approach allowed us to keep the interaction entirely anonymous and to eliminate confounding factors, such as implicit associations and stereotypes, which frequently influence negotiations conducted in a face-to-face or otherwise nonanonymous manner (Ebner et al., 2009). Confederates were used to control variability even further Mir et al., 2017). ...
Purchasing operates in an environment that frequently provides incentives for deception. Using self-concept maintenance theory and social learning theory, this article compares two distinct manifestations of deception in buyer–supplier negotiations: lying and bluffing. Scenario-based experiments provide evidence that corporate codes diminish severe manifestations of deception (lying) but not less severe ones (bluffing), and that bluffing is considered a negotiation skill. These findings reveal the boundary conditions of self-concept maintenance theory, which is applicable to lying but not to bluffing. Moreover, this article outlines an agenda for future research on deception in buyer–supplier relationships – an important but under-researched subject within our discipline.
... Por ello el correo electrónico, desde la posición de las empresas , se ha convertido en una de las TIC más importantes gracias a su amplio uso y posibilidades de interacción que genera entre los participantes, además de presentar la ventaja de proporcionar estrategias exitosas para reconciliar las relaciones comerciales complejas debido a su propia versatilidad y facilidad de uso; por supuesto cabe destacar dentro de sus beneficios, la posibilidad de acceso remoto y las comodidades que esto implica, como también la posibilidad de transmisión de mensajes prácticamente sin límites de caracteres (); (Low & Ang, 2011); (Ebner et al., 2009); (Morris et al., 2002). En esta misma lógica, los procesadores de texto hacen parte de las TIC más importantes por su uso, debido a que facilitan no solo la transmisión de la información de manera eficiente sino que además almacenan y administran de forma segura los datos y la información (Patrick, Cheng, & Sik-Liong, 2011). ...
This article analyzes the use and benefits of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) in the international negotiation processes of Colombian
companies, based on a field study conducted in 380 companies, supported
by telephone interviews. It is concluded that in Colombia most companies use
for their international negotiation processes generic and conventional ICT which favorably influence the negotiation, and facilitate a wide range of activities and offers advantages associated with rapport building, generating efficiency and obtaining different ways to contact customers and suppliers, as well as an effect on the reduction of total time and travel expenses.
... Por ello el correo electrónico, desde la posición de las empresas , se ha convertido en una de las TIC más importantes gracias a su amplio uso y posibilidades de interacción que genera entre los participantes, además de presentar la ventaja de proporcionar estrategias exitosas para reconciliar las relaciones comerciales complejas debido a su propia versatilidad y facilidad de uso; por supuesto cabe destacar dentro de sus beneficios, la posibilidad de acceso remoto y las comodidades que esto implica, como también la posibilidad de transmisión de mensajes prácticamente sin límites de caracteres (); (Low & Ang, 2011); (Ebner et al., 2009); (Morris et al., 2002). En esta misma lógica, los procesadores de texto hacen parte de las TIC más importantes por su uso, debido a que facilitan no solo la transmisión de la información de manera eficiente sino que además almacenan y administran de forma segura los datos y la información (Patrick, Cheng, & Sik-Liong, 2011). ...
This article analyzes the use and benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the international negotiation processes of Colombian companies, based on a field study conducted in 380 companies, supported by telephone interviews. It is concluded that in Colombia most companies use
for their international negotiation processes generic and conventional ICT which favorably influence the negotiation, and facilitate a wide range of activities and offers advantages associated with rapport building, generating efficiency and obtaining different ways to contact customers and suppliers, as well as an effect
on the reduction of total time and travel expenses.
... Online role-plays of this kind are sometimes used to replicate the use of the internet in business and our daily lives. For example, large amounts of online negotiation now occur in business contexts (Ebner, Bhappu, Brown, Kovach & Kupfer-Schneider, 2009; Ebner, 2008). However, the virtual experience affects the negotiation due to, for instance, the difficulty of establishing trust (Ebner, 2008). ...
