Exploring the Complexities of Negotiation: Strategies for Successful Intra- and Inter-Team Negotiation in Organizations

Abstract

Organizational silos pose a common challenge for many companies, as they create barriers to communication, coordination, and resource efficiency. Addressing these challenges necessitates successful negotiation, yet the realm of multi-level team negotiation remains understudied. This research employs a computational simulation model to explore the dynamics of two-level negotiation, encompassing interactions of individuals searching for an agreement within and between teams in the organization. Our model involves individuals and teams with conflicting opinions on mutual interest issues. Within the intra-team negotiation process, the model integrates loyalty-driven opinion adjustments and the influence of the collective opinions of team members on team decisions. Concurrently, the inter-team negotiation introduces parameters reflecting teams' willingness to negotiate with each other, emphasizing their openness to opinion adjustments. Our findings highlight the importance of individual loyalty, the leader acceptance ratio, and team willingness to negotiate as pivotal factors for achieving successful negotiation. We shed light on the mechanisms involved in two-level negotiations, including both within a team and between teams. This contribution enriches the literature on organizational negotiation and team dynamics in the context of organizational conflict. Moreover, this study advances the field by developing a computational simulation model, laying the groundwork for future studies exploring the multi-level negotiation processes. The insights in this study can equip managers with strategies to foster a win-win mindset for improved team coordination.