BE-J8
Reflect on the lessons, readings, and assignments given in the course and discuss the following questions and points.
1. What topic did you find most intriguing and how could you apply what you have learned from the topic to your professional career or personal life?
2. Based upon what you have learned in this course, how would you describe business ethics and why is it important for organizations to apply ethical principles/values in the global business arena?
Your journal entry must be at least 200 words in length. No references or citations are necessary. PHI 6301, Business Ethics 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
6. Evaluate global ethical issues in business.
6.1 Assess one topic in global business ethics.
6.2 Determine a solution for an issue in global ethics.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes Learning Activity
6.1, 6.2
Unit Lesson
Chapter 12
Article: The Politics of Global Production: Apple, Foxconn, and Chinas New
Working Class
Article: Sweatshops, Structural Injustice, and the Wrong of Exploitation: Why
Multinational Corporations Have Positive Duties to the Global Poor
Unit VIII Research Paper
Required Unit Resources
Chapter 12: International Business and Globalization
In order to access the following resources, click the links below.
Chan, J., Pun, N., & Selden, M. (2013, July). The politics of global production: Apple, Foxconn and Chinas
new working class. New Technology, Work and Employment, 28(2), 100115.
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ct=true&db=bsu&AN=89149713&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Berkey, B. (2021, April). Sweatshops, structural injustice, and the wrong of exploitation: Why multinational
corporations have positive duties to the global poor. Journal of Business Ethics, 169(1), 4356.
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ct=true&db=bsu&AN=150472168&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Unit Lesson
There will be a short discussion on the history of globalization in this lesson and how it relates to business
ethics. We will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of globalization. Finally, some of the most
pressing contemporary issues facing business ethics in the global arena today will be identified.
The beginning of globalization can be traced back to the old Silk Road that flourished between 130 B.C. and
1453 A.D. It is during this time the early beginnings of globalization can be traced from East to West (Sarwar,
2017). Some may wonder why a discussion about the Silk Road is important today; there are many ways the
world has changed since that time. Technological innovations and advances, increasing digitalization, and the
rate of modern globalization progressively continues to move at a faster rate.
The Silk Road was a series of trade routes beginning in China extending to Persia, then to Central Asia, and
finally to Europe. The Silk Road was recognized as an economic corridor and a place to purchase spices and
silk and is an appropriate place to begin this lesson because its origin lies in the ancient Chinese city of Xian
located in North-Central China (Britannica, n.d.). Today, China has increasingly become one of the most
dominating world economic powers and is expected to overtake the United States as an economic
UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE
Pressing Global Business, Issues,
and Its Ethical Implications
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PHI 6301, Business Ethics 2
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
powerhouse by the year 2028 (Chinese Economy, 2020). The world may in fact be witnessing the
renaissance of the Silk Road.
Although the author of the textbook raises a question about the definition of globalization, this term should be
explained more thoroughly. According to Melina Kolb (2018), assistant vice president for digital
communications at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, globalization can be thought of as the
increasing interrelationships and interdependence of peoples, cultures, and economies. The result is
transnational trades of capital investments and assets, services, goods, technologies, and information
services across the world.
Since the beginning of the Silk Road, countries have built interrelationships regarding trade and other areas
with each other over the course of many centuries. However, the contemporary use of the term globalization
came into prominence as a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the eventual collapse of the former
Soviet Union (Vanham, 2019). It was about 1995 that the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO)
advocated for all nations to enter into free trade agreements. This included China, which was known to be
somewhat isolated and, at the time, having an agrarian economy. China had also just started engaging in
manufacturing and exporting around the world. As a result of free trade agreements, along with several
additional factors, globalization has increased at a dizzying speed. Today, globalization has entered both the
digital economy and the cyberworld.
Although there are many benefits of globalization and the new ways businesses engage in commerce and
trade, there are also disadvantages.
First, let us examine some benefits of globalization and its relationship to commerce and business. It should
be mentioned that more generally, globalization has benefited many people around the world, putting them
essentially into the global middle class (Vanham, 2019). Yet, there are also additional benefits associated with
globalization, some of which include:
the rise of transborder investments;
increased cooperation amongst countries; and
economic growth, including access to resources, jobs, and labor around the world (Stobierski, 2021).
