Negotiating a Lease Agreement for a Key Military Base in Africa
Camp Lemonnier is a United States Naval Expeditionary Base located in Djibouti and is the only permanent U.S. military base in Africa. Djibouti, bordering Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, has been home to Camp Lemonnier since the September 11, … Read More 
Learn how to negotiate like a diplomat, think on your feet like an improv performer, and master job offer negotiation like a professional athlete when you download a copy of our FREE special report, Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
negotiation exercises
What are Negotiation Exercises?
While some people seem to have “negotiation in their blood,” it’s actually a skill that’s learned—and refined—over time through negotiation exercises.
Just as we engage in mental exercises like crossword puzzles to strengthen our minds and physical exercise to strengthen our bodies, the most successful negotiators take advantage of negotiation exercises to improve their negotiation skills.
Negotiation exercises may come in a variety of formats, and address any number of real-world issues and dilemmas.
The increasingly diverse and global nature of business sets the stage for disputes that can cross ethnic and cultural lines—fueling the need for expertise in cross-cultural negotiations. Understanding when, where, how, and with whom it is appropriate to negotiate is extremely important when working across cultures. Negotiation exercises can address this need in a safe, low-risk environment.
In the case of hot button talks, few issues heighten tensions faster than when one party feels that the other has done something ethically or morally incorrect. To help professionals prepare for times like this, the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) offers a variety of negotiation exercises designed to teach participants how to handle disputes that are fraught with ethical issues.
Negotiation exercises can address collective bargaining and labor relations, multi-party and multi-issue negotiations, public disputes, interpersonal conflicts, healthcare, and even every-day issues like dealing with family.
Negotiation exercises and videos are used in college classroom settings or corporate training settings; used by mediators and facilitators seeking to introduce their clients to a process or issue; and used by individuals who want to enhance their negotiation skills and knowledge.
To learn more, download a complimentary copy of our special report, Negotiation Training: How Harvard Negotiation Exercises, Negotiation Cases and Good Negotiation Coaching Can Make You a Better Negotiator, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School right now!
The following items are tagged negotiation exercises:
Change Management: Negotiating Organizational Change in the 21st Century
Change is vital to organizational growth, health, and survival. It is also incredibly difficult to execute well—often resulting in diminished morale and feelings of anxiety and mistrust. In fact, researchers estimate that less than half of major corporate change projects at Fortune 1000 firms have been successful.
… Read More
PON Global — Online February and March 2021 Brochure
An innovative, blended learning course that has been hosted in cities around the world, PON Global is now being offered online. PON Global is brought to you by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (PON), which has provided world-class negotiation training to more than 50,000 global professionals. Adapted for online delivery, PON Global … Read More
Teaching Mediation: Exercises to Help Students Acquire Mediation Skills
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 … Read More
Secrets of Successful Dealmaking
Course Dates: This course is closed
In corporate dealmaking, much of the action happens away from the negotiating table. Successful dealmakers understand that deal set-up and design greatly influence negotiation outcomes. In this program, you will examine the legal, tactical, and structural elements of dealmaking and acquire practical skills and techniques for navigating difficult tactics and … Read More
PON Global — Online November 2020 Brochure
An innovative, blended learning course that has been hosted in cities around the world, PON Global is now being offered online. PON Global is brought to you by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (PON), which has provided world-class negotiation training to more than 50,000 global professionals. Adapted for online delivery, PON Global … Read More
Teaching Community Dispute Resolution: Exercises to Facilitate Positive Change
Community dispute resolution provides communities with a forum to address conflict, uncover and resolve the underlying issues, and thereby achieve positive change. Community dispute resolution provides an alternative to the judicial system and facilitates collaborative community relationships. Community dispute resolution processes can include training and educational activities, and may involve a mediator from within the … Read More
Negotiation Training: How Harvard Negotiation Exercises, Negotiation Cases and Good Negotiation Coaching Can Make You a Better Negotiator
Discover how to refine your negotiation skills with this free special report, Negotiation Training: How Harvard Negotiation Exercises, Negotiation Cases and Good Negotiation Coaching Can Make You a Better Negotiator, from Harvard Law School.
… Read More
New International Negotiation Simulations: Teaching International Negotiation with Current Global Dynamics
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 … Read More
Teaching Negotiation: Understanding The Impact Of Role-Play Simulations
Negotiation can be challenging. And so can teaching it! At the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School, we help educators, scholars and practitioners like you learn how to more effectively teach negotiation.
