Analysis of Negotiation Processes

Abstract

Communication can be considered to lie “at the heart” of the negotiation process, it ties together the individual decisions and choices which, together with communication, form the negotiation process (See the chapter by Kersten and Lai, this volume). It encompasses both hard facts as offers or factual questions (See the chapter by Schoop, this volume) as well as soft factors (See the chapter by Eden and Ackerman, this volume) and emotions (See the chapter by Martinowski, this volume). Therefore, researchers have to apply qualitative as well as quantitative methods in order to analyze negotiation processes comprehensively. In this chapter, we give an overview of different analysis strategies by looking at the information exchange that takes place during a negotiation. Given the complexity and multitude of communication processes, these analysis strategies can be distinguished along two dimensions: (1) The information used for analysis could either be inclusive and take into account all information exchanged, or selective, i.e. focus on one specific type of information. For example, a selective approach could focus only on quantitative information. (2) The elementary unit of analysis could range from a micro-analysis of individual utterances to a macro-analysis of the entire process. In our discussion, we show that the various combinations of these dimensions highlight different angles of negotiation processes and each delivers valuable insights. We consequently propose a multi-method approach for the analysis of negotiation processes as most promising.