As intended or unintended consequences, some benefits as described above also aim at the ethical well-
being of human beings. For example, think of how people in some foreign countries have benefited from
higher wages that led to a higher standard of living, which may include better access to health care and
additional benefits.
Now that there has been some idea of the benefits of globalization, there should also be a discussion of the
disadvantages as well. One of the greatest disadvantages of increasing globalization is climate change as a
result of ever-rising greenhouse gas emissions, the razing of forests, and increased pollution (Stobierski,
2021). Of course, just the aforementioned could be cause for alarm regarding the moral implications of global
warming, though there are also additional disadvantages as well that should be mentioned. Some of these
disadvantages include disproportionate growth within and among nations and an increase in competition
amongst and between organizations and workers around the world (Stobierski, 2021).
One emerging area of concern falls under the domain of labor standards across the globe. This includes the
rise of sweatshops in developing countries. Think of companies that outsource employment to a foreign
country as a result of workers willing to be paid lower salaries or wages. Arguments have been made
regarding obligations of fairness as a result of some companies offering lower pay and/or poor working
conditions than the host countries that are hiring the workers. Also, safety protocols are an issue because
there are differences in safety standards among various countries (Ast, 2018).
Another area of concern falls under the domain of human rights. Some companies confront the issue of
operating in countries that have been accused of human rights violations. This issue is reported frequently in
the news today. Not long ago, it was alleged that Google agreed to the Chinese governments request to
censor key words from its search engine such as Dalai Lama or Tiananmen Square and other related persons
and/or forces hostile to the Chinese government (Ast, 2018).
PHI 6301, Business Ethics 3
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Another area of contention falls under the domain of cultural diversity. International law contains language
that states corporations should respect the values, cultures, social norms, and customs of host countries in
which they operate.
One last area of concern that should be mentioned is the corruption that occurs in many places across the
world with regard to global business interactions. This occurs in many ways, levels, and formats. For
example, corruption may occur through the use of bribes ranging from a few dollars for a low-level
government official to million-dollar bribes for high-ranking government officials. Part of the problem with
respect to this type of corruption is that bribery is not considered morally wrong in some foreign countries
(Ast, 2018). In fact, bribery may be viewed as the norm for business practices in some countries.
References
Ast, F. (2018). The moral dilemmas of global business. In G. Y. Wang (Ed.), Globalization. IntechOpen.
https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71525
Britannica. (n.d.). Xi’an. In Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Xian-China
Chinese economy to overtake US by 2028 due to Covid. (2020, December 26). BBC News.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55454146
Kolb, M. (2018, October 29). What is globalization? And how has the global economy shaped the United
States? Peterson Institute for International Economics.
https://www.piie.com/microsites/globalization/what-is-globalization#Intro-AhF37Q07lb
Sarwar, L. (2017, June). The old silk road and the new silk road: An analysis of the changed discourse. The
Journal of Central Asian Studies, 24(1), 1322. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/old-silk-
road-new-analysis-changed-discourse/docview/2240072666/se-2?accountid=14375
Stobierski, T. (2021, April 1). 6 pros and cons of globalization in business to consider. Business Insights.
https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/pros-and-cons-of-globalization
Vanham, P. (2019, January 17). A brief history of globalization. World Economic Forum Annual Meeting,
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/how-globalization-4-0-fits-
into-the-history-of-globalization/
Suggested Unit Resources
In order to access the following resource, click the link below.
The following article discusses and reevaluates the moral authority of global ethical norms, so they are not
merely a reflection of the prevailing hegemonic ideologies and values of Western economic power.
Michaelson, C. (2010, April). Revisiting the global business ethics question. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(2),
237251.
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PHI 6301, Business Ethics 4
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Learning Activities (Nongraded)
Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to submit
them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information.
The following Application Based Assignment activity covers an ethical concern a team was confronted with
during the visit to Vietnam Textiles, Inc.
The nongraded resource below can be found in Blackboard beneath the study guide:
Application Based Assignment: Self-Assessment: Exploring Ethics: Labor Practices in Vietnam.
