Teaching Negotiation

Teaching negotiation includes instructional areas such as deal setup and design, dispute resolution systems, arbitration, mediation, and meeting facilitation as well as the use of interactive role-play exercises, books, videos, training materials and role-play simulations designed around a specific negotiation skill or concept. The Program on Negotiation’s educational resource center, known as the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), develops a wide-range of role-play simulations—including the popular Sally Soprano negotiation case study—interactive teaching exercises, books, videos, and scholarly papers devoted to the application of teaching negotiation and training effective negotiators.

Materials in the TNRC cover negotiation-related issues in areas ranging from climate change to ethics. Many of the themes are substantive (e.g., environmental negotiations or business negotiations), some target specific sectors (e.g., health care industry), or address particular contexts (e.g., cross-cultural negotiation skills) while others are more process oriented (e.g., facilitation).

The most popular simulation topics include:

  • Environmental
  • Real Estate
  • Workplace
  • Public Policy
  • Teaching in Law
  • Water Management Simulations

In addition, once a year, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School selects an outstanding individual who embodies what it means to be a truly great negotiator. To earn the Great Negotiator Award, the honoree must be a distinguished leader whose lifelong accomplishments in the field of dispute resolution and negotiation have had compelling and lasting results.

To help students and professionals learn valuable lessons from these highly skilled negotiators, PON’s Great Negotiator Case Study Series features in-depth studies such as Stuart Eizenstat: Negotiating the Final Accounts of World War II and Lakhdar Brahimi: Negotiating a New Government for Afghanistan.

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Labor Relations: Negotiating Collective Bargaining Agreements

Lara SanPietro   •  10/06/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Two people in business suits shaking hands with a shadow of crossed swords on the wall behind

Contract bargaining in labor relations is one of the most complex areas of negotiation and dispute resolution. There are rarely clear cut or mutually agreed upon notions of what a fair salary and benefits package would be, so employers and workers, either individually or collectively, often find themselves at odds. Furthermore, contract bargaining in a … Learn More About This Program

How to Negotiate a Promotion: Overcoming Gender Bias at Work

PON Staff   •  09/14/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

women in the workplace,negotiating with your boss

What is second-generation gender bias? Second-generation gender bias is a common type of subconscious bias that can emerge in the workplace. As compared to overt discrimination, second-generation gender bias involves falling back on outdated gender stereotypes when making personnel decisions. Second-generation gender bias emerges in policies and practices that might appear gender-neutral on the surface … Learn More About This Program

New Simulation: Mediating Parental Rights, Curriculum, and School Authority

Riley Scheuritzel   •  09/02/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Three red apples on a stack of books with scissors and chalk in front of a green chalkboard

New from the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), Sex Ed is a 2-hour, 5-party, nonscorable mediation simulation involving a parent, an elementary school principal, two attorneys, and a court-appointed mediator. This mediation centers on Dewi Elementary’s newly piloted Sexuality Education (SE) curriculum for students for ages five through nine. The curriculum addresses the human body … Learn More About This Program

The Best New Simulations

Lara SanPietro   •  08/24/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

How to Respond to Questions

Looking to update your curriculum with innovative new simulations? Check out these new simulations from the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC).
Discord at the Daily Herald – New Simulation
This two-party, three-hour, multi-issue negotiation is between the co-owners of the Daily Herald newspaper over how to resolve ongoing management issues and implement structural reforms in the face … Read The Best New Simulations

Teach Your Students How to Have Difficult Conversations Over Email

Lara SanPietro   •  08/03/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

email negotiation

Negotiating over email has its own unique challenges and opportunities. For example, people often assume that others read their emails immediately; failing to account for reasonable delays, they may experience anxiety when they don’t receive a prompt response. On the plus side, email negotiations provide a permanent record of what has been discussed, which can … Learn More About This Program

Expand Your Curriculum with 17 Newly Translated Simulations

Riley Scheuritzel   •  07/27/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Expand Your Curriculum with 17 Newly Translated Simulations
The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) is pleased to announce the expansion of our translated simulation collection. The TNRC offers a variety of negotiation simulations translated into over 30 languages. Now available, however, are 17 new versions of some of our most popular simulations in Spanish, Mandarin … Learn More About This Program

Teach Your Students to Negotiate Climate Change

Lara SanPietro   •  07/21/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Aerial view of a flooded suburban neighborhood with houses and vehicles partially submerged

How Can Communities Negotiate Climate Change Risks?
With ocean temperatures rising and hurricanes growing more frequent and severe, the impacts of climate change are dramatically affecting many communities. The severe flooding brought on by repeated storms has forced the impacted communities to confront a range of public health risks, as well as evaluations of drainage and … Read Teach Your Students to Negotiate Climate Change

Bidding in an International Business Negotiation: Euro-Idol

Lara SanPietro   •  07/12/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Euro-Idol

Euro-Idol is a four-party, two-round international business negotiation over the selection of the host country and city for the upcoming Euro-Idol music competition. In this bidding simulation from the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), cities must place bids to host the Euro-Idol competition, and therefore gain the economic benefits that come with hosting such a … Learn More About This Program

Teaching Critical Leadership Skills

Lara SanPietro   •  07/05/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

ethical leadership and Effective Leadership as portrayed by people standing on a rock with their fists in the air Participative Leadership

Running a multinational corporation, starting a small business, or leading a diplomatic mission all require critical leadership skills. Being an effective leader necessitates negotiating both within your organization and with external partners. In Real Leaders Negotiate, author Jeswald Salacuse explains that leaders can increase their effectiveness by using negotiation in each of the three phases … Read Teaching Critical Leadership Skills