Notably, role-play simulations are a particularly useful way to facilitate experimentation and introduce participants to new dispute resolution tools, techniques and … Read More
Asynchronous Learning: Negotiation Exercises to Keep Students Engaged Outside the Classroom
Asynchronous role-play simulations teach valuable negotiation skills outside of a typical class format.
Asynchronous learning is a term used to describe education, instruction, or learning that does not occur in the same time or place. Asynchronous learning uses resources that facilitate knowledge sharing outside the constraints of time and place among a group of people. Using … Read More
Tips for Teaching Simulations Online: Q&A with David Seibel
Check out the video from our recent session on teaching simulations online to pick up tips for running negotiation exercises remotely!
Apprehensive about using role-play simulations in your remote or online blended course? Pick up tips on how to make simulations run smoothly over video, including how to best manage breakouts, run multiparty simulations, report results, … Read More
Teaching Contract Negotiation: Using the Mutual Gains Approach
How do you use the mutual gains approach in contract negotiations?
In contract negotiations, parties can often resort to positional bargaining instead of using the mutual gains approach. Teaching students to generate creative options in contract negotiations can help them avoid positional bargaining and achieve more beneficial and sustainable agreements. The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) … Read More
The Pitfalls of Negotiations Over Email
Negotiation research suggests that email often poses more problems than solutions when it comes to relationships, information exchange, and outcomes in conflict resolution negotiation scenarios. First, establishing social rapport via email can be challenging. The lack of nonverbal cues and the dearth of social norms regarding its use can cause negotiators to be impolite and … Read More
Negotiating Identity and Values-Based Disputes
How Do Parties in Conflict Negotiate Core Beliefs?
Identity and values-based disputes are particularly challenging to resolve, as identities are naturally inflexible and values are typically much less elastic than interest-based issues. In conventional interest-based negotiation, parties often do give up one thing in exchange for getting something they want more. This is often not possible … Read More
Mediation Checklist: 5 Questions to Ask When Hiring Mediators
Are you hiring a mediator? When considering a potential mediator, create a mediation checklist and ask the following questions of those who have worked with him in the past.
… Read More
Casino Two: Updated Version of Casino Now Available from the TNRC
Gender can play a complex role in workplace dynamics, and so teaching students about how to approach these issues is critical. The Casino simulation, available from the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), has been widely used to teach participants about the role gender can play in the workplace. Now there is a new, updated version which … Read More
Teach Your Students to Negotiate the Technology Industry
Technology is a pervasive feature of modern life, providing countless benefits ranging from new cancer treatments to smart phones. Technology can also be a source of disruption and is at the root of many disputes. Parties frequently disagree on the likely costs and benefits associated with the adoption of new technologies. They feud over such … Read More
Teaching Online: Negotiation Pedagogy in a Pandemic
How do we adapt learning objectives to online instruction?
As the Coronavirus spreads around the world, many universities have moved to a remote learning structure with online classes. This raises a very crucial question for instructors: how do you transition a course designed to be in-person into an online format while ensuring students remain engaged and … Read More
Learn from the Best with the Great Negotiator Case Studies
No one can provide perspective on conflict resolution like experts who have been involved in some of the world’s most complex negotiations. Since 2001, the Program on Negotiation (PON) has bestowed the Great Negotiator Award upon distinguished leaders whose lifelong accomplishments in the fields of negotiation and dispute resolution have had compelling and lasting results.
The Great … Read More
Advice for Peace: Ending Civil War in Colombia
Check out new, freely available video of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Peace Advisory Team as they discuss lessons learned from the Colombian peace process negotiations with the FARC guerrillas.
