Please visit the Harvard Negotiation Project website for complete information and online resources

The Harvard Negotiation Project's mission is to improve the theory, teaching, and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution, so that people can deal more constructively with conflicts ranging from the interpersonal to the international.

The Project, or HNP as it is commonly known, was created in 1979 and was one of the founding organizations of the Program on Negotiation consortium. The work of faculty, staff, and students associated with HNP routinely moves back and forth between the worlds of theory and practice to develop ideas that practitioners find useful and scholars sound. In general, HNP's work can be grouped into four categories -- theory building; education and training; real-world intervention; and written materials for practitioners. A sampling of HNP activities in each category follows.

HNP now includes the work of Global Negotiation (formally known as the Global Negotiation Project).

Theory Building

HNP is perhaps best known for the development of the theory of "principled negotiation," as presented in Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by Roger Fisher, Bill Ury, and Bruce Patton. First published in 1981, and revised and expanded in a tenth anniversary edition (Penguin 1991), Getting to YES outlines a commonsense approach to negotiation that has been read by millions of people in 25 different languages. In clear, straightforward writing, Getting to YES shows negotiators how to separate relationship issues from substance and deal with the latter by focusing on interests, not positions; inventing options for mutual gain; and using independent standards of fairness to avoid a bitter contest of will.

Other books by the HNP team include: Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most (Viking/Penguin 1999), Getting It DONE: How to Lead When You're Not in Charge (Harper Business 1998) and Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as you Negotiate (Penguin 2006).

Difficult Conversations, by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen, with a foreword by Roger Fisher, coaches readers on how to have those conversations they dread most, whether at work, at home, or across the backyard fence. Common examples of difficult conversations include issues around race, gender, or religion; interactions where emotions run high; and situations in which our self-image or sense of who we are in the world feels threatened. A national bestseller now available in more than 15 languages, the book explains why these conversations are so tough and offers a step-by-step method for handling them with less anxiety and more success.

Getting It DONE, by Roger Fisher and Alan Sharp (longtime colleague and organizational consultant), with John Richardson, instructs the reader on how to work effectively in teams and presents the method of "lateral leadership" -- how to influence groups in a positive direction, regardless of your position in that group. The book coaches the reader on how to think through purposes; harness the power of organized thought; learn from experience; find valued roles for people that draw on their strengths; and offer feedback that truly helps.

Beyond Reason, by Roger Fisher and Dan Shapiro, teaches you how to use emotions to turn a disagreement - big or small, professional or personal - into an opportunity for mutual gain. They explain the five "core concerns" that lie at the heart of most emotional challenges. And, more importantly, shows you how to address these concerns to improve your relationships and get the results you want.

Education and Training

Professor Emeritus Fisher and other HNP staff continue to teach the Negotiation Workshop HNP pioneered in the Harvard Law School curriculum and to offer a one-week version of the course to lawyers and interested others each June and November through Harvard Law School's Program of Instruction for Lawyers (PIL). John Richardson has added an Advanced Workshop on Multiparty Negotiation to the curriculum to supplement the occasional advanced seminars offered by various HNP faculty. A one-week Advanced Workshop on Communication and Difficult Conversations is offered each June as part of PIL, and a two-day course on Managing the Difficult Business Conversation is offered twice a year for executives.

As part of HNP's commitment to helping other teachers, HNP staff have developed a wealth of negotiation exercises, teaching notes, videotaped demonstrations, and interactive video and electronic lessons and made them available through the Program on Negotiation's Clearinghouse and Harvard Business School Publishing.

Real-World Intervention

HNP frequently tests its theories in the crucible of practice, often in the heat of some of the world's most intransigent conflicts. From South Africa to Latin America, the Mideast to the Balkans, HNP works with individuals and governments on initiatives ranging from injecting a single idea at a crucial time to initiating and framing an entire process for dealing with a conflict.

Recently, for example, Fisher and colleagues from the nonprofit Conflict Management Group tested an HNP technique called "facilitated joint brainstorming" with a high-level but unofficial group from Ecuador and Peru to generate new options that both sides could jointly present to their superiors. The conference led to a peace initiative that ultimately settled a highly contentious border dispute that had persisted for 50 years and resulted in numerous armed conflicts.

Currently Fisher and others are working on ideas that might facilitate progress in managing the complexity of stalled Middle East peace negotiations.