Article ID: | iaor20014121 |
Country: | Netherlands |
Volume: | 130 |
Issue: | 1 |
Start Page Number: | 54 |
End Page Number: | 69 |
Publication Date: | Apr 2001 |
Journal: | European Journal of Operational Research |
Authors: | Hmlinen Raimo P., Ehtamo Harri, Kettunen Eero |
Keywords: | decision theory: multiple criteria |
We develop a constructive approach to multi-party negotiations over continuous issues. The method is intended to be used as a mediator's tool for step-by-step creation of joint gains in order to reach a Pareto-optimal agreement. During the mediation process, the parties are only required to answer relatively simple questions concerning their preferences; they do not have to reveal their utility functions completely. The method generates jointly improving directions to move along, and it is a non-trivial generalization of the recently proposed two-party methods. We give a mathematical analysis together with a numerical example, but also a practical basis for negotiation support in real-world settings.