Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Fisher, R. & Ury, W.

This book is a must for anybody using a negotiation approach to resolving conflict. This book is still one of the outstanding guides to effective negotiation although now 25 years old. Haggling over positions is replaced by focussing on needs and interests. The settling of disputes on the basis of principle rather than power/pressure or giving in, is advocated. Rather than behave as adversaries as in a courtroom defending our positions and undermining those of our opponent, we are invited to become co-judges assessing the dispute on its merits and jointly creating a recommendation for mutual gain – both of us against the problem rather than against each other. Separate the people (including emotion, perception and identity issues) from the problem, we are told, and useful guidance is given though others have better addressed this topic in recent years. It also offers excellent examples of the cut and thrust of the negotiation dynamic and how to guide the negotiation toward a principled approach and away from the hard bargaining approach or the “anything for peace” unwise compromise. Soft on the people, hard on the problem is a much-repeated motto and there is also guidance for when the other side won’t play, uses power plays or dirty tricks. While the book is excellent on the negotiation approach to conflict resolution and is much used in mediation practice, it is well to remember that this approach to resolving and transforming conflict is not the only one.

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