A professional trained to help parties negotiate productively. The role of a facilitator may vary, but in most cases they are responsible for keeping the conversation on track and communication open. (Lawrence E. Susskind and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank, Breaking Robert’s Rules [Oxford University Press, USA, 2006], 27). See Also: 2 Negotiation Role Plays Designed to Build Critical Skills, Negotiation Case Studies: Teach By Example, How Case Studies Facilitate Negotiated Agreements.
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Role Simulations
Business and Commercial Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Akron Steel
Allison Berland
A non-team, multi-issue, non-scorable exercise that gives participants an opportunity to map a conflict at the workplace.Cross-Cultural Negotiation Role-Play:
Armenia/Azerbaijan/Nagorno KarabakhA Public Peace Process Initiative
Taline Aharonian and Agieszka Klich
Complex 13-party, two-team facilitated negotiation between private citizens from both sides of an actual long-term ethnic conflictCorporate Decision-Making Negotiation Role-Play:
Bunyon Brothers
Mark Gordon, Elizabeth Gray, and Bruce Patton
Three-party, multi-issue internal corporate negotiation in preparation for external negotiation with community representativesCommunity Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Changing Times for the Senior Center in Redwood Hills
Connie Ozawa
Multi-party, multi-issue facilitated negotiation for five or six players representing civic and business leaders and owner of a senior center regarding the expansion of other groups' use of the centerPublic Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Chestnut Drive
Bruce Patton and Mark Gordon
Six-party, multi-issue, intra-group negotiation among neighbors in preparation for an external negotiation regarding a local construction projectCommunity Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Chestnut Village
Thomas Wiegand
Multi-party, multi-issue negotiation between 3-4 construction company representatives and 5-6 neighborhood representatives over safety and nuisance complaints regarding a local construction project; internal team meetings precede external negotiationsClimate Change Negotiation Role-Play:
Coastal Flooding and Climate-Related Risks in Launton
Seven-person, multi-issue facilitated negotiation among local government, community, business, and environmental representatives trying to reach agreement on a strategy for managing climate change risks in a small, beachfront community.
Climate Change Negotiation Role-Play:
Coastal Flooding in ShorehamResponding to Climate Change Risks
Seven-person, multi-issue facilitated negotiation among local government, community, business, and environmental representatives trying to reach agreement on a strategy for managing climate change risks in a medium-sized coastal community
Community Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Construction in Bunyonville
Bruce Patton
Six-person, multi-issue mediation between two construction company representatives and two neighborhood residents over a construction project's safety and noise issues; mediated by two representatives of the bank financing the constructionCorporate Decision-Making Negotiation Role-Play:
Designing an Integrated Account SystemFacilitation in the Company
Deborah Kolb and Lawrence Susskind
Five-person, multi-issue, facilitated negotiation among four managers and a Human Resources facilitator over the design of the company's new account systemPublic Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Development Dispute at Menehune Bay
Lawrence Susskind, Thomas Dinell, and Vicki Shook
Six-party, multi-issue, facilitated negotiation of a dispute over environmental issues, native rights, and commercial development interests in HawaiiEnvironment and Sustainability Negotiation Role-Play:
DirtyStuff I
Lawrence Susskind
Five-person, multi-issue facilitated negotiation among industry, environmental, labor, and government representatives to develop single-text regulation of toxic industrial by-productEnvironment and Sustainability Negotiation Role-Play:
DirtyStuff II
Jeffrey Litwak and Lawrence Susskind
Six-person, multi-issue facilitated negotiation among industry, environmental, consumer/community, labor, and government representatives to develop single-text regulation of toxic industrial by-productEnvironment and Sustainability Negotiation Role-Play:
East Falls Brownfields
Tracy Dyke, under the direction of Lawrence Susskind and Susan Podziba
Seven-person, non-scoreable, facilitated negotiation among planners, regulators and activists regarding the cleanup and redevelopment of environmentally contaminated propertyEnvironment and Sustainability Negotiation Role-Play:
Federal Lands Management IMatching the Process to the Situation
Consensus Building Institute, Montana Consensus Council, and Bureau of Land Management
Facilitated multi-party negotiation over the appropriate decision-making process for a federal land management disputeEnvironment and Sustainability Negotiation Role-Play:
Federal Lands Management IINegotiating a Resource Management Dispute
Consensus Building Institute, Montana Consensus Council and Bureau of Land Management
Facilitated multi-party negotiation over the appropriate environmental, commercial, residential, and other uses of federal lands in the Rocky MountainsClimate Change Negotiation Role-Play:
FloodingHelping Cities Adapt to Climate Change Risks (II)
Sarah Hammitt and Jessica Artiles under the direction of Professor Lawrence Susskind
An eight-party, environmentally-focused role-play simulation, Flooding deals with an investment firm that is in the final stages of a multi-year planning process for a large, riverside mixed-use development. FEMA recently updated Evantown’s Flood Insurance Rate Map and the development falls within the 100-year floodplain. In addition, a study by the local university concludes that altered precipitation patterns brought on by climate change will put more and more properties at risk of flooding in the future. Should the firm be allowed to go through with the development? How and to what extent should Evantown take measures to protect itself against flood risks? Who is responsible for paying for whatever adaptation measures are used to protect vulnerable areas?Climate Change Negotiation Role-Play:
Flooding and Climate Change Risks in Northam
Seven-person, multi-issue facilitated negotiation among local government, community, business, environmental, and engineering representatives trying to reach agreement on a strategy for managing climate change risks in a small coastal city
Climate Change Negotiation Role-Play:
Flooding in MiltonCollectively Managing Climate Change Risks
Seven-person, multi-issue facilitated negotiation among local government, community, business, and environmental representatives trying to reach agreement on a strategy for managing climate change risks in a mid-size coastal city.
