Negotiation Basics

1) Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
by Roger Fisher, William Ury, Bruce Patton (Editor)

	Paperback: 224 pages
	Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper); 2nd edition (December 1991)
	ISBN: 0140157352
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Preview: Fisher's idea of "principled negotiation" is the first real academic attempt to study the best ways to negotiate, and he delivers the material in an easy to follow manner. His main points are (1) separate the people from the problem (2) Focus on interests and not positions (3) invent options for mutual gain, and (4) insist on objective criteria. However, you must truly think about these points to fully grasp the power of this negotiation style; the substance of those points is not as straightforward as they seem. The most useful point for novice negotiators is "Focus on Interests, not positions.

By reading this book you will learn to spot when someone is being positional and be able to disarm them quickly, but tactfully, as you move the discussion to the various parties' interests. The book is most useful in negotiating any sort of economic transaction, but is applicable in many areas except maybe if you are negotiating with a govt. regulatory agency. Overall, a must read for any CEO or a person wanting to get the best price on a car. The main thing you should get from this book are the tools that help you to recognize value and not leave value on the table that can be distributed among the parties to maximize gain.

2) Getting Past No : Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation
by William Ury (Author)

	Paperback: 189 pages
	Publisher: Bantam ; Revised edition (January 1, 1993)
	ISBN: 0553371312
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: In his superb book, William Ury builds on the principals first put forth in his first book with Roger Fisher, "Getting To Yes." In "Getting Past No" Ury discusses the nuances and niceties of negotiating using a joint problem solving approach which is "interest based" rather than being "rights based" or "power based." Ury explains that the challenge is to convert a confrontational situation to a cooperative creative problem solving process, that integrates the parties in a negotiation into a cooperative mode, that results in the best long term agreements.

The specific wonder of this book, is its focus on what to do, when you don't know how to get past a problem. Ury calls his method the "Breakthrough Strategy" and is virtually totally as applicable for mediators as it is for negotiators. In fact, several times, Ury mentions that a mediator may assist the process.

Simply put, Ury contends that there are basically 5 things that one needs to do to preserve smooth negotiations and to break through an impasse if it occurs. He calls these 'steps' by the following designations: "Go To The Balcony", "Step To Their Side", "Reframe", "Build Them A Golden Bridge" and "Use Power To Educate." These simple concepts are extremely useful tools for negotiators and mediators alike.

There is no disappointment in this book. The approach and the writing style are just superb. Once again, the Harvard Group, especially William Ury, have produced a book that anyone can gain from and is almost a must for those in dispute resolution and negotiation on a day-to-day basis.

Relationship Building

3) Getting Together: Building Relationships As We Negotiate
by Roger Fisher, Scott Brown

	Paperback: 240 pages
	Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper); (September 1989)
	ISBN: 0140126384
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: As a sequel and complement to Getting to Yes, Fisher offers a practical, straightforward approach to the long-range problem of sustaining relationships that can deal with difficulties as they arise.

4) Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most
by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, Roger Fisher

	Paperback: 250 pages
	Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper); 1st edition (April 3, 2000)
	ISBN: 014028852X
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: Everyone of us has gone through difficult conversations, arguments that were leading no where or felt that we were unjustifiably being taken advantage of. The solution - read this book. The authors have done a remarkable work in presenting conversations (real examples) that we can relate to. They educate the reader with the pitfalls and means o avoid them. In difficult conversations the participants generally fall trap to the three common crippling assumptions, which are:

The Truth Assumption: I am right you are wrong
The Intention Invention: When the other persons intentions are unclear a common perception is that they are bad
The Blame Frame: Blame the other produces disagreement, denial and little learning

The authors map a path by showing how to avoid the pitfalls when facing a difficult conversation and come out as a winner. In our life we prepare for almost every thing, like schooling and college for career etc. it is somewhat surprising that conversations that truly are a means to progress we spend little time on; this is one of the books in this area. I highly recommend that you read it.

5) Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate
by Roger Fisher, Daniel Shapiro

	Hardcover: 256 pages
	Publisher: Viking Adult (October 6, 2005)
	ISBN: 0670034509
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: Steven Covey calls this book a "masterpiece." I agree. Before reading the book, I knew that emotions play an important role in my interactions. But I had not realized the extent to which emotions can help my negotiations. And I had no practical framework to deal effectively with emotions. This book gave me the tools I need.

After reading the book, I now understand why people are excited about it. It offers 5 principles ("core concerns") that help you understand people's emotions and influence them. I was able to easily put the ideas to practice in some complicated contract negotiations I've been involved in these past few weeks. I used the advice especially from the chapters on autonomy and appreciation. The results were impressive. My relationship with the other negotiators -- which have recently been somewhat strained -- improved dramatically. The advice of Beyond Reason allowed us to recraft our relationship in a more positive light and made working together much more effective -- and saved me and my company a lot of time and money and grief.

Leadership & Negotiation

6) Getting It Done: How to Lead When You're Not in Charge
by Roger Fisher (Author), Alan Sharp (Author)

	Paperback: 240 pages
	Publisher: HarperBusiness; (June 1, 1999)
	ISBN: 0887309585
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: When searching online for a book on leadership, this book's title, "Getting It Done. How to Lead When You're Not in Charge", immediately grabbed my attention. It seemed perfect for what I needed a little help on. I am sure I am not alone. Everyone at one point in their life is forced into a group situation, whether it is in school, work or everyday life, where they are assigned a problem in which the group needs to accomplish together. However, before a group can solve the problem assigned, it needs to conquer the problems within the group. One of the problems that I have found to exist within every group I have been in is how to reach solutions and successfully work with others when no one knows exactly who is in charge. Everyone needs to individually take on responsibility and contribute, but it works best when you know exactly what you should focus on and the right questions to ask your group members to obtain the best results. This book does an excellent job in first of all, mapping out the problems that groups face and then going into detail by explaining the route group members should take to maximize success. Fisher and Sharp have five basic elements that groups can follow to get things done. By following these five easy steps it will give you a clear focus of how to put it all together and create a successful way to complete the tasks assigned within your group. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a little extra help to maximize their group's potential. It is very easy to read and the information and suggestions that the authors provide will be remembered and used every time I am placed in a group situation again.

7) Leadership Without Easy Answers
by Ronald A. Heifetz

	Hardcover: 366 pages
	Publisher: Belknap Pr; (July 1998)
	ISBN: 0674518586
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: Heifetz integrates "great man/great woman" (trait) theories of leadership with "great times" (situational) theories, and defines "leadership" as "an activity that fosters adaptive work and addresses the value conflicts that people hold." He distinguishes "technical" problems that may not require leadership (adaptive work) from "adaptive problems" which people experience as threatening to themselves or their group. (The conflict over abortion, for instance, can be seen as an adaptive problem, because it represents a value conflict that provokes work-avoidance--scapegoating, dishonesty, polarizing conversations, etc.)

Heifetz sees leadership as being "practical" and "authentic", and the leader is always working towards using authority (formal and informal) to help members of contesting groups arrive at solutions that promote fundamental values (such as democracy, equality before the law, freedom).

8) Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading
by Martin Linsky, Ronald A. Heifetz

	Hardcover: 252 pages
	Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; 1st edition (April 18, 2002)
	ISBN: 1578514371
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: Those who read Heifetz's previously published Leadership Without Easy Answers will be interested to know that the final section in that brilliant book ("Staying Alive") led to the development of this book which Heifetz co-authored with Linsky. "We wanted this second book to be more focused, more practical, and more personal. We hope this book will be accessible, eminently usable, and inspiring in your life and work." The material is presented within three Parts: The Challenge (which explains "why leadership is so dangerous and how people get taken out of the game"), The Response (which provides "a series of action steps designed to reduce the risk of getting pushed aside"), and Body and Soul ("which discusses "ways that people contribute to their own demise"), followed by a Notes section filled with especially informative annotations. Pogo once said "we have met the enemy and he is us." More often than not, I think that is true. I also think that most human limits are self-imposed. That is probably what Henry Ford had in mind when he observed "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."

