On November 28, dozens of employees at several fast-food restaurants in New York City walked off their jobs and demanded better pay and unionization. In doing so, they launched what is believed to be the largest coordinated campaign in the United States to unionize fast-food workers from different restaurants, reports Steven Greenhouse in the New York Times.
coalition
Structures that become possible when three or more parties negotiate, and parties ally together to exploit or buy off each other. Coalition dynamics can arise across the table (between parties in a dispute) or behind the table (among individuals on one side or the other). (David A. Lax, James K. Sebenius)
The following items are tagged coalition.
Mediation, Arbitration, and the Promise of Privacy
Negotiators often choose to resolve their conflicts through mediation, arbitration, and other alternative dispute resolution methods because of the privacy these methods promise. Unlike the public nature of litigation, mediation and arbitration typically give parties the freedom to hash out sensitive issues without the fear that their discussions and agreement will become public knowledge. Two new cases in the news, however, show that privacy is a nuanced issue in some alternative dispute resolution contexts.
Bring Back Your Deal from the Brink: Weigh the Benefits of a Concession
Another option for dealing with difficult negotiations is to craft what Harvard Law School professor Robert C. Bordone calls a “workaround” – a strategy for meeting your current goals without the involvement or support of your adversary. You might be able to induce a yes with a tempting concession on a key issue, according to Bordone. Offering a concession can be a risky strategy, as it may only encourage someone to push for more. But if a concession would allow you to move beyond that person once and for all, it may be your best option.
Team Building: For Strength in Numbers, Build a Strong Team
An energy boom has hit the rural counties of the upper Ohio River Valley, resulting in a flood of investment in mineral leasing that is revitalizing economies and creating newfound prosperity for many landowners, Keith Schneider reported in the New York Times on June 4.
Great Negotiator Award 2012
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, in conjunction with the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School, honored distinguished statesman and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III as the recipient of their Great Negotiator Award for 2012. Secretary Baker served under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1992.
A panel discussion was held on the afternoon of March 29 and included Program on Negotiation faculty members James Sebenius and Robert Mnookin, as well as Harvard Kennedy School faculty member Nicholas Burns. The Great Negotiator Award was created twelve years ago by the Program on Negotiation to recognize an individual whose lifetime achievements in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution have had a lasting impact.
Fifteen Things We Know About Environmental Dispute Resolution
I was recently asked by my Harvard Law School class to summarize what we know (from actual experience) about environmental dispute resolution. I offered the following list. I’m eager to hear reactions from other scholars and practitioners.
What have I left out? What have I misstated?
Does the majority really rule?
When a group of people are negotiating, what’s the best way to arrive at a decision? Ever since U.S. general Henry M. Robert published Robert’s Rules of Order in 1876, groups have relied on the principle of majority rule, measured with a simple yea or nay vote at the end of the negotiation process.
Majority rule
The Benefits of Coalition Building
In 2006, representatives of wind-energy developers started knocking on the doors of Wyoming ranchers. They were seeking to persuade the ranchers to sell the rights to build wind turbines on their land, reporter Addie Goss recounted on National Public Radio. Typically, the developers build wind farms by leasing large blocks of land from many different landowners in western states. In Wyoming, ranchers began signing leases without knowing the true value of the wind sweeping across their land.
Political Polarization and Ideas for Restoring Civility to Government in 2012
“Political Polarization and Ideas for Restoring Civility to Government in 2012″
with
Jill Lepore,
Professor of American History at Harvard University
and
Mark McKinnon
Reidy Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government
Date: October 25, 2011
Time: 4:00-6:00 PM
Where: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
1737 Cambridge Street, Room K-354, Cambridge MA
Contact Chair:
Nonviolent Power in Action: observations from an expert on what happened in Egypt, Tunisia and beyond
Watch the video of the PON Brown Bag Lunch:
The Dynamics of Nonviolent Power:
Egypt, Tunisia and beyond
with
Hardy Merriman
Senior Advisor at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
Recorded: April 20, 2011
Click here to watch the video:
http://www.law.harvard.edu/media/2011/04/20_pon.mov
About the Event: The Dynamics of Nonviolent Power: Egypt, Tunisia and Beyond
By: Carrie O’Neil, PON Research Assistant
What makes nonviolent, civilian-based movements









