Discover step-by-step techniques for avoiding common business negotiation pitfalls when you download a copy of the FREE special report, Business Negotiation Strategies: How to Negotiate Better Business Deals, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.


innovative

The following items are tagged innovative:

Ripeness Theory in Dispute Resolution: Seizing the Day

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution.

The longer a dispute drags on, the less likely a collaborative solution often appears to be. But that view may be pessimistic: At a certain point, the time will be ripe for agreement. A labor dispute between the Minnesota Orchestra’s musicians and management highlights negotiation mistakes that can drive us apart—and ripeness theory suggests how … Read More

Beyond the Back Table: Working with People and Organizations to Get to Yes

Posted by & filed under Beyond the Back Table.

NEW ONLINE PROGRAM! BEYOND THE BACK TABLE: WORKING WITH PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS TO GET TO YES February 25–26, 2025 | 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET

Go Beyond the Back Table In this two-day online course, you will step back to look beyond the negotiating table and discover how to understand and manage the individuals and groups who are not … Read More

Salary Negotiation: How to Negotiate Salary: Learn the Best Techniques to Help You Manage the Most Difficult Salary Negotiations and What You Need to Know When Asking for a Raise

Posted by & filed under Free Report.

Salary negotiations are often stressful and challenging. But with the right strategies, you can negotiate your employment terms with ease. In Salary Negotiation: How to Negotiate Salary: Learn the Best Techniques to Help You Manage the Most Difficult Salary Negotiations and What You Need to Know When Asking for a Raise, you’ll discover innovative ways … Read More

Beyond the Back Table: Working with People and Organizations to Get to Yes

Posted by & filed under Beyond the Back Table.

NEW ONLINE PROGRAM! BEYOND THE BACK TABLE: WORKING WITH PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS TO GET TO YES March 13-14, 2024 | 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET

Go Beyond the Back Table In this two-day online course, you will step back to look beyond the negotiating table and discover how to understand and manage the individuals and groups who are not … Read More

The Best New Simulations

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

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

What is the Multi-Door Courthouse Concept

Posted by & filed under International Negotiation.

As a collaboration between UST School of Law and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the following is the transcript of a conversation between the creator of the multi-door courthouse, Harvard Law Professor Frank E.A. Sander, and the executive director and founder of the University of St. Thomas (UST) International ADR [Alternative Dispute … Read What is the Multi-Door Courthouse Concept

The Contingency Theory of Leadership: A Focus on Fit

Posted by & filed under Leadership Skills.

When choosing our personal leadership style, we have many different models to choose from, including participative leadership, charismatic leadership, directive leadership, authoritarian leadership, paternalistic leadership, and servant leadership theory. Each leadership theory promotes a particular approach to running organizations, from involving employees fully in decisions to handing down directives. By contrast, the contingency theory of … Read More

New Simulation: International Business Acquisition Negotiated Online

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

New from the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), Ren the Robot is a one-and-a-half hour, two-party, multi-issue negotiation between a Tokyo-based robotics company, Grubotics, and a U.S.-based tech company, Delivered, over a potential acquisition deal. It is designed to be conducted using online video conferencing. The use of online video conference technology highlights the conveniences … Read More

Entrepreneurs: Prepare for Challenging Conversations in Key Negotiation

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Briefings Articles, Negotiation Skills.

Start-ups and individual entrepreneurs often encounter challenging conversations when negotiating with potential partners and investors. When you are trying to sell others on your big idea or venture, you face the daunting challenge of convincing them that it’s worth their time, money, and effort. And even as you’re drawing on all your powers of persuasion … Read More

Job Negotiation Advice from Leading Ladies

Posted by & filed under Salary Negotiations.

Thanks to a series of cultural events and news stories, job negotiation advice has become a hot topic among women professionals and businesspeople more generally. First came Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (Knopf, 2013) and corresponding movement, which encouraged women to take on leadership roles and … Read Job Negotiation Advice from Leading Ladies

Why diversity hiring efforts often fail—and how your organization can do better

Posted by & filed under Leadership Skills.

Immediately before the abbreviated Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, televised live on June 10, 2020, league commissioner Rob Manfred made a statement acknowledging the harm of systemic racism and inequality, and said that he and team owners would be “active participants in social change.” As he spoke, each MLB team’s general manager (GM) or head … Read More

Negotiating fruitful partnerships at warp speed

Posted by & filed under Business Negotiations.

