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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Teaching the Fundamentals: The Best Introductory Negotiation Role Play Simulations

Lara SanPietro   •  01/07/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Introductory Negotiation

Introductory negotiation courses are taught in law and business schools around the world, but are also increasingly taught to undergraduates and in all types of corporate settings. No matter the context, though, the basic elements of negotiation are roughly similar. Teaching interest-based negotiation, the Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA), the Best Alternative to a Negotiated … Learn More About This Program

Teach Your Students to Take Their Mediation Skills to the Next Level

Lara SanPietro   •  01/02/2026   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Mediation

Mediation is a critical conflict resolution skill for students in a variety of fields: business, international relations, law, and public policy, to name a few. Once students have mastered mediation basics, they can hone their skills by trying to mediate more complex conflicts as well as by learning the key differences between facilitation and mediation. … Learn More About This Program

Teaching Critical Leadership Skills

Lara SanPietro   •  12/15/2025   •  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

Labor Relations: Negotiating Collective Bargaining Agreements

Lara SanPietro   •  12/10/2025   •  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

New International Negotiation Simulations: Teaching International Negotiation with Current Global Dynamics

Lara SanPietro   •  12/02/2025   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

international negotiation

With the spread of a global pandemic, climate crisis, and the war on terror, resolving international conflicts has become increasingly complex. Training to address these difficult global conflicts must also reflect the modern issues and dynamics that face the international community. The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) has several new international negotiation simulations that reflect … Learn More About This Program

Teaching Mediation: Exercises to Help Students Acquire Mediation Skills

Lara SanPietro   •  11/11/2025   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Mediation Hire a Mediator

Often, disputing parties are unable achieve satisfactory or sustainable outcomes on their own through direct negotiation, and require the assistance of a mediator or facilitator. Mediators can help parties involved in a dispute through examining the issues at hand, uncovering the parties’ underlying interests, and identifying creative solutions. To act as mediator requires a great … Learn More About This Program

Teach Your Students to Negotiate Climate Change

Lara SanPietro   •  10/27/2025   •  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

Negotiating with Colleagues: Training for Collaborative Human Resources Negotiations

Lara SanPietro   •  10/14/2025   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

human resources negotiations

Human resources representatives are often involved in a wide array of internal company negotiations, including one-on-one disputes between colleagues as well as inter-department budgeting and overall staffing plans. To deftly handle this wide array of negotiations, human resources representatives must balance the various stakeholder concerns, financial assessments, and competing interests with fairness, consideration for relationships, … Learn More About This Program

Check Out PON’s Recent Interviews with Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Negotiation and Foreign Policy

Riley Scheuritzel   •  10/09/2025   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

In May 2025, the Program on Negotiation (PON) and the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School welcomed the 70th Secretary of State and Harvard Law School Alum, Michael R. Pompeo to sit down for a series of interviews which included a public session attended by students, faculty, and guests at Harvard Law School, as … Learn More About This Program

The Best New Simulations

Lara SanPietro   •  10/05/2025   •  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

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