The Negotiation Post Negotiation

The negotiation I would like to talk about occurred between me, my brothers and my sister one month ago.

One of the main issues in the family organization when there is only one car for seven people is to know who is going to use the car.

My sister, one of my brothers and me all have a driving license and my other younger brother doesn't. Most of us need the car at least several times a week and particularly on weekends.

This negotiation was about who will get the car on Friday night and it took place on a Thursday night after dinner.

In this negotiation there were multiple parties. All of us had the same target: get to a specific place at a specific time but we had different motivations.

My target was to use the car in order to go to my best friend's farewell party before she moved to Australia for a year. I needed the car for the whole night as I didn't know how long it would last. My BATNA was to ask for a friend to drive me.

My brother's target (Maxime) was to go to his football practice. He relied on me, my sister or brother to drive him because he didn't have his driving license. His BATNA was also to call a friend.

My other brother's target (Luis) was to go to the restaurant at the opposite direction of mine. He needed to be there at around 8pm in order to meet highschool friends that he hadn't seen ever since. His BATNA was also to find someone to drive him.

My sister's target (Andrea) was to go to Rouen (2 hours away) to see a friend. She wanted the car until the tomorrow afternoon. Her BATNA was also to get a ride.

When multiple parties are involved in a negotiation, it is important to assess with whom we should get closer to. I knew that Maxime needed to go to the same place so I had planned to form a coalition with him. We could argue that by going to the same direction we would save time, gas and at least two out of four would be able to go to where they want. By sharing the same interest and forming a coalition, I felt that I was the one with more power especially given the fact that Andrea and Luis couldn't form a coalition because they didn't seem to be able to help each other. However, my brother and I kept interrupting and contradict each other at some points. If I could start again, I would have talked with Maxime prior the negotiation and would have agreed on a common "strategy".

The negotiation was very complicated as we all focused on our positions. I would say that it was a distributive negotiation at first as there were some competition, we were all position-based and it seems to involve a single issue. However, as the negotiation went on, we progressively paid more attention to each other's interests.

One of the main barriers during this negotiation was to