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII
Learning Activity
Required Unit Resources
Unit Lesson
References
Suggested Unit Resources
Learning Activities (Nongraded)
SHOW MORE…
homework
PRAISE FOR
Getting to
YES
Getting to YES has an unrivaled place in the literature of dispute resolution. No other book in the field comes close to its impact on
the way practitioners, teachers, researchers, and the public approach negotiation.
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION FORUM
Getting to YES is a highly readable and practical primer on the fundamentals of negotiation. All of us, as negotiators dealing with
personal, community, and business problems, need to improve our skills in conflict resolution and agreement making. This concise
volume is the best place to begin.
JOHN T. DUNLOP
This splendid book will help turn adversarial battling into hardheaded problem solving.
AVERELL HARRIMAN
Getting to YES is a highly readable, uncomplicated guide to resolving conflicts of every imaginable dimension. It teaches you how to
win without compromising friendships. I wish I had written it!
ANN LANDERS
Getting to YES is powerful, incisive, persuasive. Not a bag of tricks but an overall approach. Perhaps the most useful book you will
ever read!
ELLIOT RICHARDSON
Simple but powerful ideas that have already made a contribution at the international level are here made available to all. Excellent
advice on how to approach a negotiating problem.
CYRUS VANCE
PENGUIN BOOKS
Getting to
YES
The authors of this book have been working together since 1977.
ROGER FISHER is Williston Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, Founder and Director Emeritus of the Harvard Negotiation
Project, and the Founding Chair of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Raised in Illinois, he served in World War II with the
U.S. Army Air Force, in Paris with the Marshall Plan, and in Washington, D.C., with the Department of Justice. He has also practiced law in
Washington and served as a consultant to the Department of Defense. He was the originator and executive editor of the award-winning
television series The Advocates. He has consulted widely with governments, corporations, and individuals. He is the author or coauthor of
numerous prize-winning scholarly and popular books, including his most recent: Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate.
WILLIAM URY is cofounder of Harvards Program on Negotiation and Distinguished Fellow of the Harvard Negotiation Project. Raised in
California and Switzerland, he is a graduate of Yale and Harvard, with a doctorate in social anthropology. Ury has served as a mediator and
advisor in negotiations ranging from wildcat strikes to ethnic wars around the world. He was a consultant to the White House on establishing
nuclear risk reduction centers in Washington and Moscow. His most recent project is Abrahams Path, a route of cross-cultural travel in the
Middle East that retraces the footsteps of Abraham, the progenitor of many cultures and faiths. Urys most recent book is The Power of a
Positive No: Save the Deal, Save the Relationship, and Still Say No.
BRUCE PATTON is Cofounder and Distinguished Fellow of the Harvard Negotiation Project, cofounder of the Program on Negotiation at
Harvard Law School, and a founder and partner of Vantage Partners, LLC, a consulting firm that helps Global 2000 companies negotiate and
manage their most critical relationships. As a mediator, he helped structure the settlement of the U.S.Iranian hostage conflict, worked with
Nobel Peace Prize winner scar Arias to ensure the success of the Arias Peace Plan for Central America, and worked with all parties in
South Africa helping to create the constitutional process that ended apartheid. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he is
also coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most.
