In Western cultures, many people are uncomfortable with silence. We tend to talk on top of one another, with little pause between point and counterpoint. Any silence that occurs often feels awkward, as you’ve experienced. But effective negotiators know that silence in negotiation can be a useful tool. Here are four advantages of silence:
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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.
program on negotiation
What is the Program on Negotiation?
The Program on Negotiation (PON) is a university consortium dedicated to developing the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution.
As a community of scholars and practitioners, PON serves a unique role in the world negotiation community. Founded in 1983 as a special research project at Harvard Law School, PON includes faculty, students, and staff from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University.
The Program on Negotiation (PON) offers a number of programs and courses taught by leading Harvard faculty and experts in the fields of negotiation, mediation, and conflict management. The programs range from one-day seminars to semester-length courses and are attended by participants from around the world.
These programs include our flagship three-day executive education program Negotiation and Leadership, as well as The Harvard Negotiation Institute (HNI), Advanced Negotiation Master Class, and PON Seminars.
At PON, we are committed to developing the theory and practice of negotiation, to nurturing the next generation of negotiation teachers and scholars, and to helping students become more effective negotiators. We accomplish this through research, seminars, courses, conferences, publications and special events.
Visitors are welcome to visit PON’s offices at 501 Pound Hall, Harvard Law School, 1563 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138. Various materials about PON’s courses, events, publications, teaching materials, and other resources are available. Visitors are also welcome to browse PON’s non-circulating library, which contains many books on negotiation topics; please contact the office to make an appointment at 1-617-495-1684.
We believe that negotiation is an art and a science. Through different lenses, including law, business, government, psychology, economics, anthropology, the arts, and education, members of the PON community seek to better understand negotiations. Why did a deal not close that would have benefited both companies? Why did one country resolve differences peacefully, while another fought a bloody civil war? Why are some divorcing couples able to mediate their separation amicably, while others fight painfully and expensively in court?
Knowing how to negotiate to solve problems, make deals, build consensus, avoid violence, and manage intractable disputes is a competency that is vitally needed in the world.
If you’re looking for negotiation materials from PON, they are available through the PON Teaching Negotiation Resource center, PON’s educational resource center. PON Teaching Negotiation Resource center products have been developed or endorsed by PON faculty or affiliates. For information and access to the online catalog, visit the PON Teaching Negotiation Resource center.
The goal of reducing conflict and violence can seem like an impossible dream. At PON, we have the privilege of doing work in service to that mission, believing that increasing our understanding of negotiation and conflict management is one essential step forward.
We invite you to find us on Facebook and Twitter. You can also find out about local events and upcoming courses by signing up to receive emails. You can sign up by downloading any of our free negotiation reports.
The following items are tagged program on negotiation:
Harvard Negotiation Master Class: Advanced Strategies for Experienced Negotiators – November 13-15, 2023
Strictly limited to 60 participants who have completed a prior course in negotiation, this first-of-its-kind program offers unprecedented access to experts from Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, and the Harvard Kennedy School—all of whom are committed to delivering a transformational learning experience.
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Negotiation Master Class November 2023 Program Guide
Over the years thousands of professionals have participated in negotiation programs at the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School. And after a few months or years of putting their negotiation skills and techniques to work, participants inevitably ask us, what’s next?
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Fairness in Negotiation
Imagine that you and your business partner agree to sell your company. You end up getting an offer that pleases you both, so now you face the enviable task of splitting up the rewards. How do you ensure that there is fairness in negotiation?
… Read Fairness in Negotiation
NEW! Harvard Mediation Intensive
Led by mediation experts Audrey Lee and Alain Lempereur, the Harvard Mediation Intensive delves into mediation principles and processes through interactive presentations and hands-on exercises. From employment and business disagreements to public and international conflicts, you will discover effective ways to enable parties to settle their differences across a variety of contexts.
… Read NEW! Harvard Mediation Intensive
Negotiation and Leadership Fall 2023 Program Guide
It’s often said that great leaders are great negotiators. But how does one become an effective negotiator? On-the-job experience certainly plays a role, but for most executives, taking their negotiation skills to the next level requires outside training.
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10 Popular Business Negotiation Articles
Here are ten popular business negotiation articles on the Program on Negotiation website. Drawn from a variety of negotiation case studies as well as negotiation research, the following articles offer strategies for engaging in integrative negotiations aimed at creating win-win scenarios for each party at the negotiation table.
… Read 10 Popular Business Negotiation Articles
Sidetracked: Understanding the Psychological Barriers that Derail Negotiations
Join Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino as she shares her research findings into what causes us to become sidetracked in negotiations—and provides a proven framework for effective decision-making.
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Negotiation and Leadership Spring and Summer 2023 Program Guide
It’s often said that great leaders are great negotiators. But how does one become an effective negotiator? On-the-job experience certainly plays a role, but for most executives, taking their negotiation skills to the next level requires outside training.
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Are Salary Negotiation Skills Different for Men and Women?
Most negotiators don’t engage in the kinds of high-stakes bargaining we read about in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times, but almost every negotiator will need advanced salary negotiation skills during the course of her career to deal with a scenario that is, in many ways, the definition of a … Read More
Semester Mediation and Conflict Management – Online
This highly-interactive, online course is designed to raise your awareness of your own approach to conflict, introduce a range of theories about mediation and participatory processes, and improve your conflict management skills. While we will discuss a wide range of dispute resolution processes that involve third parties, we will focus on mediation.
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Make the Most of Online Negotiations
We said goodbye to breakfast meetings, client lunches, and after-work happy hours. Goodbye to handshakes, fist bumps, and pats on the back. Goodbye to the boots-on-the-ground sales game as we knew it, and hello to Zoom calls and text messaging.
To make matters even more difficult, the economy started to trend downwards—and so did the … Read Make the Most of Online Negotiations
Negotiation in International Relations: Finding Common Ground
When thinking of negotiation in international relations, it’s difficult to think of any negotiation with higher stakes than those surrounding nuclear nonproliferation. Often conducted amid international conflict and public scrutiny, complicated by language and cultural barriers, and carried out under tight deadlines, talks aimed at ensuring that nuclear technology is used peacefully and that disarmament … Read More
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Whether dealing with a challenging customer, a difficult supplier, an unhappy employee, an unreasonable official, or a demanding boss, we all have conversations we anticipate with dread. Gain the strategies, tools, and frameworks you need to manage difficult conversations effectively in this one-day program led by negotiation experts Bruce Patton and Douglas Stone.
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Managing Multiparty Negotiations
If you’re in a negotiation with many parties who have varying positions, it may be tempting to join a coalition with parties who share at least some of your goals. But should you join one?
… Read Managing Multiparty Negotiations
Conflict Management: Intervening in Workplace Conflict
Question: I’m aware of lots of unresolved personnel issues that seem to be festering in my department, such as complaints about someone who is not doing his share of the work, another person whose griping is causing a drop in morale, and two coworkers who can’t seem to get along. I’m comfortable negotiating with customers, … Read More
Leveraging the Power of Emotions As You Negotiate
We all experience emotionally challenging conflicts and negotiations. Whether you are negotiating with your board or with your family, over internal resources or with external partners, as the buyer or as the seller, emotions can turn an otherwise productive negotiation into an unprofitable disaster.It does not have to be that way. In this interactive workshop, … Read Leveraging the Power of Emotions As You Negotiate
Getting the Deal Done
Negotiation is one of the most complex yet important skills to learn. Even individuals who are “born negotiators” need to practice and acquire new strategies to get some deals done. In Getting the Deal Done, you’ll discover bargaining strategies that have been used by many of the world’s most successful leaders.
… Read Getting the Deal Done
Dealmaking and the Anchoring Effect in Negotiations
The following question regarding the anchoring effect was asked of Program on Negotiation faculty member and Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School professor Guhan Subramanian.
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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.
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Salary Negotiations
Salary negotiations are often stressful and challenging. But with the right strategies, you can negotiate your employment terms with ease. In Salary Negotiations: 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 Salary Negotiations
What Is Collective Leadership?
When we think of successful leaders, we typically envision a solitary person—a president, CEO, or entrepreneur—drawing on their vision, charisma, and drive to inspire and direct others. As our world grows increasingly more connected and complex, however, this top-down approach to leadership is becoming increasingly outdated.
… Read What Is Collective Leadership?
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 Secrets of Successful Dealmaking
Overcoming Cultural Barriers in Negotiation
Learn how to better understand cultural differences—and improve your working relationships—with Negotiation Training: Overcoming Cultural Barriers in Negotiations.
… Read Overcoming Cultural Barriers in Negotiation
New Great Negotiator Case and Video: Christiana Figueres, former UNFCCC Executive Secretary
The Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School periodically presents the Great Negotiator Award to an individual whose lifetime achievements in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution have had a significant and lasting impact. In 2022, PON selected Christiana Figueres as the recipient of its Great Negotiator Award for her efforts to build … Read More
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Whether dealing with a challenging customer, a difficult supplier, an unhappy employee, an unreasonable official, or a demanding boss, we all have conversations we anticipate with dread. Gain the strategies, tools, and frameworks you need to manage difficult conversations effectively in this one-day program led by negotiation experts Bruce Patton and Douglas Stone.
… 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.
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Conflict Resolution Examples in History: Learning from Nuclear Disarmament
What lessons can we learn from conflict resolution examples in history? The world of nuclear nonproliferation can be a valuable place to start, as few negotiations throughout history have had higher stakes.
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Practical Lessons from the Great Negotiators
Since 2001, the Program on Negotiation has bestowed the “Great Negotiator Award” on individuals who have successfully negotiated against great odds to accomplish worthy goals. In this fascinating one-day session, you’ll have the rare opportunity to explore how these remarkable negotiators overcame their most formidable challenges—and how to apply these lessons in your own negotiations. … Read Practical Lessons from the Great Negotiators
BATNA Basics: Boost Your Power at the Bargaining Table
Perfect your negotiation skills in this free special report, BATNA Basics: Boost Your Power at the Bargaining Table from Harvard Law School.
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Negotiation in Business: Apple and Samsung’s Dispute Resolution Case Study
For two days in late May 2012, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Gee-Sung Choi met with a judge in the U.S. District Court of Northern California in an attempt to reach a settlement in a high-profile U.S. patent case, a sobering example of negotiation in business.
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Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Online
This virtual and highly interactive semester-length seminar 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. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, all sessions will be delivered live.
… Read Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Online
Business Negotiation Strategies: How to Negotiate Better Business Deals
Written by some of the nation’s foremost experts in negotiation, Business Negotiation Strategies: How to Negotiate a Better Business Deal gives you the tools you need to navigate even the stickiest business deals.
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Expanding the Pie: Integrative versus Distributive Bargaining Negotiation Strategies
Imagine that you’re buying a used car from its original owner. Of course, you want to get the best deal you can for your money, while your counterpart wants to maximize the value of his asset. After haggling with one another, each side finally arrives at a price point acceptable to both parties. But how … Read More
Leveraging the Power of Emotions As You Negotiate
We all experience emotionally challenging conflicts and negotiations. Whether you are negotiating with your board or with your family, over internal resources or with external partners, as the buyer or as the seller, emotions can turn an otherwise productive negotiation into an unprofitable disaster.It does not have to be that way. In this interactive workshop, … Read Leveraging the Power of Emotions As You Negotiate
Business Crisis Management: Crisis Communication Examples and How to Use Police Negotiation Techniques
In this free special report negotiation experts offers advice on how to turn crisis situations into collaborative negotiations. Throughout the report, you will discover how to apply the lessons of professional hostage negotiators, avoid disasters through careful planning, diffuse tensions with angry members of the public, and break through impasse with open communication.
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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
The New Conflict Management: Effective Conflict Resolution Strategies to Avoid Litigation
This report reveals how wise negotiators extract unexpected value using an indirect approach to conflict management. An aggressive management style can set you up for repeated failure. Direct conflict management approaches can be overly combative and counter-productive. Experienced negotiators know that compromise seldom succeeds. Win/lose is really lose/lose. The best negotiation strategy results in … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Dealing with an Exploding Offer
Question: I was recently laid off from my longtime job and am back on the market. I received a pretty good offer (Job A) but was being considered for a more interesting, higher-paying job (Job B) at the same time. The recruiter for Job A told me the company needed an answer within two days, … Read More
Dealing with Difficult People
Top help you handle difficult people, our free, special report Dealing with Difficult People is packed full of concrete tips and strategies. Discover how to collaborate, negotiate, and bargain with even the most combative opponents.