In the global pharmaceutical industry, companies often work in utter secrecy to be the first to bring moneymaking, lifesaving drugs to market. But when the novel coronavirus emerged in China in early 2020, many leading drugmakers quickly recognized that they would not be able to swiftly develop and mass- produce effective Covid-19 vaccines and treatments on … Read Negotiating fruitful partnerships at warp speed

Conflict Management and Negotiation: Personality and Individual Differences That Matter

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Although Elfenbein and her colleagues did find that negotiators performed at a similar level from one negotiation to the next, to their surprise, these scores were only minimally related to specific personality traits. And traits that are basically unchangeable, such as gender, ethnic background, and physical attractiveness, were not closely connected to people’s scores. A small … Read More

Learning from Crisis Negotiations

Posted by & filed under Business Negotiations.

When businesses and industries are hit by an unforeseen disaster, they often need to quickly launch crisis negotiations and wrap them up as soon as possible. But time pressure can stifle essential elements of sound dealmaking, including rational thinking, perspective taking, and collaboration, while also promoting dysfunctional competition. Recent negotiations within industries facing crisis offer … Read Learning from Crisis Negotiations

Negotiation Research on Organizational Approaches to Negotiating Systems

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

While most negotiation research aims to sharpen individual managers’ skills, there is growing scholarly and professional interest in an organizational approach to negotiation.A systemic perspective evaluates the training, authority, procedures, and resources that manager need to improve their companies’ “return on negotiation,” as consultant Danny Ertel puts it. Looking at negotiations broadly reveals important design … Read More

Effective Negotiation Strategies for Dealing with Competitors

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

In the business world, organizations take competition for granted, to the extent that they often overlook opportunities to meet their goals by working with one another. But the benefits of negotiation in business can extend to our dealings with competitors. Recent high-profile negotiations highlight three effective negotiation strategies competitors can use to cooperate and compete. … Read More

In Business Negotiations, Dress the Part

Posted by & filed under Business Negotiations.

Negotiators involved in high-stakes mergers and acquisitions typically come to the table armored in meticulously tailored apparel and designer shoes. But as Dana Mattioli reports in a recent Wall Street Journal negotiation topics in business article, those who are trying to woo business from an apparel company often end up dressing down at the bargaining … Read In Business Negotiations, Dress the Part

The Book of Real-World Negotiations: Successful Strategies from Government, Business, and Daily Life

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Training.

From a life-and-death hostage situation to the Philippines peace process, Joshua Weiss gives us an insider look at the world’s most high-stakes deals to learn what works—and what doesn’t—in negotiation. Most negotiations fail because the negotiators involved lack the confidence, strategic knowledge, and the basic techniques required to reach the most optimal deals possible. The result? … Read More

Prepare for the Semester: Negotiation Pedagogy Articles from the Negotiation Journal

Posted by & filed under Pedagogy at PON, Teaching Negotiation.

Whether you are going to be teaching negotiation next semester for the first time, or are a seasoned negotiation instructor, insightful research in negotiation pedagogy can help you approach your course in more effective and innovative ways. The Negotiation Journal, from the Program on Negotiation (PON), has a collection of articles on negotiation pedagogy that … Read More

Check Out Video Highlights from the 2019 Negotiation Pedagogy Conference

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

On November 15th, 2019, the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) hosted a conference on excellence and innovation in negotiation pedagogy. Negotiation and dispute resolution teachers and trainers from around the world came to Cambridge to learn about new approaches and share their experiences. Speakers at the conference spotlighted innovative instructional techniques in many diverse fields of … Read More

Most Startups Fail. But Yours Doesn’t Have To.

Posted by & filed under Business Negotiations.

We recently interviewed Samuel Dinnar—instructor at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, global entrepreneur, and strategic negotiation advisor—about his new book, Entrepreneurial Negotiation: Understanding and Managing the Relationships that Determine Your Entrepreneurial Success. In this insightful book, Dinnar and Susskind delve into the reasons why entrepreneurs fumble key negotiations—and what they can do … Read Most Startups Fail. But Yours Doesn’t Have To.

Negotiation Training: Turning the Lows of Colorado’s Marijuana Laws into Highs

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Training.

In negotiation courses, trainees learn effective management strategies for their negotiations and how to find new negotiation opportunities at the bargaining table. Using an example from the city of Denver, Ben Markus reports for NPR’s Weekend Edition that Colorado’s recent legalization of marijuana has posed challenges to local jurisdictions in enforcing current federal law which … Read More

Dealmaking: Don’t Wait for Them to Blink

Posted by & filed under Dealmaking.

