Page 31 - Becoming a Better Negotiator

be a truly effective neutral. Once the mediator expresses an opinion, there is at the least a perception that the mediator is defending their own opinion rather than being objective. However, a good mediator can use her understanding of the subject matter and results in similar disputes to help both parties examine potential holes in their reasoning without sacrificing her neutrality.
The Roles of Distributive and Integrative Bargaining in a Money Negotiation
At the risk of oversimplifying the concepts, integrative bargaining is the interest-based bargaining advocated by Fisher & Ury in Getting to Yes. The idea is that bargaining over interests can increase the size of the pie. Distributive bargaining, on the other hand, is the distribution of a fixed pie. Virtually every civil litigation mediation begins with some form of integrative bargaining and ends with distributive bargaining.
By far the most often quoted tenet of the “Getting to Yes Method” is to avoid positional bargaining and instead focus on the underlying interests of the opposite sides. Fisher & Ury illustrate their point with the story of two people in a library arguing over whether a window should be open or closed. The opposing positions are open on the one hand and closed on the other.
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