The civil war in Colombia lasted 52 years, taking the lives of at least 220,000 people and displacing up to seven million civilians. In … Read More
Negotiating the Healthcare Industry
Teach Your Students to Negotiate One of the Most Critical Global Industries
With an ongoing pandemic devastating communities around the world, the acute importance of the healthcare industry to community welfare has become even more apparent. Healthcare is one of the biggest economies in the world, with billions of dollars spent on treatments and associated research. … Read More
Running Simulations Online: Zoom Tips and Tricks
Negotiation simulations, while incredibly useful teaching tools, can be difficult to orchestrate logistically, especially with large groups of participants. Moving classes online has made running simulations even more complex. Zoom, as well as many other video chat platforms, has lots of features to assist with running simulations online. To help educators prepare for this unpredictable … Read More
New Simulation on Cyber Defense of Critical Urban Infrastructure
Save Fairport: Planning for Social Cyber Defense of Critical Urban Infrastructure
Cybersecurity for critical urban infrastructure is a major public safety issue for cities. Cyber-attacks can cause major physical damage, as well as sow chaos and undermine public faith in government. Cyber criminals constantly develop new types of malware, which may not be detectable by current … Read More
Teach by Example with These Negotiation Case Studies
Negotiation case studies use the power of example to teach negotiation strategies. Looking to past negotiations where students can analyze what approaches the parties took and how effective they were in reaching an agreement, can help students gain new insights into negotiation dynamics. The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) has a variety of negotiation case … Read More
Teaching with Video-Based Negotiation Scenarios
Access to multimedia content has rapidly increased throughout the world, with videos and short clips permeating our daily life. We are consuming, producing, and interacting with videos more now than ever before. In light of increasing video fluency and interest in using videos in education, the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching Negotiation Resource Center is creating … Read More
Nagorno-Karabakh: Decades Old Conflict Resurfaces Between Armenia and Azerbaijan
The brutal conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has resurfaced in recent weeks, bringing devastation to many communities in the region.
Nagorno-Karabakh, located in the Caucasus Mountains, is internationally recognized to be part of Azerbaijan, but is politically controlled by an Armenian ethnic majority. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war over … Read More
Check Out Our Advanced Search Tool! Find New Teaching Materials in Seconds
The Advanced Materials Search feature allows you to search for teaching materials based on nine different categories, including time required, number of parties, and the negotiation concepts you want to teach.
The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) is pleased to announce the launch of our new Advanced Materials Search, which allows you to quickly find the … Read More
Internal Negotiation: How to Set Up For Success
U.S. Federal Agency Personnel Negotiate Inter-Agency Issues to Better Collaborate with Host Government Officials and Combat HIV/AIDS
Most negotiations between companies, organizations, or governments are broken down into internal negotiation and external negotiation. Internal negotiation occurs between members of the same company, organization, or government in preparation for negotiations with an external entity. There is a … Read More
The Abraham Path: A Thousand Miles on Foot
The Abraham Path is a cultural route tracing Abraham’s footsteps across the present-day Middle East. The path offers hikers the opportunity to engage with the peoples and landscapes of the region firsthand, and to see the region from a new perspective. The path offers an intriguing case of very challenging, long-term negotiations to establish a contiguous … Read More
Download Your Next Mediation Video
Use Video Examples to Teach Your Students to Become Better Mediators
Parties engaged in disputes are often unable to reconcile their differences alone, or fail to reach outcomes that are adequate for everyone. Mediators can add a great deal of value by helping parties to efficiently and effectively examine the issues at hand, take the interests … Read More
Labor Relations: Negotiating Collective Bargaining Agreements
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 … Read More
New Simulation on Science Diplomacy
Teach Your Students to Incorporate Scientific Findings into International Policy Decisions
Science diplomacy elevates the role of science and technology in addressing global challenges. While science diplomacy has a long history of bringing nations together through sharing technological innovations, it has becoming increasingly important in the face of global pandemic, and as climate change and environmental … Read More
Prepare for the Semester: Negotiation Pedagogy Articles from the Negotiation Journal
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
Negotiation Skills Training: Define Your Negotiation Style
How would you characterize your negotiation style: Are you collaborative, competitive, or compromising? During any professional negotiation skills training, you’re likely to find out your negotiating style when setting goals and revealing your negotiating personality.
… Read More
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Training: Mediation Curriculum
In 2009, we collected many types of curriculum materials from teachers and trainers who attended the Mediation Pedagogy Conference. We received general materials about classes on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as well as highly specific and idiosyncratic units like Conflict Resolution through Literature: Romeo and Juliet and a negotiating training package for female managers … Read More
Power Asymmetry and the Principal Agent Problem
Downloadable Video Simulation from the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center
This video simulation on power asymmetry and principal agent dynamics by Professor Lawrence Susskind and Robert Wilkinson was designed to give students insights into the challenges surrounding difficult conversations, both with people across the table, as well as with people on their own side.