… Read Dealing with Difficult People
Advanced Negotiation Strategies and Concepts: Hostage Negotiation Tips for Business Negotiators
Upset by a delay in the delivery of one of your products, a longtime buyer threatens to turn to the media unless you meet his extreme demands. Not only is the relationship in jeopardy, but your company’s reputation seems to be as well. What should you do? Turn to some tried and true hostage negotiation … Read More
Dealmaking: Secrets of Successful Dealmaking in Business Negotiations
Discover how to boost your power at the bargaining table in this free special report, Dealmaking: Secrets of Successful Dealmaking in Business Negotiations, from Harvard Law School.
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Bargaining in Bad Faith: Dealing with “False Negotiators”
We tend to forget—at our peril—that not everyone at the bargaining table wants to close a deal and may be bargaining in bad faith.
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Negotiate Strong Relationships at Work and at Home
The experts and editors from Harvard’s Program on Negotiation offer a sampling of advice to help you learn to foster relationships by building rapport, manage conflict in long-term relationships and negotiate business decisions with family members.
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Value Conflict: What It Is and How to Resolve It
Some of our most heated negotiations and disputes involve value conflict over our core values, such as our personal moral standards, our religious and political beliefs, and our family’s welfare.
… Read Value Conflict: What It Is and How to Resolve It
Harborco: Role-Play Simulation
Harborco is a consortium of development, industrial, and shipping concerns that are eager to proceed with the building of a new port, but face hurdles and potential opposition as they advance through the licensing process. The Federal Licensing Agency would like to see them work with other stakeholders to develop a project that is acceptable … Read Harborco: Role-Play Simulation
How to Manage Conflict at Work
Sooner or later, almost all of us will find ourselves trying to cope with how to manage conflict at work. At the office, we may struggle to work through high-pressure situations with people with whom we have little in common. We need a special set of strategies to calm tempers, restore order, and meet each … Read How to Manage Conflict at Work
International Negotiations: Cross-Cultural Communication Skills for International Business Executives
In this Special Report, we offer expert advice to help you in international negotiations. You will learn to cope with culture clashes, weigh culture against other important factors, prepare for possible cultural barriers and much more.
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5 Tips for Improving Your Negotiation Skills
The prospect of boosting our negotiation skills can be so overwhelming that we often delay taking the necessary steps we can follow to improve, such as taking time to prepare thoroughly. The following five guidelines will help you break this daunting task into a series of manageable—and often essential—strategies.
… Read 5 Tips for Improving Your Negotiation Skills
Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiations: Top Techniques from Mediation Training Experts
In this Special Report, the experts and editors from Harvard’s Program on Negotiation offer a sampling of advice from past issues of Negotiation to help you learn the techniques you need to resolve your disputes through mediation. You will learn to select the right dispute-resolution process, choose a mediator with appropriate expertise, learn the steps … Read More
Madeleine Albright’s Ways to Avoid Conflict In Negotiation: First, Put Yourself In Their Shoes
When parties can trade on their preferences across different issues, they reduce the need to haggle over price and percentages. But are there ways to avoid conflict in other types of negotiation?
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Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator
Students who master business negotiation become better leaders. But it starts with building the right skills. And that’s where our latest free report comes in. In Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, you’ll learn:
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10 Negotiation Training Skills Every Organization Needs
How can managers and their organizations increase the odds that negotiation training will lead to beneficial long-term results? Here are several pieces of advice, drawn from experts at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
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Negotiation Strategies for Women: Secrets to Success
Whether you’re a woman or a man, you’ve probably seen gender gaps in the workplace and wondered how to overcome them. In Negotiation Strategies for Women: Secrets to Success, you’ll find critical ways to help women negotiators advance.
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Best Negotiators in History: Nelson Mandela and His Negotiation Style
The late Nelson Mandela will certainly be remembered as one of the best negotiators in history. He was clearly “the greatest negotiator of the twentieth century,” wrote Harvard Law School professor and Program on Negotiation Chairman Robert H. Mnookin in his seminal book, Bargaining with the Devil, When to Negotiate, When to Fight.
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Real Leaders Negotiate: Understanding the Difference Between Leadership and Management
In this FREE special report, we offer advice to help you improve your leadership and negotiation skills.
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5 Win-Win Negotiation Strategies
Business negotiators understand the importance of reaching a win-win negotiation: when both sides are satisfied with their agreement, the odds of a long-lasting and successful business partnership are much higher. But concrete strategies for generating a win-win contract often seem elusive. The following five, from experts at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, … Read 5 Win-Win Negotiation Strategies
Sales Negotiation Training: Essential Negotiation Skills for Sales Professionals
In this Special Report, we offer expert advice to help you close your most important sales negotiations.
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Case Study of Conflict Management: To Resolve Disputes and Manage Conflicts, Assume a Neutral 3rd Party Role
In their book Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most (Penguin Putnam, 2000), authors Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen tell us how to engage in the conversations in our professional or personal lives that make us uncomfortable by examining a case study of conflict management. Tough, honest conversations are critical for managers, … Read More
Team-Building Strategies: Building a Winning Team for Your Organization
Discover how to build a winning team, find an effective negotiation “coach,” budget for negotiations training and boost your business negotiation results in this free special report from Harvard Law School.
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Top Ten Posts About Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution is the process of resolving a dispute or a conflict by meeting at least some of each side’s needs and addressing their interests. Conflict resolution sometimes requires both a power-based and an interest-based approach, such as the simultaneous pursuit of litigation (the use of legal power) and negotiation (attempts to reconcile each party’s … Read Top Ten Posts About Conflict Resolution
Win-Win or Hardball: Learn Top Strategies from Sports Contract Negotiations
In this Special Report, we offer advice from the world of sports to help you navigate your most important negotiations. You will learn to get your head in the game, manage team dynamics, and get a competitive edge.
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Six Guidelines for “Getting to Yes”
In their revolutionary book Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (Penguin, 3rd edition, 2011), Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton introduced the world to the possibilities of mutual-gains negotiation, or integrative negotiation. The authors of Getting to Yes explained that negotiators don’t have to choose between either waging a strictly competitive, win-lose … Read Six Guidelines for “Getting to Yes”
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
Overcoming Cultural Barriers in Negotiations and the Importance of Communication in International Business Deals
Communication in negotiation is the means by which negotiators can achieve objectives, build relationships, and resolve disputes. Most negotiators know that it is the most important tool you can have for successful negotiations.
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Best Negotiation Books: A Negotiation Reading List
Whether you are facing negotiations with Congress, colleagues, customers, or family members, the following negotiation books, published in recent years by experts from the Program on Negotiation, offer new perspectives on common negotiating dilemmas.
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5 Conflict Resolution Strategies
Whether a conflict erupts at work or at home, we frequently fall back on the tendency to try to correct the other person or group’s perceptions, lecturing them about why we’re right—and they’re wrong. Deep down, we know that this conflict management approach usually fails to resolve the conflict and often only makes it worse.
… Read 5 Conflict Resolution Strategies
The Difficulty of Achieving a Win-Win Negotiation Outcome
In a negotiation, it may help to signal to your counterpart your willingness to engage in bargaining aimed at creating a win-win outcome for both parties.
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Negotiation as Your BATNA: The Syrian Civil War and Crisis Negotiations
Sometimes your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) is realizing that the negotiation itself is worth the risk. Back in May 2012, the United States and Russia announced a plan to hold a peace conference aimed at ending the civil war in Syria, which had killed more than 70,000 people at that time.
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Closing the Deal in Negotiations: 3 Tips for Sequential Dealmaking
After closing the deal in negotiations, we often feel a sense of pride. Imagine, for example, that you are a purchasing agent who just scored a significant price concession from a supplier. Now it’s time to hang up the phone and move on to another negotiation with a different supplier. You’re feeling proud of how … Read More
Types of Conflict in Business Negotiation—and How to Avoid Them
Conflict in business negotiation is common, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are steps we can take to avoid types of conflict and misunderstandings. Often, it helps to analyze the unique causes of conflict in particular negotiation situations. Here, we look at three frequent types of conflict in business negotiations and offer … Read More
Repairing Relationships Using Negotiation Skills
Negotiation is not only something we do at work; often the toughest negotiations we encounter are in our personal lives. Some of the most successful negotiation examples of the power of negotiation skills in dispute resolution is when they repair relationships between friends.
… Read Repairing Relationships Using Negotiation Skills
The Negotiation Journal Wants to Hear From You!
The Negotiation Journal would like your feedback on their Fall 2022 issue.
The Negotiation Journal is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal published by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. The journal publishes articles that expand theoretical and practical knowledge in the realms of negotiation, mediation, other forms of alternative dispute resolution, and conflict resolution in … Read The Negotiation Journal Wants to Hear From You!
Away from the Podium and Off to the Balcony: William Ury Discusses the Debt Ceiling Negotiations Facing Obama and US Congressional Republicans
Stewart recently interviewed negotiation expert and Program on Negotiation co-founder William Ury to discuss the aftermath of avoiding the fiscal cliff and the rounds of tough negotiations between Democrats and Republicans still to come.
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Negotiation Techniques To Get New Business Partnerships Off on the Right Foot
“A huge mistake.” “A shot in the dark.” “An audacious move.” Those are a few of the media’s characterizations of wireless carrier AT&T’s acquisition of media and entertainment firm Time Warner, announced on October 22, 2016, for $85.4 billion.
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Bargaining for a New Car: Real World Negotiations Examples
When it comes to bargaining for a new car, are women negotiating harder bargains than men?
According to a recent report from NPR Morning Edition’s Sonari Glinton, women not only negotiate harder bargains than men when it comes to vehicle purchases, but also they do more extensive preparatory work (See: Negotiating for What You Really Want- … Read More
Negotiating the Good Friday Agreement
Retired US Senator George Mitchell played a critical role in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. In an interview with Susan Hackley, Managing Director of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, in the February 2004 Negotiation newsletter, he describes how he was able to facilitate an agreement between these long-warring parties.
… Read Negotiating the Good Friday Agreement
Great Women Leaders Negotiate
Great women leaders are no different than great male leaders—except that they may have faced more discrimination, lower expectations, and stronger resistance along the way. When women in leadership succeed, they often do so by cultivating successful negotiating skills. Here, we examine strategies that three top women in negotiation employed to become great women leaders. … Read Great Women Leaders Negotiate
How Principal Agent Theory Works in Business Negotiations: Dealmaking Strategies for Bargaining with Agents
The Program on Negotiation has identified three basic sets of circumstances in business negotiations where you’ll be better off tapping an agent (see also principal-agent theory) to take your place at the bargaining table (at least for part of the negotiating process):
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How to Create Win-Win Situations
In business negotiation, a win-win agreement may be the ultimate goal, but it can sometimes prove elusive. Here, we offer four strategies from experts at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School on how to create win-win situations in even the trickiest negotiations.
… Read How to Create Win-Win Situations
Building Coalitions: Apple and the Art of Persuasion
Whether you have one of its ubiquitous products or even its rivals offerings, you most certainly have heard of Apple, the United States electronics giant whose phoenix-like rise to the top of the business world has inspired legions of fans and detractors alike.
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Negotiation in Business Without a BATNA – Is It Possible?
In a negotiation scenario, you always have a best alternative to a negotiated agreement. Negotiation research and negotiation strategy helps negotiators find their BATNA, leverage it at the bargaining table, and illustrates the impact that knowing your BATNA has on a negotiation.
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Negotiation Skills from the World of Improv for Conflict Management
A Q&A with Michael Wheeler, author of The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World.
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Will You Avoid a Negotiation Impasse?
In the summer of 2016, Illinois became the only U.S. state in the past 80 years to go an entire year without a full operating budget, according to Reuters. It reached that dubious milestone thanks to an epic negotiation impasse between Republican governor Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled state legislature. The story of the negotiation … Read Will You Avoid a Negotiation Impasse?
Why First Impressions Matter in Negotiation
Even when not based in reality, the expectation that someone is “tough” or “cooperative” becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy at the bargaining table. When you approach an allegedly tough competitor with suspicion and guardedness, he is likely to absord these expectations and become more competitive.
… Read Why First Impressions Matter in Negotiation
Dear Negotiation Coach: Responsible Negotiation Means Caring Beyond the Deal Closing
Alain Lempereur, has developed the concept of “responsible negotiation”, and answers questions about how to conduct more ethically sound negotiations.
