Conflict and Negotiation - Journal

CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION
JOURNAL
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CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION
Question 1
Ethics is a critical element of the negotiation process owing to which it needs to be
discussed in the class. Relevant literature on negotiation and collective bargaining highlights
existence of various techniques such as bluffing. These techniques are quite common in
various negotiations but tend to trot on the fringes of unethical conduct. This is because these
negotiation techniques sometimes assume deception and may thereby enter into the realm of
“unethical” conduct. Such unethical conduct would be unacceptable. However, the lines of
ethical and unethical practices in negotiations are often quite blurred and highly contested
(Provis, 2000). As a result, ethics assumes significance in the context of negotiation. Proper
understanding of ethical conduct in the negotiation process would enable the negotiators to
ensure that the techniques that they deploy to maximize gains tend to fall within the domain
of ethical practices
While the presence of deceptive techniques in the field of negotiation cannot be
denied but the focus of the future negotiators should be to prefer a honesty based approach as
it would be morally more acceptable and also may yield superior outcomes (Cramton &
Dees, 1993). As a result, it is imperative that techniques should be narrated and demonstrated
in the class which can result in greater honesty and transparency without compromising the
favorable outcome. Further, the key enablers such as institutional support, legal systems,
presence of professionals in the current negotiation context also need to be highlighted which
have altered the underlying ecosystem. The presence of these enablers provides more comfort
for the negotiators to act in an honest manner thereby establishing a reputation (Cramton &
Dees, 1993). This positive culture can be cultivated in future negotiators only if they have
requisite understanding of ethics in the negotiation process.
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