In this chapter, we explored the way that existing relationships shape negotiation. Much of negotiation theory and research is based on what we have learned in experimental research settings, consisting of two negotiating parties who don't know each other, don't expect to deal with each other in the future, and are engaged in a market transaction over price and quantity. Yet much of the professional negotiations conducted in business, law, government, communities, and international affairs occur in an context in which the parties have a past (and future) relationship and in which their relationship strongly affects the negotiation process.

In addition, we cannot assume that negotiators are involved only in arm's-length market transactions about the exchange of fees for goods and services. Many negotiations concern how to work (and live) together more effectively over time, how to coordinate actions and share responsibilities, or how to manage problems that have arisen in the relationship. In this chapter, we evaluated the status of previous negotiation research—which has focused almost exclusively on market-exchange relationships—and evaluated its status for different types of relationships, particularly communal- sharing and authority-ranking relationships. Within relationships, we see that parties shift their focus considerably, moving away from a sole focus on price and exchange to also attend to the future of the relationship, including the level of trust between the parties and questions of fairness, and to build strong positive reputations. We argue that most negotiations occur within these relationship contexts, and future work must attend to their unique complexities.

We turn next in Chapter 11 to another aspect of negotiations involving relationships: how things change when negotiators are representing the interests of others rather than their own interests and when more than two parties are actively involved in the negotiation process.