Works
In Tactics of Organizational Politics
Ideas
Separate the people from the problem. Negotiators are people first, and the relationship tends to become entangled with the substance. Fisher and Ury advise dealing with perception, emotion, and communication directly and separately from the substantive issues, for example by discussing each side's perceptions and helping the other side save face.
Focus on interests behind positions. A position is what a party says it wants; an interest is the reason it wants it. Their example is the Sinai in 1978: Israel's interest was security and Egypt's was sovereignty, and an agreement that met both interests became possible once the talks moved below the opposed positions.
Invent options for mutual gain. Before deciding, the parties should generate several possible agreements, brainstorming separately and together, and look for options that meet shared interests or that trade on interests that differ but are compatible.
Insist on objective criteria. Negotiate on some basis independent of the will of either side, such as market value or precedent. The parties search for criteria jointly, keep an open mind about which apply, and yield to principle and never to pressure.
BATNA. A party's best alternative to a negotiated agreement is what it can obtain without negotiating. Knowing and improving it protects against accepting an agreement that should be rejected and is the main source of negotiating power when the other side is stronger.
Negotiation jujitsu and the one-text procedure. When the other side insists on bargaining over positions, Fisher and Ury advise declining to push back against them and redirecting attention to interests and options. One method is the one-text procedure, in which a third party drafts a single text, asks each side for criticism, and revises it round after round; their example is the United States drafting the Camp David texts between Egypt and Israel in 1978.
What it explains
Fisher explains how a party can win agreement without giving in or damaging the relationship: by moving the argument from positions to interests, supplying fair standards, and holding a strong alternative. Whoever drafts the single text that everyone revises, or proposes the standard everyone accepts, shapes the outcome while appearing to serve all sides.
Tactics that draw on Roger Fisher (11)
- Agreeing the Process First
- Asking for the Evidence
- Building Your BATNA
- Fair Standard Appeal
- Hard on the Problem
- Holding the Pen
- Independent Third-Party Review
- Interest-Based Offer
- Joint Fact-Finding
- Negotiation Jujitsu
- Worked Counterproposal
In Thinking Tools
Known for
A Harvard Law School professor and director of the Harvard Negotiation Project who, with William Ury, set out principled negotiation: separate the people from the problem, focus on interests, invent options for mutual gain, and use objective criteria. The book also defined the BATNA, the best alternative to a negotiated agreement.
Caveat: Bruce Patton edited the first edition and is credited as coauthor from the second edition (1991).