Case Examination
Example: There are many who are critical of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – also known as the Iranian Nuclear Deal. Retired Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster in his new book, At War With Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House, writes about his service as National Security Advisor. His problem with this deal was the goal. The goal seemingly was getting the agreement itself, not the substance or strategy. He declared that the negotiators were so focused on getting the agreement that they paid no attention to the concessions. All Iranian nuclear sites were supposed to be open to examination but soon after the agreement was signed, Iran began to eliminate some sites from inspection.
The real goal of these negotiations was not to reach an agreement, but instead the real goal is restricting Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has another goal: to free the country of the economic sanctions that have squeezed Iran’s economy.
(In the landmark accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - reached in 2015 between Iran, the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom - Iran agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to international inspections in exchange for sanctions relief.
In 2018, then-President Trump withdrew the US from the agreement and reinstated the sanctions.)
Introduction
An effective negotiator is goal-oriented. One must be specific about the goal. The goal rarely is:
to get an agreement
to close the case
The actual goal is more like:
to secure a field for the baseball team
to secure a certain number of cartons in which to transport and sell jars
to receive just compensation for a wrong committed
The measure of a successful negotiation is if the specific goal is reached.
One should not assume goals, even if they are the stated goals. It takes much research and planning to discover the real goal. It sometimes is like unpeeling the onion or un-nesting the Russian dolls.
Examples:
Legal Civil Cases - 98% Negotiated. Most of the time the attorneys and especially the corporate parties want to get rid of the case. Often money is exchanged and the settlement is confidential. The same practice, the same situation that set the stage for the complaint remains ongoing. So, the case is closed but not solved.
Legal Criminal Cases - 95% Plea Bargained (Negotiated). Ninety-five percent of the criminal cases are settled without real judge or jury involvement. Often a person will plead guilty to a lesser charge in order to end the case, not because they had done anything criminally wrong. So cases are closed but often not resolved.
Writer Dan Slepian, in his book Sing Sing Files, notes this as well and persuasively argues that America’s justice system is “designed to easily imprison the innocent” in the name of closing cases quickly.
Residents Frustrated with District of Columbia Government. Some of this frustration may be that residents have not really identified the real goals of certain programs:
Weekly Street Cleaning: Residents rightly assume that the goal of this program is to clean the streets, but often residents will declare that the cleaning machine never appears or goes so fast that no cleaning is accomplished. Others declare that since no water is being used, the machines leave more of a mess than before. But, the real goal of the weekly street cleaning may be parking tickets.
Perpetual Street Work: Residents complain that street work seems never to be accomplished. They note one half-mile block where street work has been ongoing for five years. But, the real goal of this perpetual street work may be simply to keep the contractors and sub-contractors busy. These are the same folks who donated greatly to political campaigns.
Red Light Cameras: Residents question whether these cameras are to create better traffic conditions or tickets and revenue?
Driving DC Difficulties: 22nd Street in Dupont Circle has been closed for 8 weeks. This is a vital artery during rush hour. Uber and Lyft drivers declare that it has never been more difficult to drive in DC. Is DC government concerned? Is this a sign of ineffectiveness of DC government? No. Why? One must examine DC government goal: to reduce cars and driving in DC.
District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office Mediation Program. The AG’s Office touts its progressive mediation program. What is the goal? Probably public relations.
Consumer Example: Consumer A has a complaint against a New York City-based corporation. A has exhausted all efforts to resolve it. Out of options, A files a complaint with the AG. A paralegal from the AG calls A asking a series of questions and assuring A will get their money back. A keeps checking the website for status. Two months later, the status is CLOSED. What happened?
The paralegal who assured A is gone and another paralegal responds that they send the mediation request to the corporation. The corporation did not respond so they closed the case.
Closed, not resolved.
District of Columbia Better Business Bureau Mediation Program. After the lack of success with the AG, A then tries the BBB and gets the exact same result. Closed, not resolved.
Workplace Disputes Not Resolved. Ninety-nine percent of workplace disputes never result in a formal complaint.
Example: A believes that they are being sexually harassed. At wit’s end, A files a complaint with Human Resources. HR investigates and finds the situation does not rise to a level of sexual harassment. Complaint is closed, but the situation remains.
What is the goal of HR? Maybe, simply to get rid of the case or not to have another mark against the employer by a sexual harassment case being formally filed?
Charities and Giving-Solved? Over the decades, hundreds of millions of dollars have been given to community causes like homelessness (unHoused) and hunger (food deserts). Have any of these issues been resolved? No!
The reason may relate to the goals. For most givers, including corporations and stars, the goal most likely is public relations and fund raising. Think of food drives on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Great publicity for local news channels.