According to Heifetz and Linsky, "To lead is to live dangerously because when leadership counts, when you lead people through difficult change, you challenge what people hold dear -- their daily habits, tools, loyalties, and ways of thinking -- with more to offer perhaps than a possibility. Moreover, leadership often means exceeding the authority you are given to tackle the challenge at hand. People push back when you disturb the personal and institution equilibrium they know. And people resist in all kinds of creative and unexpected ways that can get you taken out of the game: pushed aside, undermined, or eliminated." Throughout human history, most of the greatest leaders were "eliminated" precisely because they were perceived to be intolerable threats to what James O'Toole calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Draw up a list of the 10-15 greatest leaders in history. How many of them died of natural causes? On my own list, only Winston Churchill and he was twice voted out of office amidst ridicule and even contempt. One of this book's greatest value-added benefits is the brief summary of key ideas which concludes each chapter. I strongly recommend that the book be re-read within 2-3 weeks; also, that at least the chapter summaries be reviewed weekly thereafter.

Conflict Resolution

9) Beyond Machiavelli : Tools for Coping With Conflict
by Roger Fisher, Elizabeth Kopelman (Contributor), Andrea Kupfer Schneider (Contributor)

	Paperback: 160 pages
	Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper); Reissue edition (January 1996)
	ISBN: 0140245227
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: To identify the root cause of a conflict Fisher suggests that one must not be responsive but purposive. As an example when two children are fighting the adult who breaks them apart may ask "why" they hit each other. To this the most likely response may be "because he hit me first". But that response only explains the cause of the fight not its root cause.

Another key ingredient suggested by Fisher is keeping in perspective the situation and mind set the other side is facing. In a ball game it may be easy to not agree with a team change decision a coach has made. But understanding the dynamics and pressure faced by him, we are then in a better position to critique if the decision made was correct. If we had a chance him our opinion this added perspective can aid us to be sensitive to his situation.

Fisher believes that understanding how others view a conflict is knowledge that gives us strength. It enhances our ability to influence them. Through exploring and motivations leading up to a conflict we can increase our understanding of where their perceptions comes from.

10) Beyond Winning: Negotiating to Create Value in Deals and Disputes
by Robert H. Mnookin, Scott R. Peppet, Andrew S. Tulumello

	Hardcover: 368 pages
	Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr; (October 6, 2000)
	ISBN: 0674003357
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: This is a book that should be read by every lawyer. It offers practical, useful advice for an approach to negotiation that moves above and beyond the game playing and posturing that too often characterizes a negotiation. The book also offers a useful discussion of the issues raised for a lawyer in negotiating on behalf of a client. All in all, this is a must have, must read for any lawyer.

11) Breakthrough International Negotiation: How Great Negotiators Transformed the World's Toughest Post-Cold War Conflicts
by Michael Watkins (Author), Susan Rosegrant (Author)

	Hardcover: 336 pages
	Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (October 12, 2001)
	ISBN: 0787957437
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: The authors provide really fascinating accounts of four post-Cold War negotiations--nuclear arms proliferation talks between the U.S. and North Korea; the Israeli-Palestinian talks leading to the Oslo Accords; the creation of the Gulf War coalition (1991); and the confrontation between the US (and Europe) and Serbia that led to the Dayton Peace Accords--that each resulted, in their view, in some kind of major breakthrough, some difficult to achieve result. These accounts are based on what must have been extensive interviews with key players, who are quoted frequently and who share the concerns and concepts that influenced them. The book would be worthwhile even if all it contained were these detailed, often thrilling, narratives of several significant recent foreign policy conflicts.