In labor disputes and dealmaking, negotiators on both sides are likely to overestimate the odds that the other side will view their proposals as fair. In fact, however, self-serving perceptions of what constitutes a fair settlement can cause negotiators to remain miles apart. These factors appear to have come into play when the National Hockey … Read Dealmaking: Don’t Wait for Them to Blink

Mediating Better Community Relations in New Orleans

Posted by & filed under Mediation.

On May 14, Susan Hutson, the independent police monitor for the city of New Orleans brought together community stakeholders and police officials to help formulate a program that would allow police officers and citizens to mediate minor disagreements, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Aided by a professional mediator, citizens and officers would sit face to … Read More

Case Study: Teaching with a Powerful Negotiated Agreement

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

What do a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the CEO of an international financial advisory firm, and the former United States ambassador to the United Nations have in common? They’ve all received the Great Negotiator Award. Every year, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School bestows this prestigious honor on distinguished leaders whose lifelong accomplishments in … Read More

On Its Head: Teaching Negotiation in a Flipped Classroom

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

After my experience flipping this class, I came away with the following lessons: 1. Negotiation is a very suitable topic for this type of methodology. 2. This approach helps students who are audio and visual learners. 3. The in-class one-on-one time allows instructors to really work with students on specific problems and challenges. 4. Class size may present a … Read More

Top 10 Best Pieces of Negotiation Advice of 2015

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

Across politics, business, entertainment, and sports, negotiators reminded us that collaboration and close attention are needed to resolve disputes and reach innovative deals. 10. Searching the haystack. As reported this year, an unexpected break came in the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation of large U.S. banks’ role in the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis after an … Read Top 10 Best Pieces of Negotiation Advice of 2015

Bridging the Religious Divide: Transforming Conflict when Emotions and Religion are at Play

Posted by & filed under Daily, Events, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives.

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Harvard International Negotiation Program, and the Religions and the Practice of Peace Colloquium are pleased to host: Bridging the Religious Divide: Transforming Conflict when Emotions and Religion are at Play

with

Daniel L. Shapiro Director, Harvard International Negotiation Program Associate Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital and

Rev. Septemmy E. Lakawa Research Associate … Read More

Negotiation Skills: Should Put Off What You Could Negotiate Today?

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

To reach agreement, negotiators sometimes postpone the resolution of certain issues until a later date. We look at how this practice plays out in the real world. Remember the federal debt ceiling talks? In mid-2011, congressional Republicans insisted on significant spending reductions from their Democratic counterparts in exchange for voting to raise the nation’s debt … Read More

The Role of Urban Planners in Negotiations: Case Study of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives.

Can urban planning tools help negotiators develop creative solutions to complex disputes?  Karen Lee Bar-Sinai, Loeb Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), recently explored this topic in a talk entitled “The Role of Urban Planners in Negotiations: Case Study of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations.” The first in a series of seminars co-sponsored by the Middle … Read More

Water Diplomacy: Creating Value and Building Trust in Transboundary Water Negotiations – Israel and Jordan, From War to Water Sharing

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Most difficulties in water negotiations are due to rigid assumptions about how water must be allocated. When countries (or states) share boundary waters, the presumption is that there is a fixed amount of water to divide among them, often in the face of ever-increasing demand and uncertain variability. Such assumptions lead to a zero-sum mindset, … Read More

Thirteen Days in the Age of Nuclear Threat: Negotiation Lessons for Peaceful Coexistence

Posted by & filed under Events, International Negotiation, Student Events.

In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, PON is pleased to present Thirteen Days in the Age of Nuclear Threat: Negotiation Lessons for Peaceful Coexistence with Bruce Allyn Author and Practitioner in the field of Conflict Resolution and Alain Lempereur Professor of Coexistence and Conflict Resolution at Brandeis University Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:30 pm Langdell North, Room 225 Harvard Law School campus About … Read More

2012 Great Negotiator Award event will honor former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III on March 29th

Posted by & filed under International Negotiation, News.

The Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School and the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) will jointly honor former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III with the 2012 Great Negotiator Award on Thursday, March 29, 2012, at the Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School. The Great Negotiator Award … Read More

PON Film Series presents “The Interrupters”

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution, Negotiation and Nonviolent Action, PON Film Series, Student Events.

