Negotiating Teams: A Levels of Analysis Approach

In light of the increasing presence of teams and work groups in organizations and their role in negotiations, we outline a framework for understanding the dynamics of negotiating teams. The traditional context of dyadic negotiations (i.e., one-on-one) is used as a point of departure for our analysis. We bring together research on negotiation, small group dynamics and individual social cognition into a coherent framework to analyze negotiating teams. At the heart of our framework are three categories of psychological processes, corresponding to different levels of analysis, which highlight the contributions of individual, intragroup, and intergroup processes. These processes are discussed in terms of traditional negotiation concepts such as integrative and distributive bargaining. Finally, we provide guidance for future research.