Negotiation as a Management Process

Modern international negotiation is evolving toward a managerial process and away from a classical dispute-settlement procedure. Negotiation between governments is becoming the functional equivalent of bureaucracy within governments, and it is designed to increase orderly decision making and reduce uncertainty in the international society. Theories of bargaining and diplomatic representation are less useful in understanding modern large-scale negotiation than are theories about the management of information, or theories about how individuals develop common perceptions in complex situations. Concepts that help to explain modern negotiation are: problem-solving search, which emphasizes the development of relationships or hierarchies in complex data; programmed operations, which emphasize the tedious trial-and-error process of building agreement; and final agreement, which emphasizes the reformulation of problems.