Ad Hominem - Personal insults and feather-ruffling as a tactic - usually when other (better) tactics fail.
ADR - Alternative Dispute Resolution i.e. not through a regular court
Adjudication - A decision determined by an independent third party, usually following written submissions by parties in dispute.
Bandwidth – How bosses describe the ability of more junior staff to absorb more work. [Borrowed from telecoms industry terminology.]
BATNA - Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement.
Bidding Against Oneself - Where a party is invited to make a concession before making a counter-offer herself.
Big data: Lots of interpretations, but usually refers to the explosion of digitised data created by people, machines, sensors and the like that can act as an audit trail.
Bluffing, puffing, and lying. Exaggerating and misrepresenting facts as a negotiation tactic.
Boiling the ocean: Wasting time or resources.
Bottom Line - The most important factor
Caucus - A small side-meeting usually held confidentially from the other party in the dispute. [See also “Off Line”].
Call Option - An option that gives a party the right, but not the obligation, to purchase/ sell at a pre-determined price on or before a given date. [See also “Put Option”]
Closing Price - The last price paid for a commodity on any trading day. Come-to-Jesus meeting - A showdown or ambush disguised as a civilised mediation; a meeting called to finally unravel and settle a fraught issue or ongoing matter.
Commitment tactics - Where a party claims to have only limited discretion to negotiate.
Counter Proposal - An alternative solution you offer when you disagree with the one already presented.
