Five Barriers to Cooperation

From Peacebuilding

Contents 1 Purpose 2 Time 3 Participants 4 Materials 5 Process 6 Source 7 Handout 1 – Your Reaction 8 Handout 2 – Their Emotion 9 Handout 3 – Their Position 10 Handout 4 – Their Dissatisfaction 11 Handout 5 – Their Power

Purpose

• To explore real-world barriers that get in the way to cooperation;
• To develop examples illustrating barriers to cooperation;
• To devise strategies to break through barriers to cooperation.

Time

At least 60 minutes.

Participants

• A minimum of 15 participants. If the group is smaller you can assign sub-groups to work on more than one handout, or you can have individuals or couples to work on each handout.

Materials

• Papers;
• Pencils;
• Flip chart papers;
• Markers;
• Masking tape;
• Handouts (see below).

Process

I) Introduce the activity. You use the following text as reference to prepare your introduction:

“Many of us see negotiation as a stressful confrontation, leading to an unpleasant choice: either we are “soft” in order to preserve the relationship or we are “hard” in order to win our position. In the former case we might end up loosing our position, in the latter we might put a strain on the relationship or loose it altogether. The “third way” that Principled Negotiation suggests is joint problem solving, that is a combination of both: it is soft on the people and hard on the problem.

In joint problem solving, contenders do not spend energy to attack each other, but they jointly attack the problem. Both sides seat at the same side of the table, they explore and focus on each other’s interests, not positions. Their goal is to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement that satisfies their interests, not to win over the other side.

In short, joint problem solving can generate better results for both sides, while saving energy and time and preserving their relationship.

But, you might say, this is easy to say but hard to do! The beautiful principles of joint problem solving look like thin air when compared with the stresses, strains, temptations and tempests of life. You might come to the table armed with all your good principles but very easily end up in a face-to-face confrontation instead of solving the problem jointly. You might dig into rigid positions, attack the other side ferociously or let them take advantage of you. Sounds familiar?

William Ury has identified a number of real-world barriers that get in the way to cooperation. Let’s see the five most common of these.”

Adapted from Ury, William, Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation, New York: Bantam, 1993 (1991), pp. 5-8.

II) Ask the plenary to divide in sub-groups of 3-7 individuals (ideally you should form 5 sub-groups, one for each barrier to cooperation).

III) Distribute the handouts, making sure that each group receives a different one, and announce the groups’ task:

“After reading, your task is twofold:

1. Generate examples (possibly taken from real life) where “your reaction” has been an actual barrier to cooperation (or “their reaction”, “their position”, “their dissatisfaction”, “their power”, depending on which barrier the group is working on).

2. Devise strategies to break through the barrier of “your reaction” and transform confrontation to cooperation (or “their reaction”, “their position”, “their dissatisfaction”, “their power”, depending on which barrier the group is working on).”

IV) Distribute papers, pencils, flip chart papers and markers to each group to take note of their discussions and prepare visual aids for presenting their findings to the plenary.

V) Start group work and assign sufficient time. Assist if needed.

VI) After group work ask all groups to return to the plenary and invite them to present their findings, starting from introducing to the actual “barrier to cooperation” they have worked on.

VII) Boost and facilitate discussion.

Source

The activity has inspired by Ury, William, Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation, New York: Bantam, 1993 (1991), pp. 5-9. The handouts have been adapted from pp. 8-9.

Handout 1 – Your Reaction

The first barrier to cooperation is inside of us. Most of us are reaction machines: we feel like answering in kind when we are under stress, we encounter a “no” or we feel we are under attack. Frequently when we strike back we invite the other side to re-do the same, ending up with an action-reaction cycle that leaves both sides losers.

Or, under pressure, we might just give in to end the negotiation and preserve the relationship. Thus we lose, and we expose ourselves to further exploitation from others as we have demonstrated our weakness.

Handout 2 – Their Emotion

A strong barrier to cooperation is the other side’s negative emotions. When they attack you, they might be angry and hostile. If their position is rigid that might be because of their fear and distrust. When they are convinced that they are right and you are wrong, they might refuse to listen. When they see the world as eat-or-be-eaten, they might feel justified to do whatever in their power to eat you first.

Handout 3 – Their Position

You try to face the problem jointly, but they stick to a positional behaviour. They dig into their position and try to get you to give in. They might know no other way to negotiate, they just do what they know. They see it very simply: either you give in, or they give in. Certainly they will do all in their power to let you give in.

Handout 4 – Their Dissatisfaction

You try to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement, but they don’t see how that agreement might satisfy them. And even if that agreement might satisfy their interests they might see it as “backing down” from their original requests, at the risk of “loosing face”. They might reject a mutually satisfactory agreement just because it is “your idea”, not even considering what they would get from it.

Handout 5 – Their Power

They see the problem as a win-lose situations, thus they are determined to beat you. They might be guided by the precept “what’s mine is mine, what’s yours is negotiable”. Why should they cooperate with you when they can get what they want by using their power?