Friday, July 07, 2017

Negotiated Agreements

When companies are established, they are 'legal people'. This means they can negotiate contracts with other people, and other legal people - countries, companies, charities etc. The process of creating them creates formal connections. An employment contract between staff and employees isn't between the individuals. It is with this detached 'thing' that has been created. In social arrangements, often these 'contracts' are never formal. Expectations aren't negotiated up front. They evolve. They are unstated and assumed. This is all good if things evolve smoothly. If nothing goes wrong. Because negotiations aren't fun. They require gamesmanship, and posturing, and negative what-if-you-do-this scenario playing. They take the soft trust of 'let's see' that can deal with ambiguity, and replace it with colder algorithms of if-this-then-that.


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