The Power Asymmetry and … Read More
Negotiating Public Disputes
How Negotiation Can Impact Public Perceptions
Companies and governments alike can experience strong public resistance to new initiatives, or fierce public backlash to mistakes. How should they deal with an angry public? Incorporating a public relations perspective into a problem-solving or public dispute resolution processes can make the difference between success or failure. Adopting a mutual … Read More
Check Out Video Highlights from the 2019 Negotiation Pedagogy Conference
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
Digitally Enhanced Simulation Packages – Try for Free!
*Right now, try online, digitally enhanced simulation packages for free on the iDecisionGames platform:
Worried about how you’ll run your class online? Right now iDecisionGames is waiving platform usage fees for any professor new to the platform who is impacted by COVID-19.
In-depth Teaching Materials with Real Time Data Analytics Designed to Enhance Teaching Negotiation
New from the … Read More
2019 Negotiation Pedagogy Conference
Join us in Cambridge on Friday, November 15th, 2019 for a conference on excellence and innovation in teaching negotiation.
The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) at the inter-university Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to announce that the 2019 Negotiation Pedagogy Conference will take place on Friday, November 15th, 2019 at Harvard Law … Read More
Teach Your Students Cross-Cultural Negotiation
As our world grows increasingly interconnected, we are more likely to find ourselves negotiating in a cross-cultural context. The diverse makeup of many societies and global nature of business today make cross-cultural negotiation a regular part of life. Also, unfortunately, many major disputes in need of resolution cross ethnic and cultural lines. Furthermore, it is important … Read More
Negotiation Exercises to Help Your Students Avoid Cross-Cultural Pitfalls
Avoid cross-cultural misunderstandings with these negotiation exercises
It’s no secret that communication and negotiation etiquette varies widely across cultures. In France, for example, it is rude to talk money over dinner, while in Brazil the American ‘A-OK’ gesture (thumb and forefinger forming a circle) can be a major insult.
The increasingly diverse and global nature of business … Read More
Global Impact Negotiation Simulation
International law and diplomacy is a rapidly evolving field that depends on the brokering of agreements between nations and other stakeholders. Whether there are language barriers, cultural differences, or both, some of the most challenging negotiations involve parties from different nations. Because of the relative lack of clear legal precedents and the difficulties of enforcement, … Read More
The Best Negotiation Exercises, Simulations and Videos
Have you planned your curriculum and purchased your teaching material for next semester? We’re here to help you to find the best negotiation exercises and teaching aids for your negotiation classes.
… Read More
Negotiate Organizational Development
Teach Your Students to Promote Organizational Development and Build Leadership Skills
Efforts to impact change in any kind of organization usually involve multiple kinds of negotiations or consensus-building efforts. Organizational development is most effective when the participants in the organization, whether public, private or civil society, are directly engaged in deciding what might need to change, … Read More
The Wired Negotiator: Using Technology in Negotiation
Everyone negotiates every day. How we negotiate is changing dramatically due to the use of various technological tools. People need not fear this change. Rather, they should understand the different technology at their disposal, grasp the pros and cons, and determine how to select the best medium to suit their needs, negotiation style, and approach. … Read More
Add Variety to Your Curriculum with These Top Simulations
Update Your Teaching Materials with Our Top Negotiation Role Play Simulations
The field of negotiation is constantly evolving, and as such, requires new ways of teaching negotiation. It can sometimes happen that students come into a class having already encountered the negotiation simulation being used in the course, or that a different kind of exercise is … Read More
The Moral Quandary: Negotiation Exercises Featuring Ethical Dilemmas
In a negotiation, few issues heighten tensions faster than when one party feels that the other party has done something ethically or morally incorrect.
To help professionals prepare for times like this, the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) offers a variety of negotiation exercises designed to teach participants how to handle disputes that … Read More
Entrepreneurial Negotiation – New Book on Negotiation Challenges for Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurial Negotiation: Understanding and Managing the Relationships that Determine Your Entrepreneurial Success
The great majority of startups fail, and most entrepreneurs who have succeeded have had to bounce back from serious mistakes. Entrepreneurs fumble key interactions because they don’t know how to handle the negotiation challenges that almost always arise. They mistakenly believe that deals … Read More
Kissinger the Negotiator: New Book on Dealmaking and Diplomacy
Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level
In this groundbreaking, definitive guide to the art of negotiation, PON faculty James Sebenius (Harvard Business School) and Robert Mnookin (Harvard Law School), along with R. Nicholas Burns of the Harvard Kennedy School, offer a comprehensive examination of one of the most successful dealmakers of all time: Henry Kissinger.