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Writing the Negotiated Agreement
Some negotiations end with a negotiated agreement that is a plan of action rather than a signed contract – for example, a plumber agrees to fix the tile damage caused by his work. Other negotiations wouldn’t be appropriate to commemorate in writing, such as how you and your spouse decide to discipline your young … Read Writing the Negotiated Agreement
Negotiating Skills: How to Bargain “Behind the Table”
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, U.S. president George H. W. Bush and his secretary of state, James Baker, were eager to win international support for German reunification and German membership in NATO. But Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev faced strong opposition to these measures from members of his own Communist Party. Both … Read More
Learning from Feedback without Losing Your Mind
During the coronavirus pandemic, you might have gotten a lot of feedback, whether from the new “coworkers” in your home, the boss you only see in video meetings, or strangers critical of your social-distancing practices. You can begin learning from feedback, though. Instead of retreating after receiving feedback, open up a conversation, Heen and Stone … Read Learning from Feedback without Losing Your Mind
“No One is Really in Charge” Hostage Taking and the Risks of No-Negotiation Policies
In the business world, we sometimes are tempted to avoid negotiating with people or groups we view to be immoral, untrustworthy, or simply unlikable. Imagine a counterpart who works in a business that you believe to be immoral, someone who has a reputation for gossiping about colleagues, or a longtime client who routinely falls back on hardball … Read More
Team Building Using Negotiation Skills
To avoid conveying weakness to the other side, rather than calling for a break at the first sign of trouble, some negotiation teams devise secret signals they can use to bring wayward members in line—for instance, someone might stretch out her arms to communicate to another member that he’s getting off track.
… Read Team Building Using Negotiation Skills
Negotiation Analysis: The US, Taliban, and the Bergdahl Exchange
The exchange between the United States and the Taliban of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, represented the first public prisoner exchange of a US soldier in the thirteen year US involvement in Afghanistan. The background of the deal including how Private First Class Bergdahl (promoted twice to Sergeant … Read More
VIDEO: William Ury on “Getting to Yes with Yourself”
At the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, William Ury, a founding member of the Program on Negotiation and co-author of the seminal book Getting to Yes, spoke about his latest book, Getting to Yes with Yourself (and Other Worthy Opponents). Over 250 community members, students, and faculty members filled Austin Hall to hear Ury … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Putting Personal Conflict Management Into Practice
Negotiation and bargaining isn’t limited to the business world. There are many situations where personal conflict management skills are helpful. We received a question regarding this topic recently.
Q: My former spouse of 18 years and I had an explosive breakup a year ago. After failing to overcome our mutual hostility during divorce mediation, we have … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: What Happens When a Business Contract Falls Apart?
We recently received a question from a reader regarding a business contract conflict. Robert Mnookin, Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, chair of the Program on Negotiation, and author of Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight (Simon & Schuster, 2010), explains that you may have more options than it … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Coping with a Change-of-Control Provision
We recently received a question regarding a change-of-control provision and how to move forward with potentially renegotiating a contract. We spoke with Faculty Chair, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, Guhan Subramanian, to answer the question.
Q: I represent a company—let’s call it “ClientCorp”—that has a long-term contract with another company, “TargetCorp.” A change-of-control … Read More
Advice for Peace: Ending Civil War in Colombia
Check out this 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 Advice for Peace: Ending Civil War in Colombia
The Role of Leadership in Negotiation: The Case of the U.S. Rail Negotiations
When a negotiator or team is attempting to reach a deal or engage in dispute resolution on behalf of their organization, the question of whether and when to involve top leaders in the discussion often looms large. Should leaders be involved in the early stages? Take a hands-off approach and swoop in to close the … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: What Are Business Negotiation Skills for Entrepreneurs?
To get an idea or innovation off the ground takes strong business negotiation skills as an entrepreneur.
Yet, in their book Entrepreneurial Negotiation: Understanding and Managing the Relationships that Determine Your Entrepreneurial Success (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2018), Program on Negotiation instructor Samuel Dinnar and MIT professor Lawrence Susskind write that many entrepreneurs are falling short. Here, Susskind explains … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Managing Expectations With Work Assignments
Managers often find themselves managing expectations in the workplace. Sometimes, however, managing expectations isn’t just about employees and staff, it can be about our own ideas of how the workplace functions. Such was the case with a question we received regarding the delegation of a new project.
Here’s the original question:
I recently asked one of our … Read More
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We regularly develop new role play simulations, case studies and teaching videos, as well as host pedagogy-focused … Read We Want Your Feedback!
M&A Negotiation Strategy: A Better Deal for Musk and Twitter?
Will Elon Musk have to buy Twitter or won’t he? That’s the $44 billion dollar question at the heart of a legal battle between the Tesla and SpaceX founder and the ubiquitous social media platform. But a deeper question has been largely overlooked in media coverage of the story: From the mess the parties have … Read More
How To Share a Negotiation Education with Kids
There are numerous opportunities for adults to learn and practice their negotiation skills. Whether it’s working through an issue with a coworker, buying a home, or taking actual negotiation education classes, if you want to improve your negotiation outcomes, you can find ways to learn. But what about kids? Are they too young to learn … Read How To Share a Negotiation Education with Kids
The Collective Leadership Approach to Negotiating Climate Action
Former UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres received the Program on Negotiation’s 2022 Great Negotiator Award.
On April 14, 2022, the Program on Negotiation (PON) presented its Great Negotiator Award to Christiana Figueres, formerly the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and one of the architects of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. … Read More
Win-Win Bargaining: Private Negotiation, Public Auction, or Both?
When Amazon and Apple each began scouting locations for a new campus in 2017, we might have expected them to follow similar negotiating strategies aimed at win-win bargaining. In fact, their searches were very different:
Amazon set off a frenzy in September 2017 when it announced it was soliciting bids from cities interested in hosting its second headquarters, … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Managing Expectations and “Being Nice”
Managing expectations at the negotiation table can be a challenge, especially when our counterparts ideas and our own are far apart. But what happens when it’s our own expectations of other people’s behaviors we have to manage? We had a question around this topic recently.
Q: There have been a few times recently when I felt … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Deal Structuring and Negotiating with “Bad Acts”
Deal structuring and negotiating can feel challenging in the best of situations. But when you’re dealing with “bad acts,” there are additional factors to consider when you structure your negotiation strategy. This is what one reader asked about when facing a deal to buy out a company. Here’s their question:
Q: I work for an international … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: How Can I Improve My Cross-Cultural Negotiation Skills?
Q: Because of the nature of my business, I regularly engage in negotiations across cultures—and the results can be disappointing. After recently losing an important deal in India, I learned that my counterpart felt I was rushing through our talks. I thought I was just being efficient with our time. How can I improve my … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Making Budget Negotiations Add Up
Budget negotiations aren’t always as static as they seem at first, as one of our readers discovered. Especially in a field where “low-cost” providers can race to the bottom on price, it’s important to highlight the difference between value and cost. This question came to us recently, and illustrates how vital it is to recognize … Read More
Negotiating with the Enemy
Should negotiating with the enemy always be off the table? The 2014 Bergdahl exchange offers insights for negotiators who are deciding whether to do business with a known enemy.
On May 31, 2014 the White House made the surprise announcement that the Taliban had released Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the sole American prisoner of war in the … Read Negotiating with the Enemy
Dear Negotiation Coach: Can Negotiation Theory Help Us Understand Our Religious Identity?
Negotiation theory suggests you focus on interests, not positions; separate inventing from committing; invest heavily in “What if?” questions; insist on objective criteria; and try to build nearly self-enforcing agreements.
But what if the negotiation is with yourself, or about your own religious identity?
For example, what does it mean to be Jewish in America? What challenges … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Can External Advisers Hinder a Problem Solving Approach?
There are numerous advantages to hearing from external advisers and experts in a high-stakes negotiation. However, when talks are at an impasse, limiting the negotiation to a small number of participants may be a more beneficial problem solving approach than including outside opinions.
This was at the heart of a recent question answered by Guhan Subramanian, … Read More
Collective Leadership and the Paris Climate Change Agreement
On April 14, the Program on Negotiation presented its 2022 Great Negotiator Award to Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres for her success in spearheading the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. In a daylong series of events, including a public interview led by Harvard Kennedy School professor Hannah Riley Bowles and Harvard Business School professor … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Is Age a Factor to Bargaining in Good Faith?
Perhaps even more than in person, bargaining in good faith is essential in negotiations conducted through email. With no visual cues or body language, there can be numerous assumptions, both beneficial and otherwise, that can impact a deal between two people. Such was the case in a recent question we received regarding whether age should … Read More
Tough Negotiator: Insights on Vladimir Putin from Former U.S. Secretaries of State
How should you prepare to negotiate effectively with an exceptionally tough negotiator? That’s the question the United States and its allies have faced since Russian president Vladimir Putin sent his troops to wage war on Ukraine on February 24. The experiences and insights of five former U.S. secretaries of state who negotiated directly with Putin … 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
Moving Toward Group Conflict Resolution
Over the years, what many believe to be Jesus’s tomb in Jerusalem’s Old City has been the site of tensions that have at times escalated into violence. Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic communities guard the shrine surrounding the tomb, which they consider the holiest site in … Read Moving Toward Group Conflict Resolution
Dear Negotiation Coach: Plan Ahead for Negotiation Mistakes
We recently had a question about some common negotiation mistakes people make while they’re still preparing for a negotiation. Kessely Hong, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and the Faculty Chair of the MPA Programs and the Mid-Career MPA Summer Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, took time to discuss these mistakes and steps we can … Read More
Howard Raiffa Taught Us About Decision-Making and Negotiation
If you’ve ever made a decision tree, engaged in risk analysis, or created a scoring system when preparing for a negotiation, you benefited from the work of economist Howard Raiffa, whether you realized it or not. And the decisions you’ve made in your negotiations likely have been far smarter as a result. After all, decision-making … 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 Download Your Next Mediation Video
Dear Negotiation Coach: Is There Promise in Online Negotiation?
In this edition of Dear Negotiation Coach, Harvard Business School professor Max H. Bazerman describes how online negotiation could increase efficiency and trust in many realms.
In-person negotiations can offer advantages over electronic negotiations—for example, in terms of rapport building and value creation. But what advantages might online negotiation have over face-to-face negotiation?
Max H. Bazerman: Online … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Determining the Right Compensation Offer After a Disaster
In the aftermath of a large-scale catastrophe or disaster in the United States—such as 9/11, the opioid epidemic, and mass shootings—the courts can be ill-equipped to take on the complex task of negotiating a compensation offer for large numbers of claimants. Instead, “special masters” are often assigned to create and administer victim-compensation programs, a job … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Negotiating Equity Compensation with Senior Managers
Negotiating equity compensation isn’t as straightforward as it might seem, especially in privately held businesses. We shared a question from one of our readers with Kevin Mohan, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, to gain insight on how to deal with this increasingly common negotiation scenario.
Claim your FREE copy: Negotiation Skills
Build powerful negotiation skills and become a better dealmaker and leader. Download 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.
The Value of Using Scorable Simulations in Negotiation Training
At a Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) faculty pedagogy seminar, members of the PON faculty and negotiation community gathered to hear Gordon Kaufman (MIT Morris A. Adelman Professor of Management, Emeritus) speak about how he uses quantifiable data to plot student-learning trajectories. The conversation focused on the ongoing debate within the negotiation pedagogy community regarding the way … Read More
Beyond Walking Away: Facing a Hardball Strategy Head-on
In 2014, prosecutors for the United States alleged that Jesse Litvak, a former bond trader for Jefferies & Co., of using a hardball strategy that included lies and deception to defraud investors of more than $2 million. At the trial in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn., prosecutors argued that Litvak defrauded investors by … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: What is the Secret to Negotiating with Kids Successfully?
Some of our toughest negotiations happen away from the bargaining table. In fact, they may happen closer to our dinner table. We recently received a question from a reader about negotiation with kids, and asked Program on Negotiation’s Katie Shonk for some insight.
Q: I avoid using hardball tactics in my professional negotiations since they often … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Do Leading Negotiation Experts Practice What they Preach?
Do negotiation experts practice what they preach? To find out, we spoke with Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School professor Guhan Subramanian. The former academic editor of Negotiation Briefings, Subramanian was named the chair of the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School in 2018. He leads PON’s executive committee in setting the … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Coordinating Teams to Get Everyone in the Same Frames
Q: I lead a team of approximately 50 lawyers in the in-house legal department of a Fortune 500 company. As our team gets larger, reflecting the company’s growth, I’d like to install quality-control measures to ensure that all our attorneys are effectively negotiating settlements when appropriate and taking cases to trial when not. What are … Read More
Q&A with William Ury, author of Getting To Yes With Yourself
Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?
We interviewed William Ury, co-founder of the Program on Negotiation, one of the world’s leading experts on negotiation, and bestselling author of Getting to Yes and Getting Past No, about his book, Getting To Yes With Yourself.