BOOKS BY ROGER FISHER
Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate
(with Dan Shapiro, 2005)
Lateral Leadership: Getting Things Done When Youre NOT the Boss
(with Alan Sharp, 1998)
Coping with International Conflict: A Systematic Approach to Influence in International Negotiation (with Andrea Kupfer Schneider,
Elizabeth Borgwardt, and Brian Ganson, 1996)
Beyond Machiavelli
(with Elizabeth Kopelman and Andrea Kupfer Schneider, 1994)
Getting Together: Building Relationships As We Negotiate
(with Scott Brown, 1988)
Improving Compliance with International Law (1981)
International Mediation: A Working Guide; Ideas for the Practitioner
(with William Ury, 1978)
International Crises and the Role of Law: Points of Choice (1978)
Dear Israelis, Dear Arabs: A Working Approach to Peace (1972)
International Conflict for Beginners (1969)
International Conflict and Behavioral Science: The Craigville Papers
(editor and coauthor, 1964)
BOOKS BY WILLIAM URY
The Power of a Positive No:
Save the Deal, Save the Relationship, and Still Say No (2007)
Must We Fight? (editor and coauthor, 2001)
The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop (2000)
Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations (1991, revised edition 1993)
Windows of Opportunity: From Cold War to Peaceful Competition in U.S.Soviet Relations
(edited with Graham T. Allison and Bruce J. Allyn, 1989)
Getting Disputes Resolved: Designing Systems to Cut the Costs of Conflict
(with Jeanne M. Brett and Stephen B. Goldberg, 1988)
Beyond the Hotline: How Crisis Control Can Prevent Nuclear War (1985)
BOOKS BY BRUCE PATTON
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
(with Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, 1999, 2nd Edition 2010)
Getting to
YES
NEGOTIATING AGREEMENT
WITHOUT GIVING IN
by ROGER FISHER
and WILLIAM URY
with BRUCE PATTON, EDITOR
REVISED EDITIONS BY
FISHER, URY, AND PATTON
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell,
Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India
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New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in the United States of America by Houghton Mifflin Company 1981
Published in Penguin Books 1983
Second edition published 1991
This third edition published 2011
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright Roger Fisher and William Ury, 1981, 1991
Copyright Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton, 2011
All rights reserved
Research at Harvard University is undertaken with the expectation of publication. In such publication the authors alone are responsible for
statements of fact, opinions, recommendations, and conclusions expressed. Publication in no way implies approval or endorsement by Harvard
University, any of its faculties, or by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Fisher, Roger, 1922
Getting to yes : negotiating agreement without giving in / by Roger Fisher, William Ury,
and Bruce Patton. 3rd ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 9781101539545
1. Negotiation. I. Ury, William. II. Patton, Bruce. III. Title.
BF637.N4F57 2011
158′.5dc22 2011006319
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold,
hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal
and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of
copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated.
To our fathers,
WALTER T. FISHER, MELVIN C. URY,
and WILLIAM E. PATTON,
who by example taught us the power of principle.
Preface to the Third Edition
Thirty years have now passed since the initial publication of Getting to YES. We are delighted and
humbled that so many people from so many places around the world continue to find it helpful in
transforming their conflicts and negotiating mutually satisfying agreements. Little did we know at the time
of its publication that this slender book would become a reference point in a quiet revolution that has over
the course of three decades changed the way we make decisions within our families, organizations, and
societies.
The negotiation revolution
A generation ago, the prevailing view of decision-making in most places was hierarchical. The people at
the top of the pyramids of powerat work, in the family, in politicswere supposed to make the
decisions and the people at the bottom of the pyramids to follow the orders. Of course, the reality was
always more complicated.
In todays world, characterized by flatter organizations, faster innovation, and the explosion of the
Internet, it is clearer than ever that to accomplish our work and meet our needs, we often have to rely on
dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of individuals and organizations over whom we exercise no direct
control. We simply cannot rely on giving orderseven when we are dealing with employees or children.
To get what we want, we are compelled to negotiate. More slowly in some places, more rapidly in others,
the pyramids of power are shifting into networks of negotiation. This quiet revolution, which accompanies
the better-known knowledge revolution, could well be called the negotiation revolution.
We began the first edition of Getting to YES with the sentence: Like it or not, you are a negotiator.
Back then, for many readers, that was an eye opener. Now it has become an acknowledged reality. Back
then, the term negotiation was more likely to be associated with specialized activities such as labor
talks, closing a sale, or perhaps international diplomacy. Now almost all of us recognize that we negotiate
in an informal sense with just about everyone we meet from morning to night.
A generation ago, the term negotiation also had an adversarial connotation. In contemplating a
negotiation, the common question in peoples minds was, Who is going to win and who is going to
lose? To reach an agreement, someone had to give in. It was not a pleasant prospect. The idea that
both sides could benefit, that both could win, was foreign to many of us. Now it is increasingly
recognized that there are cooperative ways of negotiating our differences and that even if a win-win
solution cannot be found, a wise agreement can still often be reached that is better for both sides than the
alternative.
When we were writing Getting to YES, very few courses taught negotiation. Now learning to negotiate
well is accepted as a core competence with many courses offered in law schools, business schools,
schools of government, and even in quite a few primary, elementary, and high schools.
In short, the negotiation revolution is now in full sway around the world, and we take heart that the
commonsense tenets of principled negotiation have spread far and wide to good effect.