Student learning about legal skills in legal education is increasingly seen as important. These legal skills include advocacy and negotiation. These skills are often taught through role-play. This article discusses the combination of role-plays with online tools, including wikis and blogs, to assist students to master legal skills. The article describes and discusses two case studies of the teaching of legal skills in a blended learning design. Additionally, through participant observation and selected data from student evaluation of one of the case studies the authors suggest implementation concerns for law teachers to consider when introducing this type of learning design.
... We have organized this chapter so a teacher can identify tools to be used in any combination he/she wishes. 4 For more on the value of relationship building in the specific context of text-based negotiation, see Ebner et al. 2009. For more on the relational elements of teaching negotiation online, see Bhappu et al. 2009. ...
Full text available for download at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1916792
Matz and Ebner consider the impending collision between teachers’ strong desire to use role-play and other simulation exercises, and the rise of online teaching, in which the students may never see each other. They outline a series of tools that might bring the central advantages of using simulations to electronically mediated courses.
This article analyzes recommendations in the Rethinking Negotiation Teaching (RNT) series. Instructors teaching negotiation and other dispute resolution subjects have long had a hard time trying to cover everything they would like in their courses. The RNT project has documented (and, to some extent, stimulated) a growing profusion of ideas and techniques for teaching negotiation, which has multiplied instructors’ dilemmas in designing their courses. Since instructors cannot teach everything they would like, this article suggests some general principles for making decisions about what to include and how to conduct these courses. Clearly, there is no single right or best way to teach negotiation, so instructors should select approaches based on the particular audiences, settings, and goals of the instruction. It is valuable to include a widely-taught “canon of negotiation,” so that people can have a common “language” of negotiation theory and practice, while also tailoring instruction to the particular circumstances of each course. This tailoring should be oriented to the assumptions, ideas, and values that students bring into the classroom, as they will have to integrate new ideas and experiences into their pre-existing mindsets. Instructors should also design their courses to promote students' motivation to engage in the course activities productively. This article catalogs a wide range of instructional enhancements beyond the traditional canon of negotiation, including a range of perspectives, theories, assumptions, topics for instruction, teaching methods, and related issues.
Recent trends toward telecommuting, mobile work, and wider distribution of the work force, combined with reduced technology costs, have made video communications more attractive as a means of supporting informal remote interaction. In the past, however, video communications have never gained widespread acceptance. Here we identify possible reasons for this by examining how the spoken characteristics of video-mediated communication differ from face-to-face interaction, for a series of real meetings.
The full text of my (with Sung Hee Kim) third edition of Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate, and Settlement is now available from Lulu Press.
--Dean G. Pruitt
Attempted to reconcile conflicting findings about the impact of negotiator accountability on bargaining process and outcome. Some studies have found that high accountability produces more pressure (dominance) tactics and lower joint benefit than low accountability. Other studies have found no accountability effects. Results of the present research with 132 university students suggest that negotiators' visual accessibility is a moderator of the effects of accountability. Accountability produced lower joint benefit only when the negotiators were face to face. Cooperative behavior and reports of a cooperative atmosphere were diminished when negotiators were facing each other rather than talking across a barrier. Results are interpreted on the assumption that negotiation involves a competitive definition of the situation, especially under high accountability. In such a context, staring is likely to be employed to dominate and is likely to be interpreted as domineering behavior. When there is no visual access, staring is not possible; hence, there is less temptation to try to dominate and less reason to view the other party as making a similar effort. The result is more cooperation and greater joint benefit. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Research on virtual groups reflects concerns about the development of trust and liking and about the performance of partners who do not see each other or work proximally. Previous studies have explored behaviors leading to subjectively experienced trust and/or liking, or trusting behaviors associated with group output, but have not linked behaviors, subjective affect, and output quality. Deriving principles from the social information processing theory of computer-mediated communication, this research identified and tested six communication rules for virtual groups. Employing a quasi-experimental procedure to maximize the variance in rule-following behavior, some distributed groups in a cross-university course were assigned to follow rules as part of their grades on group assignments conducted using computer-mediated communication from which messages were collected and later coded. Through self-reported measures of rule following and affect, results reveal correlations between each rule with trust and liking. Less consistent are the relationships between rule following, specific observed behaviors, and actual performance quality. Interpretations suggest that a powerful set of collaboration rules has been identified or that the mere following of any rules and norms reduces uncertainty and enhances trust in distributed work teams.
