In a competitive and morally imperfect world, business people are often faced with serious ethical challenges. Harboring suspicions about the ethics of others, many feel justified in engaging in less-than-ideal conduct to protect their own interests. The most sophisticated moral arguments are unlikely to counteract this behavior. We believe that this morally defensive behavior is responsible, in large part, for much undesirable deception in negotiation. Drawing on recent work in the literature of negotiations, we present some practical guidance on how negotiators might build trust, establish common interests, and secure credibility for their statements thereby promoting honesty We also point out the types of social and institutional arrangements, many of which have become commonplace, that work to promote credibility, trust, and honesty in business dealings. Our approach is offered not only as a specific response to the problem of deception in negotiation, but as one model of how research in business ethics might offer constructive advice to practitioners.
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Paper provided by University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton in its series Papers of Peter Cramton with number
93beq.
Length: 36 pages Date of creation: 09 Jun 1998 Date of revision:
09 Jun 1998 Publication status: Published in Business Ethics Quarterly, 3:4, October 1993, pages 359-394. Reprinted in Patricia Werhane and Tom Donaldson, eds., Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996 (Fifth Edition) and 1999 (Sixth Edition), and Carrie Menkel-Meadow and Michael Wheeler, eds., What's Fair, John Wiley & Sons, 2004. Handle: RePEc:pcc:pccumd:93beq
Contact details of provider: Postal: Economics Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7211 Phone: (202) 318-0520 Fax: (202) 318-0520 Web page: http://www.cramton.umd.edu
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Peter Cramton).
Find related papers by JEL classification: D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information M29 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Economics - - - Other
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