This course is designed to raise your awareness of your own approach to conflict, introduce a range of theories about mediation and participatory processes, and improve your conflict management skills. While we will discuss a wide range of dispute resolution processes that involve third parties, we will focus on mediation. Each class moves back and forth between theory and skills practice, using theory to improve real world effectiveness, and using experience to improve understanding of theory.
litigation
A formalized legal process to resolve a dispute through legal action in the form of a lawsuit. It often entails a contractual issue. It is the act of either bringing or challenging a lawsuit. (from www.negotiations.com/definition)
The following items are tagged litigation.
When Chaos is a Virtue
Adapted from “Turn Chaos to Your Advantage,” by Michael Wheeler (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
“I’ve learned to make chaos my friend in negotiation,” says Thomas Green, managing director of Citigroup Global Markets and former first assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As part of a team representing more
Make your threat more credible
Adapted from “Making Threats Credible,” by Deepak Malhotra (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
While the stakes are usually lower, negotiation often resembles a game of Chicken. Both sides make threats in an effort to change their counterpart’s behavior or beliefs. You might threaten to take your business elsewhere unless the other
A fast food chain in your historic town?
The PON Clearinghouse offers hundreds of role simulations, from two-party, single-issue negotiations to complex multi-party exercises. The following role simulation is a two-team, multi-issue negotiation between representatives of a restaurant conglomerate and a neighborhood organization over zoning requirements for a possible fast-food restaurant in a historic university neighborhood.
The City of Lamebridge in the State of
Beware Your Lawyer’s Biases
Parties in litigation are often overly optimistic about their chances of winning in court. This tendency reduces the bargaining range for settlement because one or both parties perceive their walkaway alternative (namely, letting the courts decide) to be more attractive than it actually is. According to conventional wisdom, lawyers can help their clients overcome this overoptimism bias by providing an objective assessment of a case’s merits and encourage acceptance of a deal.
Dwight Golann
Professor Golann was a civil litigator before joining the Suffolk Law School faculty, practicing with a Boston law firm and as Chief of Consumer Protection for the Massachusetts Attorney General. He later served as Chief of the Government Bureau and Trial Division for the Attorney General, directing the litigation and settlement of all cases against
Melissa Manwaring
Melissa Manwaring is a lecturer in the Management Division at Babson College, where she has taught negotiation in the graduate program since 2002 and co-developed the inaugural Fast Track MBA (hybrid online / face-to-face) negotiation course in 2008. She also serves as Babson’s Director of Institutional Assessment, overseeing the campus-wide assurance of learning process.
How to Avoid a Do-Over
Remember that big sales contract you negotiated last fall, the one that got you a fat year-end bonus? Well, your manufacturing department has just told you that delivery will be two months late. So now it’s your job to persuade your customer to accept a new date without canceling the deal. And that’s not all. That long-term supply contract you worked so hard on a year ago? The supplier is asking for a meeting to revise the pricing due to its increased energy costs.
A more cooperative divorce
Adapted from “Negotiating a More Civil Divorce,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
In the United States, lawyers who recognize the benefits of collaborative negotiation are sometimes stymied by vengeful clients and ruthless opposing counsel. Many attorneys put up with a contentious settlement process in which litigation is a threat.
Yet some U.S. lawyers have begun
A closer look at court-sponsored mediation
Adapted from “Does Lawsuit Mediation Really Work”? First published in the Negotiation newsletter.
No one likes to go to court. Not only is it expensive and time-consuming, it often leads to frustrating results and damaged relationships. So is court-sponsored mediation a better route?
The answer is “sometimes,” according to a comprehensive survey of court-affiliated mediation programs
New Summer Programs
Taught by world-renowned professors, distinguished thought leaders and best-selling authors.
Stay Connected to PON
Articles & Insights
BATNA
- Business Negotiations
- Conflict Management
- Conflict Resolution
- Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Across Cultures
- “Confronting Evil” Panel Videos Now Available Online
- Conflict Resolution Lessons from the Home: How Conflict Management Skills Transform Discord Into Harmony
- Working with Your Agent – and Someone Else’s – In Negotiation
- Confronting Evil: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Conference underway
- Crisis Negotiations
- PON co-sponsored conference addresses the challenges of “Confronting Evil”
- Finding the Right Process in India
- The Fiscal Cliff and the Debt Ceiling: Program on Negotiation Chair Robert Mnookin Discusses Recent and Future Negotiations Between Congressional Republicans and the White House
- Robert Mnookin Joins Panel to Discuss the Fiscal Cliff Negotiations on NPR’s Forum
- BATNA for the Holidays? Program on Negotiation Co-Founders Bruce Patton and William Ury Discuss the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ with NPR
- Dealmaking
- Dispute Resolution
- International Negotiation
- Tips for Navigating Negotiations in China
- Negotiating in China: The Gold Rush Mentality
- PON panel discusses Track II Negotiations, Islands of Coordination and Unilateral Moves in the New Middle East
- Complexity Personified: International Standards Negotiations from a Microsoft Manager’s Perspective
- An International Negotiation for an All-American Brand
- Mediation
- Mediating Tragedy: Managing the Boston Victim’s Compensation Fund
- What’s Wrong with Traditional Arbitration?
- Hiring a Mediator: A Checklist
- Social Perceptions at the Crossroads: Why Sex (Still) Impacts the Perception and Evaluation of Other Status-Linked Identities
- Dispute Resolution Using Online Mediation
- Meeting Facilitation
- Negotiation Skills
- Negotiation Training
- Register Now for the Program on Negotiation’s Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Seminar!
- Negotiate Relationships
- Negotiation Training: What’s Special About Technology Negotiations?
- For Better Negotiation Training, Study the U.S. Government’s Mistakes
- Negotiating for Continuous Improvement: Use a Negotiation Preparation Worksheet
- Pedagogy
- Sales Negotiations
- Win Win
- Women and Negotiation