Business Negotiations

Adapted from “Think You’re Powerless? Think Again,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

If your organization regularly bids for business, you may be accustomed to feeling like the weaker party, write Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman in their book Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond … Read Pull Ahead of the Pack

Adapted from “Everybody’s Doing It,” by Robert B. Cialdini (professor, Arizona State University), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Brown University Medical School researchers conducted a fascinating study on the factors that influence adolescents to take up cigarette smoking. As expected, several personal, familial, and social circumstances were to blame. For instance, teens who had been … Read Help Them Be More Certain

Adapted from “How the Writers Got Back to Work,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

What happens when people think they’ve invested too much in a dispute to back down from their entrenched positions? This question rose to the fore as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) West and East’s strike against the Alliance of Motion … Read To Avoid an Impasse, Keep Talking

Francesca Gino, Don A. Moore, and Max Bazerman (Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School)

Managers unknowingly promote unethical behavior in the way they issue orders to subordinates or outsource work or mishandle their priorities. The result:  scandals that can cost trillions of dollars. In this article, the authors explain how leaders can … Learn More About This Program

Adapted from “Turn Disputes into Deals,” by by Robert H. Mnookin (professor, Harvard Law School) first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

In 1982, writer and movie producer Art Buchwald wrote a screen treatment that his partner, Alain Bernheim, pitched to Paramount Pictures. Settling upon the title King for a Day, Paramount and Bernheim entered into an … Read Keep it Out of Court

Adapted from “Beyond Salary: Negotiating for Job Satisfaction and Success,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Most people enter employment negotiations assuming that compensation and benefits are the only issues on the table, according to Negotiation editorial board member David Lax. By contrast, enlightened job seekers realize these concerns are only part of the picture. In … Read Negotiating for Career Satisfaction

Adapted from “How to Win an Auction—and Avoid the Sinking Feeling that You Overbid,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Imagine that at the beginning of class, a professor produces a jar full of coins and announces that he is auctioning it off. Students can write down a bid, he explains, and the highest bidder will … Read Don’t Be Cursed

Adapted from “Do a 3-D Audit of Barriers to Agreement,” by James K. Sebenius (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

When talks stall, it’s tempting to jump to conclusions: “They’re being unreasonable.” “We’re not communicating well.” “We’re in a weak position.” Sometimes, however, setup barriers are to blame—that is, you don’t have … Read Set Yourself Up for Success