The PON Film Series presents     “The Interrupters” followed by a post-screening discussion with William Ury, co-author of Getting to YES & Gary Slutkin, Executive Director of Chicago’s Ceasefire Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 Time: 6:30 PM Location: Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School Campus The Interrupters tells the moving and surprising stories of three Violence Interrupters who try to protect their Chicago … Read PON Film Series presents “The Interrupters”

World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution, Events, Negotiation and Nonviolent Action, PON Film Series, Student Events.

“World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements” A film screening & discussion with innovative teacher John Hunter and filmmaker Chris Farina.

Date: Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Time: 7:15 PM

Location: Langdell North, Harvard Law School Campus

For over thirty years, a public school teacher in Virginia has been teaching his students the work of peace through a remarkable exercise … Read World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements

Video: PON-sponsored negotiation workshop engages Jewish and Arab students in Tel Aviv

Posted by & filed under Daily, International Negotiation, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives, Videos.

In March 2011, Professor James Sebenius, Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, led a negotiation workshop for Jewish and Arab high school students in Tel Aviv, as part of a pilot program co-sponsored by the Program on Negotiation, with support from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. This innovative program offered three … Read More

Video: Arab and Jewish high school students learn negotiation skills with PON

Posted by & filed under Daily, International Negotiation, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives.

Dr. Shula Gilad, Senior Fellow at the Program on Negotiation, recently helped launch an innovative new program for high school students in Israel.  With support from the Office of Public Affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Program on Negotiation co-sponsored three two-day workshops, which brought together a total of 180 Arab and … Read More

Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program receives Conflict Prevention and Resolution Institute’s 2010 Award

Posted by & filed under Awards, Grants, and Fellowships, Conflict Resolution, Daily, Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program, News.

The Conflict Prevention and Resolution Institute (CPR) selected the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) to be the recipient of its 2010 Problem Solving in the Law School Curriculum Award at its annual awards banquet on January 11, 2011 at the New York offices of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.  The clinic’s director and founder, … Read More

Former President Martti Ahtisaari honored with Great Negotiator Award!

Posted by & filed under Daily, Events, International Negotiation.

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School Will Honor Former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari with the 2010 Great Negotiator Award Co-sponsored with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Great Negotiator Event Offers Real-World Negotiation Discussion to All Students For Immediate Release CAMBRIDGE, MA (September 21,  2010) The Program on Negotiation … Read More

The negotiating QB

Posted by & filed under Business Negotiations, Daily.

Adapted from “The Brett Favre Trade: A Win-win Deal in a Win-lose Game,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter. In the middle of the National Football League’s off-season, as legendary quarterback Brett Favre weighs for the third year in a row whether to return to football or accept retirement, it’s worth revisiting the negotiations behind his … Read The negotiating QB

Announcing the 2010 PON Summer Fellows

Posted by & filed under Daily, Summer Fellowship Grants.

About the PON Summer Fellowship Program: PON offers fellowship grants to students at Harvard University, MIT, Tufts University and other Boston-area schools who are doing internships or undertaking summer research projects in negotiation and dispute resolution in partnership with public, non-profit or academic organizations. The Summer Fellowship Program’s emphasis is on advancing the links between … Read Announcing the 2010 PON Summer Fellows

Bruce Patton on Teaching the Micro-Skills of Negotiation

Posted by & filed under Daily, Negotiation Skills, Pedagogy at PON.

There is often a profound gap – of which we are typically unaware – between what we “know” or “believe” about effective negotiation practice and what we actually do as practitioners under pressure.  Bruce Patton, the founder of Vantage Partners and co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project, advocates helping students master key “micro-skills” to enable … Read More

Program on Negotiation saddened by the loss of 2007 Great Negotiator, Bruce Wasserstein

Posted by & filed under Daily, Great Negotiator Award, News.

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School was saddened to learn of the death of Bruce Wasserstein, PON’s 2007 Great Negotiator. The Great Negotiator Award is  given to recognize an individual whose lifetime achievements in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution have had a significant and lasting impact. Wasserstein, Chairman and CEO of  … Read More

How to Defuse a Strike

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution.

The recent dispute between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) West and East and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) illustrates how a disagreement at the negotiating table can lead to a long and costly strike. As the two sides battled back and forth, AMPTP member companies laid off support staff, and … Read How to Defuse a Strike