Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight

by Robert Mnookin

Overview

The art of negotiation—from one of the country’s most eminent practitioners and the Chair of the Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation.

One of the country’s most eminent practitioners of the art and science of negotiation offers practical advice for the most challenging conflicts—when you are facing an adversary you don’t trust, who may harm you, or who you may even feel is evil. This lively, informative, emotionally compelling book identifies the tools one needs to make wise decisions about life’s most challenging conflicts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416583332
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	04/12/2011
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	485,248
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Robert H. Mnookin is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law, the Chair of the Steering Committee of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and the Director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project. A renowned teacher and lecturer, Professor Mnookin has taught numerous workshops for corporations, governmental agencies and law firms throughout the world and trained many executives and professions in negotiation and mediation skills. Professor Mnookin has written or edited nine books and numerous scholarly articles. His books include Beyond Winning: Negotiating to Create Value in Deals and Disputes (with Scott Peppet and Andrew Tulumello) and Negotiating on Behalf of Others.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Understanding the Challenge 9

1 Avoiding Common Traps 11

2 Bargaining and Its Alternatives: Costs, Benefits, and Beyond 22

3 Recognition, Legitimacy, and Morality 34

Part II Global Devils 51

4 Rudolf Kasztner: Bargaining with the Nazis 53

5 Winston Churchill: May 1940-Should Churchill Negotiate? 83

6 Nelson Mandela: Apartheid in South Africa 106

Part III Business Devils 137

7 Giant Software Wars: IBM vs. Fujitsu 139

8 Disharmony in the Symphony 177

Part IV Family Devils 209

9 A Devilish Divorce 211

10 Sibling Warfare 232

Conclusion: Lessons Learned 261

Acknowledgments 269

Notes 273

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

Mnookin, head of Harvard's Program on Negotiation, combines business, history, philosophy and psychology to present a complete set of tools for confronting "Devils," defined as any individual perceived as a harmful adversary. Examining eight conflicts, including Winston Churchill's decision to reject negotiations with Adolf Hitler, Nelson Mandela's decision to initiate discussions with South Africa's apartheid government, IBM's discovery that its largest competitor copied its software, poisoned labor-management issues in the San Francisco Symphony, and examples from his professional experience, Mnookin (Beyond Winning) provides a straightforward account of the deliberative options when facing a "Faustian tension between pragmatism and principle." Along with cogent analysis, Mnookin suggests four general guidelines for determining the best course of action: systematically compare the cost-benefit ratios of negotiating or fighting, collect advice from others, tip the scales in favor of negotiation before fully committing, and don't allow moral intuition to override pragmatic assessment. While Mnookin admits his suggestions are "hardly the last word," they will help decision-makers focus their thoughts in challenging situations.

Publishers Weekly

Through eight real cases, Mnookin presents his take on when to negotiate with and when to fight against those who are devils—that is, adversaries who want to cause harm. Delivering his own work, the author, who is chair of Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, sounds like an experienced audiobook narrator. His deep, even voice and conversational tone complement the informal style of his writing. Mnookin explains that he began thinking about this work at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He illustrates his arguments about when to negotiate and when to fight with examples from history and from his own work, providing analyses of the decisions of Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, and others. E.N. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2010 - AudioFile