AMERICAN HISTORY

Contemporary American History

Contemporary American History

Introduction

Negotiation is a process in which two are more parties attempt to settle what each shall give and take, or perform and receive, in a transaction between them. There are five key components of negotiation situations: the process takes place between two or more parties (individuals, groups, or organizations); there is an unresolved conflict of needs and desires between the parties; the parties negotiate by choice, expecting that they can improve upon what the other might simply offer them; the parties expect a give and-take process; and the parties prefer to negotiate rather than to fight openly, have one side capitulate to the other, or resolve the dispute in some other manner.

Discussion on Crisis Negotiation

Crisis negotiation is one of the most common forms of dispute resolution. Initially referred to as hostage negotiation, crisis negotiation now represents a number of strategies for use during a situation where an individual or a group of individuals are in crisis, and where decision making has become irrational (Wicker, 1994). Crisis negotiation is a collection of verbal strategies that gives the negotiator enough time to solve the situation in a coherent manner. In the contemporary era, government and other officials use crisis negotiation in a number of crisis situations, including hostage situations, barricades and roof-top incidents. The use of crisis negotiation and its techniques have proven successful in resolving a number of crisis situations, with (Useem, 1989) reporting that 80% of incidents tend to resolve peacefully due to the use of crisis negotiation strategies. According to organ and Hammer (1995) officials tend to resolve 96% of all crisis negotiation incidents through the use of crisis negotiation.

Crisis negotiation dates back to the hostage negotiation in the early 1970s. The New York Police Department was the first organization to use crisis negotiation to resolve matters of conflict in 1973, following the 1971 Attica New York Prison Riot and the murder of the Israeli athletes in the 1972 Munich Olympics (Rosie, 1986). The department failed to deal these incidents in a proper way. The failure led to injury and loss of life, as well as substantial ramifications post the event for a number of individuals. For example, some twenty-six years after the Attica New York Prison Riot, awarding some 12 million dollars in compensation to the prisoners. Crisis negotiation is different from other forms of negotiation, which assume that all participants wish to bargain, are happy to do so, and happy to exchange proposals as part of the problem-solving process.

Crisis negotiation attempts to do this in a number of ways, such as creating a climate where compromise and problem solving can be considered by the individual in crisis, as well as using a range of crisis negotiation strategies. Such strategies would include communicating empathy towards the individual in crisis, subtly protecting and allowing the saving of face by the individual in crisis as part of a resolution to the situation, as well as slowing down the negotiation process and assisting in reducing ...