Ury Analysis

Essay by bhang2thisUniversity, Master'sA, June 2014

download word file, 9 pages 0.0

Amrik Matharu

0168328

OS666 Negotiations

Professor Ormsbee

10/15/2013

Getting Past No: Analysis and Review

Williams Ury, renown in the art of Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, presents the theories behind his practice, and their versatility throughout a range of negotiations. Supporting his ideal are five steps to be used in situations where parties are uncooperative and incapable of compromise. These five principles are "Go to the balcony," "Step to their side," "To reframe," "Build them a golden bridge," and "Use power to educate". These steps allow for a collaborative environment to arise from a typical positional style of negotiation, which are further complemented by another one of Ury's books, Getting to Yes.

In essence, the theory of creating a collaborative scenario is idyllic, and not always possible. Through the founding principles Ury presents in his book it is plain to see that a side-by side- approach to negotiations is possible.

It does however still depend on the one doing the negotiation. From a personal standpoint, I cannot guarantee that I will not succumb to a typical trench warfare style negotiation throughout my day, but the skills depicted throughout Ury's book will be on the forefront of my mind in future scenarios. The successive analysis will be complemented by personal experience as well as other readings and interactions from within our own class.

The first of these five principles, "Going to the balcony," relates to an instance when a party or negotiator is in the midst of a challenging decision. In these situations becoming objective to the issue can be a challenge of its own, highlighted by Ury's rationale that a natural reaction to the problem is the primary barrier in these instances. This approach "Going to the balcony," is a metaphoric one, as though there is not a physical balcony...