Negotiation, management and systems: three levels to be interconected

Abstract

The first aim of this work is to try to connect Negotiation, Management and Systems. Negotiation, although being a field where many new publications have been appearing, still presents most of its approaches with little concern with a systems view. In spite of the close concetion between Management and Negotiation, there have been few contributions from Management to the theory and practice of Negotiation. The various facets of Systems Thinking are an indispensable component for a more comprehensive and global view of the Negotiation process, aiming at making it more systemic. Therefore, an overview of several systems approaches are presented. Using contributions from several leading systemists, a number of evaluations of the systemicity level of the outstandings approaches to Negotiation are performed, which have confirmed that their systemicity level is rather low. A tentative outline of a systems approach to Negotiation is presented, based on the points seen as fundamental to increase its comprehensiveness and to foster lasting relationships.