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The idea that negotiators might have ''insight'' borders on heretical among [[management consultant]]s, who regard them as fungible rule-following automatons whose chief point of differentiation is unit cost. This is, of course, absurd, even on total quality management terms. | The idea that negotiators might have ''insight'' borders on heretical among [[management consultant]]s, who regard them as fungible rule-following automatons whose chief point of differentiation is unit cost. This is, of course, absurd, even on total quality management terms. | ||
To put it in terms [[management consultant]]s | To put it in terms [[management consultant]]s might understand, this is ''[[jidoka]]'': “automation with a human touch”. | ||
A negotiator who [[fear|''fears'']] her material will hide behind the formal rules she is given to manage it. She won’t be drawn to discuss anything ''[[call, don’t email|live]]'' — if she doesn’t understand the form, why would she put her vulnerability on show? — so will hide behind her keyboard, contributing to the familiar experience of electronic trench warfare: she will lob long, bulleted | A negotiator who [[fear|''fears'']] her material will hide behind the formal rules she is given to manage it. She won’t be drawn to discuss anything ''[[call, don’t email|live]]'' — if she doesn’t understand the form, why would she put her vulnerability on show? — so will hide behind her keyboard, contributing to the familiar experience of electronic trench warfare: she will lob long, bulleted lists over no-man’s-land and into the enemy’s advanced positions, or escalate that way internally to risk departments. When they land, her missiles — missives? — will hiss and sputter, being passed about for days, before eventually being lobbed back, appended with yet ''more'' bullets and annotated in [[BLOCK CAPITALS]], ''ITALICS'' and fetching interjections in {{Fontcolour|#FF00D4|'''fuchsia'''}} and {{Fontcolour|#C8A2C8|'''lilac'''}}. | ||
This impasse can last, as it did in Ypres, for years. You could write [[strange negotiation|war peotry]] about it. | This impasse can last, as it did in Ypres, for years. You could write [[strange negotiation|war peotry]] about it. |