Ethical Negotiations

Negotiators assess the trust-worthiness of their counterparts in a variety of ways. One way is to define the integrity of a negotiation by how much buyers or sellers can be trusted: “Are they lying? Do they overpromise or under-deliver?” Despite this initial assessment, negotiators cannot accurately predict business outcomes, such as actual risks, quality or satisfaction with end products/services. Therefore, trust is a key element to facilitate the negotiation process in the early stages of deliberation. In this chapter, we will explore the application of ethical values as a trust-building formula to aid in international negotiations. Furthermore, we propose a role-based, trust-building, ethical approach tailored to the negotiator's needs. Only within an ethical framework, can trust become the cornerstone of a relationship that will genuinely service both negotiating parties and society.