Critique of Getting to Yes

...

Finally, the authors have propagated the idea of use of objective criteria to arrive at the final agreement.

Besides the above four principles, Fisher and Ury have also written about how to deal with situations in which one negotiator is more powerful than the other and have suggested ways to effectively deal with this issue.

Conclusion:

The book may not necessarily be called revolutionary in presenting a completely new way of negotiating but this is also not a weakness per se. What the authors have done is to collect a set of principles on how negotiation can be conducted successfully, without damaging the relationship to the other party.

The idea behind it - namely principle based negotiation - is that one should separate the personal from the factual and stick as much to the latter as possible.

The recommendations are sound, and presented in an easy to digest format, which is both concise enough to be read quickly, as well as organized enough so that you can find specific points (matching your particular situation) easily. The book does not provide an excessive number of practical examples to demonstrate the principles but the ones given are both apt enough and sufficient for someone who is not completely new to the subject.

Another advantage is that the book remains hands on throughout - it focuses on the negotiation situations and less on how to mathematically calculate theoretical payoffs from a combination of concessions.

To summarize, the book is a sound basis for conducting negotiations, whether one is a novice or a relatively seasoned negotiator.