Getting Together: Building Relationships as We Negotiate

Source: (1989) New York: Penguin Group.

At the time of writing this book, Roger Fisher and Scott Brown were director and associate director, respectively, of the Harvard Negotiation Project. The book originated in two perspectives on their part: (a) their concern for relations between the United States and the Soviet Union; and (b) their conviction that the real problem lay not in technical issues of arms control or military hardware, but in how the two countries dealt with each other and with their differences. At the same time, they realized that thinking about relationship issues involved not only international relations, but personal and business relations as well. With all of this in mind, Fisher and Brown cover a number of topics concerning relationships and working through differences, problems, or conflicts in relationships. The chapters of the book are organized into three broad categories: an overview of relationships (the goal for relationships; relationship issues vis-á-vis substantive issues, and being unconditionally constructive); basic elements of a working relationship (rationality, understanding, communication, reliability, persuasion, and acceptance); and the elements of relationships as parts of a whole.