Great negotiators know that the path to resolution is not always linear but rather … Read More
Ask A Negotiation Expert: The Accidental Negotiation Expert
For 17 years, Katherine Shonk has been the editor of Negotiation Briefings. The author of two works of fiction (The Red Passport and Happy Now?), she is leaving her post after this issue to devote more time to her next novel and other editing work. Katherine will continue to share negotiation lessons in blog posts … 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 The Abraham Path: A Thousand Miles on Foot
Real Life Negotiation Lessons Learned from Fiction
When the COVID-19 lockdown began in March 2020—coinciding with his upcoming sabbatical—Harvard Business School professor Deepak Malhotra, a member of the Program on Negotiation Executive Committee, saw the perfect opportunity to try something new. The author of three previous books, he turned his hand to fiction, penning “The Peacemaker’s Code,” a thrilling novel grounded in … Read More
Entrepreneurship and Negotiation: Call for Papers and Proposals
The Negotiation Journal is Hosting a Virtual Conference for its Special Issue on Entrepreneurship and Negotiation
While negotiation and entrepreneurship scholars have traditionally worked in different circles, their work increasingly intersects as the two fields co-evolve. Both entrepreneurship and negotiation involve dynamic, strategic, interpersonal activities that seek to create and claim some form of value. Both … Read More
Nelson Mandela: Negotiation Lessons from a Master
Some people learn to negotiate on the job, in a classroom, or in a therapist’s office. In Nelson Mandela’s case, “prison taught him to be a master negotiator,” writes Bill Keller in his New York Times obituary of the legendary activist turned president, who died on December 5, 2013.
Soon after his arrival at South Africa’s … Read Nelson Mandela: Negotiation Lessons from a Master
Ask A Negotiation Expert: Negotiation Means Sometimes Having To Say You’re Sorry
An apology can be an essential means of repairing trust and rebuilding damaged relationships. Yet we don’t always apologize effectively, according to Jeswald Salacuse, a distinguished professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a faculty member of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. We spoke to Salacuse about … Read More
Nicole Bryant is named the next Managing Director of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
Nicole Bryant will be joining the Program on Negotiation on January 25, 2021 as our next Managing Director. She brings to the position a proven track record of successful management and growth of large-scale continuing education programming in an international context.
Bryant joins the Program on Negotiation from Tufts University, where she served as the Director … Read More
Ask A Negotiation Expert: Spreading Negotiation Knowledge for a Better World
For 19 years, the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School has grown and thrived under the leadership of Managing Director Susan Hackley. As PON’s chief administrative and financial officer, Hackley has overseen all activities, including academic events, executive education, interdisciplinary programs, and publications, including Negotiation Briefings. Hackley, who has taught negotiation seminars around … Read More
Lessons learned from a great negotiation leader
Leadership in negotiation
In academia, there are often subtle conflicts between the executive staff who run programs and centers, and the academics connected to them. Only a talented leader can consistently weave together such groups and integrate very different views. Susan has been such a leader for many years. She provides a vision of doing all we … Read Lessons learned from a great negotiation leader
Value Creation in Negotiation
Many people say they dread negotiating and avoid it whenever they can. Why? Typically, because they view negotiation as a competition in which one party’s gains come at the expense of the other party.
… Read Value Creation in Negotiation
Conflict Resolution in the Family
In Lessons in Domestic Diplomacy, the New York Times’ Bruce Feiler, drawing on family conflict resolution negotiation examples in his past, offers a case study of conflict management by focusing on disputes in the home, asking, “how do we break out of negative patterns of conduct and proactively approach problems encountered in our everyday lives?”
… Read Conflict Resolution in the Family
For a Mutually Beneficial Agreement, Collaboration is Key
At the Program on Negotiation, we urge you to aim higher by combining such competitive value-claiming with collaborative value creation. Not because it’s the “nice” thing to do, but because it’s been proven to be the best path to a truly mutually beneficial agreement.
… Read More
Putting Your Negotiated Agreement Into Action
Normally negotiators focus on the deal-at-hand as well as those present at the negotiation table, neglecting other aspects of the negotiated agreement that would not only impact others outside of the room but also require their cooperation for the agreement’s success and viability.
… Read Putting Your Negotiated Agreement Into Action
The Ladder of Inference: A Resource List
The ladder of inference is a model of decision making behavior originally developed by Chris Argyris and Donald Schoen and elaborated upon in the context of negotiation by Program on Negotiation co-founder Bruce Patton in his book Difficult Conversations, co-authored with fellow Program on Negotiation faculty members Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. The model describes … Read The Ladder of Inference: A Resource List
Techniques for Leading Multiparty Negotiations: Structuring the Bargaining Process
Imagine leading negotiations involving representatives from most of the world’s nations on a contentious topic such as sustainable development. Where would you start? How would you proceed when conflict emerged? How would you know when it was time to wrap things up?
… Read More
How to Negotiate with Difficult People: International Negotiation, and a Refusal to Communicate
Business negotiators sometimes face the difficult question of whether to negotiate with someone they believe to be immoral, untrustworthy, or otherwise undesirable as a negotiating partner. In his book Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight (Simon & Schuster, 2011), Program on Negotiation chair Robert Mnookin offers negotiation advice on the complex … Read More
How to Keep Lines of Communication Open at the Thanksgiving Dinner Table
Over the next couple months, many families around the world will be coming together around a table to break bread. The topic of politics, especially in the U.S. will be practically unavoidable while passing the mashed potatoes, but there are ways to facilitate friendly rules.
… Read More
Teach Your Children How to Resolve Conflicts With This Book
We’ve all been there. One kid wants it his way; the other wants it her way and an inevitable conflict ensues. Shouting, crying, and harsh words are often part of the mix—creating stress for everyone, including the parents who just want to know how to resolve conflicts.
… Read More
Effective Leadership Techniques: Negotiating as an Agent
Following Joe Biden’s election as the next U.S. president, we revisit a 2014 Negotiation Briefings article, “When You’re Negotiating for Someone Else, Stay in the Deal,” about the significant role Biden negotiated for himself as vice president.
As vice president to President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, Joe Biden worked hard to be, in his … Read More
Why Is Sincerity Important? How to Avoid Deception in Negotiation
Why is sincerity important at the bargaining table and how do negotiators avoid deception in negotiations? Your counterpart may not realize that her behavior is unethical, and even when she does, she may justify her behavior as being ethical in this particular case.
… Read More
Emotional Intelligence as a Negotiating Skill
The concept of emotional intelligence burst into the cultural imagination in 1995 with the publication of psychologist Daniel Goleman’s bestselling book of the same name. Experts have predicted that scoring high on this personality trait would boost one’s bargaining outcomes and have found many successful negotiation examples using emotional intelligence in their research.
… Read Emotional Intelligence as a Negotiating Skill
For Better Communication, Try Appreciation
Many professional negotiators have come away from talks wondering, How did that pleasant discussion turn sour? Why did the deal unravel at the last minute?
… Read For Better Communication, Try Appreciation
Negotiation in Business: Ignore Sunk Costs
Think about what your house, condominium, or some other valuable asset might be worth in today’s market. Did the price you paid for it affect your answer?
… Read Negotiation in Business: Ignore Sunk Costs
Five Fundamentals of Negotiation from Great Negotiator Tommy Koh
Negotiation as an art and negotiation as a science: Two fundamentally different statements but one cohesive element binds them together – process.
… Read More
Business Negotiation Skills: Fairness at the Negotiation Table
Negotiation research sheds light on negotiator expectations of fairness and equality in negotiations. The negotiation skills advice contained here can help business negotiators more effectively craft agreements with their counterparts in business negotiations.
… Read More
Teaching Kids How to Negotiate World Peace
A few years ago, the Program on Negotiation Film Series screened “World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements,” a documentary film that follows John Hunter, a public school teacher in Virginia, and his class of fourth graders as they play a highly interactive game called the “World Peace Game.“ Hunter invented this game to teach … Read Teaching Kids How to Negotiate World Peace
Irrationality in Negotiations: How to Negotiate the Impossible
Negotiators often struggle with the task of bargaining with those who behave rashly, reason poorly, and act in ways that contradict their own self-interest. But as it turns out, behavior that negotiators often view as evidence of irrationality may in fact indicate something entirely different.
… Read More
Implement Negotiation Training in Your Organization
Organizations across the globe spend many millions of dollars each year on negotiation training for their employees. This training can be in-house, led by consultants and other experts, or employees can travel to training programs at universities and elsewhere. After engaging in a couple of days of training, employees return to the office and attempt … Read More
International Negotiation Role Playing: Understanding the Theory and Practice of Systemic Peacebuilding
Policymakers, practitioners, and academics have seized on the need for peacebuilding negotiation strategies in international negotiation to be as complex and adaptive as the societies within which they work.
As a result, there are loud calls for “whole of government” or “whole of community” approaches that cross traditional sectoral boundaries. The problem is that these approaches are … Read More
The Hidden Hazards of BATNA Development
The following question was posed to Program on Negotiation faculty member and associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School in the Negotiations, Organizations & Markets Unit, Francesca Gino and involves a negotiation example from real life from the world of business negotiations.
… Read The Hidden Hazards of BATNA Development
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 Teaching with Video-Based Negotiation Scenarios
How to Use MESOs in Business Negotiations
It’s not uncommon in business negotiations to find yourself on the brink of impasse. You and your counterpart have exchanged a series of offers and counteroffers, and you’ve met somewhere close to the middle—but not close enough. With each side firmly rooted in its position, there may seem to be no way forward.
… Read How to Use MESOs in Business Negotiations
What is the Right of First Refusal?
When transferring property, sellers sometimes insist on real estate rights of first refusal – the chance to be first in line to repurchase the property if their buyer later decides to sell.
… Read What is the Right of First Refusal?
Make the Most of Negotiation Skills Training
Across the globe, negotiation skills training has become a common activity in managerial life. Organizations often take steps to improve their managers’ negotiation skills and their ability to manage other negotiators by enrolling them in negotiation skills training programs.
… Read Make the Most of Negotiation Skills Training
Negotiation Case Study: Sincerity’s Power in Negotiation
Most of us have had the experience of delivering an apology that fell on deaf ears. When apologies fail to achieve their aims, poor delivery is usually to blame. The importance of sincerity in such a situation cannot be overstated, because if the recipient thinks your apology is less than sincere, she is unlikely to … Read More
Negotiation Skills: How to Become a Negotiation Master
Negotiation jujitsu means breaking the vicious cycle of escalation by refusing to react. Resistance should be channeled into activities such as “exploring interests, inventing options for mutual gain, and searching for independent standards.”
… Read More
15 Things You Need to Know About Environmental Dispute Resolution
Here are 15 things about dispute resolution in environmental negotiations that Program on Negotiation faculty member Lawrence Susskind published on his website, Consensus Building Approach.
… 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
Moral Leadership and the Role of Unconscious Bias
Many organizations strive for moral leadership; too many fall short of that goal. When moral leadership is lacking in an organization, employees ended up disaffected and alienated, productivity suffers, and unethical behavior becomes more likely.
Moral leadership doesn’t require perfect behavior, but it does require a willingness to do better. In her book, The Person You … Read Moral Leadership and the Role of Unconscious Bias
Cross-Cultural Video: Negotiation Examples, Lessons And Advice From PON Faculty
Do you teach negotiation to students from different cultural backgrounds? Are you teaching students how to negotiate in a cross-cultural context? Do you teach a “one world” model of negotiation; or, are there cultural variables that require changes in the basic model of negotiation that you teach?
The Program On Negotiation at Harvard Law School invited … Read More
Ask A Negotiation Expert: Steering Your Organization Through Crisis
Leaders in government, business, and beyond are struggling to respond to the economic and health ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on insights from his book Real Leaders Negotiate! Gaining, Using, and Keeping the Power to Lead Through Negotiation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), Jeswald Salacuse describes how leaders can use the tools of negotiation to react … Read More
Check Out Videos from the PON Working Conference on AI, Technology, and Negotiation
PON Working Conference on AI, Technology, and Negotiation On May 17th and 18th, 2020 the Program on Negotiation (PON) hosted a virtual working conference on AI, technology, and negotiation. The PON Working Conference on AI, Technology, and Negotiation was designed to:
Convene scholars, teachers, and practitioners to share insights, experiences, tools, and their expectations for further developments.
