The processes in this book developed out of emergency. The emergency was my very green introduction to one of the highest conflict industries of all – Industrial Relations.

With almost no knowledge and very little skill, I found myself as the Army’s Chief Industrial Officer. Daily I was confronted with conflict which arose between unions and management in army establishments all over Australia. The personal strain was enormous. I found myself drinking too much and suffering agonies of anxiety. I desperately wanted to win and very often I did not. The conflict was sometimes violent and verbal, sometimes a pale compromise which left all parties tired, dissatisfied and dispirited.

Gradually I learned from the deals which worked, and more from analysis of those that failed the rudiments of the skill of negotiation. The main aspects that seemed to have some impact on the results were Information – Style – Phases – Tactics and the Relationship between the parties.

At the time I made no effort to systematize these vague feelings. In fact it was not until much later, at a time when with surprised recall I noticed that the emergency had passed and other people were asking for advice. I started to piece together in a systematic way the scraps I had learned, so I could pass it on to others.

That exercise was very valuable for me and I came to the conclusion that three elements were important – phases, style and tactics. I discovered that Information was part of the Preparation phase and the Relationship between the parties was intrinsic to the Wants phase and also affected the Style of a negotiation. Tactics became an important but less vital
section on its own.

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