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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High Stakes Negotiations in the Healthcare Industry

Lara SanPietro   •  04/13/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

healthcare

Teach Your Students to Negotiate One of the Most Critical Global Industries
With the COVID-19 pandemic devastating communities around the world, the acute importance of the healthcare industry to community welfare has become even more apparent. Healthcare is one of the biggest economies in the world, with billions of dollars spent on treatments and associated research. … Learn More About This Program

Check Out the All-In-One Curriculum Packages – Available for Some of Our Most Popular Simulations

Lara SanPietro   •  04/06/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

price

Introducing a new way to go in-depth when teaching the most important negotiation concepts and to measure learning outcomes.
If you are new to teaching negotiation or are looking to go in-depth on teaching key concepts, the All-In-One Curriculum Package will provide you with everything you need. The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center has created All-In-One Curriculum … Learn More About This Program

Teaching with Multi-Round Simulations: Balancing Internal and External Negotiations

Lara SanPietro   •  03/31/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

multi-round

Whether in business, law, or international diplomacy, many negotiations are actually comprised of a multi-round process with negotiations internal to the organization preceding external ones. Using multi-round negotiation simulations can help students understand the connection between internal and external negotiations, handle more complex scenarios, and better get into their roles. Engaging in a multi-round negotiation … Learn More About This Program

Teaching Contract Negotiation: Using the Mutual Gains Approach

Lara SanPietro   •  03/29/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

anchoring effect

How do you use the mutual gains approach in contract negotiations?
In contract negotiations, parties can often resort to positional bargaining instead of using the mutual gains approach. Teaching students to generate creative options in contract negotiations can help them avoid positional bargaining and achieve more beneficial and sustainable agreements. The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) … Learn More About This Program

Learn from the Best with the Great Negotiator Case Studies

Lara SanPietro   •  03/22/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Great Negotiator

No one can provide perspective on conflict resolution like experts who have been involved in some of the world’s most complex negotiations. Since 2001, the Program on Negotiation (PON) has bestowed the Great Negotiator Award upon distinguished leaders whose lifelong accomplishments in the fields of negotiation and dispute resolution have had compelling and lasting results. The … Learn More About This Program

Managing Emotions in Negotiation: Teaching Students to Turn Emotions into an Opportunity for Mutual Gain

Lara SanPietro   •  03/10/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

bad news in negotiation

How do you move from an emotionally charged moment in a negotiation to a mutually beneficial agreement? In negotiations of all types, whether buying a house or negotiating a company acquisition, emotions naturally manifest. Left unaddressed, emotions can derail a negotiation and make agreement seem impossible. … Learn More About This Program

Expand Your Curriculum with 17 Newly Translated Simulations

Riley Scheuritzel   •  03/05/2026   •  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 the Technology Industry

Lara SanPietro   •  02/24/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

negotiation techniques

Technology is a pervasive feature of modern life, providing countless benefits ranging from new cancer treatments to smart phones. Especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has been embedded in many parts of our everyday lives. Technology can also be a source of disruption and is at the root of many disputes. Parties … Learn More About This Program

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