06Jan, 2021
An applied tool that develops creative thinking in negotiations with the aim of “enlarging the pie” and overcoming crisis situations and dead ends. The tool was developed together with Professor Neko Goldenberg from Reichman University and Dr. Eyal Ma’oz from the Ono Academic Library.
Creativity, in the negotiation context, is considered a key ingredient in the creation of value, and in transforming “fixed pie” or even deadlocked situations into integrative, win-win agreements (Fisher, Ury & Patton 1991; Pruitt & Carnevale 1993; Thompson 2001). Furthermore, creatively constructed, integrative solutions are known to yield higher joint benefits than distributive agreements, since they are able to reconcile the parties’ needs and interests (Pruitt 1983a). However, discovering and tapping into the creative potential in any negotiation is a challenge that is easily advocated, but in most organizations, hard to implement. One promising approach to this problem may be found in recent developments in the creativity literature, demonstrating that creative and insightful problem solving can be achieved through systematic inventive thinking (Goldenberg, Mazursky, & Solomon 1999a; Goldenberg & Mazursky 2002; Maimon & Horowitz 1999). The main thesis advanced in this stream of research, is that certain structures in creative ideation and problem solving processes are identifiable, objectively verifiable, and can be studied, generalized and implemented across various managerial areas. These structures, termed Creativity Templates, can serve as facilitative tools in channeling the ideation process, thereby enabling the negotiator to be more productive and focused in generating creative options and proposals. The template approach to creativity and problem solving has, so far, been successfully applied in new product development processes (Goldenberg, Mazursky, & Solomon 1999b), technological innovations (Goldenberg, Mazursky, & Solomon 1999c) and in advertising (Goldenberg, Mazursky, & Solomon 1999d). The current research is an attempt to bring this innovative technique into the negotiation arena.
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