Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In is a best-selling 1981 non-fiction book by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Subsequent editions in 1991 and 2011 added Bruce Patton as co-author. All of the authors were members of the Harvard Negotiation Project.
The book suggests a method of principled negotiation consisting of "separate the people from the problem"; "focus on interests, not positions"; "invent options for mutual gain"; and "insist on using objective criteria". Although influential in the field of negotiation, the book has received criticisms.
Background
Fisher and Ury focused on the psychology of negotiation in their method, "principled negotiation", which attempts to find acceptable solutions by determining which needs are fixed and which are flexible for negotiators. The first edition of the book was published in 1981. By 1987, the book had been adopted in several U.S. school districts to help students understand "non-adversarial bargaining".
In 1991, the book was issued in a second edition with Bruce Patton, an editor of the first edition, listed as a co-author. The main difference between the second and first editions was the addition of a chapter after the main text entitled "Ten Questions People Ask About Getting to Yes".
The book became a perennial best-seller. By July 1998, it had been appearing for more than three years on the BusinessWeek "Best-Seller" book list. As of December 2007, it was still making appearances on the list as one of the "Longest Running Best Sellers" in paperback business books.
The third edition was published in 2011. Among other changes to the second edition, the third edition added newer examples of negotiations, such as a conflict in Iraq after Saddam Hussein had fallen from power; paragraphs on "core concerns" and "the role of identity"; a section "How should we communicate?"; and a section "There is power in effective communication". As of 2022, Ury asserted on his website that 15 million copies of the book had been sold, and that it has been translated into more than 35 languages.
Method of principled negotiation
The book begins with a chapter "Don't Bargain Over Positions" that explains the undesirable characteristics of positional bargaining, in which the negotiating parties argue over a sequence of positions. Such an argument "produces unwise outcomes", "is inefficient", and "endangers an ongoing relationship".
The next four chapters describe the method of principled negotiation which was developed at the Harvard Negotiation Project (part of the Program on Negotiation consortium) by Fisher, Ury, and Patton. The purpose of principled negotiation is to "decide issues on their merits rather than through a haggling process". The method is based on four principles:
"Separate the people from the problem" The first principle of Getting to Yes—"Separate the people from the problem"—applies to the interaction between the two parties to a negotiation. The authors point out that negotiators are people first—people who have different values, cultural backgrounds, and emotions. The relationship between parties tends to become entangled with the problem that the parties are discussing; therefore, issues of perception, emotion, and communication need to be addressed during a negotiation.
Concerning perception, the authors note that it is important for a negotiator to understand how the other party views an issue. Ways to accomplish this include "Put yourself in their shoes", "Discuss each other's perceptions", and "Face-saving: Make your proposals consistent with their values".
Concerning emotion, the authors encourage negotiators to explore the causes of both their own and the other party's emotions. Techniques may be needed to defuse anger, such as allowing the other party to voice grievances and to provide an apology as a symbolic gesture.
Concerning communication, the authors point out three common problems and give suggestions to prevent or solve them: Not speaking with the other party in a direct and clear manner; Not actively listening to the other party, but instead only listening to rebut the other party's statements; and Misunderstanding or misinterpreting what the other party has said.