Inform PON … Read More
Negotiation Skills: Reducing Political Polarization
Excerpted from the June issue of the Negotiation Briefings newsletter, a publication of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
In our era of political polarization, collaboration and compromise can seem like impossible goals within our governments and our own communities. In his book Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve Your Most Emotionally Charged … Read More
Negotiating Change During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Many actions that could help alleviate the Covid-19 pandemic require us to change our behavior on a personal level, such as staying home from work and wearing a mask in public places. Others, such as making coronavirus-related research more widely available, require more organizational and systemic change.
But humans often resist change; we are negotiating change … Read Negotiating Change During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Staying Adaptive through Crisis
How do we stay adaptive through challenging times?
It is common and understandable to feel deflated at a time of crisis. But in these difficult situations, it can be important to embrace our inner rebel and help others do the same. At a recent virtual event hosted by the Program on Negotiation (PON), Francesca Gino, the … Read Staying Adaptive through Crisis
Negotiated Change During and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic
Professors Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld and Kimberlyn Leary led a virtual discussion on negotiating change during COVID-19
How do industries and societies negotiate and manage momentous change during the COVID-19 pandemic? Professor Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and Editor of the Negotiation Journal, and Professor Kimberlyn Leary, of Harvard … Read More
Combatting COVID-19 with Common Interests
As nations rush to slow the COVID-19 pandemic, treat victims of the virus, and develop cures, they face strong motivations to cooperate with one another rather than compete. Scientists and technical experts can help spearhead this collaboration, said Professor Paul Berkman, director of Tufts University’s Science Diplomacy Center, during a March 26 online talk hosted … Read Combatting COVID-19 with Common Interests
Mediation and Conflict Management Seminar: Attend in Person or Online!
The Mediation and Conflict Management Seminar starts Monday January 27 – don’t miss your last chance to register!
The Program on Negotiation (PON) offers a semester-length seminar on mediation and conflict management designed to raise your awareness of your own approach to conflict. Led by David Seibel and Stevenson Carlebach, renowned mediators and dynamic instructors, this … Read More
Notable Negotiation Books for 2020
If one of your new year’s resolutions is to strengthen your skills needed for negotiation, the following recent negotiation books—and one journal special issue—will help you do just that with their host of perspectives and strategies. These negotiation books will also entertain and educate you along the way with insights on topics such as political … Read Notable Negotiation Books for 2020
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 2019 Negotiation Pedagogy Conference
In Preparation for Negotiation, Choose the Right Process
In preparation for negotiation, sellers face a choice between negotiating one on one with buyers, holding an auction, or combining elements of both processes. Consider the different paths that Amazon and Apple followed in 2017 when each began scouting locations for a new campus:
Dangling the prospect of a $5 billion campus and about 50,000 jobs, … Read More
10 Top Negotiation Examples
Here’s a recap of some of the most interesting and challenging negotiation examples, featuring many of the world’s most famous negotiators.
… Read 10 Top Negotiation Examples
Conflict and Negotiation Case Study: Long-Term Business Partnerships and Negotiated Agreements
To protect the future interests of their organization, negotiators sometimes must accept fewer benefits or absorb greater burdens in the short run to maximize the value to all relevant parties – including future employees and shareholders – over time.
Suppose that the operations VPs of two subsidiaries of an energy company are preparing to negotiate the … Read More
Famous Negotiation Case: How Jamie Dimon Avoided Disaster
Sometimes your goal in negotiation is to improve your fortunes. But sometimes, as in this famous negotiation case, the best you can hope for is to lessen the fallout from past mistakes.
… Read More
Powerful Conflict Resolution Games to Help You Teach Negotiation
From complicated negotiation strategies to artful subterfuge, conflict resolution games are one of the very best ways to prepare for the challenges of real-world negotiation. Games that employ a Prisoner’s Dilemma structure (where rational parties may not cooperate despite their best interests) enable participants to analyze negotiations, make strategic decisions, and anticipate their counterpart’s next … Read More
How Negotiation Role-Play Simulations Can Help You Resolve Environmental Disputes
From complicated land use debates to the regulation of pollutants, environmental negotiations are fraught with dynamic legal, scientific, and societal considerations. Because many of the natural resources in question are limited and fragile, disputes over them can be particularly difficult.
To help educate professionals about how to work through challenging environmental and sustainability negotiations, the Program … Read More
Must-Read Negotiation Books for 2019
The year 2017 offered plenty of negotiation hits and misses in the realms of government, business, and beyond. To avoid failed negotiations in 2018, politicians, business leaders, and the rest of us would be wise to explore the following recent negotiation books, which can help steer us through our most difficult negotiating dilemmas:
… Read Must-Read Negotiation Books for 2019
Dealing with Difficult People: Coping with an Insulting Offer in Contract Negotiations
The following “Ask the Negotiation Coach” question was posed to Dwight Golann, Suffolk University Law School professor and negotiation expert: Question: I deal with legal disputes and would like to find reasonable solutions without wasting years in court.
… Read More
What is the Multi-Door Courthouse Concept
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
Teaching Real Estate Negotiation: How to Identify and Create Value
How do you teach your students to identify and create value in real estate negotiations?
Real estate negotiation can be difficult for both the buyer and the seller. Teaching real estate negotiation can involve value creation, distributive bargaining, as well as issue linkages. It is important for both buyers, sellers, and agents to identify ways to … Read More
Negotiation Role-Plays for Building Critical Skills
Here is a brief story about about a teenager named Chris Jensen.
On his way home from basketball practice, he walked into a grocery store and shoplifted some candy bars and a soda. The storeowner saw him, chased after him, and, as luck would have it, they ran right into a police officer.
But instead … Read More
Best-In-Class Negotiation Case Studies
What’s one of the best ways to teach the art and science of negotiation? Case studies and articles that spark lively discussion or facilitate self-reflection. Based on real-world examples, these teaching resources are designed to help students envision how to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom and beyond.
The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) at … Read Best-In-Class Negotiation Case Studies
Role Play Simulations to Help You Become a Better Mediator
When opposing parties cannot come to a satisfactory resolution, a strong mediator can make all the difference. By effectively examining the issues at hand and helping parties identify creative solutions, a well-trained mediator builds consensus where there once was none.
To help professionals learn the art of mediation, the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching Negotiation Resource Center … Read More
Negotiation Case Studies: Teach By Example
There are good negotiators and there are great ones.
Once a year, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School selects an outstanding individual who embodies what it means to be a truly great negotiator. To earn the Great Negotiator Award, the honoree must be a distinguished leader whose lifelong accomplishments in the field of dispute … Read Negotiation Case Studies: Teach By Example
Alternative Dispute Resolution: Values-Based Role Play Simulations for Improving Mediation Skills
Three role-play simulations focus on the mediation of values-based disputes.
… 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 Global Impact Negotiation Simulation
What an Operatic Role-Play Simulation Can Teach You About Negotiation
A distinguished older soprano, Sally has not had a lead role in two years. However, when another soprano falls ill, the Lyric Opera is eager to hire Sally…but at what price?
Sally Soprano is one of the best-known role-play simulations from the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC). And it’s a classic for good … Read More
Best-In-Class Negotiation Case Studies You Can Use to Train
What’s one of the best ways to teach the art and science of conflict resolution? With negotiation case studies that spark lively discussion or facilitate self-reflection. Based on real-world examples, these teaching resources are designed to help students envision how to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom and beyond.
… Read More
What To Do When Negotiations Hit a Wall
A budget impasse growing more adversarial by the day. A government shutdown that kept hundreds of thousands unpaid, suspended vital services, and damaged the economy. Presidential threats to bypass Congress and declare a national emergency.
How did we get there? The budget impasse in Washington, D.C., apparently started in 2014 when those advising Donald Trump on … Read What To Do When Negotiations Hit a Wall
Win-Win Negotiation Skills: Motivate Good Behavior in the #MeToo Era
In the #MeToo era, entertainment companies have incurred significant financial and reputational damage from alleged crimes and misbehavior by the producers, directors, executives, and actors they’ve employed.
… Read More
“Getting to Yes” Author Bill Ury on the Government Shutdown
In an interview with WBUR News, William Ury, Co-founder of the Program on Negotiation and co-author of the book Getting to Yes, offered some advice for our country’s leaders.
“You write President Trump’s victory speech in which he says to his base, ‘I won,’ and you write Nancy Pelosi’s victory speech in which he says to her … Read More
Negotiation Skills and Strategies at Work: Negotiating Jewish Identity
What does it mean to be Jewish in America? The question offers many opportunities to apply negotiation skills and strategies, writes Robert Mnookin in his new book, The Jewish American Paradox: Embracing Choice in a Changing World (PublicAffairs, 2018). The author of numerous books on negotiation, Mnookin is the Samuel Williston Professor of Law at … Read More
Art Buchwald, Paramount Pictures, and the Cost of Litigation Instead of Negotiation
When Art Buchwald sued Paramount Pictures over the 1988 Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America, the widely reported outcome was seen as a win for the late, beloved humorist. But Buchwald actually lost — and so did Paramount.
… 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
Teaching Negotiation Videos – All Downloadable!
Have you been energized by the unique “aha” moment students experience when negotiation videos are used in their class? Us too!
… Read Teaching Negotiation Videos – All Downloadable!
Shades Israel Fellows Walk the Abraham Path Together
On June 5, 2013, Shades Israeli and Palestinian fellows walked the Abraham Path in Israel’s Negev on a guided tour organized by PON Senior Fellow Shula Gilad, visiting Jewish and Arab villages on the route, learning about the Abrahamic tradition of the societies, their current challenges and success. As is the case for others who … Read More
In This Greece Crisis Negotiation, Tough Conditions May Have Affected the Deal
During a crisis negotiation, all that may seem to matter is reaching a deal as quickly as possible. The desire to head off a disaster may lead crisis negotiators to forego the usual comforts of life, such as sleep, in their single-minded pursuit of their goal.
… Read More
Most Startups Fail. But Yours Doesn’t Have To.
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.
Teach Crucial Leadership Skills
A Crisis Creates a Leadership Vacuum
A publicly traded company on the NYSE with a reputation for business savvy and lucrative deal making is caught in a morally questionable situation that threatens the very future of the firm. As the dust settles, the CEO, on whose watch the scandal occurred, is forced to step down. Word … Read Teach Crucial Leadership Skills
Bargaining at a Fever Pitch
Have you ever won an auction only to realize later that you overbid for the prize? In competitive bidding situations, it’s easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment and overpay. The Boston Red Sox 2006 procurement of Japanese pitching phenomenon Daisuke “Dice-K” Matsuzaka offers a lesson in keeping cool in these … Read Bargaining at a Fever Pitch
Learn from the Best with the Great Negotiator
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 Learn from the Best with the Great Negotiator
In Memoriam: Frank E.A. Sander ’52, a pioneer in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (1927-2018)
Frank E.A. Sander ’52, a longtime Harvard Law School professor and a pioneer in the field of alternative dispute resolution, has died. He was 90.
… Read More
Subramanian Will Succeed Mnookin as Program on Negotiation Chair
Professor Guhan Subramanian ’98 will be the new chair of the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School. Subramanian holds appointments at both Harvard Law School, where he is the Joseph H. Flom Professor of Law and Business, and Harvard Business School, where he is the H. Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law. As chair of PON, he … Read More
Negotiation Training: Turning the Lows of Colorado’s Marijuana Laws into Highs
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
Business Negotiation: When is an Outsider Needed at the Negotiation Table
One of the most popular negotiation topics in business concerns the role of outsiders to the negotiation. In this article the Program on Negotiation explores how to include outsiders in both your strategy and at-the-table negotiations.
… Read More
Crossed Wires? Negotiation Games To Help Your Business Deal Sidestep Legal, Technical And Emotional Glitches
What’s faster than the pace of technological development? The pace of lawsuits being filed about the adoption of new technologies, patent infringement, and intellectual property rights. In our modern world, professionals must be able to resolve highly challenging technology-related disputes – often before they reach the courtroom. That’s where the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching … Read More
Gender Discrimination: How to Reach a Negotiated Agreement
As you know, gender stereotypes often enter the negotiation process. Women and men are perceived to, and often do, act differently in negotiations. Furthermore, gender-based discrimination—such as less pay, unequal treatment, and sexual harassment—is often a source of conflict. With the resources available through the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), professionals can learn how to … Read More
When International Negotiation Stymies the Best Mediators
On May 13, Lakhdar Brahimi, U.N. special envoy to Syria, announced that he was quitting his position as lead mediator of the Syrian conflict due to frustration with a lack of progress. The same day, a French diplomat said the Syrian government had used chemical weapons more than 12 times after signing a treaty banning … Read More
2017 Great Negotiator Award Goes to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos
On September 20th, Harvard Law School awarded the prestigious annual Great Negotiator award to Nobel Prize Winner, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, on behalf of the Program on Negotiation. This award recognizes those whose lifetime achievements in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution have had a significant and lasting impact. Santos is also a … Read More
Teaching Negotiation: The Art of Case Study Writing
Jim Sebenius, the Gordon Donaldson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and Director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, addressed these questions in his presentation at the NP@PON Faculty Dinner Seminar on October 7, 2010. His article, “Developing Negotiation Case Studies,” began as a memo to a novice case writer about how to write … Read More
Bullard Houses Role-Play Simulation Helps Researchers Explore Gender Inequality
In a recent Slate.com article, writer and PhD in Psychology Jane Hu described the findings of a research study by Professor Laura J. Kray, University of California, Berkeley.
