Negotiators seem to suffer the same common pitfalls regardless of their industry or culture.  One of the most common problems is that they often settle for too little (Thompson, 2005).   This occurs because negotiators, concerned with their bottom line, tend to focus on what they must get rather than exerting their efforts towards achieving what they would ideally like to get.  This effect is especially strong when negotiators are given a minimum value by their manager that they must achieve, but no indicator of an ideal value.  A related problem is leaving money on the table.  Negotiators leave money on the table when they fail to recognize opportunities for trading value (e.g., giving away an issue of little importance to gain on an issue of much greater importance) or for bringing in additional value by introducing new options for both parties.  This is seen as a lose-lose negotiation because both sides have missed the potential for achieving greater rewards, accepting mediocrity or a split-the-difference solution instead.  Some parties may walk away from a good deal because they do not recognize it as being better than their bottom line.  Others may accept a deal that is worse than their no deal alternative because considerable time, effort or money was sunk into the negotiation, making it painful to walk away.  All of these negotiation pitfalls have in common the problem of poor preparation, i.e., not understanding what is valued.

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