Another angle to this is organized religion. On the surface, churches seem to be devoted to charity and yet maybe their goal is money and good will. Churches provide much Senior housing because of government subsidies. Note this article that talks of non-profit churches going into the business of housing.
Is money the goal? Look at non-profit CEO salaries:
$8.1M: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
$1.3M: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
$4.1M: American Heart Association.
Getting Back to the Office - Remote Working. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser declared that it was time for government workers “to get back to work:” that is, get back to the office. The Union President retorted that the goal of federal employees is not to frequent DC downtown restaurants, but instead do government work. One might think the goal of work is productivity, but in this case, the mayor’s goal was to revitalize downtown DC.
Amazon has declared that as of January 2025 most workers will be “in the office” five days a week. If one reads the statement, there is no mention of productivity. Instead, there is references to the elusive goals of social connections, networking and teamwork.
President Bill Clinton back in the 1990’s had the goal of 20% of federal workers would work at least partially remotely or teleworking. This was part of government workplace flexibility. Regrettably, that goal was not achieved. Why? Middle managers did not trust their employees to actually work away from the office and middle managers wanted control.
Journalist Bob Helbig, in his Workplace column, reminds readers that the major work goal is productivity. Work productivity can be affected by low work morale. Poor work morale can be impacted by less flexible work schedules, especially if the workers feel that options like remote working are being taken from them.
Bill to Overhaul SCOTUS introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (D.Ore). What is the goal? To restore balance and public confidence in SCOTUS. It would add in a staggered fashion 6 justices and would require an automatic vote if pending nomination is 180 days or more. It would require a two-thirds vote to overturn a Congressional law.
Business Improvements
Sports Club: Club spends $40,000 on improvements. Members are never asked what improvements might be helpful. None of the improvements necessarily benefit the members They exchanged all of the black weights with handle holes for brightly colored ones without the holes. (Odd, since research has shown that weights with handle holes cuts down injuries from dropping by 50%.) Is this disappointing? No, when one examines the club’s goal: to attract new members by the brightly refreshed appearance.
Coffee Shop: New owners buy a successful coffee shop. They completely remodel regardless of what items made the coffee shop successful. Post-remodeling, much less business. Are the owners disturbed? Not really. They have many small businesses and they needed these improvements as a tax write-off.
US Election Interference: What is the Goal? It is clear that countries such as Russia, Iran, et al have and are interfering with US elections. Most folks believe the goal of this interference is to help one candidate or another. But, the actual goal may be to create doubt in the integrity of the democratic process.
One example, Russian government agents hacked the email accounts of Democratic campaign officials. The emails were then published before the 2016 presidential election in an attempt to affect the election results. Other examples of foreign interference are:
Attacks on cybersecurity
Disinformation campaigns
Covert operations
Attempts to sway election results
Historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari (Book: Nexus) reminds readers that democracy demands trust and dictatorships require terror. Thus, the autocratic countries are interfering in US elections with the goal of eroding trust in order to erode democracy.
Conclusion
An effective negotiator realizes that Step #1 in planning is creating the goal. The goal should clearly meet the needs of the situation. This goal should guide the entire negotiation. In broad terms, the goal can be communicated to all negotiation parties so they all know which direction they are headed. In the end, the measure of negotiation success is whether the goal(s) is met.
Concomitantly, an effective negotiator will seek to understand the goal of the other negotiation partners (aka opponents but this is side by side negotiation, not adversarial).
Remember the old Abraham Lincoln saying: When I go to meet with a person, I spend 1/3 of my time planning what I am going to say and do and 2/3 of my planning time, envisioning what the other parties are going to say or do.
Further, as demonstrated by the examples above, one should not take the stated goals as the real goals. Often, one needs to unpeel the onion; that is, discover the real motive, the real needs that may be underlying the stated goals. Sometimes the stated goal can be viewed as a position. An effective negotiator queries this position to get to the underlying interests. Maybe the stated goal is the goal. About half of the time it is not so one needs to dig to discover what exactly are the needs. One might view this metaphorically as an archeological dig. Brush off the surface to discover the real issue.
Resources.
See Recommended Books under “Blogs” drop down menu.
Roy J. Lewicki is the author of 'Essentials of Negotiation', published 2015 under ISBN 9780077862466 and ISBN 0077862465. Publisher: McGraw Hill Higher Education
The Conflict Resolution Training Program, Leader’s Manual, ISBN: 0-7879-6077-2. Prudence Bowman Kestner and Larry Ray
5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.
Getting Your Way Every Day.
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