This paper examines electronic mail in organizational communication. Based on ideas about how social context cues within a communication setting affect information exchange, it argues that electronic mail does not simply speed up the exchange of information but leads to the exchange of new information as well. In a field study in a Fortune 500 company, we used questionnaire data and actual messages to examine electronic mail communication at all levels of the organization. Based on hypotheses from research on social communication, we explored effects of electronic communication related to self-absorption, status equalization, and uninhibited behavior. Consistent with experimental studies, we found that decreasing social context cues has substantial deregulating effects on communication. And we found that much of the information conveyed through electronic mail was information that would not have been conveyed through another medium.
Will we ever see the day when the Internet serves as the primary venue for problem solving and dispute resolution? Social science research suggests that our online communication skills will improve as we learn relational behaviors based upon nonverbal cues available online. Dispute resolution and problem solving will move online, however, whether or not you and I master those skills. Our children already have developed effective online relational behaviors and can establish trust and intimacy online.
Although there has been more than a decade of literature on computer-mediated communication in education, the research has been unclear as to whether it is an effective replacement for face-to-face (FtF) collaboration. This study sought to add to this body of research by exploring the effects of two modes of collaboration on student groups. Following a repeated-measures experimental design, each student group collaborated on two case studies, one using face-to-face collaboration and the other using asynchronous computer conferencing technology as a means of collaboration. Empirical findings indicate that asynchronous collaboration is as effective as face-to-face collaboration in terms of learning, quality of solution, solution content, and satisfaction with the solution quality. However, students were significantly less satisfied with the asynchronous learning experience, both in terms of the group interaction process and the quality of group discussions.
In two studies of bilateral bargaining with asymmetric information, we show that the communication medium in which the bargaining takes place, affects the efficiency and distribution of outcomes. The results reflect different degrees of truth-telling and trust across the media. We present a conceptualization of how the effects of communication media can be incorporated into behavioral decision research and game theoretic models of bargaining.
The rapid growth of personal email communica- tion, instant messaging and online communities has brought attention to the important role of interpersonal trust in online communication. An empirical study was conducted focusing on the eect of empathy on online interpersonal trust in textual IM. To be more specific, the relationship between empathic accuracy, response type and online interpersonal trust was investigated. The result suggests both empathic accuracy and response type have significant influence on online interpersonal trust. The interaction between empathic accuracy and response type also significantly influences online trust. Interestingly, the results imply a relationship between daily trust attitude and online interpersonal trust. People who are more trusting in their daily life may experience more diÅculty in developing trust online. There is also some evidence to suggest that dierent communication scenarios may have an influence on online trust.
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is thought to be inadequate when one needs to establish trust. If, however, people meet before using CMC, they trust each other, trust being established through touch. Here we show that if participants do not meet beforehand but rather engage in various getting-acquainted activities over a network, trust is much higher than if they do nothing beforehand, nearly as good as a prior meeting. Using text-chat to get acquainted is nearly as good as meeting, and even just seeing a picture is better than nothing
After completing a decision task electronically or face to face, 105 students rated their own and other group members' contribution to the task completion and their degree of liking for group members. Actual contributions were the number of task relevant remarks each person contributed. Results indicated that self-ratings of contribution were more inflated and less accurate in electronic communication than in face-to-face communication. Liking accounted for significant variance in ratings of others' contributions in face-to-face groups, whereas actual contribution accounted for significant variance in ratings of others in electronic groups. Results suggest that rating biases stemming from liking are evident in ratings of others in face-to-face groups but not in electronic. Implications for online performance evaluations are discussed.