But, in addition, these four negotiations provide the authors with the jump off points for extensive discussions of the personalities involved and the tactics they used. The book is published by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and in many ways it represents an attempt to bring the Socratic method out of the class room and on to the written page. In parenthetical asides they ask the reader to consider why certain players took certain actions or how a key decision may have influenced the whole course of events, etc.. As you read, the authors are virtually present, pushing and prodding (in a helpful way) to make sure that you are conscious of the negotiating ploys that participants utilize.

Meanwhile, in their own analysis of events, they spell out the four core concepts of what they call "breakthrough negotiation":
(1) Diagnosing structure
(2) Identifying barriers to agreement
(3) Managing conflict
(4) Building momentum

and seven principles that guide breakthrough negotiators :
(1) Breakthrough Negotiators Shape the Structure of Their Situations
(2) Breakthrough Negotiators Organize to Learn
(3) Breakthrough Negotiators are Masters of Process Design
(4) Breakthrough Negotiators Foster Agreement When Possible But Employ Force When Necessary
(5) Breakthrough Negotiators Anticipate and Manage Conflict
(6) Breakthrough Negotiators Build Momentum Toward Agreement
(7) Breakthrough Negotiators Lead from the Middle

They use innumerable examples to illustrate these concepts and principles and the overall structure certainly provides a framework that would be useful to anyone involved in negotiations. In this regard, they have produced what will likely be an excellent textbook for use in the classroom.

Sales & PR

12) Dealing With an Angry Public: The Mutual Gains Approach to Resolving Disputes
by Lawrence Susskind, Patrick T. Field (Contributor)

	Hardcover: 288 pages
	Publisher: Free Press; (April 1996)
	ISBN: 0684823020
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: This book is an outstanding read for anyone needing PR advice. Whether you are only interested in the subject, a professor teaching it, or a professional employing it, this is an invaluable resource. Full of real world examples and fascinating insight its written so that a novice and and expert can make sense of it, and yet it is never condescending. More than a teaching tool, it is a set of values that every PR professional should adhere to. Teaching success and how to avoid the traps, it stays interesting and flows well all the way through.

13) SPIN Selling
by Neil Rackham (Preface)

	Hardcover: 197 pages
	Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade; (May 1, 1988)
	ISBN: 0070511136
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: Initially the Name "Spin Selling" came across to be as some cheesy and manipulative model being taught by the author. After reading various books and attending seminars and workshops i was consistently referred to this book. Also i researched some of the high-performance Sales Professionals and most of them had training on SPIN Selling, so I finally decided to read Rackham's book "SPIN Selling" and I'm glad i did and yes this book i feel is the Foundation of all the Modern Sales Training out there. His Training is backed with extensive proof and facts and every single advice is backed by extensive research conducted by Huthwaite. very impressed.

"Situation - Problem - Implication and Need-Payoff", these are the four types of Questioning you will learn and the Value and relative importance of each and in what order to be used effectively.

The biggest lesson for me is the Difference of a "Implied Need" compared to "Explicit Need" and how it all boils down to uncovering "Explicit Needs" and to communicate with customers about "Benefits". This book also clears a very common mistake a lot of us do, to look at a product or solution's advantages and convey that as Benefit to customer. As per the author a "Benefit" is one that solves a Customer's "Explicit Need". Don't be discouraged by any review that writes off the book's style of writing to be research oriented, the book is around 190 Pages and it's worth the weight in gold.

Negotiation & Decision Analysis

14) The Art and Science of Negotiation
by Howard Raiffa

	Paperback: 384 pages
	Publisher: Belknap Pr; Reprint edition (March 1985)
	ISBN: 067404813X
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: In this book, Raiffa likes to distinguish between the "art" of negotiation and the "science" of negotiation. By "art of negotiation" Raiffa means dealing with the human element. By "science" Raiffa means those aspects of the negotiation process that are capable of being analyzed in a fairly structured manner.

