Negotiating

Negotiating is part of our daily lives as Christians. Parents are constantly negotiating with their children about when to go to bed, when they can watch television, what time they, as teenagers, need to be home and so on. We negotiate the purchase of a new home or a new automobile. When we travel, we sometimes encounter cultures in which virtually everything one buys has to be negotiated.

The Universality of Negotiating

In the world of business, negotiation is a frequent occurrence. For example, the construction industry is a fertile bed of negotiations. The developer of a proposed condominium project may negotiate with an architect to do a design not to exceed a certain budgeted figure. The developer then takes bids from general contractors and negotiates with the lowest bidders to secure the best possible deal. The successful general contractor thereupon negotiates with a multitude of material suppliers who have bid on the project. Again, the general contractor seeks to get the lowest price possible from a reliable subcontractor or material supplier. From top to bottom, there are negotiations, and more often than not they involve deception and untruths.

Negotiations also appear in the Bible. Perhaps the best-known account occurs when Abraham negotiates with God, who has determined to sweep away the evil of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33). Abraham pleaded that a just God would not destroy the entire city if there were fifty righteous people therein. God agreed. Then Abraham asked if the city could be spared if the righteous numbered forty-five. Again, God agreed. Abraham negotiated for forty, then thirty, then twenty and finally ten. God agreed not to destroy the city if within it were ten righteous people. Abraham had to be pleased with his negotiations. God, who held all the cards, must also have been content with the outcome, or else God would not have given in.

Jesus refused to negotiate with the devil during his forty-day fast in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13), but he did give in to his mother’s plea at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11). The Canaanite woman successfully negotiated with Jesus to heal her daughter, who was tormented by demons. He denied her request at first, but her reply that “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” caused him to relent (Matthew 15:27). Jesus must have been content with the outcome, or else he would not have yielded.

In the case of God with Abraham and Jesus with the Canaanite woman, the power was all on the side of the ones being persuaded. We call that “holding all the cards.” Neither Abraham nor the Canaanite woman had any power to compel God or Jesus to change his mind. There are times in life when we hold all the cards and can be persuaded to change a position by the appeal of another. We give in to the persistence of a child or to the plea of a beggar. As long as we are in control, negotiating is easy.

When Negotiating Is Hard

But in most of everyday life we do not hold all the cards. Then negotiating can become stressful. I want to buy a certain model car, and the salesperson wants to sell it. I want to get the lowest possible price out of the deal; the salesperson wants to get the highest possible price. I hold the money; the salesperson holds the car. Arriving at an agreeable price can be a stressful experience.

Negotiating in the workplace can also be very stressful because of the high stakes involved. Most notable is the area of labor-management negotiations. When a labor contract is due for renewal, labor representatives initially come to the table with greater demands than they can possibly attain. In turn, the management representative offers less than they know they are ultimately willing to grant. Negotiations begin. Each side usually makes token concessions as a show of good faith. They remain firm, however, on their major positions. The union’s ultimate weapon is a strike, but both sides can be hurt by a long strike. And both sides know that. As negotiations continue, each side makes “final” offers to the other, yet each side suspects that it can get an even better final offer. Thus, labor and management negotiators are forced to be untruthful and deceptive by the very nature of the process. Given this reality, can one be a labor or management negotiator and still be a Christian?

When Negotiating Is Questionable

Responses to that question generally take one of three forms. The first is a simple no. Where deception and untruth are the required job skills, a Christian has no place in the work. The second answer is yes because there is no connection between what goes on in church on Sunday and what one does during the rest of the week. The third response is more interesting. Here again the position is yes; one can be a Christian labor negotiator. The reason given is that all involved know the negotiations are a “game” in which both sides realize they are the victims of deception and untruth. A Christian negotiator asks, “Am I really telling a lie when my adversary expects that I will try to deceive?” It is an appropriate question for Christian ethicists. Can a labor or management negotiator, who is absolutely truthful in all parts of his or her private life, be excused for telling lies at the negotiating table because everyone knows it is part of the negotiating game? Is this really telling lies, or should such behavior be described and viewed under some other category as it would be in a game?

In areas that directly affect the public, such as government services and transportation, third-party intervention in the negotiating process is common. Arbitration by a neutral third party offers a way out of the game of untruth and deception. Arbitrators seek to find a solution in which both sides get something of what they wanted. “Win-win” settlements are the objective, but neither party wins everything it sought. But even here a game is played. To suggest arbitration, particularly binding arbitration, implies that your adversary is in a stronger negotiating position than you are. That being the case, your adversary will be reluctant to go along with the arbitration on the assumption that you are conceding that you have a weaker position.

Negotiating is frequently the required path to obtaining many business and government contracts. The federal government, including the military, negotiates many of its contracts, even though sealed bids are initially sought for specific plans and specifications. Suppliers may differ with respect to terms and conditions, delivery times or other features of a bid. The purchaser must negotiate these aspects of a bid in order to ensure that the contract is awarded to the best supplier. But when each side struggles to better the other, lies and deceit are common. Here, again, it is seen as a game, but sometimes as a game involving victory at all costs.

Christian Negotiation

From a Christian standpoint, negotiations are best carried out when each person places himself or herself in the shoes of the other. When there is a good understanding of the needs and desires of the other person, each side should strive to meet those needs. Negotiating should not be a contest in which each party strives to get the maximum from the other. Rather, it should be a cooperative effort to meet the basic needs and some desires of each other. Win-win is indeed the solution sought. In doing so, the Christian who negotiates on behalf of some group will be criticized for not being more aggressive. At this point the Christian negotiator will have to explain the justice of meeting mutual needs or, having failed to do so, decide to either forget about justice or quit the job.

» See also: Business Ethics

» See also: Competition

» See also: Compromise

» See also: Conflict Resolution

» See also: Integrity

» See also: Justice

» See also: Unions

—William E. Diehl