Sumario: I. A two-level perspective on tchnology -- II. Beyond efficiency -- III. Do you know who you're talking to? -- IV. Electronic group dynamics -- V. Increasing personal connections -- VI. Control an influence -- VII. Designing information procedures -- VIII. New ways of organizing -- IX. Making connections. Bibliografía : P. 189-204
Two studies provide evidence for the reliability and validity of a new self-report measure of individual differences in intuitive-experiential and analytical-rational thinking based on cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST). The Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI) was constructed to measure the 2 independent processing modes with a modified Need for Cognition Scale (NFC, J.T. Cacioppo & R.E. Petty, 1982) and a new scale, Faith in Intuition (FI). In Study 1, a factor analysis yielded 2 orthogonal factors corresponding to NFC and FI. Although heuristic processing was determined primarily by FI, NFC also contributed to heuristic responding, in line with CEST. The relation of FI and NFC to coping ability also was examined. In Study 2, the factor structure of the REI was replicated (N = 973). NFC and FI were differentially related to measures of personality, adjustment, achievement, and interpersonal relations.
An implicit association test (IAT) measures differential association of 2 target concepts with an attribute. The 2 concepts appear in a 2-choice task (2-choice task (e.g., flower vs. insect names), and the attribute in a 2nd task (e.g., pleasant vs. unpleasant words for an evaluation attribute). When instructions oblige highly associated categories (e.g., flower + pleasant) to share a response key, performance is faster than when less associated categories (e.g., insect & pleasant) share a key. This performance difference implicitly measures differential association of the 2 concepts with the attribute. In 3 experiments, the IAT was sensitive to (a) near-universal evaluative differences (e.g., flower vs. insect), (b) expected individual differences in evaluative associations (Japanese + pleasant vs. Korean + pleasant for Japanese vs. Korean subjects), and (c) consciously disavowed evaluative differences (Black + pleasant vs. White + pleasant for self-described unprejudiced White subjects).
A paper divided into the following sections: (a) The psychological consequences of cooperation and competition, (b) Conditions leading to the initiation of cooperation, and (c) The relationship of trust and cooperation. Individuals who are promotively rather than contriently oriented to one another showed such tendencies as more coordination of efforts, more diversity in amount of contributions per member, more subdivision of activity, more achievement pressure. Experiments with a game situation are reported, and a conclusion is drawn that Ss who are trusting tend to be trustworthy and Ss who are suspicious tend to be untrustworthy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Social Influence and Information Sharing Processes during Negotiation
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 264 pages (£20.00 hardcover) ISBN: 0521632943 This book is a timely examination of web users' behaviour and the ways in which it affects others participating among the different electronic environments available. The Internet is a technology that has expanded rapidly over relatively few years and millions of users are interacting with each other using the new medium without having considered how this communication differs in quantity and quality from more established information channels. Using examples from previously established research in the field of social psychology and more recent studies on various aspects of the Internet phenomenon, the author considers how human behaviour is influenced by the peculiar characteristics of the new 'Web-World'. After a brief introductory chapter where some of the Internet jargon is usefully demystified, there follow two related chapters on how people 'invent' themselves on the Web, discussing role-playing, impression formation and management, and identity experiments. They examine how users attempt to overcome the lack of the usual non-verbal cues in face-to-face communication and add socioemotional expressiveness to their online personas. The author also discusses how this process of online self-projection can become altogether delusional, deceptive and dangerous as participants morph between generational, gender and personality profiles. The following two chapters examine the dynamics of group behaviour online. They illustrate the psychological phenomena of conformity, polarization, conflict and co-operation occurring in mailing lists, e-mail traffic, news and discussion groups and chat rooms. Surprisingly, much of group behaviour online has similar social regulation as their real life counterparts.
