Software Diagnoses Reasons for Negotiation Impasses
By Fran Rensbarger
When peace talks fail, it’s anyone’s guess what went wrong—until
now. A new diagnostic tool is available to negotiators who, with a click of a
mouse, can use Negotiator Assistant software to analyze the stalemate and then
return to the bargaining table with a fresh approach.
The Negotiator Assistant software is a project Daniel Druckman, the Vernon
M. and Millie I. Lynch Professor of Conflict Resolution at the Institute for Conflict
Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), began in the early 1990s with the help of a grant
from the U.S. Institute of Peace. The grant was part of a program intended to
bridge the gap between theory and practice, and to apply research findings about
negotiating strategies and processes to training programs that build skills for
conflict management and, more directly, for the negotiation process.
“Although the software has been designed primarily for intergovernmental
or international negotiations, with some tweaking and small adaptations, it could
also be used for other kinds of domestic cases,” says Druckman. The program
is suitable for someone who has experience with a negotiation case, either a negotiator
or a scholar familiar with the case. Druckman points out that the software is
also a good tool to use during classroom simulations. “Class members can
do the diagnosis in the context of negotiating in the role-playing exercises,”
he says.
Focusing on flexibility as a key to successful negotiation, the program consists
of five categories of questions: issues, parties, delegations, situation, and
process. Some user responses prompt branching to new sets of questions and stages
in the negotiation. Answers to the questions are processed to provide a diagnosis
of flexibility and a description of the likely outcome of an ongoing negotiation.
When the projections indicate an impasse, the program suggests ways to address
and possibly resolve the impasse. The suggestions are based on actual experiences
in historical cases as well as on findings from experiments. The program also
provides an analytical function by allowing a user to compare diverse cases as
well as different approaches or theories of negotiation.
Druckman, in collaboration with Richard Harris of Chapel Hill, N.C., created
a web-based version of the software, and Druckman’s work with David Melia
from the International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology resulted
in a more accessible and user-friendly program. Negotiator Assistant is also available
on compact disk, so a user need not have access to the Internet.
Druckman is now going public with the software. He recently co-wrote with Bennett
Ramberg and Richard Harris “Computer-assisted International Negotiation:
A Tool for Research and Practice,” which will appear in the peer-reviewed
journal Group Decision and Negotiation later this year, and will present
the program at the Hawaii International Conference for Systems Support in January.
For more information about the program, contact Druckman at ddruckma@gmu.edu.
|