Politicians, … Read More
Teach Your Students Dispute Resolution for Their Everyday Lives
Negotiation refers to the process of working out agreements that meet each party’s needs and address their interests. People negotiate all the time in their everyday lives: in the workplace, within families, and when buying goods and services. Knowing which negotiation strategies to use in different circumstances can make a significant difference. The Teaching Negotiation … Read More
Teach Your Students to Manage Two Party and Multiparty Negotiations
Check Out Our Bestselling Two Party and Multiparty Negotiation Simulations
More than just the increased number of parties at the table, there are key differences in how negotiators manage two party versus multiparty negotiations. Power disparities can be exacerbated in two party negotiations, however the opportunities for option generation can also be increased. The formation of … Read More
Revolutionize How You Teach TNRC Negotiation Exercises and Role-Plays
You’ve told us that using technology in your teaching is important so we spent some time evaluating various platforms and software that help negotiation teachers and trainers to utilize the power of role-plays in their classes. The team at iDecisionGames has created a web-based platform that offers many benefits and opportunities to transform how you … Read More
Negotiation Exercises Designed To Help Settle Workplace Conflict
From brokering a deal to negotiating a sale, there are many disputes that happen at work. Among the most challenging are those involving employers and employees. That’s the case with Binder Kadeer: Consultation in the Company, a negotiation exercise brought to you by the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching Resource Center (TNRC).
… Read More
In negotiation, put your best foot forward
Imagine yourself in these negotiating scenarios:
After a freelance designer has finished a big project for your company, you discover some urgent extra work that you should have given him. The designer mentioned that he needs a break and is going to take a few days off. Would you approach him about doing the work, and … Read More
Why Classic Cases?
Why are some negotiation exercises still used in a great many university classes even twenty years after they were written? In an effort to understand more about the enduring quality of some classic teaching materials, we asked faculty affiliated with PON to explain why they think some role play simulations remain bestsellers in the Clearinghouse … Read More
Learn More From Your Deals
Adapted from “Learning to Learn,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
Learning about a concept or technique is one thing. Actually putting new knowledge to work is quite another. The gap between “knowing” and “doing” is a challenge for managers who want to hone their effectiveness, whether through formal training or private reflection on their experience.
Recent … Read More
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Articles & Insights
BATNA
- Business Negotiations
- Conflict Resolution
- Crisis Negotiations
- Dealing with Difficult People
- Dealmaking
- Dispute Resolution
- International Negotiation
- Cross Cultural Negotiations in International Business: Four Negotiation Tips for Bargaining in China
- Famous Negotiators: Tony Blair’s 10 Principles to Guide Diplomats in International Conflict Resolution
- International Negotiations and Agenda Setting: Controlling the Flow of the Negotiation Process
- Diplomacy Examples in the Covid-19 Era
- Famous Negotiators: Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin
- Leadership Skills
- Implicit and Explicit Bias: When Negotiators Discriminate Based on Race
- Servant Leadership and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge
- How to Negotiate in Cross-Cultural Situations
- Ethics in Business Negotiations and in Leadership: How Collusion Limits Value Creating Opportunities
- Effective Leadership Techniques: Negotiating as an Agent
- Mediation
- What Makes a Good Mediator?
- Mediation Training: What Can You Expect?
- Arbitration vs Mediation: The Definition of Mediation as a Problem Solving Process
- Definition of Mediation and the Mediation Process: The Impact of Lawyers on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
- Why is Negotiation Important: Mediation in Transactional Negotiations
- Negotiation Skills
- Negotiation Training
- Salary Negotiations
- Teaching Negotiation
- New Simulation and Case Study: Camp Lemonnier
- Teaching Mediation: Exercises to Help Students Acquire Mediation Skills
- Teaching Community Dispute Resolution: Exercises to Facilitate Positive Change
- New International Negotiation Simulations: Teaching International Negotiation with Current Global Dynamics
- Asynchronous Learning: Negotiation Exercises to Keep Students Engaged Outside the Classroom
- Win-Win Negotiations