As far as famous negotiations go, this was a classic professional sports dispute. Beginning in March 1998, National Basketball Association team owners and players found themselves at a stalemate over the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement. When the clock struck midnight on June 30, the owners declared a lockout, bringing preparations for the 1998–99 season to a standstill.
What followed was a grueling six months of negotiation, during which both sides watched hundreds of millions of dollars slip away as they struggled to bridge their differences.
In the end, it was a deadline that resolved the conflict.
The team owners announced that if an agreement was not reached by January 7, 1999, the remainder of the season would be canceled. In effect, the owners imposed a final—and largely arbitrary—deadline on their participation in the negotiations. The date itself had little intrinsic meaning to either side.
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Through public statements, the owners committed themselves to declaring an impasse if the deadline passed without a deal. In the early morning hours of January 6, the two sides agreed to contract terms that strongly favored the owners.
Why Deadlines Break Negotiation Impasses
Most of us are familiar with negotiation case stories like this one: tough opponents bargain for months with little progress, only to reach agreement in the final moments before a critical deadline. Without time pressure, negotiators are often tempted to stall, hoping that delay alone will force the other side to give in.
Despite their proven effectiveness, deadlines remain one of the most misunderstood tools in negotiation. Many negotiators hesitate to set deadlines at all.
n his research, Don Moore of Carnegie Mellon University asked participants to predict how deadlines would affect negotiations. Even experienced negotiators believed that a shared deadline would hurt them by forcing premature concessions—thereby helping the other side.
There is some truth to this concern. Deadlines do increase pressure. But they do so for everyone involved.
Using Deadlines to Counter Stalling Tactics
Negotiators who understand that deadlines affect both sides can use them to defuse costly stalling strategies. In many negotiation scenarios, delay itself becomes a tactic.
Consider a familiar example: car salespeople sometimes draw out price negotiations, hoping that the time you have invested will increase your psychological commitment to closing the deal. One way to counter this approach is to establish a clear deadline from the outset. Letting the salesperson know that you have only an hour to reach a possible agreement can change the tone and pace of the negotiation immediately.
Because deadlines put pressure on all parties, they often restart stalled talks and focus attention on closing the deal rather than prolonging the process.
Why Sharing Your Deadline Can Strengthen Your Position
Negotiators often assume that deadlines should be kept secret. Yet research and experience suggest the opposite.
When negotiators credibly communicate a final deadline, they tend to achieve better outcomes. There are two main reasons for this:
- Reduced risk of no deal. When both sides know time is limited, they are more likely to work toward resolution before the deadline expires.
- Faster concessions. An informed opponent understands that delay will not yield additional leverage and is more likely to make concessions sooner.
The NBA owners’ January 7 deadline would have been meaningless had it been kept private. If the players’ union had expected negotiations to continue regardless of the date, the deadline would have had little impact. Its effectiveness depended on the owners’ public commitment to it.
This dispute remains one of the famous negotiations we can all learn from—particularly when it comes to the strategic use of deadlines.
What have you learned from famous negotiations? Share your story with us in the comments.
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Liz,
I agree with much of the article as deadlines may artificially help balance power and force folks to establish their BATNA.
The FLSA allows for such deadlines as labor contracts generally expire. This facet of negotiation worked for us while negotiating a multi-million dollar contract. The deadline helped the parties focus on closing a fair deal for both groups.
Yet I have also been involved in negotiating 10 digit contracts under the Railway Labor Act where no such deadline can occur. The NMB must declare an impasse and even then the President and Congress can interfere with the process — all in the name of preventing disruptions to the American public. Under the RLA, contracts have gone on for as long as 15 years without resolution because of failure to establish a deadline that would force counterparts to focus on settlement — to bring them to the table in a good faith effort of creativity and collaborative problem-solving.
How would you propose the RLA be re-drafted to address this inequitable difference between the FLSA and the RLA?
Gary Boettcher
Adjunct Professor
Sullivan University
gboettcher@sullivan.edu
Lisa,
You make excellent points on deadlines. Time is the ultimate lever when it comes to establishing power. You have to be careful when using deadlines, if you are in a distributive negotiation, revealing a deadline could cause the other party to use that information against you. The Owners were effective because the players had more to lose by missing the rest of the season. The owners effectively placed the deadline onto the players.
The idea is to place your time pressure onto the other party. Otherwise, if you walk into the deal saying, “I’ve gotta have this closed by Friday”, some negotiators will make you pay by using your deadline against you. You want to change that statement to “You’ve got my attention until Friday, and then we are moving on to other priorities”, etc. For more information check out http://bit.ly/61YfKZ