Importance of Coalitions in Negotiations - Free Paper Example

Introduction

Coalitions are essential in every negotiation table. Human and material resources are brought together to achieve a specific goal, which would have been difficult to achieve if the negotiations were carried out by individuals or separate organizations (Baron et al., 2017). An excellent example of a coalition is labor unions, which negotiate on behalf of the employees. If the employees were left on their own to negotiate maybe on safe working conditions or compensation, they would be threatened by the employer and withdraw from the process halfway. Using coalitions in the negotiation process on behalf of the employees also eliminates internal competitions.

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Qualifications

When a coalition is formed, talents and skills are brought together. It is possible to get qualified people to negotiate on behalf of others when working as a group. Combining all the available resources makes the team be better equipped than the other group. Coalitions reduce any chances of duplicating efforts since a group is formed, which carries the objectives of individuals or organizations (Klöck & Castro, 2018).

A Real-World Example

When people work under coalitions, they acquire more benefits. An example is ranchers who formed Wyoming wind associations. In 2006, various wind developers started convincing ranchers in western states to lease their lands to be build wind turbines ("How coalitions benefit negotiators at the bargaining table," 2020). The Wyoming ranchers started signing the deals without understanding whether they were getting a reasonable compensation according to the project's value. When Grant Stumbaugh, who was the program coordinator in the U.S Department of Agriculture learned what was happening, he thought of a coalition so that the farmers could get better deals. He formed a wind association whereby the ranchers would pool together large sections of their land, negotiate the leasing agreement, and then share the profits.

Conclusion

Thus, the wind associations do not wait on one developer; they market, negotiate, and settle with the highest bidder. The associations became a gold mine to the ranchers as they received hundreds of thousand dollars per year in royalties.

References

Baron, D. P., Bowen, T. R., & Nunnari, S. (2017). Durable coalitions and communication: Public versus private negotiations. Journal of Public Economics, 156, 1-13. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272717301457

How coalitions benefit negotiators at the bargaining table. (2020, March 20). PON - Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/the-benefits-of-coalition-building/

Klöck, C., & Castro, P. (2018). Coalitions in global climate change negotiations. The policy brief, (5). https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/157123/1/ZORA157123.pdf.