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Summary 349
Practical applications
Much of the early work in applying multi-attribute value analysis to
negotiating problems was carried out by the consultants Decision and
Designs Incorporated (DDI). This company helped US negotiators to
formulate a negotiating strategy for the Panama Canal negotiations in
1974. Other applications can be found in Barclay and Peterson. 5
The analytic approach was also adopted by a member of the US team in
the 1978 negotiations between the United States and the Philippines over
the status of the US bases on the islands. Raiffa 4 reports the experiences
of the team member who argued that formal analysis led to a creative
attitude to the negotiations. Rather than focusing purely on their own
position and how it could be defended, the team were encouraged to
look for ways of obtaining a better deal by trading off interests where
their gain was not necessarily the other party’s loss.
Phillips 1 reports the experiences of Cameron Peterson, a consultant
with DDI. Peterson found that there were a number of advantages to be
gained by bringing the decision analysis approach to bargaining problems.
Negotiators could prepare in advance and anticipate the positions
of other parties and, by developing a clear understanding of the problem,
they were able to be flexible and creative during the negotiations.
There was also better communication within the negotiating team and
between the team and their organization. However, the approach was
found to be least effective where negotiators sought to preserve an air of
mystery about their bargaining methods and skills.
Summary
In this chapter we first considered the application of decision analysis
to problems where a group meets to decide how resources should be
allocated between alternative uses. The problem was characterized by a
small number of objectives but a very large number of possible courses
of action, and a computer was therefore required to help in the comparison
of the alternatives. The use of decision analysis facilitated group
participation in the decision process so that the conflict between centralization
and local decision making could be resolved. We then showed
how decision analysis can help decision makers who are involved in
negotiations to identify improved deals which are in the interests of
both parties.