Kray, along with co-authors Jessica Kennedy, PhD, and Alex Van Zant, PhD, investigated the role gender played in negotiation and focused specifically on whether the stereotype of women … Read More
Bruce Allen’s Essay on Dealing with Russians and Unintended Nuclear War
An article was published today about how to negotiate with the Russians, a product of the Harvard Negotiation Project on “Negotiating with Putin,” featured in the July/August 2017 print version of The National Interest under the headline “Russian to Judgment.”
It was also released today as the lead essay in the online edition at nationalinterest.org (The accompanying … 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
Video: Setting the Stage for Productive Negotiations
Understanding how to arrange the meeting space is a key aspect of preparing for productive negotiations. In this video, Guhan Subramanian, professor at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, discusses a real world example of how seating arrangements can influence a negotiator’s success. The discussion was held in his negotiation training workshop “Setting the … Read More
Announcing the 2017-2018 PON Graduate Research Fellows
The Program on Negotiation Graduate Research Fellowships are designed to encourage young scholars from the social sciences and professional disciplines to pursue theoretical, empirical, and/or applied research in negotiation and dispute resolution. Consistent with PON’s goal of fostering the development of the next generation of scholars, this program provides support for one year of dissertation … Read More
Arbitration vs Mediation: Using Teambuilding and ADR in Negotiation
During his years as George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of State, one of James A. Baker, III’s, goals was to encourage the free-market reforms that Communist Party of the Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev had launched in the late 1980s. One day during his tenure, a high-level Bush administration official commented in the press that … Read More
Alternative Dispute Resolution: Corporate Stakeholder Engagement and Mineral Extraction in Colombia
Corporations around the world are being pressed by their shareholders to do a better job of taking local concerns into account when they initiate mineral extraction projects. Indeed, both stakeholders and risk managers are demanding this. Many companies are now systematically assessing the concerns of a wide range of stakeholders and seeking to demonstrate (in … Read More
Using Your BATNA: Bruce Patton and William Ury Discuss the ‘Fiscal Cliff’
A standoff between Democrat President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans in 2012 focused attention on the negotiation styles employed by the two parties as they sought to secure their interests while also working toward the resolution of a budgetary battle.
… Read More
Dispute Resolution: Uncertainty, Risk, and Opportunity in Water Diplomacy
When countries face contending water claims, one of the biggest obstacles to reaching an agreement is uncertainty. Specifically, there are three types of uncertainty: uncertainty of information, uncertainty of action, and uncertainty of perception. In part 2 of this 5 part series, Program on Negotiation faculty member Lawrence Susskind explains the uncertainties facing negotiators trying … Read More
An Alternative to Traditional Dispute Resolution Instruction
Many negotiation and mediation instructors draw from other disciplines for a range of purposes. Insights from social psychology, for instance, can help students understand, explain, or predict certain interpersonal and inter-group dynamics. Ideas from economics and game theory can shed light on various value-creation principles.
… Read More
Closing the Deal in Negotiations
In dealmaking, we typically devote significant time to trying to convince a counterpart of the logic and appeal of our proposals. But sometimes our role becomes a more defensive one, as our negotiation behaviors focus on trying to dissuade others from pursuing a route that we believe could be disastrous.
That was the task outgoing United … Read Closing the Deal in Negotiations
Great Negotiators vs. Great Negotiations: The Program on Negotiation’s Great Negotiator Teaching Series
Teaching negotiation using case studies focused on the efforts of great negotiators can help achieve several pedagogical goals at the same time. Developed by Professor James Sebenius of Harvard Business School, the Program on Negotiation’s Great Negotiator case study series, available from the PON Clearinghouse, highlights the lessons learned by each recipient of PON’s Great … Read More
M&A Negotiation: Undoing the Deal
After parties have invested considerable time and money in a negotiation, agreement can come to seem like an inevitable end point. You may think you have an ironclad contract, but because negotiations can be difficult to undo, we’d be wise to examine very closely the pros and cons of signing a deal. That’s the lesson … Read M&A Negotiation: Undoing the Deal
How Professional Negotiators Can Avoid Public Controversy
In negotiation, we sometimes become so focused on what we’re trying to achieve at the bargaining table that we fail to adequately account for how the deal could look to observers. As two recent deals that the U.S. government reached with Iran show, it’s important for professional negotiators to consider the optics.
… Read More
Diplomatic Negotiations to Build a Winning Coalition to Negotiate with Iran
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany were able to arrive at a negotiated agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran to curtail its nuclear weapons development program. Read this article to find out what diplomatic negotiation strategies were employed by the representatives from the bargaining countries and how they impacted … Read More
In Conflict Resolution, Look for Trusted Partners
How can you engage in conflict management with someone who doesn’t trust you? Consider bringing in someone the other party does trust to mediate the dispute, as the FBI and the occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon did to promote a peaceful end to their standoff in February 2016.
… Read In Conflict Resolution, Look for Trusted Partners
Dealing with Difficult People – In and Outside of Congress
In business negotiations, we sometimes face the task of dealing with difficult people—those who seem to pick fights, hold offensive views, or rely on hard-bargaining tactics. Some of us naturally turn away from such difficult negotiations. Others choose to try to overlook or overcome the flaws they see in potential negotiating partners.
… Read More
Projecting Power at the Negotiation Table
Projecting power at the negotiation table is one tactic bargainers can employ to obtain their objectives in bargaining scenarios. In this article we examine Amy Cuddy’s research with regards to power, body language, and the impact they have on your negotiating skills and negotiation tactics.
… Read Projecting Power at the Negotiation Table
How to Deal with a Difficult Mediator
Francesca Gino, Program on Negotiation faculty member and author of the bestselling book, Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed and How We Can Stick to the Plan, tackles this question from a Negotiation Briefings reader concerning how to deal with a mediator that is abrasive, dismissive, or even rude.
… Read How to Deal with a Difficult Mediator
PON Faculty Daniel Shapiro Named One of the 15 Best Professors at Harvard College by the Harvard Crimson’s Fifteen Minutes Magazine
The Harvard Crimson’s Fifteen Minutes magazine recently honored Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School faculty member Daniel Shapiro as one of the 15 best professors at Harvard College. Director of the Harvard International Negotiation Program and Associate Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, Professor Shapiro is the author of Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How … Read More
Negotiation Scenario: Hammering out Local Strategies for Managing Climate-related Public Health Risks
Climate change is already causing increased temperatures, more intense storms, and rising sea levels in many parts of the world. The threats, particularly the impacts on human health, are daunting. Despite uncertainties about the timing and severity of the impacts of climate change in each location, this simulation asserts that cities and towns must take … Read More
Deepak Malthotra Analyzes the Brexit Negotiations for Harvard Business Review
Program on Negotiation faculty member Deepak Malhotra, a Professor in the Negotiations, Organizations, and Markets Unit at the Harvard Business School, recently published an article in Harvard Business Review, “A Definitive Guide to the Brexit Negotiations,” offering his insights on how the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. You can read that article on … Read More
PON Remembers Howard Raiffa
The Program on Negotiation would like to honor the memory of beloved colleague Howard Raiffa by highlighting his vast contributions to the field of decision making, negotiation, and dispute resolution. Howard Raiffa was one of the four principal co-founders of the Harvard Kennedy School and the Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Managerial Economics Emeritus, a … Read PON Remembers Howard Raiffa
Conflict Resolution Games: Life, Death, and Career Consequences
High-Stakes Conflict Resolution Games
In Drug Testing in the Workplace—a popular role-play from the TNRC—a truck driver tests positive for marijuana in a random drug test. To play this conflict resolution game, participants assume the roles of truck driver, personnel director, and a representative from the Employee Assistance
Program Center, and then explore the question:
What is the … Read More
Adaptability at the Bargaining Table: How Improvisation and Jazz Music Inform Negotiation Strategy
Aggressive tactics and hard-bargaining strategies may, at face value, provide a roadmap to success at the bargaining table but, as the Washington Post’s Kelly Johnson discovered in her interview with Program on Negotiation faculty member Michael Wheeler, adaptability to ever-changing circumstances is essential for the “dynamic” negotiations one encounters in everyday life.
… Read More
Negotiation Research Demonstrates the Impact of Memory on Decision Making Processes in Bargaining Scenarios
Recent negotiation research published by Psychological Science from Program on Negotiation faculty member and assistant professor at Harvard University’s Department of Psychology Joshua Greene and his colleague Elinor Amit explores the impact vivid mental imagery has on decision-making processes for negotiators. The negotiation skills insights that can be obtained from such negotiation research are many … Read More
Case Study: Teaching with a Powerful Negotiated Agreement
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
Announcing the 2016-2017 PON Graduate Research Fellows
The Program on Negotiation Graduate Research Fellowships are designed to encourage young scholars from the social sciences and professional disciplines to pursue theoretical, empirical, and/or applied research in negotiation and dispute resolution. Consistent with PON’s goal of fostering the development of the next generation of scholars, this program provides support for one year of dissertation … Read More
Program on Negotiation Faculty Member Daniel Shapiro Releases New Book – Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve Your Most Emotionally Charged Conflicts
Program on Negotiation faculty member Daniel Shapiro’s latest book, Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve Your Most Emotionally Charged Conflicts, is now available at the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center.
Dan Shapiro has written a masterpiece – clear, insightful, and practical – about the most difficult and emotionally-charged of negotiations…Highly recommended!
-William Ury, co-author of Getting to Yes … Read More
On Its Head: Teaching Negotiation in a Flipped Classroom
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
The Negotiation Simulation Method: Teach Legal Lessons by Immersive Means
In complex legal negotiations, money, reputations, and sometimes even lives are often at stake. Legal professionals must know how to read and debate the law as well as fully embrace the art and science of negotiation.
To help attorneys and other legal professionals become well versed in law and court-based negotiation, the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching … 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
The Fiscal Cliff and the Debt Ceiling: Program on Negotiation Chair Robert Mnookin Discusses Recent and Future Negotiations Between Congressional Republicans and the White House
What methodology was driving the posturing and statements behind congressional Republicans and the Obama administration’s negotiations regarding the debt ceiling and how both sides came together to avoid going off of the “fiscal cliff.”
… Read More
Fighting for Peace: Remembering Yitzhak Rabin
Fighting for Peace: Remembering Yitzhak Rabin
with
Jonathan Ben Artzi
Grandson of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
and
Ronald Heifetz
Founding Director, Center for Public Leadership
King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership
Harvard Kennedy School
Monday, November 9
6-7:00 PM
Malkin Penthouse
Harvard Kennedy School
Free and open to the public
About the Event: Twenty years ago, Israeli Prime Minister and 1993 Nobel Peace Laureate Yitzhak Rabin … Read Fighting for Peace: Remembering Yitzhak Rabin
Bridging the Religious Divide: Transforming Conflict when Emotions and Religion are at Play
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
“Negotiating at Work: Turn Small Wins into Big Gains”: A Book Talk with Deborah Kolb
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present: Negotiating at Work: Turn Small Wins into Big Gains
with
Deborah Kolb
Professor Emerita, Simmons College School of Management
Tuesday, November 17
4:00-5:15 PM
Pound Hall 102
Harvard Law School Campus
Free and open to the public; refreshments will be served.
About the book:
Negotiation is undoubtedly essential to navigating the working world. Dr. … Read More
Negotiating the Path of Abraham: The Flip Side of the Middle East
The Abraham Path Initiative and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School are pleased to present:
Negotiating the Path of Abraham: The Flip Side of the Middle East
with
William Ury
Co-author of “Getting to Yes” and co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation
and
Dave Cornthwaite, Leon McCarron, Hannah Messerli,
James Sebenius, and José Filipe Torres
Saturday October 10
1:30-5 PM
Milstein East B, Wasserstein Hall
Harvard Law School Campus
Free … Read More
Identity, Culture and Conflict Resolution
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to host the New England Association for Conflict Resolution 2015 Fall Program: Identity, Culture and Conflict Resolution Wednesday, October 21, 2015 UPDATED Schedule Registration – 6:30 – 7:15 pm NE-ACR Fall Program – 7:15 pm to 9:20 pm Location: Austin Hall North, Harvard Law School Free and open to the public.