Few topics have received more attention in the management literature of recent years than that of virtual organizations. Articles abound on the possibilities of virtual meetings, work teams, offices, factories, firms, and alliances. Given the burgeoning interest in this emerging phenomenon, it is surprising that very little empirical research exists on virtual organizations. Especially lacking are studies of communication processes within virtual organization settings. To help remedy this situation, this special issue provides an early window into several important communication processes that occur in virtual contexts. We are pleased to provide readers with a compendium of six articles that, collectively, advance current knowledge of communication processes for virtual organizations. Both single and multifirm studies are included here, with analyses covering such diverse topics as communication content, communication structure and effectiveness, tradeoffs in electronic and face-to-face relationships, and the use of communication in formation of organizational identity. All of the studies include rigorous analysis and careful measurement of communication, and all take place within naturally occurring organizational contexts, not laboratory settings.
Electronic communication media usually differ from nonelectronic communication media on a variety of communication features. However, research designs typically do not allow for the most revealing examination of communication feature effects. This paper proposes a methodological framework for conceptualizing and operationalizing electronic communication research, and presents an illustrative study based on the framework. The methodological framework distinguishes among communication media, channels, and features, and emphasizes the importance for theory and research of understanding the effects of communication features both within and across communication media. To demonstrate this framework, subjects in the study participated in a sealed-bid negotiation. Communication of the bids was either paper-and-pencil or computer-mediated. The results revealed a significant main effect for medium (computer-mediated communication yielded lower individual scores), significant main effects for features (documentation and anonymity both yielded lower individual scores), and a significant interaction between a feature (documentation) and medium. For organizations, these results suggest that the accepted effects of a medium should be reexamined in light of the medium's component features; design and adoption decisions should be made with an understanding of the existence of interactions between features and media.
Modalities such as face-to-face meetings permit rich communication, which involves both expressiveness and interactivity. Modalities such as text annotation or electronic mail, however, limit both. Contingency theory, as applied to collaborative writing, says that as the equivocality of the writing task increases, communication modalities that support rich communication are more likely to be used. In addition, it says that if these modalities are used, equivocal tasks can be carried out with greater ease and better results. This article explores these hypotheses using multiple data sources: an interview study tracing the history of 55 published collaborative articles, two field experiments comparing the use of face-to-face communication and electronic mail as media for collaborative writing, and a laboratory experiment comparing voice and text as media for annotating documents. Taken together, the findings of these investigations are loosely consistent with a contingency theory of media use, but they suggest that careful measures of task characteristics are needed to obtain a detailed understanding of the effects of particular task/technology combinations. Further, they indicate that it may be important to consider the distinction between the interactivity and expressiveness components of media richness in making decisions about what technologies to buy or build.
Recent research has suggested that, when visual and other social cues are limited in social encounters, a number of consequences follow. The more cueless the setting, the more task oriented and depersonalized the content of the discussion, the less spontaneous the style of speech and, in negotiations, the more likely the side with the stronger case to prevail. The present experiment was designed to re-examine the effects of cuelessness by comparing three conditions: face-to-face, in which subjects sat opposite each other across a table without restriction; wooden screen, in which a small wooden screen was placed between them so that visual communication was precluded; and audio, in which they conversed from separate rooms over a microphone-headphone intercom so that they were physically as well as visually separated. It was found that (a) while cuelessness did not affect content, it did reduce spontaneity of style; (b) subjects failed to adapt to the constraints of cuelessness over time; and (c) the more task oriented and depersonalized the content of the discussions, the less spontaneous the style. The theoretical and empirical implications of the findings for our cuelessness model are discussed.
Recent advances in information systems technology have made it possible to support the work of interacting groups using networked personal computers. A laboratory experiment was conducted using a group decision support system to evaluate effects of anonymity and proximity on group process in automated group problem solving. Twenty groups of four persons each performed an idea-generating task using an interactive electronic brainstorming program. This experiment's main findings were: (1) Group members working anonymously and apart generated more comments. (2) Working in the same room increased satisfaction. (3) Highest levels of perceived system effectiveness were reported under anonymity.
