Needs Based Negotiation: A Promising Practice in School Collaboration

Abstract: Theorists and practitioners report that success in school collaboration and team development is based, at least in part, on the personal relationship developed between colleagues and team members. A primary source of tension in working together reported by teachers and educational leaders is developing and sustaining a personal relationship in the school environment. The authors maintain that needs based negotiation, a powerful tool used in business, may bridge the gap between beginning and sustaining a professional relationship among individuals who are asked to collaborate or develop teams in schools. Needs based negotiation is a technique that has the potential for adaptation in educational venues and may hold the answer to developing professional collaboration among school practitioners. Today, individuals working in businessand educational organizations are told to adapt and change. Academics posit that in-dividuals may change more readily within a team environment where all interested stake-holders interact and collaborate (Bolman & Deal, l997; Senge, l990). Contemporary vo-cabulary in schools, teacher preparation, ed-ucational leadership development and pro-fessional educational literature includes co-operation, consultation, coaching, co-teach-ing, teaming, team-building, teamwork, child study teams, co-planning teams and site-based management teams. All require, at some level and at some time, collaboration on the part of adults interacting and working together with the primary goal to promote learning for children with disabilities (Dett