SEMESTER NEGOTIATION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION – ONLINE
Course Dates: Tuesdays, beginning September 24, 2024 and ending on December 10, 2024 from 6 to 8 p.m. ET
(Note: There will be no class the week of November 26, 2024)
Faculty: Toby Berkman and Betsy Fierman
Enrollment: Register Now – Fall 2024!
This course wasn’t just theory; it was serious experience. We actually applied the principles during class. Over the course of the program, I used the course concepts and negotiation preparation strategies to engage in multiple real-life negotiations. The result? A completely different understanding of my counter-parties that led to a major shift in our business direction.
Stever Robbins, past course participant
No matter how much experience you’ve had negotiating, this course will teach your more about negotiation than you can imagine, and along the way even more about yourself.
Yen-Hsi Liu, past course participant
This virtual and highly interactive semester-length course explores the ways that people negotiate to create value and resolve disputes. Designed to improve understanding of negotiation theory and build negotiation skills, the curriculum integrates negotiation research from several academic fields with experiential learning exercises. All sessions will be delivered live via Zoom.
Emphasizing both theoretical and practical insights, this course engages participants in a series of simulations set in domestic and international contexts, building from simple, two-party encounters to complex, multi-party scenarios. Exercises emphasize a wide variety of timely topics, including the psychological aspects of bargaining, value creation and distribution, coalition dynamics, and intra-team negotiation, with a special focus on organized preparation and process analysis.
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be prepared to become more effective and reflective negotiators, equipped with both theoretical knowledge and actionable, research-based strategies.
Eligibility Requirements: PON semester-length courses are open to participants from all disciplines and professional fields. Fluency in English is a must, with a minimum TOEFL score of 570.
Course Materials: Canvas will be used as the learning management platform. Digital materials will be provided to students. Students will also be required to purchase a couple of books for the course:
- Getting to Yes (3rd Ed.); (Fisher, Ury and Patton; New York: Penguin, 2011).
- Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations; (Ury; New York: Bantam, 1993).
- Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most; (Stone, Heen and Patton; New York: Penguin, 2000).
Supplementary readings from other sources will be provided as well.
Location: Live sessions on Zoom.
Online Requirement: Students are required to attend live sessions on Zoom, and to engage regularly with instructors and classmates within the virtual classroom. In order to connect to class, students must have reliable internet access, a camera, microphone, and speakers. This course should not be attempted on a phone or tablet.
Tuition: General tuition: $2,497; Graduate Student tuition: $1,997 (Currently enrolled, full-time graduate students are eligible for a discounted rate.)
Certificate: When you complete your training program you will receive a certificate from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School signed by Program on Negotiation Executive Committee Chair, Professor Guhan Subramanian.
Enrollment: Register Now – Fall 2024!
Our Faculty
Toby Berkman
Toby Berkman is a facilitator, mediator, teacher, trainer, and author on public dispute resolution and multi-stakeholder collaboration. As a Senior Associate at the Consensus Building Institute, he uses innovative and inclusive process design and facilitation to help groups collaborate across differences, identify creative solutions to (seemingly) intractable problems, advance equity and social justice, and reimagine relationships of power and shared responsibility. His mediation and dialogue work addresses a wide range of issues including environmental justice, participatory governance, climate change mitigation and adaptation, international development, and human rights, with clients ranging from the World Bank to the United Nations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and state and municipal governments. He also supports corporate and non-profit clients in building their negotiation and collaboration capacity both internally and with outside stakeholders, and teaches courses on dispute resolution to law students, executives, and professionals from around the world as Affiliated Faculty at the Harvard Program on Negotiation. Toby's writing on conflict and dialogue has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the LA Times, and the Journal of Dispute Resolution, among other publications.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Fierman
Elizabeth (Betsy) Fierman is a mediator, facilitator, trainer, and researcher with 10 years of experience in the field of conflict management and collaborative problem solving. She has worked with government agencies, NGOs, multilateral organizations, private companies and communities to address socio-environmental conflicts, design and implement multi-stakeholder engagement processes, and improve dialogue and negotiation skills.
Based in Chile, Betsy is director of CBI’s Chile office. She has also worked with a variety of Chilean institutions, such as Casa de la Paz Foundation and the Agency for Sustainability and Climate Change. She has taught courses on alternative dispute resolution at the Universidad de Chile and the Pontifica Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, to both undergraduates and executive education students.
Betsy holds a Master’s Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s Degreefrom Haverford College. She is a certified mediator by the State of Massachusetts, and is a certified facilitator for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. A native of Boston, USA, she is bilingual in English and Spanish.