The work ahead
Still, while progress has been considerable, the work is far from done. Indeed, at no time in the last three
decades can we recall a greater need for negotiation based on a joint search for mutual gains and
legitimate standards.
A quick survey of the news on almost any day reveals the compelling need for a better way to deal
with differences. How many people, organizations, and nations are stubbornly bargaining over positions?
How much destructive escalation results in bitter family feuds, endless lawsuits, and wars without end?
For lack of a good process, how many opportunities are being lost to find solutions that are better for both
sides?
Conflict remains, as we have noted, a growth industry. Indeed, the advent of the negotiation revolution
has brought more conflict, not less. Hierarchies tend to bottle up conflict, which comes out into the open
as hierarchies give way to networks. Democracies surface rather than suppress conflict, which is why
democracies often seem so quarrelsome and turbulent when compared with more authoritarian societies.
The goal cannot and should not be to eliminate conflict. Conflict is an inevitableand usefulpart of
life. It often leads to change and generates insight. Few injustices are addressed without serious conflict.
In the form of business competition, conflict helps create prosperity. And it lies at the heart of the
democratic process, where the best decisions result not from a superficial consensus but from exploring
different points of view and searching for creative solutions. Strange as it may seem, the world needs
more conflict, not less.
The challenge is not to eliminate conflict but to transform it. It is to change the way we deal with our
differencesfrom destructive, adversarial battling to hard-headed, side-by-side problem-solving. We
should not underestimate the difficulty of this task, yet no task is more urgent in the world today.
We are living in an age that future anthropologists might look back on and call the first human family
reunion. For the first time, the entire human family is in touch, thanks to the communications revolution.
All fifteen thousand or so tribes or language communities on this planet are aware of one another
around the globe. And as with many family reunions, it is not all peace and harmony, but marked by deep
dissension and resentment of inequities and injustices.
More than ever, faced with the challenges of living together in a nuclear age on an increasingly
crowded planet, for our own sake and the sake of future generations, we need to learn how to change the
basic game of conflict.
In short, the hard work of getting to yes has just begun.
This edition
We have often heard from readers that Getting to YES continues to serve as an accessible guide to
collaborative negotiation in a wide variety of fields. At the same time, we realize a younger audience is
sometimes puzzled by stories and examples that were common knowledge thirty years ago, and many
readers are curious about contemporary cases. So in this edition we have undertaken a careful revision
and updating of examples and added some new ones where appropriate.
We have added to our toolbox considerably in thirty years, as captured in such books as Getting Past
No, Difficult Conversations, Beyond Reason, and The Power of a Positive No, each of which explores
important challenges in dealing collaboratively and effectively with serious differences. Weve made no
attempt to summarize all of that material here, since one of the virtues of Getting to YES is that it is short
and clear. Instead, in this revision we have added a few relevant ideas where they help clarify our intent,
and in other places made slight revisions to update our thinking. For example, we have made our answer
to the final question in the book about negotiation power fully consistent with the seven elements of
negotiation framework we teach at Harvard Law School.
One adjustment we considered, but ultimately rejected, was to change the word separate to
disentangle in separate the people from the problem, the powerful first step in the method of
principled negotiation. Some readers have taken this phrase to mean leave aside the personal dimension
of negotiation and just focus on the substantive problem, or to ignore emotional issues and be rational.
That is not our intent. Negotiators should make dealing with people issues a priority from the beginning to
the end of a negotiation. As the text states at the start, Negotiators are people first.
Our belief is that by disentangling the people from the problem you can be soft on the people while
remaining hard on the problem. So long as you remain respectful and attentive to people issues, you
should be able to strengthen a relationship even as you disagree about substance.
Finally, we have added a bit of material on the impact of the means of communication in negotiation.
The growth of email and texting and the creation of global virtual organizations has made this an
important variable, especially in light of research showing its impact on negotiation dynamics and results.
Our human future
We are each participants in a pioneering generation of negotiators. While negotiation as a decision-
making process has been around since the beginning of the human story, never has it been so central to
human life and the survival of our species.
As the negotiation revolution unfolds, our aspiration is that the principles in this book continue to help
peopleindividually and collectivelynegotiate the myriad dilemmas in their lives. In the words of the
poet Wallace Stevens: After the final no there comes a yes and on that yes the future world depends.
