E-negotiation design and engineering

Abstract This paper is an excerpt from a book by Gregory Kersten, which was not yet completed before his unexpected passing in May 2020. Following a note from Gregory’s family, the paper includes a section of a book chapter dealing with negotiation protocols. It shows how negotiation, as a purposeful process governed by explicit and implicit rules has protocols that can be employed to help negotiators orient themselves in this process. In particular, with respect to e-negotiations, the paper stresses the need to have a shared and clear understanding of the terms that are used by negotiators and software, which should be provided by taxonomy or ontology. The paper distinguishes three principal aspects of negotiations: decision and choice; language; and process. It also identifies key challenges related to the successful implementation of negotiation software agents.