Baseball Fires Arbitrator Who Overturned Braun Ban
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/sports/baseball/baseball-fires-arbitrator-who-overturned-braun-ban.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/05/15/sports/baseball/15base-pic/15base-pic-thumbStandard.jpg" border="0" height="75" width="75" hspace="4" align="left"></a>Shyam Das, who overturned Ryan Braun’s 50-game suspension for a positive drug test, was fired, according to a person in baseball with knowledge of the decision.
Class Actions Face Hurdle in 2011 Supreme Court Ruling
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/your-money/class-actions-face-hurdle-in-2011-supreme-court-ruling.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/05/06/business/6Haggler/6Haggler-thumbStandard.jpg" border="0" height="75" width="75" hspace="4" align="left"></a>Last year, the Supreme Court said that corporations could write contracts that blocked class-action lawsuits. Now we are seeing that ruling’s effects.
Australia’s Richest Woman to Battle Children in Open Court
Gina Rinehart lost an appeal seeking private arbitration for the dispute over her family trust, which three of her children charge she is mishandling.
Teacher Argued Double Standard in Successful 2010 Fight to Keep Job
In his defense, an educator in Washington Heights showed a picture of the schools chancellor at the time in a similarly affectionate pose with students.
Found to Have Misbehaved, but Still Teaching in New York City
The city wanted to fire more than a dozen teachers accused of inappropriate behavior, but in most cases it has been overruled by an arbitrator who opted for a milder penalty.
JPMorgan Discloses It Lost In Arbitration to American Century
JPMorgan Chase paid $384 million to American Century Investment Management for apparent breaches of a contractual agreement, but the payout remained confidential until now.
Resolving Disputes Through Arbitration
Readers take issue with an Op-Ed article critical of arbitration.
Stuck in Arbitration
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/opinion/stuck-in-arbitration.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/03/07/opinion/0307OPEDbrainard/0307OPEDbrainard-thumbStandard.jpg" border="0" height="75" width="75" hspace="4" align="left"></a>Many consumers and job seekers are discovering that they unknowingly must submit to arbitration.
Stockton, Calif., Moves Closer to Bankruptcy
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/us/stockton-calif-moves-closer-to-bankruptcy.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/03/01/us/STOCKTON/STOCKTON-thumbStandard-v2.jpg" border="0" height="75" width="75" hspace="4" align="left"></a>Stockton’s City Council decided to begin mediation in a last-ditch effort to avoid having the city become the nation’s largest to declare bankruptcy.
An Investment Wipeout That Didn’t Have to Happen
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/business/an-investment-wipeout-that-didnt-have-to-happen.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/19/business/morgenson/morgenson-thumbStandard.jpg" border="0" height="75" width="75" hspace="4" align="left"></a>An investor won an arbitration case over money lost in a complex security. But he’s still angry at financial institutions.
DEALBOOK; Former Catcher for Red Sox Wins Case Against Merrill Lynch Adviser
Arbitration panel awards former Boston Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli and his wife more than $1.2 million in damages and fees in his dispute with Phil Scott, one of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's financial advisors. Photo (M)/
Venezuela to Quit World Bank Arbitration Body
Venezuela’s decision to leave the World Bank’s arbitration body would affect more than a dozen foreign companies that have unsettled disputes with the government.
In Citigroup Case, a Risk Rating Investors Didn’t See — Fair Game
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/business/in-citigroup-case-a-risk-rating-investors-didnt-see-fair-game.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/19/business/morgenson/morgenson-thumbStandard.jpg" border="0" height="75" width="75" hspace="4" align="left"></a>Citigroup didn’t succeed in a challenge of an arbitration panel’s decision in favor of two investors. But in the process, the bank laid bare some of its inner workings.
Rights in the Workplace
In a sound ruling, the National Labor Relations Board concluded that employees’ federal right to engage in concerted action trumps any arbitration agreement that bars group claims.
Venezuela Vows to Reject Arbitration Ruling in Exxon Case
Exxon sought as much as $12 billion in compensation after President Hugo Ch?vez ordered the nationalization of the Cerro Negro oil project in 2007.


be overcome?

Suddenly, I realized that any common ground would not be attractive enough. We had to do something outside the box to turn this negotiation into a win-win situation for both parties.

Traditional negotiation practice teaches you to optimize your position when trying to establish a common ground. Common ground negotiations are straight forward and usually the fastest way to achieve an agreement. In most cases, they require compromises from one or both parties. Common ground negotiations are the appropriate procedure if the compromises are still attractive for both parties. Unfortunately this is often not the case.

So what do we normally do?

We either compromise our desired position through a sub-optimal compromise or we pressure the other party into an undesirable compromise, or both. In the worst-case scenario, we exit and let the negotiation fail.

Some might think, well, no problem if the other party compromises their position as long as we get what we want. A win-lose situation is a win for us and therefore is o.k.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this concept.

I strongly believe that if one party loses, both parties lose. Any win-lose situation eventually ends up as a lose-lose situation and is therefore not desirable.

So what else to do?

The answer is "Higher Ground Negotiation" which means to leave the common ground and to look for a higher ground that is attractive to both negotiation parties. To do this successfully, we need to have a few pre-conditions in place:

1. True trust between both parties

I elaborated on the issue of trust and it's three key elements in our July edition of this E-Zine. Kindly refer to this section.

2. The willingness of both parties to create win-win situations

Of course, many hardcore negotiators still believe that a win-lose outcome is desirable. You may attempt to change your negotiation partners' beliefs on this by coaching them through the potential consequences of win-lose situations. However, if this turns out not to be fruitful, you will need to decide on whether or not you want to continue doing business with people who want you to lose every time you deal with them.

3. A thorough understanding of what is important to the other party

If you have built some trust with your negotiation partners, they will help you understand what is truly important to them...and that may go way beyond the price of your product or service. You need to gain a thorough understanding of the other party to find a higher ground that is attractive to both them and you.

Once you have these three pre-conditions in place, you can start exploring an attractive higher ground. You will have to think outside the box and be creative. A solution might not be evident right away, so you might need to do some meaningful brainstorming.

In the case of our French customer, we discovered that there was an upcoming need for certain other products this company would typically source from our competitors. For a long time, my colleagues had tried to sell these kinds of products, but without success. I knew that we had rather big margins on them and could compensate for the loss of margin caused by selling the other instrument at 260,000 USD.

So everybody won. M. Ribault got his cost reduction, we got the order not only for this instrument but also for the other products and therefore could still get a good overall margin...and my colleagues were happy to finally get a chance to have their equipment employed at this important company.

Conclusion: "Winning" in negotiations means creating win-win situations. If one party loses, ultimately both parties lose. If the traditional approach of finding a common ground doesn't lead to any attractive outcome for either party, you may need to look for a higher ground. Higher Ground Negotiations require trust, the desire for win-win situations on both sides, and a thorough understanding of what is important to the other party. With creative out-of-the-box thinking, an attractive higher ground can be found which results in true win-win situations making it unnecessary for you to compromise your position with a compromise.

Article Directory: http://www.articlecube.com

Charlie Lang's mission is to change the image of sales through the completely buyer-oriented Stop Selling! approach. He is a passionate and professional executive Coach, Trainer, Public Speaker and Author of over 100 articles related to leadership, coaching, change management and innovative sales. For more info visit www.progressu.com . To receive his monthly articles on sales or leadership, visithttps://secure.thriva.com/Reg/Form.aspx?IDTD=1259&IDRPH=2039

Here are some more mediation articles...