We wish you much success in getting to that yes!
Roger Fisher
William Ury
Bruce Patton
Preface to the Second Edition
During the last ten years negotiation as a field for academic and professional concern has grown
dramatically. New theoretical works have been published, case studies have been produced, and
empirical research has been undertaken. Ten years ago very few professional schools offered courses on
negotiation; now they are all but universal. Universities are beginning to appoint faculty who specialize in
negotiation. Consulting firms now do the same in the corporate world.
Against this changing intellectual landscape, the ideas in Getting to YES have stood up well. They
have gained considerable attention and acceptance from a broad audience and are frequently cited as
starting points for other work. Happily, they remain persuasive to the authors as well. Most questions and
comments have focused on areas in which the book has proven ambiguous, or where readers have wanted
more specific advice. We have tried to address the most important of these topics in this revision.
Rather than tampering with the text (and asking readers who know it to search for changes), we have
chosen to add new material in a separate section at the end of the second edition. The main text remains
complete and unchanged from the original, except for updating the figures in examples to keep pace with
inflation and rephrasing in a few places to clarify meaning and eliminate sexist language. We hope that our
answers to Ten Questions People Ask About Getting to YES prove helpful and meet some of the
interests readers have expressed.
We address questions about (1) the meaning and limits of principled negotiation (it represents
practical, not moral, advice); (2) dealing with someone who seems to be irrational or who has a different
value system, outlook, or negotiating style; (3) questions about tactics, such as where to meet, who should
make the first offer, and how to move from inventing options to making commitments; and (4) the role of
power in negotiation.
More extensive treatment of some topics will have to await other books. Readers interested in more
detail about handling people issues in negotiation in ways that tend to establish an effective working
relationship might enjoy Getting Together: Building Relationships as We Negotiate, by Roger Fisher and
Scott Brown, also available from Penguin Books. If dealing with difficult people and situations is more
your concern, look for Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations, by William Ury, published
by Bantam Books. No doubt other books will follow. There is certainly much more to say about power,
multilateral negotiations, cross-cultural transactions, personal styles, and many other topics.
Once again we thank Marty Linsky, this time for taking a careful eye and a sharp pencil to our new
material. Our special thanks to Doug Stone for his discerning critique, editing, and occasional rewriting
of successive drafts of that material. He has an uncanny knack for catching us in an unclear thought or
paragraph.
Roger Fisher
William Ury
Bruce Patton
For more than a dozen years, Bruce Patton has worked with us in formulating and explaining all of the
ideas in this book. This past year he has pulled the laboring oar in converting our joint thinking into an
agreed text. It is a pleasure to welcome Bruce, editor of the first edition, as a full coauthor of this second
edition.
R.F.
W.U.
Acknowledgments
This book began as a question: What is the best way for people to deal with their differences? For
example, what is the best advice one could give a husband and wife getting divorced who want to know
how to reach a fair and mutually satisfactory agreement without ending up in a bitter fight? Perhaps more
difficult, what advice would you give one of them who wanted to do the same thing? Every day, families,
neighbors, couples, employees, bosses, businesses, consumers, salesmen, lawyers, and nations face this
same dilemma of how to get to yes without going to war. Drawing on our respective backgrounds in
international law and anthropology and an extensive collaboration over the years with practitioners,
colleagues, and students, we have evolved a practical method for negotiating agreement amicably without
giving in.
We have tried out ideas on lawyers, businessmen, government officials, judges, prison wardens,
diplomats, insurance representatives, military officers, coal miners, and oil executives. We gratefully
acknowledge those who responded with criticism and with suggestions distilled from their experience.
We benefited immensely.
In truth, so many people have contributed so extensively to our learning over the years that it is no
longer possible to say precisely to whom we are indebted for which ideas in what form. Those who
contributed the most understand that footnotes were omitted not because we think every idea original, but
rather to keep the text readable when we owe so much to so many.
We could not fail to mention, however, our debt to Howard Raiffa. His kind but forthright criticism
has repeatedly improved the approach, and his notions on seeking joint gains by exploiting differences
and using imaginative procedures for settling difficult issues have inspired sections on these subjects.
