Questions to ask yourself while entering a conflict

When in a conflict ask five basic questions that are useful for ordinary conflicts of all sorts.

1) Interests:

What are my interests?

What are my adversary's interests?

2) Alternatives:

What are my alternatives to negotiation?

What are my adversary's alternatives?

This question highlights your choices away from the negotiating table. If you decide not to negotiate, what actions can you take unilaterally—without the cooperation of the other side? And how well do those actions serve your interests? One alternative might be to do nothing: walk away from the deal and ignore the conflict. Another alternative might be to find another partner.

There is also the use of coercive force. Every bigger child who snatches a toy from a smaller one understands the attractions of a self-help strategy.

However, legitimacy is an important consideration, especially when using force, so one must be ready to justify any coercive tactics. Where legal rights are involved, a lawsuit is a coercive alternative. In a labor- management conflict, strikes or lockouts are, for the most part, alternatives used to coerce concessions in bargaining. In the international arena, a naval blockade or an air strike may be an alternative to diplomatic negotiations.
Next, for each alternative, consider the full range of possible outcomes.
With regard to litigation, for example, it’s not enough to consider only the best possible outcome. What happens if you lose the case? What are theodds of winning or losing? Even if you win, are there any negative consequences?8
Once you have evaluated your alternatives, identify the best of the lot.
This is your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement, or “BATNA.” If you later decide to negotiate, this will be an important reference point for evaluating any deal that is on the table. You should never be willing to accept a negotiated deal that doesn’t serve your interests better than your BATNA.

3) Potential negotiated outcomes:

Is there a potential deal (or deals) that could satisfy both parties' interests better than our alternatives to negotiation?

4) Costs:

What will it cost me to negotiate? What do I expect to lose in terms of tangible resources: money and time? Will my reputation suffer? Will negotiating set a bad precedent?


The negotiation process itself imposes costs, which you will incur regardless of whether you reach a deal. These must be taken into account.

Transaction Costs: The negotiation process involves costs in terms of time, money, manpower, and other resources.10 For example, most department stores, restaurants, and museums do not negotiate on price. Why won’t Macy’s negotiate over the price of a suit? Because the store in Herald Square alone receives about thirty thousand visitors a day and negotiating with that many people would be inefficient.11 Consider the expense involved in training salespeople to negotiate with customers, the cost of devising complicated compensation schemes with incentives for “good negotiators,” the time that might be wasted on haggling, and the possible damage to reputation and branding. These costs outweigh the benefit of any extra sales that might be made with selective price adjustments.
The negotiation process may also impose costs arising from the disclosure of information. Parties usually have to disclose information in order to reach a deal. Certain disclosures are riskier than others, particularly if one is negotiating with an adversary capable of exploiting this information in the future. For a business, disclosing intelligence-gathering capabilities or trade secrets may be unacceptably risky. For an individual, disclosing personal desires or preferences may weaken her bargaining power in the future.

Spillover Costs: Negotiating with one party may adversely affect you in future dealings with other parties. One such cost may involve reputation. For example, a physician may prefer not to settle a malpractice claim, even if settlement would be cheaper than litigation, in order to avoid any implication that she was in any way at fault.

5) Implementation:

If we do reach a deal, is there a reasonable prospect that it will be carried out?

From Chapter 2: Bargaining and Its Alternatives: Costs, Benefits, and Beyond 

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