Interest-Based Negotiations (I.B.N.) Interest-based negotiations (sometimes called Mutual Gains Bargaining or Win-Win bargaining) focuses the parties on finding solutions to their problems, as opposed to merely settling their differences. Implicit in this approach is the recognition that union and management are separate entities with separate constituencies, but with many interests in common. In contrast to the adversarial approach to union management relations, IBN provides that one party does not have to 'lose' in order for the other party to 'win'. It often initiates a new paradigm in the relationship between the parties, harnessing creativity and objectivity, and invariably results in more durable solutions to complex workplace problems and collective bargaining issues. In IBN, the parties focus on interests or concerns (as opposed to their positions), jointly creating options for the satisfaction of those interests, and jointly evaluating those options against the interests and agreed-upon objective criteria.