Louis Sohn, deviser and negotiator extraordinaire, was always encouraging, always creative, always
looking forward. Among our many debts to him, we owe our introduction to the idea of using a single
negotiating text, which we call the One-Text Procedure. And we would like to thank Michael Doyle and
David Straus for their creative ideas on running brainstorming sessions.
Good anecdotes and examples are hard to find. We are greatly indebted to Jim Sebenius for his
accounts of the Law of the Sea Conference (as well as for his thoughtful criticism of the method), to Tom
Griffith for an account of his negotiation with an insurance adjuster, and to Mary Parker Follett for the
story of two men quarreling in a library.
We want especially to thank all those who read this book in various drafts and gave us the benefit of
their criticism, including our students in the January Negotiation Workshops of 1980 and 1981 at Harvard
Law School, and Frank Sander, John Cooper, and William Lincoln, who taught those workshops with us.
In particular, we want to thank those members of Harvards Negotiation Seminar whom we have not
already mentioned; they listened to us patiently these last two years and offered many helpful suggestions:
John Dunlop, James Healy, David Kuechle, Thomas Schelling, and Lawrence Susskind. To all of our
friends and associates we owe more than we can say, but the final responsibility for the content of this
book lies with the authors; if the result is not yet perfect, it is not for lack of our colleagues efforts.
Without family and friends, writing would be intolerable. For constructive criticism and moral support
we thank Caroline Fisher, David Lax, Frances Turnbull, and Janice Ury. Without Francis Fisher this book
would never have been written. He had the felicity of introducing the two of us some four years ago.
Finer secretarial help we could not have had. Thanks to Deborah Reimel for her unfailing competence,
moral support, and firm but gracious reminders, and to Denise Trybula, who never wavered in her
diligence and cheerfulness. And special thanks to the people at Word Processing, led by Cynthia Smith,
who met the test of an endless series of drafts and near impossible deadlines.
Then there are our editors. By reorganizing and cutting this book in half, Marty Linsky made it far
more readable. To spare our readers, he had the good sense not to spare our feelings. Thanks also to Peter
Kinder, June Kinoshita, and Bob Ross. June struggled to make the language less sexist. Where we have
not succeeded, we apologize to those who may be offended. We also want to thank Andrea Williams, our
adviser; Julian Bach, our agent; and Dick McAdoo and his associates at Houghton Mifflin, who made the
production of this book both possible and pleasurable.
Finally, we want to thank Bruce Patton, our friend and colleague, editor and mediator. No one has
contributed more to this book. From the very beginning he helped brainstorm and organize the syllogism
of the book. He has reorganized almost every chapter and edited every word. If books were movies, this
would be known as a Patton Production.
Roger Fisher
William Ury
For the second edition of this book we would like to thank Jane von Mehren, our long-time editor at
Penguin Books, for her support, encouragement, and enthusiasm in making the second edition happen.
With the third edition, Rick Kot has admirably filled that role and we are grateful for his patience, good
sense, and fine editorial hand. Without Rick, this update might not have seen the light of day.
We also thank Mark Gordon, Arthur Martirosyan, and our friends at Mercy Corps for the account of
Iraqi farmers negotiating with the national oil company.
R.F.
W.U.
B.P.
Contents
Preface to the Third Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I THE PROBLEM
1 Dont Bargain Over Positions
II THE METHOD
2 Separate the People from the Problem
3 Focus on Interests, Not Positions
4 Invent Options for Mutual Gain
5 Insist on Using Objective Criteria
III YES, BUT …
6 What If They Are More Powerful?
(DEVELOP YOUR BATNABEST ALTERNATIVE TO A NEGOTIATED AGREEMENT)
7 What If They Wont Play?
(USE NEGOTIATION JUJITSU)
8 What If They Use Dirty Tricks?
(TAMING THE HARD BARGAINER)
IV IN CONCLUSION
V TEN QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK ABOUT GETTING TO YES
QUESTIONS ABOUT FAIRNESS AND PRINCIPLED NEGOTIATION
QUESTIONS ABOUT DEALING WITH PEOPLE
QUESTIONS ABOUT TACTICS
QUESTIONS ABOUT POWER
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
A NOTE ON THE HARVARD NEGOTIATION PROJECT
Introduction
Like it or not, you are a negotiator. Negotiation is a fact of life. You discuss a raise with your boss. You
try to agree with a stranger on a price for his house. Two lawyers try to settle a lawsuit arising from a car
accident. A group of oil companies plan a joint venture exploring for offshore oil. A city official meets
with union leaders to avert a transit strike. The United States Secretary of State sits down with his
Russian counterpart to seek an agreement limiting nuclear arms. All these are negotiations.
