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7 Negot. J. 389 (1991)
Barriers to Conflict Resolution

handle is hein.journals/nejo7 and id is 388 raw text is: Barriers to Conflict Resolution Lee Ross and Constance Stillinger Adversaries who seek to negotiate agreements and, thereby, reduce the con- flict that exists between them, face the familiar problem of achieving gains of trade. Each party seeks to trade something it values for something it values even more; but to succeed, each must identify something to give up that it values less than its adversary and something to obtain or achieve that it values more than its adversary. Thus, it is differences in the adversaries' needs, values, aspi- rations, and opportunities that provide the basis for successful negotiation (Homans, 1961; Neale and Bazerman, 1991; Pruitt, 1981; Raiffa, 1982). In the everyday world of commerce, we expect a highly motivated seller and a highly motivated buyer to bridge the gap between the prices asked and offered simply because the seller ultimately places higher value on the cash while the buyer places higher value on the commodity. In such cases, a successful negotiation outcome seems more or less guaranteed by the existence of a differ- ence in personal preference (for more money versus the commodity offered for sale) or, more typically, a difference in current needs, resources, or opportuni- ties for utilization. By the same token, two motivated negotiators should be able to make progress toward conflict resolution to the extent that they can identify concessions that promise to be of greater benefit to the side receiving them than cost to the side offering them. Having identified such differences in perceived costs and benefits, the negotiators should be able to formulate mutually accepta- ble deals involving trades of concessions by which both sides, because of their unique needs, values, resources, expectations, and utilization opportunities, stand to improve their overall situation. The conceptual analysis offered in this article deals with difficulties that stand in the way of achieving this often elusive goal of reducing or resolving conflict through negotiated agreement. Conflicts, it becomes apparent, will differ in their tractability, that is, in the extent to which the parties' aspirations, expectations, and opportunities permit the formulation of mutually advantageous deals. Tractable conflicts are Lee Ross is Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, Jordan Hall, Building 420, Stan- ford, Calif. 94305. Constance Stillinger is Professor of Psychology at Northwestern Univer- sity, 102 Swift Hall, Evanston, Ill. 60208. 0748-4526/91/1OO0-0389$6.50/O @ 1991 Plenum Publishing Corporation Negotiation journal October 1991 389

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