The nature of negotiation

Negotiation is an interactive process whereby two or more interdependent parties seek to reach a mutually acceptable agreement over an issue or set of issues. As a concept, negotiation presumes that parties have both common and conflicting interests. As one recognized authority on negotiation has put so succinctly, “[w]ithout common interest, there is nothing to negotiate for, without conflict, nothing to negotiate about.” [1]This dialectic of interests is the raison d’être of negotiation; it is omnipresent, and it creates both major challenges and considerable opportunities for negotiators