I chose the topic of negotiation between friends because in both business and personal situations, effectively negotiating with friends is imperative to success and building strong relationships.
In many situations we are faced with negotiating with a friend. Whether purchasing a used car or the formation of a community group, friends often negotiate on both a business and personal level. Yet negotiating with friends can be highly fraught with conflict, which is why Kurtzberg and Medvec (1999) explore the reasons many people would "prefer to negotiate with a stranger rather than risk harming a relationship by negotiating with a friend" in Can We Negotiate and Still Be Friends?
Kurtzberg and Medvec (1999) offer a used car scenario as a means of broaching the topic of negotiating with friends. The man in the scenario considers buying a used car from a stranger, rather than risk harming his friendship with a colleague who has a sound car for sale. The authors maintain that social relationships are an "integral part" of every human interaction, but humans prefer to keep their negotiations separate from their social relationships (Kurtzberg & Medvec, 1999). The authors maintain negotiations between friends typically work best in strong relationships where trust and fairness dictate negotiations. In most cases, however, Kurtzberg and Medvec (1999) argue that negotiation and social relationships have different "scripts," with the former being aimed at getting "a good deal for ourselves" and the latter dictated by fairness and "the other person's welfare" (p. 248). Measuring the effects of friendship on negotiation is possible, especially from the "salesperson-customer" perspective, that maintains if a negotiator is concerned with the future stake of the other individual he or she will be more likely to "take that future stake into account in their own actions, decisions, and concessi
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