Raiffa devotes most of this book on the "science" of the subject and uses his background as a game theorist specializing in competitive decision making as the basis for a rather analytical approach to the subject. It helps, but is not necessary, if you have a background in mathematics. If you are not math literate, skip the math and focus on the conclusions and you will do fine. Like most game theorists, Raiffa is mainly interested in determining which outcomes to negotiation are optimal for both parties. Much of his analysis is based on the premise that both parties will act in an ultimately rational manner and make decisions that will be optimal for themselves. (Note to game theorists- most of Raiffa's analysis tends to focus on the various "equilibrium points" that parties have when they negotiate.)

Of course, reality is somewhat different. Real life does not lend itself easily to mathematical models. People usually act irrationally when they negotiate and it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify human emotions with a formula.

Nevertheless, this book is useful for people who want an analytical approach--as opposed to strategic and tactical approach-- to the subject of negotiation. The subtitle of the text ("How to resolve conflicts and get the best out of bargaining") is a little misleading. There is not much "how to" covered in this text. Rather the emphasis is on theory and analysis.

15) Negotiation Analysis : The Science and Art of Collaborative Decision Making
by Howard Raiffa (Author), John Richardson, David Metcalfe

	Hardcover: 574 pages
	Publisher: Belknap Pr; (January 30, 2003)
	ISBN: 0674008901
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: This book has a real wow factor. I was amazed at how much ground it covers - game theory, psychology, decision analysis, negotiation stuff. There's a great balance of technical help with easy-to-read conversations between hypothetical negotiators making the tricky concepts easier to understand. You probably won't want to read it from cover-to-cover but every chapter has really useful insights on how to negotiate better with positive or negative counterparts.

16) Negotiating Rationally
by Max H. Bazerman (Author)

	Paperback: 196 pages
	Publisher: Free Press; Reprint edition (January 1, 1994)
	ISBN: 0029019869
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: Absolutely excellent! Read it 3 times, highlighted important information on nearly every page. Now I refer back to it and study it prior to any important negotiations. In chapter 1 (on page 2!), Bazerman outlines negotiating strategy and seven methods for improving one's negotiating skills. The next 7 chapters systematically address each principle in clear and concise detail. It's a must read book. (It even has some very interesting facts about home buying or selling.)

Management Negotiation

17) Manager As Negotiator
by David A. Lax (Author)

	Hardcover: 416 pages
	Publisher: Free Press; (January 5, 1987)
	ISBN: 0029187702
	Average Customer Review:

Excepts of Customer Review: This fine blend of Harvard scholarship and seasoned judgment is really two books in one. The first develops a sophisticated approach to negotiation for executives, attorneys, diplomats -- indeed, for anyone who bargains or studies its challenges. The second offers a new and compelling vision of the successful manager: as a strong, often subtle negotiator, constantly shaping agreements and informal understandings throughout the complex web of relationships in an organization.

Effective managers must be able to reach good formal accords such as contracts, out-of-court settlements, and joint venture agreements. Yet they also have to negotiate with others on whom they depend for results, resources, and authority. Whether getting fuller support from the marketing department, hammering out next year's budget, or winning the approval for a new line of business, managers must be adept at advantageously working out and modifying understandings, resolving disputes, and finding mutual gains where interests and perceptions conflict. In such situations, The Manager as Negotiator shows how to creatively further the totality of one's interests, including important relationships -- in a way that Richard Walton, Harvard Business School Professor of Organizational Behavior, describes as "sensitive to the nuances of negotiating in organizations" and "relentless and skillful in making systematic sense of the process."

This book differs fundamentally from the recent spate of negotiation handbooks that tend to espouse one of two approaches: the competitive ("Get yours and most of theirs, too") or the cooperative ("Everyone can always win"). Transcending such cynical and naive views, the authors develop a comprehensive approach, based on strategies and tactics for productively managing the tension between the cooperation and competition that are both inherent in bargaining.

Based on the authors' extensive experience with hundreds of cases, and peppered with a number of wide-ranging examples, The Manager as Negotiator will be invaluable to novice and experienced negotiators, public and private managers, academics, and anyone who needs to know the state of the art in this important field.