We propose that face-to-face contact fosters the development of rapport and thereby helps negotiators coordinate on mutually beneficial settlements in mixed-motive conflicts. Specifically, we investigate whether, in a cooperative climate, negotiators' visual access to each other's nonverbal behavior fosters a dyadic state of rapport that facilitates mutual cooperation. Experiment 1 manipulated whether negotiators stood face-to-face or side-by-side (unable to see each other) in a simulated strike negotiation. Face-to-face dyads were more likely to coordinate on a settlement early in the strike, resulting in higher joint gains. An alternative interpretation in terms of an anticipatory effect of face-to-face contact was not supported. Experiment 2 manipulated whether previously unacquainted negotiators conversed face-to-face or by telephone before separating to play a conflict game with the structure of a Prisoner's Dilemma game. Face-to-face dyads were more likely to coordinate on high joint gain outcomes. The facilitatory effect of face-to-face contact was statistically mediated by a measure of dyadic rapport. Results did not support alternative interpretations based on individual-level positive affect or expectations about opponents. We conclude with a discussion of the role of affective and dyad-level processes in social psychological models of conflict resolution. 2000 Academic Press Many interactions in life are mixed-motive conflicts in which the collectively optimal outcome requires mutual cooperation but individual self-interest makes it tempting not to cooperate (Axelrod, 1984; Kelley & Thibaut, 1954; Rubin & Aimee L.
This paper compares the impact of communication media on negotiating outcomes. Subjects negotiate an integrative case, either face-to-face or via e-mail. Average scores and integrativeness are not significantly different in the two media. However, the difference in scores between the two parties is significantly higher in the face-to-face condition than in the e-mail condition. This result suggests that many of the negotiating "tricks" which negotiators have learned in order to glean advantage do not translate to the electronic media.
Full text available for download at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1292594
This article introduces the "pseudo-reality" method of constructing and conducting conflict resolution training workshops. This method focuses on creating a backdrop against which participants engage in negotiation and mediation skill-building, using real-life events and facts - but only to the extent that these events and facts promote the learning process. By creating pseudo-reality, trainers can overcome learning-hampering effects resulting from participants' strong preconceptions or bias on a topic, while at the same time preserving the advantages of working within a familiar, realistic environment. This method is meant to be used when the main goal of a workshop is skill-building rather than imparting substantive knowledge of a conflict. The method is demonstrated by describing its use at a workshop conducted recently in Cyprus, in which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict served as a backdrop for conflict resolution skill-building. Finally, the article provides a model designed to help conflict resolution trainers create pseudo-reality in their own workshop frameworks.
Much has been written about the effects of electronic communication but few researchers have explored how the structural properties of e-mail impact the process of conflict management. In this paper, we examine whether the structural features of e-mail make it more likely that disputes will escalate when people communicate electronically compared to when they communicate face-to-face or via the telephone. Building upon Rubin, Pruitt, and Kim's (1994) conflict escalation model, we propose new conceptual framework that articulates: (1) the structural properties of e-mail communication, (2) the impact of these properties on conflict process effects, and (3) how process effects, in turn, set into motion the components of conflict escalation. Propositions identify the nature of relationships among process effects and conflict escalation. Our conceptual framework is designed to be the basis for future empirical research as well as a prescriptive guide regarding how one can avoid conflict escalation when communicating via e-mail.
This article provides a current look at how lawyers actually negotiate and should serve to shatter the myth that adversarial bargaining is more effective and less risky than problem-solving. The data reported herein is based on a wide-ranging study that asked lawyers to evaluate the negotiation styles and the resulting effectiveness of other lawyers. First, the study shows that effective negotiators exhibit certain identifiable skills. For example, the research indicates that a negotiator who is assertive and empathetic is perceived as more effective. The study also reveals distinctive characteristics of ineffective negotiators, who are more likely to be stubborn, arrogant, and egotistical. Furthermore, when this adversarial negotiator is unethical, he is perceived as even less effective. Third, the study found that problem-solving behavior is perceived as highly effective. This information should help focus negotiation training toward the task of learning these new skills or modifying ineffective habits.
