We generally think of mediation as a dispute-resolution device. Federal mediators intervene when collective bargaining breaks down. Diplomats are sometimes called in to mediate conflicts between nations. So-called multi-door courthouses encourage litigants to mediate before incurring the costs – and risks – of going to trial.
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Learn how to negotiate like a diplomat, think on your feet like an improv performer, and master job offer negotiation like a professional athlete when you download a copy of our FREE special report, Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
transactional negotiation
What is Transactional Negotiation?
A transactional negotiation is one in which two or more parties attempt to find common ground on a deal to trade something of value, whether a tangible item or an idea.
People often think that transactional negotiation strategies require adversarial bargaining, such as making tough demands, threats, or bluffs. But in fact, the most effective bargaining strategies do not require you to sacrifice your integrity or resort to dirty tricks. Rather, they require you to set aside plenty of time before your negotiation to engage in clear-eyed preparation.
When you’re approaching a transactional negotiation, in addition to determining your own best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA, and reservation value, it is also important to try to estimate the other party’s BATNA and reservation point. When you do so, you can estimate the zone of possible agreement, or ZOPA—the range of deals that both parties would accept.
For example, suppose your neighborhood electronics store is selling the TV you want for about $1,100 and Amazon.com is selling the same TV for $900 as part of an electronics sale that will end the next day. Buying from Amazon.com becomes your BATNA in your negotiation at the electronics store.
As for your reservation price, you might decide that it’s $975, or $75 above Amazon.com’s price, for the added benefit of taking the TV home that day and not having to worry about shipping it back if you don’t like it.
Learn how to negotiate like a diplomat, think on your feet like an improv performer, and master job offer negotiation like a professional athlete when you download a copy of our FREE special report, Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
We will send you a download link to your copy of the report and notify you by email when we post new business negotiation advice and information on how to improve your negotiation skills to our website.
The following items are tagged transactional negotiation:
Culture and Teaching Negotiation: A Presentation by David Fairman
David Fairman—Managing Director of the Consensus Building Institute—recently shared his extensive experience in negotiating with, and teaching negotiation to, a variety of groups from a broad range of cultural backgrounds.
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A Chance at a Win-Win Negotiation in Hollywood?
Question: What’s the best way to minimize the risk of long-term financial commitments and wrap up a win-win negotiation?
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The Paradox of Positions
It’s not difficult for negotiators haggling over seemingly finite resources to become entrenched in their positions. Sometimes the only way to get unstuck is to think appreciatively and creatively about the other side. Rather than trying to determine why a person has taken a particular position, consider what she wants, appreciate it, and try to … Read More
Negotiation Design Dimensions: A Checklist
Here the Program on Negotiation offers a checklist of negotiation design categories. Whether your overall negotiation design is decide-announce-defend (DAD) or full-consensus (FC), or a hybrid of both, raising these issues is usually preferable to falling into a set of important decisions by default.
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Do You Need a Broker?
According to conventional wisdom, you should always hire a real estate agent when you’re trying to buy a house. The broker’s market expertise will help you decide what moves to make and what price to pay. Because the seller usually has his own broker, the motto “fight fire with fire” applies as well. Perhaps most … Read More
Bringing Mediators to the Bargaining Table
Adapted from “Mediation in Transactional Negotiation,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter, July 2004.
We generally think of mediation as a dispute-resolution device. Federal mediators intervene when collective bargaining bogs down. Diplomats are sometimes called in to mediate conflicts between nations. So-called multidoor courthouses encourage litigants to mediate before incurring the costs—and risks—of going to trial.
Scott … Read More
How to Avoid a Do-Over
Remember that big sales contract you negotiated last fall, the one that got you a fat year-end bonus? Well, your manufacturing department has just told you that delivery will be two months late. So now it’s your job to persuade your customer to accept a new date without canceling the deal. And that’s not all. … Read More
Business Negotiations: Representing Others at the Bargaining Table
You may be negotiating for others, but that doesn’t mean they should be looking over your shoulder. Negotiators often have trouble bargaining effectively in the presence of onlookers, according to researchers Karen Jehn and Lindred Greer of Leiden University in the Netherlands.
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2021-2022 Programs
MAY 2022 HARVARD NEGOTIATION MASTER CLASS
Preparing for Negotiation
Understanding how to arrange the meeting space is a key aspect of preparing for negotiation. In this video, Professor Guhan Subramanian discusses a real world example of how seating arrangements can influence a negotiator’s success. This discussion was held at the 3 day executive education workshop for senior executives at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
Guhan Subramanian is the Professor of Law and Business at the Harvard Law School and Professor of Business Law at the Harvard Business School.
Articles & Insights
- The Star Wars Negotiations and Trust at the Negotiation Table
- Salary Negotiations in the NBA and Beyond
- Negotiation Research You Can Use: Are Women More or Less Likely than Men to Use Deceptive Tactics in Negotiation
- Dear Negotiation Coach: What Happens When a Business Contract Falls Apart?
- Emotion and the Art of Business Negotiations
- How to Handle Difficult Customers
- How To Counteract Deceptive Tactics in Negotiation
- Dear Negotiation Coach: The Case for Lowering Your Salary Expectations
- Negotiation Tactics for Bargaining with Difficult People: The Comcast Merger
- Ethics in Negotiations: How to Deal with Deception at the Bargaining Table
- Dispute Resolution on Facebook: Using a Negotiation Approach to Resolve a Conflict
- Alternative Dispute Resolution In-House: Mediation, Arbitration, or Med-Arb?
- Dispute Resolution, NHL style
- What is Dispute System Design?
- Dear Negotiation Coach: Determining the Right Compensation Offer After a Disaster
- Cross Cultural Negotiations in International Business: Four Negotiation Tips for Bargaining in China
- Famous Negotiators: Tony Blair’s 10 Principles to Guide Diplomats in International Conflict Resolution
- International Negotiations and Agenda Setting: Controlling the Flow of the Negotiation Process
- Famous Negotiators: Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin
- Overcoming Cultural Barriers in Negotiations and the Importance of Communication in International Business Deals
- Servant Leadership and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge
- Managing Negotiators? Avoid 3 Common Negotiation Mistakes
- Dear Negotiation Coach: Will a Flexible Schedule Change Salary Expectations?
- Leadership Principles: The Importance of Follow-Through
- Negotiations, Gender, and Status at the Bargaining Table
- When Lose-Lose is the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA)
- What Makes a Good Mediator?
- Mediation Training: What Can You Expect?
- Negotiation Research You Can Use: Moving from In-Person to Online Mediation
- Arbitration vs Mediation: The Definition of Mediation as a Problem Solving Process
- Bidding in an International Business Negotiation: Euro-Idol
- Asynchronous Learning: Negotiation Exercises to Keep Students Engaged Outside the Classroom
- Learn from the Best with the Great Negotiator Case Studies
- Bakra Beverage All-In-One Curriculum Package is Now Available!
- Teaching Critical Leadership Skills
