Mediator: Towards a Negotiation Support System

Abstract

MEDIATOR is a negotiation support system (NSS) based onevolutionary systems design (ESD) and database-centered implementation.It supports negotiations by consensus seeking through exchange ofinformation and, where consensus is incomplete, by compromise. Thenegotiation problem is shown --graphically or as relational data inmatrix form-- in three spaces as a mapping from control space to goalspace (and through marginal utility functions) to utility space. Withineach of these spaces the negotiation process is characterized byadaptive change, i.e., mappings of group target and feasible sets bywhich these sets are redefined in seeking a solution characterized by asingle-point intersection between them.This concept is being implemented in MEDIATOR, a data-based micro-mainframeNSS intended to support the players and a human mediator inmulti-player decision situations. Each player employs private andshared database views, using his/her own micro-computer decision supportsystem enhanced with a communications manager to interact with themediator DSS. Sharing of views constitutes exchange of informationwhich can lead towards consensus. The human mediator can supportcompromise, as needed, through use of solution concepts and/orconcession-making procedures in the NSS model base. As a concreteexample, we demonstrate the use of the system for group car buyingdecisions.