18) Breakthrough Business Negotiation: A Toolbox for Managers
by Michael Watkins (Author)

	Hardcover: 310 pages
	Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
	ISBN: 0787960128
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: Watkins emphasizes multi-party negotiating, examining the power of coalitions. He diagnoses the external and situational factors that shape even two-party negotiations and provides helpful examples, diagrams and lists. His clear interesting style is a big improvement over most ponderous academic tomes on negotiations. To get the most out of this volume, really read it, and then practice the techniques. One thing is clear: business managers, dispute resolution professionals and anyone facing multi-party negotiations should bring this to the table.

Government & Negotiation

19) "You Can't Enlarge the Pie": Six Barriers to Effective Government
by Max H. Bazerman, Jonathan Baron, Katherine Shonk

	Paperback: 288 pages
	Publisher: Basic Books; (September 2002)
	ISBN: 0465006329
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: No one will ever accuse government of acting like a business and accordingly, there has been a slew of books that suggest that government should. Most authors on the subject have said the same thing: efficiency, competitive incentive and the like are the tools government should adapt in order to have the success that business enjoys.

These authors disagree slightly. The key to effective business management and the trick government has yet to master is the art of trade-off. Instead of making choices based on absolutes and win/lose scenarios, government should decide policy based on maximizing gains while taking small losses.

While this is the main thread of the book, the authors are far from redundant. They apply trade-off technique to many different scenarios: Environmental policy (wherein government should work WITH businesses, not on top of them), procurement of sports teams (wherein state and county government should accept that overbidding does more damage than good), tobacco subsidies (might it be better if tobacco farmers lose their jobs rather than every American contributing to a ridiculous scheme?) and others.

What's more, this book, aside from honestly being the best book on government policy I've read in a year, is completely non-partisan and very objective. The authors are concerned with how to make wise choices and to do this, they focus on how to get there, not preconceived results. They end up with a regulatory stance on campaign finance and EPA while having a free-market stance on free trade and even private road ownership as a way to reduce traffic at key hours and keep pollution in check. While people may disagree with some of their conclusion, the premise of the book, better living through trade-offs, is a great one that is taken to great heights in this book.

20) Winning the Influence Game: What Every Business Leader Should Know about Government
by Michael Watkins (Author), Mickey Edwards (Author), Usha Thakrar (Author)

	Hardcover: 272 pages
	Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 1 edition (March 26, 2001)
	ISBN: 0471383619
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: This book is absolutely essential reading for anyone working to develop and sustain business success in a global marketplace that is increasingly subject to governmental regulations. An excellent balance of sound theory and practical application that make this well-written and interesting book a worthwhile investment.

Negotiation Textbooks

21) Negotiation (Paperback)
by Roy J Lewicki, David M Saunders, Bruce Barry

	Paperback: 624 pages
	Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 5 edition (April 26, 2005)
	ISBN: 0072973072
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: While an older book, these skills are timeless. This book is for the real potential masters of this subject.

For the genuinely ambitious, the driven, the professional in business, the future and up and coming Bill Gates or Donald Trumps, or even Secretary of State!

Chapters include: The Nature of Negotiation, Planning and Preparation, Strategy and Tactics of Distributive Bargaining, Strategy and Tactics of Integrative Bargaining, Key Elements in the Strategic Process, Communication Processes, The Persuasion Process, The Social Structure of Negotiation, The Role of Power, The Role of a Negotiator's Personality, Converting Win-Lose to Win-Win, Ethics in Negotiation.

22) Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases (Paperback)
by Roy J Lewicki, David M Saunders, John W Minton, Bruce Barry, Roy Lewicki, David Saunders, John Minton, Bruce Barry

	Paperback: 744 pages
	Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 4 edition (June 4, 2002)
	ISBN: 0072429658
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: This falls between the average "how to" and academic journal type articles. Great for classroom use, or for enterprising individuals who want to teach themselves about negotiation. Nearly all the authorities in organizational behavior and negotiation are included here. Nice variety of approaches to the subject. Exercises cover the range and include material on natural environment and on international negotiation. International material needs more, but gives good beginning frameworks. Exercises need teacher's manual (forthcoming?).

