What Can Integrative Negotiation Do for You?

Integrative negotiation is an approach for reaching a joint agreement by creating value for each party. Also known as integrative bargaining, collaborative negotiation, and creating value approach, this technique involves each negotiator in the problem-solving and decision-making process. Participants who use this technique collaborate with each other to arrive at mutually beneficial solutions. Typically, users of this strategy use tactics such as active listening and brainstorming to reach compromises that suit them.

There are several benefits of using integrative negotiation, such as:

• It can improve the negotiation process. When using integrative negotiation, each negotiator considers the needs and goals of the others to find a mutually acceptable solution. As this approach is collaborative, it does not create an adversarial environment. Instead, it limits or avoids conflicts between negotiators, and smoothens the process of reaching an agreement.
• It can boost professional relationships. As integrative negotiation reduces conflicts in the process of reaching an agreement, using it can improve the relationship between negotiators. Basically, at the successful conclusion of a negotiation, decision-makers feel that their interests and objectives were addressed by their peers. This strengthens the rapport between parties and can lead to more business opportunities and successes in the future.
• It can improve agreements. As each negotiator considers the interests of the others and makes joint decisions that benefit them, each is likely to feel satisfied when an agreement is reached. So parties using integrative negotiation are likely to abide by both the spirit and the letter of the agreement in the future, which improves the compact.

Learn more: Active listening in the workplace

If you’re thinking about benefiting from integrative negotiation, there are various ways in which you can use it, including:

• Equal compromising: When using this method, each party tends to concede, or give up, something of equal value to reach an agreement. Example scenario: An artist prices an artwork for $5,000, but a customer wants to purchase it for $4,800. An equal compromise is reached through an agreement to price the artwork for $4,900 because both the artist and the client concede $100.
• Logrolling: This technique involves giving each negotiator an alternate turn to achieve his or her preferred decisions and a turn to forgo his or her preferences in favor of the other party. This form of integrative negotiation is usually used when people are in conflict over several issues. Example scenario: An employee wants a severance pay package and a promotion while the employer prefers not to provide severance pay and does not have an opening for a promotion. Logrolling occurs when both parties agree to a severance pay package and agree to defer the promotion.
• Bridge solutions: To reach a bridge solution, negotiators with opposing positions work together to ideate new positions that bridge their differences. Example scenario: Finance wants to keep costs down for an employee engagement initiative while HR wants a large budget to achieve an innovative project. They work together to make a list of cost-effective, creative initiatives that can increase engagement. Then, they make a joint decision to choose the best one.

Learn more: Problem-solving skills: What they are and how to improve yours

There are several differences between integrative bargaining and distributive bargaining, such as:

• Integrative negotiation is a collaborative approach to negotiating that creates equal value to each negotiator while distributive bargaining is a zero-sum approach in which a negotiator wins at the expense of another.
• Unlike distributive bargaining, integrative bargaining involves each party considering the needs of the other parties.
• Typically, integrative bargaining results in agreements that provide short-term and long-term value to all parties while distributive bargaining results in compacts that provide short-term value to one party.
• Integrative bargaining can be a tool for building relationships because it promotes collaboration and cordial relations while distributive bargaining causes conflicts and can harm relationships.
• Distributive bargaining can provide more short-term advantages to one party in certain projects, such as when negotiating a fixed resource, than integrative bargaining.

Consider the following steps to use integrative negotiation in your workplace:

1. Be transparent about what you want. Understand your interests and objectives in the negotiation and clearly articulate these preferences to all the other negotiators. Write a manifesto for this purpose and use it to cover your talking points during the initial meeting. You can also email these details to your colleagues before meeting in person.
2. Learn about what the other parties want. Ask your fellow negotiators to share their preferences and make sure you understand them by asking for clarifications if necessary.
3. Identify what you’re willing to lose. This can be a difficult step, but remember, you can gain more in the long term by focusing on the big picture, which is reaching an agreement that works for all the parties in the negotiation.
4. Find common objectives. Work with the other parties to find shared goals that can facilitate joint decisions. Focus on solving issues, avoid inflexible positions on issues, and modify your positions if necessary to find common ground.
5. Stay motivated during the negotiation. Make sure you don’t lose your momentum during the compromising and finalizing stages of the negotiation. Use techniques such as visualization, in which you visualize the benefits of the agreement, to keep yourself motivated.
6. Reach a mutually beneficial solution. Work with the other negotiators to reach a joint decision on each issue that works for everyone.