Baubles, Bangles, and Beads: Modeling The Evolution Of Negotiating Groups Over Time

Understanding how dyadic negotiations and group decision processes evolve over time requires specifying the basic elements of process, modeling the configuration of those elements over time, and providing a theoretical explanation for that configuration. We propose a bead metaphor for conceptualizing the basic elements of the group negotiation process and then string the beads of behavior in a helix framework to model the process by which group negotiations evolve. Our theorizing draws on the group decision development literature (e.g. Bales, 1953; Poole, 1981; Poole, 1983a and Poole, 1983b; Poole & Roth, 1989a and Poole & Roth, 1989b) as well as on the negotiation process literature (e.g. Gulliver, 1979 and Morley & Stephenson, 1977. Our examples are from our Towers Market studies of negotiating groups.