Mind and Heart of the Negotiator, Second Edition, The

Most Common Pie-Expanding Errors

If reaching win-win negotiation agreements is the objective of most negotiators, what prevents them from doing so? There are two key problems negotiators encounter, which we describe next.

False Conflict

False conflict, also known as illusory conflict, occurs when people believe that their interests are incompatible with the other party's interests when, in fact, they are not. For example, in the Cuban Missile Crisis, unbeknownst to the United States, Russia preferred to constrain the Cubans from provocative behavior and to minimize the contributions of the Chinese—an interest held by the United States (Walton and McKersie 1965). Similarly, in a labor strike at Dow Chemical Company, both union and management preferred ...