Interactive Interest-Based Negotiation Training For Managing Conflict in Isolated and Confined Environments

摘要

Even in the best planned space missions, disagreements inevitably arise between parties, and the ability to negotiate effectively while maintaining relationships is critical for successful long-duration operations. Traditional positional bargaining can work for simple low-stakes transactions but does not prioritize ongoing relationships. Interest-based negotiation (IBN), where parties with competing interests and/or goals come together to create a mutually beneficial agreement, is crucial in these situations and is a skill we believe can be learned. Using a web-based, interactive-media-approach, we scripted, filmed, and programmed an IBN interactive training module. The module begins with a reference conflict between an International Space Station (ISS) crew and ground control about an upcoming Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA). The reference conflict reveals the interests each party is trying to meet (the crew has lost trust in ground control due to a previous interaction and wants to move things slowly, while ground control is facing pressure from administration and wants to move ahead quickly) and shows a typical positional negotiation that goes badly. The mentor in the program provides instruction in why the negotiation went poorly and how to use IBN. The user then has the opportunity to revisit the negotiation, try different responses, and receive feedback from the mentor along the way. The user learns how to search for the other person's underlying interests. This module was provided to individuals with a variety of backgrounds for evaluation, including a subset of 9 subjects in isolated and confined environments (ICE) in the Australian Antarctic Program wintering research stations and the HI-SEAS Mars simulation. Feedback was collected (n=33) through both free-response and numerical scaling (O/strongly disagree-> 4/strongly agree). 97% of participants found the activity valuable for learning about conflict management (defined by those who selected either 'somewh