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ethics in negotiation

What are Ethics in Negotiation?

Ethics in negotiation can involve expectations of fairness, equity, and honesty but, sometimes, despite your best intentions, circumstances might lead you to behave unethically. 

Whether we are aware of it or not, we make a series of “micro-decisions” during our time at the bargaining table. Such decisions often revolve around ethics in negotiation, including choosing whether to disclose, conceal, or misrepresent information that would weight outcomes in your own favor.

While that may seem like negotiators aren’t always forthright, most negotiators strive to tell the truth. However, studies suggest the pliability of ethics in negotiation. Many of us may unknowingly adjust our ethical standards based on the negotiation context.

What might those contexts be? One example would be when we find ourselves in uncertain situations. Uncertainty increases the likelihood that we will be unethical, Roy J. Lewicki of Ohio State University and other researchers have noted. Uncertainty about the material facts in a negotiation can inspire unethical behavior.

Ultimately, whether negotiators choose to engage in ethically questionable behavior can depend on a host of factors, such as power and opportunity. As a result, we need to be particularly vigilant to the possibility that we will behave deceptively, even if we have no intention of doing so.

Learn how to negotiate like a diplomat, think on your feet like an improv performer, and master job offer negotiation like a professional athlete when you download a copy of our FREE special report, Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

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The following items are tagged ethics in negotiation:

Negotiation Research Examines Ethics in Negotiating

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

Lack of transparency regarding negotiations between hospitals and the insurers known as preferred provider organizations, or PPOs, is a key contributor to spiraling health-care costs in the United States, back in a 2013 article in the New York Times. This topic has many questioning ethics in negotiating within the healthcare industry. The problem starts with the … Read More

Overcoming Cross-Cultural Barriers to a Negotiated Agreement: Negotiation Ethics and International Negotiations

Posted by & filed under International Negotiation.

Cross cultural negotiation examples provide insights into how negotiation techniques change depending on the context in which negotiators find themselves. As Professor Cheryl Rivers of Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, points out in a recent negotiation research literature review, seasoned negotiators often hear stories about the unethical behaviors of people of other nationalities. … Read More

The Moral Quandary: Negotiation Exercises Featuring Ethical Dilemmas

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

In a negotiation, few issues heighten tensions faster than when one party feels that the other party has done something ethically or morally incorrect. To help professionals prepare for times like this, the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) offers a variety of negotiation exercises designed to teach participants how to handle disputes that … Read More

The High Cost of Bad Advice at the Negotiation Table

Posted by & filed under BATNA.

If you’re thinking about buying a house, one of your first moves may be to choose a real estate agent who can advise you through the process. If you want a big-name publisher to buy your book, you probably will try to sign on an experienced literary agent as your counselor and advocate. Less formally, … Read More

In Negotiations with Ben Affleck, No Appealing BATNA

Posted by & filed under BATNA.

In negotiation, your best source of power is typically your best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA. Having a strong outside alternative enables you to walk away from a deal that doesn’t meet your needs or that would compromise your vision or ethics. But when you are dealing with a negotiating partner who seems irreplaceable, … Read More