Negotiating Rationally

In Negotiating Rationally, Max Bazerman and Margaret Neale explain how to avoid the pitfalls of irrationality and gain the upper hand in negotiations.For example, managers tend to be overconfident, to recklessly escalate previous commitments, and fail to consider the tactics of the other party. Drawing on their research, the authors show how we are prisoners of our own assumptions. They identify strategies to avoid these pitfalls in negotiating by concentrating on opponents’ behavior and developing the ability to recognize individual limitations and biases. They explain how to think rationally about the choice of reaching an agreement versus reaching an impasse. A must read for business professionals.

Max H. Bazerman is the J. J. Gerber Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations and Margaret A. Neale is the H. L. and Helen Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations at the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. They are co-authors of ＂Cognition and Rationality in Negotiation＂ (Free Press, 1991).