What is negotiation?  A practical definition could be "Negotiation is being able to make the other person an offer or proposal that they would find more attractive than their next best alternative."  Some consider negotiation the art of deal-making.  It is certainly that; and it also has a close resemblance to teaching or educating the other party to the merits of your offer or proposal.  It is not about manipulating the other party or dirty tricks -- those tactics are commonly used in adversarial negotiation.  In negotiating deals that last, consider the following examples of what negotiation is NOT:

Negotiation is NOT …

Debate … fighting … arguing

A way to bend the law or avoid real issues

A way to win at the other person’s expense

Articles:

Rapport: The Link to Gaining Cooperation (054) or Six Keys to Handling Resistance

The core competencies for negotiating well are the ability to maintain rapport and ability to notice and use resistance as feedback.

Seven Steps to Handling Interpersonal Differences -- Keys to Negotiating with Power and Grace

The Reactionary Tango: Turning Opposition to Understanding through Aikido (025)

The Dynamics of Non-Adversarial Negotiation (095)

How to overcome competitive, win-lose scripting to negotiate with power and grace.

Getting Your Way Through Non-Adversarial Negotiation (076)

Tools to balance and integrate competitive urges with the need to cooperate.

When to Engage, When Not to Engage (085)

Secret to successful conflict resolution and negotiation: learn how to disagree respectfully and at the right times.

The Gentle Art of Confrontation (084)

Process improvement approach to dealing with conflicts: confront people in ways that they can hear and understand the substance of what you are saying (so they actually listen). By building a workplace based on agreements, you’ll get more trust, openness, and honesty so that when things go wrong, "confrontation" is no longer necessary. These proven techniques show you how to prevent patterns of defensiveness and increase workplace collaboration.

Relevant Skills or Coursework: 

• All negotiation and conflict resolution skills
• Separating interpretations from observable facts
• Healthy boundaries and walking the line between assertive and aggressive

References:                                   

Getting Ready to Negotiate, The Getting to YES Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Preparing for Any Negotiation, by Roger Fisher & Danny Ertel, 1995

Getting Together: Building Relationships as We Negotiate, by Roger Fisher & Scott Brown, 1988

Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by Roger Fisher & William Ury, 1981, 1991

Negotiating for Dummies, by Michael C. Donaldson & Mimi Donaldson, 1996

The Negotiating Game:How to Get What You Want, by Chester L. Karrass, 1994

The Tao of Negotiation: How You Can Prevent, Resolve, and Transcend Conflict in Work and Everyday Life, by Joel Edelman & Mary Beth Crain, 1994

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