Negotiation

Broadly speaking, negotiation is an interaction of influences. Such interactions, for example, include the process of resolving disputes, agreeing upon courses of action, bargaining for individual or collective advantage, or crafting outcomes to satisfy various interests. Negotiation is thus a form of alternative dispute resolution. It is something that we do all the time and is not only used for business purposes. For example, we use it in our social lives perhaps for deciding a time to meet, or where to go on a rainy day. Negotiation is usually considered as a compromise to settle an argument or issue to benefit ourselves as much as possible.

Communication is always the link that will be used to negotiate the issue/argument whether it is face-to-face, on the telephone or in writing. Remember, negotiation is not always between two people: it can involve several members from two parties.

Negotiation involves three basic elements: process, behavior and substance. The process refers to how the parties negotiate: the context of the negotiations, the parties to the negotiations, the tactics used by the parties, and the sequence and stages in which all of these play out. Behaviours to the relationships among these parties, the communication between them and the styles they adopt. The substance refers to what the parties negotiate over: the agenda, the issues (positions and - more helpfully - interests), the options, and the agreement(s) reached at the end.

Skilled negotiators may use a variety of tactics ranging from negotiation hypnosis, to a straight forward presentation of demands or setting of preconditions to more deceptive approaches such as cherry picking. Intimidation and salami tactics may also play a part in swaying the outcome of negotiations

Cherry picking: in the literal case of harvesting cherries, or any other fruit, the picker would be expected to only select the ripest and healthiest fruits. An observer who only sees the selected fruit may thus wrongly conclude that most, or even all, of the fruit is in such good condition.

Thus, cherry picking is used metaphorically to indicate the act of pointing at individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position, while ignoring a significant portion of related cases or data that may contradict that position.

For example, opponents of safety belts often cite cases in which car accident victims were strangled, injured or trapped by a safety belt. However, these rare instances of seat belt injury overlook the vast number of cases which suggest that safety belts, when used properly, are far more likely to save passengers' lives or to reduce injuries than to injure passengers.

Salami tactics, also known as the salami-slice strategy, is a divide and conquer process of threats and alliances used to overcome opposition. With it, an aggressor can influence and eventually dominate a landscape, typically political, piece by piece. In this fashion, the "salami" is taken in slices, until one realizes (too late) that it's gone in its entirety. In some cases it includes the creation of several factions within the opposing political party and then dismantling that party from the inside, without causing the "sliced" sides to protest.

The term was coined in the late 1940s by the Stalinist Mátyás Rákosi to describe the actions of the Hungarian Communist Party. This strategy was also used in the majority of Eastern European countries in the second half of the 1940s.

Similar tactics had been used previously by many different political parties and groups wishing to consolidate their power in various countries. For example, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party achieved absolute power in Germany within the early months of 1933 by squeezing out his conservative partners, after those conservative partners helped in the outlawing of Communists and Social Democrats and granting emergency powers to him.

The term "salami tactics" is also used in business and means that someone presents problems or solutions in pieces, and so it is hard to get the big picture.