Advanced negotiation: can we explain what we demand?
In an industrial negotiation, a tolerance, an additional inspection or a qualification condition can become a non-negotiable requirement. The management question is specific: before defending such a requirement, should we check whether the team can explain the link between that constraint and the intended outcome?
What the literature establishes
Leonid Rozenblit and Frank Keil (2002, Cognitive Science) show that people often overestimate their understanding of how everyday devices work. When asked to produce a detailed explanation, they lower their assessment of that understanding. These findings establish a gap between feeling that one understands and being able to explain a mechanism; they do not directly address industrial negotiation.
Explaining a mechanism is not the same as defending a position
Philip M. Fernbach, Todd Rogers, Craig R. Fox and Steven A. Sloman (2013, Psychological Science) find that asking people to explain how a public policy works reduces their perceived understanding and moderates their positions. Asking participants to list the reasons for their position does not produce the same effect. The distinction matters: justifying a requirement can draw on familiar arguments, whereas explaining its mechanism exposes the links one does not fully understand.
The premature conclusion
It would be tempting to conclude that requesting an explanation necessarily makes the other party more accommodating. These studies demonstrate neither that effect in a commercial negotiation nor an improvement in agreement quality. A requirement may be fully justified, and a detailed explanation may confirm that it must be retained. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What the evidence cannot settle
The everyday devices and political opinions studied do not replicate a negotiation between precision-industry specialists. Within an organisation, knowledge is also distributed: a buyer may defend a constraint whose explanation lies with quality assurance or engineering. Being unable to explain it personally therefore does not prove that it is unnecessary; it primarily signals a need to arrange a review.
A practical check in Neuchâtel
As part of SHR’s “Advanced Negotiation” programme, an exercise applicable to Neuchâtel companies in microtechnology, watchmaking and precision microelectronics is to record every requirement designated non-negotiable before discussions begin. For each one, the team records the intended outcome, the technical mechanism invoked, the available evidence or applicable standard, and the person responsible for validation. The proposed measure is the proportion of these requirements whose link to the intended outcome has been documented and validated before the negotiation, retaining dated records. This indicator checks the preparation of the negotiating mandate, not the agreement’s economic performance. To go further: explore the Advanced Negotiation training in Neuchâtel in the canton of Neuchâtel, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
In pictures: Advanced Negotiation in Neuchâtel
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