Cross-Cultural Negotiation Role-Play:
Foreign Direct Investment in Mandoa
Michèle Ferenz, Stan Byers, and David Fairman with assistance from Professor Lawrence Susskind
A facilitated multi-party negotiation among government officials regarding the design of a foreign direct investment strategy that balances economic, societal, and environmental concernsInternational Relations Negotiation Role-Play:
Future of Hebron, TheWorkable Peace: Managing Conflict in the Middle East
Imam Soliman, under the direction of David Fairman
Seven-person, multi-issue facilitated negotiation among Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the West Bank city of Hebron to discuss land claims, security, and border controlCommunity Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Homelessness in Niceville
Edward Scher and Lawrence Susskind
Six-person facilitated integrative negotiation among advocates for homeless people, community and business leaders, and a foundation regarding the allocation of a grant to alleviate local homelessness problemsCommunity Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Juvenile Justice Restorative Circle
David Baharvar under the supervision of Robert C. Bordone
Six- or eight-party mediated restorative justice circle among juvenile offender, offender's parent, victim, community member, facilitators supporting each side, and one or two mediators, regarding a juvenile shoplifting incidentBusiness and Commercial Dispute Negotiation Role-Play:
Least-Cost Planning Exercise
Clinton Andrews and Lavinia Hall
Six-party, multi-issue mediation among electric utilities, consumer interests, environmentalists, and mediator with technical expertise, over the best way to meet increased demands for electricityScience-Intensive Policy Disputes Negotiation Role-Play:
Long RiverConfronting the Challenges of Instream Flow
Catherine Ashcraft and Larry Susskind
A six-party, seven-person (including the mediator), multi-issue mediation among representatives of governmental, business, environmental, recreational, and tribal interests regarding a dispute over developing an instream flow action planInternational Relations Negotiation Role-Play:
Monroe Energy Assistance Game I
Allan Morgan and Lawrence Susskind
Six-party, four-issue negotiation among representatives of consumer groups, political leaders, and public utilities to develop a statewide energy assistance plan for low-income residentsInternational Relations Negotiation Role-Play:
Negotiated Rulemaking for Electric Utilities
Jonathan Raab and Lavinia Hall
Five-person facilitated negotiation among environmental, industry, public utility, and government representatives to revise a proposed rule incorporating environmental costs into electric utility ratesInternational Relations Negotiation Role-Play:
Open Lands A Private Planning Negotiation
Patrick Field, Ric Richardson, and John Harrison
Eight-person facilitated negotiation among seven landowners to develop voluntary private land-use plan to provide financial security while preserving open space and agricultural landClimate Change Negotiation Role-Play:
Prioritizing Climate Change Adaptation MeasuresAgricultural Planning in the Bien Gio River Delta
Elizabeth Fierman under the supervision of David Fairman, David Plumb, Lawrence Susskind, Philip Angell, and Kelly Levin
Eight-party negotiation (with option for a ninth person facilitator) regarding climate change issues in a situation loosely based on the situation in Viet Nam.Environment and Sustainability Negotiation Role-Play:
Puerto Mauricio Development Conflict Simulation - Parts I & IIMultiple stakeholders must engage in a debate about land use and measure any agreement against the rules of an inter-governmental committee.
Mieke van der Wansem, Tracy Dyke and Lawrence Susskind
Thirteen-person, multi-issue, two-round, partially scoreable negotiation among government, industry, environmental, and farming stakeholders to develop a land-use plan (Part I) and among additional government stakeholders over plan approval (Part II)Environment and Sustainability Negotiation Role-Play:
Rockwell Quarry
Todd Bryan, Alexandra Mitchell, Hilary Collins, and Sarah Fordyce Bock
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 canyonCross-Cultural Negotiation Role-Play:
Seoul Food in Urbana
David Eun and Bruce Patton
Three-person mediation involving representatives of local Korean and African-American communities over racial tensions arising from an alleged shoplifting incident; a city representative serves as the mediatorScience-Intensive Policy Disputes Negotiation Role-Play:
The Mercury Negotiation SimulationExplore the consequences of representing scientific uncertainty in a policy context
Leah C. Stokes, Lawrence Susskind, and Noelle E. Selin
This mercury game is a role-play simulation aimed at scientists, students and decision makers. Playing the game will help participants explore the consequences of representing scientific uncertainty in various ways in a policy context.Steven Maser
Five- or six-person, multi-issue, facilitated negotiation among federal agency, state government, environmental, and industry representatives over the regulation of woodstove emissions; optional sixth role for industry association counselInternational Relations Negotiation Role-Play:
World Trade Center Redevelopment Negotiation
Lawrence Susskind, Katherine Harvey, David Kovick, F. Peter Phillips, Marc Wolinsky, Cathy Cronin Harris, and Simeon Baum
Six-person facilitated negotiation among representatives of the city, state, developer, insurer, and victims' families regarding the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacksCase Studies & Articles
Jason Campbell, with Anika Binnendijk and Andrew Wilson
Video and Audio
Videos and Audio