Pre-registration encouraged, … Read Identity, Culture and Conflict Resolution
Program on Negotiation associate Paola Cecchi Dimeglio Edits a Collection of Dispute Resolution Essays in “Interdisciplinary Handbook of Dispute Resolution”
Program on Negotiation associate and researcher Paola Cecchi Dimeglio, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Negotiation Research Project, was the editor for a comprehensive, interdisciplinary guide to dispute resolution that combines negotiation research written in both French and English.
Cecchi Dimeglio’s “Interdisciplinary Handbook of Dispute Resolution,” published by Larcier, is currently available in the Program … Read More
Announcing the 2015 Winners of the PON Paper Prizes
The Program on Negotiation has awarded Bruno Verdini the 2015 Howard Raiffa Doctoral Student Paper Award for his paper “Charting New Territories Together: Laying the Foundations for Mutual Gains in United States – Mexico Water and Energy Negotiations.” This paper was submitted as his dissertation for the Ph.D. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Emily Cole Groden … Read More
Announcing the 2015-2016 PON Graduate Research Fellows
The Program on Negotiation Graduate Research Fellowships are designed to encourage young scholars from the social sciences and professional disciplines to pursue theoretical, empirical, and/or applied research in negotiation and dispute resolution. Consistent with the PON goal of fostering the development of the next generation of scholars, this program provides support for one year of … Read More
PON Faculty Members Jeswald Salacuse, Deborah Kolb, and William Ury Honored on Time’s List of the Five Best Negotiation Books of 2015
Program on Negotiation faculty members Jeswald Salacuse, Deborah Kolb, and William Ury were named by Time magazine as the authors of three of the five best negotiation books of 2015.
Jeswald Salacuse’s latest work, The Global Negotiator: Making, Managing and Mending Deals Around the World in the Twenty-First Century, describes the negotiation skills people need to succeed … Read More
Corruption: The Unaddressed Elephant on the Global Stage
The Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution is pleased to present: Corruption: The Unaddressed Elephant on the Global Stage with
William English Research Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and Research, Fellow at the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching and
Vladimir Radomirović
Serbian Investigative Journalist,
2015 Nieman Fellow
Monday, May 4, 2015
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
CGIS South, Room … Read More
Conflict Resolution When Dealing with Difficult People: Shutting Down the Government and Negotiation Strategies
Program on Negotiation faculty discuss the negotiation strategies used by US President Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans negotiating the end of the shutdown of the United States government.
… Read More
New Findings in the Field of Negotiation: Session Two
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present: New Findings in the Field of Negotiation: Research from the PON Graduate Research Fellows with
Arvid Bell PhD Candidate in political science at Goethe University Frankfurt and
Dana Wolf PhD candidate in public international law at American University Washington College of Law and
Todd Schenk
PhD candidate in environmental policy and planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tuesday, … Read More
New Findings in the Field of Negotiation: Session One
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present: New Findings in the Field of Negotiation: Research from the PON Graduate Research Fellows with
Vera Mironova PhD candidate in political science at the University of Maryland and
Abbie Wazlawek PhD candidate in management at Columbia Business School and
Boshko Stankovski
PhD candidate in politics and international studies at University of Cambridge
Tuesday, April 21
12:00 – 1:30 … Read More
Madeleine Albright Joins the Program on Negotiation for the American Secretaries of State Project
Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joins the Program on Negotiation’s American Secretaries of State Project.
… Read More
Analyzing the Name Dispute between the Republic of Macedonia and Greece: Twenty Years after the Interim Agreement
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is proud to present Analyzing the Name Dispute between the Republic of Macedonia and Greece: Twenty Years after the Interim Agreement with
Mr. Matthew Nimetz Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and
Dr. Daniel Serwer Senior Research Professor of Conflict Management Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and
Mr. Boshko Stankovski
Graduate Research Fellow, Program … Read More
New Perspectives on Large-Scale Systems Change
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present New Perspectives on Large-Scale Systems Change with
Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld
Professor, School of Labor and Employment Relations (LER) at the University of Illinois
Thursday, April 23
12:15 – 1:30 pm
Wasserstein Hall Room B010 (Basement level)
Harvard Law School
About the talk:
Broad societal challenges, such as global climate change, industrial revitalization, and personalized medicine … Read New Perspectives on Large-Scale Systems Change
Interdisciplinary and International Perspectives on ADR: Past, Present, and Future
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present: Interdisciplinary and International Perspectives on ADR: Past, Present, and Future with
Dr. Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio Editor, Interdisciplinary Handbook of Dispute Resolution
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
12:00 – 1:30PM
Pound Hall 102
Harvard Law School campus
Free and open to the public. A non-pizza lunch will be provided.
About the Book:
Over the last three decades, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) … Read More
Voices of Syria: Opinions of civilians and fighters of the Syrian civil war
The Middle East Negotiation Initiative of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present Voices of Syria: Opinions of civilians and fighters of the Syrian civil war
with Ms. Vera Mironova Graduate Research Fellow, Program on Negotiation and
Sadik Al Azm Emeritus Professor of Modern European Philosophy University of Damascus and
Motaz Hadaya
former Political Specialist with the U.S. Embassy in Syria
Moderated by
Professor Robert … Read More
“Making Conflict Work”: A Book Talk with Dr. Peter Coleman
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present: Making Conflict Work: Harnessing the Power of Disagreement with Dr. Peter Coleman
Thursday, April 9
12:00 – 1:15 PM
Hauser 102
Harvard Law School Campus
Free and open to the public.
About the book:
Work conflict is risky. It can go bad and poison employee health, work relationships and organizational climates, or … Read More
Israeli-Palestinian Process After the Israeli Election: Recalculating the Route
The Program on Negotiationat Harvard Law School is pleased to present Israeli-Palestinian Process After the Israeli Election: Recalculating the Route with Attorney Gilead Sher Head of the Center for Applied Negotiations (CAN) Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University
Moderated by
Professor Robert H. Mnookin
Samuel Williston Professor of Law
Chair, Program on Negotiation
Harvard Law School
Monday, March 30
4:00 pm
Austin West 111
Harvard Law … Read More
A Paradigm Shift for Israeli – Palestinian Negotiations
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present A Paradigm Shift for Israeli – Palestinian Negotiations with
Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh
Minister, Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction
former Member, Palestinian Delegation to the final status talks with Israel
Moderated by
Professor Robert H. Mnookin
Samuel Williston Professor of Law
Chair, Program on Negotiation
Harvard Law School
Wednesday, March 25
4:00 pm – 5:30 … Read More
The Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Center for European Studies are pleased to co-sponsor:
The Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project
with
Don Mullan Journalist/Author and Humanitarian; Associate Chair, UNESCO Global Youth Program Monday, March 23, 2015 2:15 PM – 4:00 PM Cabot Room, Busch Hall Harvard University
Free and open to the public.
About the Event:
This lecture by Irish journalist and author Don Mullan … Read More
Reflections of a Mediator: Preventive Diplomacy in an Age of Conflict
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present: Reflections of a Mediator: Preventive Diplomacy in an Age of Conflict with
Dr. Johnston Barkat Assistant Secretary-General United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
12:15 – 1:30PM
Pound Hall 100
Harvard Law School campus
Free and open to the public. A non-pizza lunch will be provided.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Johnston Barkat is the Assistant Secretary-General heading … Read More
Student Opportunity: Harvard International Negotiation Crisis Simulation
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Gleitsman Program for Leadership on Social Change at the Center for Public Leadership, the Harvard Kennedy School Negotiation Project, and the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project are pleased to announce: Registration Is Now Open for the 1st Annual Harvard International Negotiation Crisis Simulation
Application:
Undergraduates, graduates, and PhD students from … Read More
Today’s Middle East and Israel’s Elections: What is at Stake?
The Program on Negotiationat Harvard Law School is pleased to co-sponsor the Harvard Hillel’s second
Riesman Forum on Politics and Policy
Today’s Middle East and Israel’s Elections:
What is at Stake?
with
Ambassador Dennis Ross
William Davidson Distinguished Fellow
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Professor Gabriella Blum
Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
Harvard Law School
Moderated by
Professor Robert H. Mnookin
Samuel Williston … Read More
50th Anniversary of A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School invites you to join us for A 50th Anniversary Celebration of A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations with Robert B. McKersie and Richard E. Walton A live webcast of this event will be available for viewing at http://media.fas.harvard.edu/core/live/hls-live.html
Thursday, March 5, 2015
12:00 p.m. Registration opens
1:00 – 5:30 p.m. Program
5:30-6:30 p.m. Reception
Wasserstein … Read More
Lessons in Negotiation: Guhan Subramanian Cited by US Securities and Exchange Commissioner Daniel Gallagher
Program on Negotiation executive committee member and Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School professor Guhan Subramanian was recently cited by Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission during his opening statement at the Proxy Voting Roundtable.
In discussing the equalizing effect of a universal balloting system on corporate governance, Commissioner … Read More
International Negotiation: Your Own Worst Enemy?
Knowing how to manage your own internal conflicts before engaging in negotiations is an invaluable negotiation skill negotiators should develop prior to engaging in international negotiations, business or otherwise.
… Read More
Conflict Resolution: To Avoid Destructive Competition, Take the Pledge
Cooperative negotiators know that more value can be had at the bargaining table if they take an integrative bargaining approach to negotiations. Read here to find out how much value negotiators can create by cooperating with counterparts.
… Read More
James Baker: The Man Who Made Washington Work
The PON Film Series is pleased to present: James Baker: The Man Who Made Washington Work
Join us for a screening and discussion with
writer and director Eric Stange,
moderated by Professor James Sebenius, Harvard Business School
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
7:00 PM
Langdell Hall South, Harvard Law School
Free admission; public welcome. Refreshments will be served.
About the film:
Narrated by Tom Brokaw, James … Read James Baker: The Man Who Made Washington Work
Teaching Negotiation: A Symposium On Excellence & Innovation For Teachers & Trainers
This program is designed for anyone who teaches negotiation, dispute resolution, or conflict analysis across any field (e.g., law, business, international relations, social work, peace studies, public policy, urban planning, environmental studies, and engineering).
Negotiation trainers who provide on-site or online training to business or community clients should also attend so they can evaluate potential new … Read More
Dispute Resolution: Robert DeNiro Leaves Conflict Management to the Courts
Turning to litigation when disputes arise can be costly and time consuming. Instead of using the courts to resolve your dispute, negotiation offers a myriad of benefits for disputants who are seeking to resolve their conflict, create value, and save time and money.
… Read More
Negotiating Nuclear Non-Proliferation: Lessons from the Field
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to present Negotiating Nuclear Non-Proliferation: Lessons from the Field with Laura Rockwood Senior Research Fellow Managing the Atom Project, Harvard Kennedy School
Friday, February 20, 2015 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Wasserstein Hall, Room 1015
Harvard Law School Campus
This event is free and open to the public. Please bring your own lunch; drinks and dessert … Read More
Responding to the Conflict in Syria: An Insider’s Perspective
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution are pleased to co-present: Responding to the Conflict in Syria: An Insider’s Perspective
with Dr. Amro Taleb
Wednesday, January 28
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Wasserstein Hall Room B10 (Basement Level)
Harvard Law School campus
About the Speaker:
Dr. Amro Taleb is a Syrian and Canadian citizen … Read More
Harvard Programs Host Discussion on “Why Is It Hard to Talk About War? Bridging the Civilian – Military Divide” with Congressman-Elect Seth Moulton and PON Managing Director Susan Hackley
On December 8, 2014, Congressman-Elect Seth Moulton and Managing Director Susan Hackley co-presented at Harvard’s Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution. This seminar series is sponsored by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, The Weatherhead … Read More
Share Your Stories With The Negotiation Community
At the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School, we know that learning from your peers can be extremely valuable. That’s why we’d like to ask you to share your experiences using the role-play simulations, videos, and other materials available through the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) at PON.
