The Negotiation Checklist

Abstract

The authors suggest a framework for preparing for negotiation and present a negotiation checklist as a tool for that preparation. The checklist is a systematic way to remind negotiators of the important issues they must investigate before entering into a negotiation. Such items include each party's overall goals, the issues open to negotiation on both sides, the relative importance of those issues, the best alternative to a negotiated agreement, the worst acceptable agreement, the limits of authority on both sides, what deadlines exist, what fairness norms apply, what topics are to be avoided, and what levels of trust exist between the parties. The authors describe in detail how to evaluate offers by using a rank-order, weightedvalue scoring system to quantify complex offers that are not easily or immediately recognizable as good or bad.