Gravel quarry or hiking grounds?

By — on / Business Negotiations, Daily

The PON Clearinghouse offers hundreds of role simulations, from two-party, single-issue negotiations to complex multi-party exercises.  Rockwell Quarry is a five-party, multi-issue negotiation among elected officials, property owners, and a gravel company over a permit for a gravel quarry in a recreationally valuable canyon.

The Rockwell Quarry Complex Environmental Negotiation is a five-party, multi-issue simulation that allows students to negotiate a struggle between property rights and quality of life issues surrounding the permitting of a gravel quarry in a scenic and recreationally valuable canyon along the Front Range of Colorado. The simulation epitomizes a struggle that is occurring throughout the American West. The game is designed for groups of five, but it can also be played with a facilitator in a sixth role.

The game highlights the following issues:

  • The complexity of technical and financial information;
  • Inventing options in a complex environment;
  • Turning or tipping points that shift negotiation dynamics;
  • Accountability when one party possesses important yet confidential information that constrains options;
  • Compensation that enables parties to leverage resources and bring in outside issues;
  • Coalitions that shift when turning and tipping points emerge;
  • The dynamic role of the “honest broker.”

The game also highlights the basic tenets of interest-based negotiation, with an emphasis on the complexity of players’ BATNAs.

To purchase this role simulation, click here.

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
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1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

pon@law.harvard.edu
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