Training Negotiation Teams: The Impact of Roles and Transactive Memory

Despite the prevalence of negotiation teams, and the significant outcomes such teams can advance for organizations, relatively little is known about the within-team dynamics that support or challenge their ability to plan, create, coordinate, and execute a rational and effective across-the-table bargaining strategy. We respond to this issue by designed a training program for negotiation teams that focuses on the adoption and enactment of team roles and the use of constructive controversy during planning phases. The sample included 56 MBA negotiation teams, with 28 teams exposed to the training program. Results show that trained teams had higher levels of confidence regarding the use of different negotiation strategies, higher levels of awareness of how they could coordinate their expertise. Trained teams were also more satisfied with their negotiated outcomes and the negotiation process with their counterpart.