In this review article, we examine how people negotiate via e-mail and in particular, how the process and outcomes of e-negotiations differ from those of traditional face-to-face bargaining. We review the key tasks of negotiation and then undertake a review of the research literature that has examined e-negotiations. We outline four theories of interaction that provide insights about social behavior in e-media: rapport building, social contagion, coordination, and information exchange. Our research program has focused on the interpersonal factors and social identity factors that can enhance the quality of e-negotiations. E-negotiators often succumb to the temporal synchrony bias, the burned bridge bias, the squeaky wheel bias, and the sinister attribution bias. We discuss social psychological factors that can reduce these biases and the future of research on e-negotiations.
The study of negotiating groups, whether distributive between competing parties (i.e., "win-lose") or integrative between essentially friendly parties from the same organization (i.e., "win-win"), remains important. While much previous research in this area has focused on key analytical issues such as evaluating proposed options, much less research has addressed the equally important initial stage of negotiation: generating options for mutual gain. In general, groups do this poorly, as there are many obstacles that inhibit successful option generation. Recent advances in computer technology provide additional approaches that can be used to support option generation as one component in an overall Negotiation Support System. This paper presents an integrated series of laboratory and field studies that investigated various aspects of computer-supported option generation for groups that meet at the same place and time. The use of anonymity to separate personalities from the issues and promote more objective evaluation was found to improve option generation in some circumstances, particularly those with increased criticalness and/or power differences among the participants. Larger groups were found to be more effective than smaller groups, several smaller groups combined, and nominal groups. We present several implications for theory development and system design and use, as well as a tentative model for computer-supported group option generation.
Advances in computing and telecommunications technology are changing how people can meet and make group decisions. Technological changes help people cross physical, social, and psychological boundaries, and have secondary effects on group behavior and decision making. Experiments show that, compared with a face-to-face meeting, a computer-mediated discussion leads to delays; more explicit and outspoken advocacy; “flaming;” more equal participation among group members; and more extreme, unconventional, or risky decisions. Technological and social psychological variables that cause these effects in laboratory groups do not scale at equal rates. Technological change in organizational group decision making can lead to outcomes not seen in the laboratory, which makes it essential to do field research. Three phenomena observed in field studies are redistributions of work time, relative advantages in participation for peripheral workers, and increases in complexity of group organization. Experimental and field studies on these technology effects are useful not just as an “impact statement” for those considering technological change; this research also can put a new light on basic processes in which we have always had an interest.
This study examines how interaction structure (no formal structure versus modified Nominal Group Technique) and communication channels (face-to-face versus computer-mediated) affect negotiation performance by changing negotiation judgment accuracy. Participants assumed the role of a selling division manager or one of two buying division managers and completed an intra-organizational transfer pricing negotiation task in groups of three members each. In half of all groups, members interacted freely without any formal structure; in the other half, members interacted using a two-step, modified Nominal Group Technique. Within each of these two conditions, half the groups met directly and communicated face-to-face; in the other half, members were physically isolated and communicated with the aid of a simultaneous electronic-messaging facility. Results showed that unstructured groups and computer-mediated groups had lower judgment accuracy, obtained lower outcomes, and distributed resources more unequally than structured groups and face-to-face groups, respectively. Further analyses using causal modeling revealed that judgment accuracy played a significant role in determining negotiation outcomes. Specifically, negotiation structure caused increases in both individual and group profits and decreases in inequality of resource distribution by reducing fixed-sum error. Computer-mediated communication increased both fixed-sum error and incompatibility error and these increases explained the effects of communication medium on resource distribution. However, changes in fixed-sum error only partially explained the effects of communication medium on individual and group profits. Changes in incompatibility error did not explain any of the effects of communication medium on profits. These results are discussed in terms of implications for the design and implementation of decision aids for small group negotiation.
Three experiments explored the effects of computer-mediated communication on communication efficiency, participation, interpersonal behavior, and group choice. Groups of three members were asked to reach consensus on career choice problems; they communicated face-to-face and in simultaneous computer-mediated discussions or through computer mail. When groups were linked by computer, group members made fewer remarks than they did face-to-face and took longer to make their group decisions. Social equalization was higher in computer-mediated groups in that group members participated more equally in discussions. Computer-mediated groups also exhibited more uninhibited behavior—using strong and inflammatory expressions in interpersonal interactions. Decisions of computer-mediated groups shifted further away from the members' initial individual choices than group decisions which followed face-to-face discussions. We discuss the implications of these findings for extension of theories about group interaction and for analyses of the effects of Computers in organizations.