23) Bargaining for Advantage : Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People (Paperback)
by G. Richard Shell

	Paperback: 286 pages
	Publisher: Penguin Books; Reissue edition (June 1, 2000)
	ISBN: 0140281916
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: I had always been under two false impressions about negotiations. First, that negotiations are all about business and commercial transactions. Second, that negotiations are about hardball tactics where the stronger side "wins" and gets away with a great deal while the weaker side is beaten down and suckered into a raw deal.

Richard Shell's book completely changed this impression. This is a book that is well written and the ideas are structured in way that I could read and take away bite-sized chunks. The book is also very practical and ends each section with a checklist to be used when you negotiate. Shell has made the book very readable by not going overboard on negotiations theories and sprinkling the book with some terrific stories. The stories range from negotiation strategies employed by Mahatma Gandhi and Akio Morita to Indonesian villagers and Tanzanian tribesmen.

The main message of the book is that negotiations are mostly about relationships and that each party may have something to offer that is of enormous value to the other party. By building your relationship and unearthing that value you can conclude a successful negotiation where everybody leaves the boardroom or village center with satisfaction. Shell draws his rich material from many negotiating situations (e.g.-: kids negotiating with their parents about dinner, an elderly widow negotiating with real estate tycoon Donald Trump, and the negotiations for buying out RJR Nabisco). He has also drawn on negotiating styles from around the world and compared the cultural differences (e.g.-: Gandhi negotiating in South Africa, the importance of networks or Guanxi in Chinese cultures, etc.)

The first part of the book focuses on the six foundations of effective negotiation - being aware of your personal style, setting goals, adhering to certain standards, building relationships, uncovering the other person's interests and making use of leverage. The second part of the book is about the negotiation process - preparing you strategy, exchanging information, the actual negotiation, and finally getting commitment. I liked Shell's use of a chessboard metaphor to put these principles into a framework. It is unlikely you will master all these skills in one shot. This is a book you want to come back to every now and then, nibble a bit, practice the skill during your next negotiation opportunity, and go read the book some more.

I would strongly recommend the book because it teaches you skills to successfully negotiate your way through life. Even if you were to measure it in narrow monetary terms this book would reward you enormously in all the big-ticket negotiations we do in our lives such as buying a car, buying a house, agreeing on a salary, or accepting you next stock options package. But, even more important shell gives you valuable lessons about setting goals, following a strategy and building a meaningful relationship with the people you interact with whether it is your spouse, friend, grocer, or friendly neighborhood business tycoon. When I finished the book I realized that this book is not just about negotiations. It is an enlightening and entertaining book about living more effectively. While it will certainly help you negotiate a better price on your house it will also help you develop a more meaningful relationship with your spouse or child the next time you negotiate your vacation or broccoli vs. ice-cream deal.

24) Essentials of Negotiation (Paperback)
by Roy J Lewicki, Bruce Barry, David M Saunders, John W Minton

	Paperback: 288 pages
	Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 3 edition (June 13, 2003)
	ISBN: 0072545828
	Average Customer Review:

Excerpts of Customer Review: "Essentials of Negotiation" is the popular market version of "Negotiation," which is a texbook. This one is more of a handbook for actual negotiators. The advantages of "Essentials" is that it is streamlined (making it a better intro for beginners or refresher for experienced negotiators) and less expensive. It still includes all the major topics you want to see: distributive bargaining, integrative bargaining, psychology of negotiations (including some communications tactics), ethics, and some int'l stuff. It also has a good index, making it a nice reference tool.

While it has lots of stories and examples to help readers remember concepts, my favorite feature of this book is that the author doesn't talk down to his audience. Lewicki uses technical jargon when it is appropriate (he also explains it). That precision has value, in my opinion. People who are completely new to a study of negotiation might prefer "Getting Past No" by Ury, which is also very good but perhaps more accessible. Those with some, even minimal, experience would be well-served by this book.