Everyone negotiates something every day. Like Molires Monsieur Jourdain, who was delighted to
learn that he had been speaking prose all his life, people negotiate even when they dont think of
themselves as doing so. You negotiate with your spouse about where to go for dinner and with your child
about when the lights go out. Negotiation is a basic means of getting what you want from others. It is back-
and-forth communication designed to reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests
that are shared and others that are opposed (as well as some that may simply be different).
More and more occasions require negotiation; conflict is a growth industry. Everyone wants to
participate in decisions that affect them; fewer and fewer people will accept decisions dictated by
someone else. People differ, and they use negotiation to handle their differences. Whether in business,
government, or the family, people reach most decisions through negotiation. Even when they go to court,
they almost always negotiate a settlement before trial.
Although negotiation takes place every day, it is not easy to do well. Standard strategies for
negotiation often leave people dissatisfied, worn out, or alienatedand frequently all three.
People find themselves in a dilemma. They see two ways to negotiate: soft or hard. The soft negotiator
wants to avoid personal conflict and so makes concessions readily to reach agreement. He or she wants
an amicable resolution; yet often ends up exploited and feeling bitter. The hard negotiator sees any
situation as a contest of wills in which the side that takes the more extreme positions and holds out longer
fares better. He or she wants to win; yet often ends up producing an equally hard response that exhausts
the negotiator and his or her resources and harms the relationship with the other side. Other standard
negotiating strategies fall between hard and soft, but each involves an attempted trade-off between getting
what you want and getting along with people.
There is a third way to negotiate, a way neither hard nor soft, but rather both hard and soft. The
method of principled negotiation developed at the Harvard Negotiation Project is to decide issues on
their merits rather than through a haggling process focused on what each side says it will and wont do. It
suggests that you look for mutual gains whenever possible, and that where your interests conflict, you
should insist that the result be based on some fair standards independent of the will of either side. The
method of principled negotiation is hard on the merits, soft on the people. It employs no tricks and no
posturing. Principled negotiation shows you how to obtain what you are entitled to and still be decent. It
enables you to be fair while protecting you against those who would take advantage of your fairness.
This book is about the method of principled negotiation. The first chapter describes problems that
arise in using the standard strategies of positional bargaining. The next four chapters lay out the four
principles of the method. The last three chapters answer the questions most commonly asked about the
method: What if the other side is more powerful? What if they will not play along? And what if they use
dirty tricks?
Principled negotiation can be used by diplomats in arms control talks, investment bankers negotiating
corporate acquisitions, and by couples in deciding everything from where to go for vacation to how to
divide their property if they get divorced. It is even a staple of hostage negotiators seeking the release of
kidnap victims. Anyone can use this method.
Every negotiation is different, but the basic elements do not change. Principled negotiation can be used
whether there is one issue or several; two parties or many; whether there is a prescribed ritual, as in
collective bargaining, or an impromptu free-for-all, as in talking with hijackers. The method applies
whether the other side is more experienced or less, a hard bargainer or a friendly one. Principled
negotiation is an all-purpose strategy. Unlike almost all other strategies, if the other side learns this one, it
does not become more difficult to use; it becomes easier. If they read this book, all the better.
I THE PROBLEM
1. Dont Bargain Over Positions
1 Dont Bargain Over Positions
Whether a negotiation concerns a contract, a family quarrel, or a peace settlement among nations,
people routinely engage in positional bargaining. Each side takes a position, argues for it, and makes
concessions to reach a compromise. The classic example of this negotiating minuet is the haggling that
takes place between a customer and the proprietor of a secondhand store:
Customer Shopkeeper
How much do you want for this brass dish? That is a beautiful antique, isnt it? I guess I could let it go for $75.
Oh come on, its dented. I