This paper extends research on factors influencing effective communication in diverse groups. The effects of social group membership on attention and influence were examined using 17 groups of three men and three women. Each group discussed a controversial topic face-to-face or using either an anonymous or an identified group support system environment. Social group membership biased both attention and influence; these effects were eliminated when discussions were conducted electronically—even when social group membership of participants was identifiable in the electronic media.
Trust is the prerequisite for success when a collaborative task involves risk of individualistic or deceitful behaviors of others. Can trust emerge in electronic contexts? This issue is explored in an experiment in which trust emergence is measured in both face-to-face (l-t-F) and electronic contexts. In this experiment trust is revealed by the degree of cooperation the group is able to reach in solving a social dilemma, i.e. a situation in which advantages for individualistic behavior make group cooperation highly vulnerable. The experiment consists of two stages. The first stage analyzes the effects of F-t-F and electronic communication on trust Trust succeeds only with F-t-F communication. The second stage investigates whether a pre-meeting F-t-F can promote trust in electronic contexts- Results are positive. Examination of how people converse in these two contexts sheds some light on the effects of technical characteristics and social circumstances on the emergence of trust.
Cet article passe en revue les vingt dernie`res anne´es de recherche sur la culture et la ne´gociation et pre´sente les progre`s qui ont e´te´ faits, les pie`ges dont il faut se de´fier et les perspectives pour de futurs travaux. On a remarque´ que beaucoup de recherches avaient tendance a` suivre ces deux mode`les implicites: (1) l’influence de la culture sur les strate´gies et l’aboutissement de la ne´gociation et/ou (2) l’interaction de la culture et d’autres aspects de la situation imme´diate sur les re´sultats de la ne´gociation. Cette recherche a porte´ sur un grand nombre de cultures et a mis en e´vidence plus d’un mode`le inte´ressant. Nous signalons cependant trois pie`ge caracte´ristiques de cette litte´rature, pie`ges qui nous ont handicape´s. Tout d’abord, la plupart des travaux se satisfont de de´nominations ge´ographiques pour de´signer les cultures et il est par suite souvent impossible de de´terminer les dimensions culturelles qui rendent compte des diffe´rences observe´es. Ensuite, beaucoup de recherches ignorent les processus psychologiques (c’est-a`-dire les motivations et les cognitions) qui sont en jeu dans les ne´gociations prenant place dans des cultures diffe´rentes si bien que nous apprenons peu de choses a` propos de la psychologie de la ne´gociation dans des contextes culturels diversifie´s. On se heurte ainsi a` une ûboîte noireý que les travaux sur la culture et la ne´gociation se gardent ge´ne´ralement d’ouvrir. Enfin, notre travail n’a recense´ qu’un nombre restreint de variables situationnelles imme´diates intervenant dans des ne´gociations prenant place dans des cultures diffe´rentes; notre compre´hension des effets mode´rateurs de la culture sur la ne´gociation est donc limite´e. Nous proposons un troisie`me mode`le, plus complet, de la culture et de la ne´gociation, pre´sentons quelques donne´es re´centes en sa faveur et esquissons quelques perspectives pour l’avenir.
This study compared a group decision support system (GDSS) with face-to-face (FTF) group discussion on characteristics of information exchange and decision quality. Participants given conflicting information tended to share more of their unique data and engaged in more critical argumentation when using the GDSS than when meeting FTF. Conversely, when information was consistent among members, there were no such differences between FTF and GDSS groups. The GDSS groups significantly outperformed the FTF groups in agreeing on the superior hidden profile candidate, especially when there was a lack of prediscussion consensus. Individual-level analyses revealed that members of GDSS groups that did not have a prediscussion consensus tended to experience stronger preference shifts toward the group's consensus decision.