The Nature of Negotiation
People negotiate all the time. Negotiation is not a process reserved only for skilled diplomat, top salesperson, or ardent advocate for organized labor; it is something that everyone does, almost everyday. Sometimes people negotiate for major things like a new job, other times for relatively minor things, such as who will wash the dishes. The structure and processes of negotiation are fundamentally the same about the minor things as they are about major things.
Negotiations occur for one of two reasons: (1) to create something new that neither party could do on his or her own, or (2) to resolve a problem or dispute between the parties.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A NEGOTIATION SITUATION
There are several characteristics common to all negotiation situations:
1) There are two or more parties – that is, two or more individuals, groups, or organizations.
2) There is a conflict of interests between parties.
3) Negotiations occur because the parties think they can get better results.
4) There is no system – no fixed or established set of rules or procedures – for resolving the conflict.
5) When we negotiate, we expect give and take. Successful negotiation involves the management of intangibles as well as the resolving of tangibles.

INTERDEPENDENCES
In negotiation, both parties need each other. A buyer cannot buy unless someone else sells, and vice versa. In other words the parties need each other in order to accomplish their goals. This situation of mutual dependency is called interdependence.

MUTUAL ADJUSTMENT
Interdependent relationships – those in which people are mutually dependent – are complex. Both parties know that they can influence the other’s outcomes and that their outcomes can, in turn, be influenced by other. The mutual adjustment continuous throughout the negotiation as both parties act to influence the other. It is important to recognize that negotiation is a process that transforms over time, and mutual adjustment is one of the key causes of the changes that occur during a negotiation.