Our goal is for you to … Read Share Your Stories With The Negotiation Community
The Risks of Taking Dealmaking Off the Table
On December 7, the news broke that Pierre Korkie, a South African who had been held hostage in Yemen by Al Qaeda, was killed by his guards just hours before his scheduled release due to a botched U.S. attempt to free another hostage. The tragedy suggests the dangers not only of refusing to engage in … Read The Risks of Taking Dealmaking Off the Table
A Perspective on the Colombian Peace Process
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and
the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies are pleased to co-present:
A Perspective on the Colombian Peace Process
with
Dr. Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado
Inspector General of Colombia
Procurador General de la Nación
Friday, December 5th
12:00 – 1:00 PM
Milstein East, Wasserstein Hall
Harvard Law School Campus
Free and open to the public. Please bring your … Read A Perspective on the Colombian Peace Process
Centrism in the Middle East: Myth or Method
The Harvard International Negotiation Program, the Harvard Global Health Institute and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School are pleased to co-present:
Centrism in the Middle East:
Myth or Method
Distinguished Lecture by
Najib A. Mikati
former Prime Minister of Lebanon
with opening remarks by
Daniel L. Shapiro
Founder and Director, Harvard International Negotiation Program
Monday, November 24
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Austin Hall, Room … Read Centrism in the Middle East: Myth or Method
Women and Negotiation: Negotiating the Gender Gap
The following question given to Program on Negotiation faculty member and a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School Hannah Riley Bowles: I recently figured out that I am one of the lowest-paid people at my level in my organization—even though I am one of the top performers. I am also one … Read More
Stay “in the deal”
As Joe Biden tells it, he never wanted to be vice president.
When Barack Obama asked him to consider being vetted as his running mate, Biden declined. Traditionally, the vice presidency was a largely ceremonial position removed from the center of power. Though recent VPs, most notably Dick Cheney, had changed that, Biden, as a longtime … Read Stay “in the deal”
PON Graduate Research Fellow Vera Mironova Published by Foreign Policy
Every year, the Program on Negotiation (PON) honors distinguished scholars with a Graduate Research Fellowship that provides support for one year of dissertation research and writing in negotiation and related topics in alternative dispute resolution. These grants promote negotiation research and are awarded to candidates in the social sciences and professional disciplines who are currently … Read More
Negotiation Skills: A Failure to Communicate
Question: I’ve just finished reading the recent book No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller (Wiley, 2010) by Harry Markopolos, the whistle-blower in the Bernard Madoff scandal. Why do you think Markopolos was so ineffective at persuading the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Madoff was a fraud? What does this story tell us … Read Negotiation Skills: A Failure to Communicate
Negotiating the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Track Two Diplomacy in the Past, Present and Future
The Middle East Negotiation Initiative at the Program on Negotiation is pleased to present a public talk by Dr. Yair Hirschfeld on September 19th. Dr. Hirschfeld, who is best known as the “architect of the Oslo Process,” will discuss the history of Track II diplomacy efforts in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and analyze recent developments in … Read More
Hong Kong Lawyer Benny Tai Inspired by Harvard Negotiation Project Authors
The Harvard Negotiation Project was recently mentioned in the Wall Street Journal by David Feith in his interview with Benny Tai, “China’s New Freedom Fighters.”
Benny Tai, a 49 year old lawyer who has been branded an “enemy of the state,” founded Occupy Central with Love and Peace, a group that promotes civil disobedience in order … Read More
Crisis Negotiations: Program on Negotiation Chair Robert Mnookin Joins Guest Panel on CNN Tonight to Discuss the Release of Bowe Bergdahl
CNN Tonight host Dan Lemon recently featured Program on Negotiation Chair Robert Mnookin along with fellow Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, storied commentator Anne Coulter, and Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst, for a panel discussion regarding the recent exchange of Taliban prisoner for US soldier, Bowe Bergdahl.
The night’s discussion centered on whether or … Read More
Pull Ahead of the Pack with a “Negotiauction”
Robert Barnett, a corporate attorney based in Washington, D.C., moonlights as a book agent for celebrity politicians—including Barack Obama, Laura Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. New York editors line up to sign Barnett’s clients and, they hope, rake in blockbuster profits.
Barnett’s technique is to introduce his latest superstar to the major publishing houses and … Read Pull Ahead of the Pack with a “Negotiauction”
The Consensus Building Institute Honors Program on Negotiation Faculty Member Lawrence Susskind with New Fellowship
The Consensus Building Institute (CBI) based in Boston, Massachusetts and in Washington, DC has honored Program on Negotiation faculty member Lawrence Susskind with its creation of a one-year graduate student fellowship that offers the successful candidate the opportunity to work with CBI in Boston or DC on an area of focus for bot CBI and … Read More
2014 Winner of the Raiffa Doctoral Student Paper Award
The Program on Negotiation has awarded Eugene B. Kogan the 2014 Howard Raiffa Doctoral Student Paper Award for his paper “Coercing Allies: Why Friends Abandon Nuclear Plans.” This paper was submitted as his thesis for the Ph.D. program at Brandeis. Mr. Kogan is currently a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow in the International Security Program at … Read More
Robert Mnookin to Mediate Negotiations Led by Middle East NGO Peacehub
After the conclusion of a reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu labeled collusion with a terrorist organization, the Middle East peace process has arrived at another, hopefully temporary, standstill.
… Read More
Great Negotiator 2014 Tommy Koh Describes Negotiation as an Art and Science
Program on Negotiation and Harvard Kennedy School’s Future of Diplomacy Project Great Negotiator award winner for 2014, Singaporean diplomat Tommy Koh, wrote an article about his experience winning the Great Negotiator award from Harvard University and the insights into negotiation he offered while honored here in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
… Read More
Program on Negotiation to honor Ambassador Tommy Koh as 2014 Great Negotiator
Join us for a conversation with Ambassador Tommy Koh of Singapore, the recipient of the 2014 Great Negotiator Award. This public program will feature panel discussions with Ambassador Koh and faculty from the Program on Negotiation and the Future of Diplomacy Project. The award recognizes Ambassador Koh for his work as chief negotiator for the … Read More
Meeting Negotiation Challenges in the Repatriation of Native American Museum Collections
The passage of the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) fundamentally shifted relationships between museums and Native American tribes. Because it is federal legislation, NAGPRA defines the circumstances, and structure of the negotiation process in the repatriation of sacred objects and other cultural patrimony. Case studies will reveal how outcomes framed within, … Read More
Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Offers an Opportunity for Dialogue
Writing for WBUR’s Cognoscenti with Shane Hunt, a student in the Harvard Law Negotiation Mediation Clinical Program, Program on Negotiation faculty member Robert Bordone describes the debate around the petition of LGBTQ groups to be included in Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade as a unique chance for dialogue among groups to address their concerns … Read More
The Abraham Path Named National Geographic Traveller’s Best New Walking Trail
National Geographic Traveller’s Ben Lerwill recently compiled a list of the best new walking trails from around the world, and the Program on Negotiation’s Abraham Path took the number 1 spot on his list of 10.
The Abraham Path is a long-distance walking trail that follows the path of the patriarch Abraham from Sanliurfa in southeastern … Read More
Umbrella Agreements, Consensus Building in the Arctic, and Negotiation in Social Enterprises: New Research from PON Fellows and Scholars
Every year the Program on Negotiation sponsors fellows and visiting scholars while they research and write about topics important to the fields of negotiation and mediation. This lunch provides an opportunity for this year’s two Graduate Research Fellows, Alexandros Sarris and Sarah Woodside, and Visiting Scholar Stefanos Mouzas to share their findings with the negotiation … Read More
Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution: Mechanisms for Legal Redress in the Muslim Community
Dr. Mohamed M. Keshavjee will discuss his new book, Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution, which provides an informed and thorough discussion of the relevance of Sharia and its principles that affirm equity, justice and basic human rights, and its interface with the UK’s official judicial system.
… Read More
Critical Decisions in Negotiation: A Faculty Book Talk with Professor Robert Bordone
The Program on Negotiation invites the public to the upcoming Harvard Law School Library event in honor of Professor Robert Bordone’s recently published DVD set. Critical Decisions in Negotiation with Professor Robert Bordone a faculty book talk followed by a panel discussion with Professor Michael Wheeler and Lecturer at Law Chad Carr
Tuesday, February 18, 2013 12:00 p.m.
Location: Lewis … Read More
Happy Holidays from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School!
We at the Program on Negotiation wish all of our friends a very happy holiday season. We are honored to work with you in helping improve the theory and practice of negotiation, conflict management, and problem-solving, at home and around the world. Best wishes for a joyful 2014!
… Read More
The Program on Negotiation’s MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program Releases “Collaborative Approaches to Environmental Decision-Making” Case Studies
The MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program, one of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School’s many research programs, acts as a center for research committed to thinking about and resolving disputes in the public sector. Led by its Director and Program on Negotiation executive committee member Lawrence Susskind, the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program conducts research … Read More
Robert Mnookin Writes for CNN About “How Obama and Boehner Can Get to Yes”
Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School Chair and Samuel Williston Professor of Law Robert Mnookin wrote for CNN’s Opinion about the government shutdown negotiations between congressional Republicans and United States President Barack Obama. To read “How Obama and Boehner Can Get to ‘Yes’ ,” please click here.
… Read More
The Deal is Done – Now What?
At last, the deal is done. After 18 months of negotiation, eight trips across the country, and countless meetings, you’ve finally signed a contract creating a joint venture with a Silicon Valley firm to manufacture imaging devices using your technology and their engineering.
The contract is clear and precise. It covers all the contingencies and has … Read The Deal is Done – Now What?
Program on Negotiation Faculty On How To End the US Government Shutdown
The Washington Post’s “On Leadership” column by Jenna McGregor asked renowned negotiation experts on how the government shutdown in Washington, DC could be ended at the bargaining table.
Among the experts interviewed were Robert Mnookin, Chair of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (PON) and author of Bargaining With The Devil: When To Negotiate, … Read More
Government Shutdown Negotiations: Robert Mnookin on NPR’s “Here & Now”
Program on Negotiation Chair Robert Mnookin sat down with National Public Radio’s Here & Now to discuss the government shutdown and the negotiating impasse between congressional Republicans and US President Barack Obama. Currently the clip is available on Here & Now’s website – click here to listen.
… Read More
PON Chair Robert Mnookin Discusses the Stalemate Between President Obama and Congressional Republicans
Program on Negotiation Chair and “Bargaining with the Devil” author Robert Mnookin was recently asked by CNN Fortune’s Claire Zillman about the strategies that Obama could employ in bringing congressional Republicans to the bargaining table in order to end the three-day old government shutdown.
… Read More
Ambassador Tommy Koh of Singapore Named the Great Negotiator by the Program on Negotiation and the Future of Diplomacy Project
The Program on Negotiation, an inter-university consortium of Harvard, MIT, and Tufts, and Harvard’s Future of Diplomacy Project have named Ambassador Tommy Koh of Singapore the recipient of the 2014 Great Negotiator Award. In public events at Harvard planned for the afternoon of Thursday, April 10, 2014 (details to be announced), participants will honor Koh’s … Read More
PON Faculty Member Robert Bordone Writes “What Obama Should Say About Syria” for NPR’s Cognoscenti
Program on Negotiation faculty member and Director of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program at Harvard Law School, Robert Bordone, and HNMCP clinical instructor Alonzo Emery recently published an article for NPR’s Cognoscenti titled “What Obama Should Say About Syria,” in which he discusses the opportunity the crisis in Syria presents for US President … Read More
Negotiating With Self – Obama’s Syria Deliberations
Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School faculty member Erica Ariel Fox recently published an article for Forbes.com discussing the inner negotiations that she advises leaders to focus on when formulating theirnegotiation strategy and how this relates to US President Barack Obama’s deliberations with regard to the crisis in Syria.
… Read More
The Future of Warfare and “Invisible Threats” to Peace: How Technology is Reshaping the Battlefield
Program on Negotiation and Harvard Law School faculty member Gabriella Blum’s essay “Invisible Threats,” co-authored with Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institution, was featured on the Harvard Law School website.
In a panel discussion about her research, Professor Blum explained her perspective on the growing threat of technology to peace and how the accessibility of this … Read More
Register Now for the Program on Negotiation’s Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Seminar!
Test your knowledge. Sharpen your skills. Become a better negotiator.
Join fellow professionals, executives, graduate students, and community members for the Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Seminar to learn how to skillfully negotiate to create value and resolve disputes.
… Read More
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School: Three Decades of Scholarship and Practice
Founded in 1983, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is a pioneer in the fields of negotiation, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution.
In commemoration of the program’s 30th anniversary this year, the Program on Negotiation is proud to present a video describing many of PON’s various educational and research activities.
According to Chair Robert Mnookin, … Read More
“Confronting Evil” Panel Videos Now Available on YouTube
On Saturday, April 20, 2013, the Program on Negotiation co-hosted a conference on “Confronting Evil: Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” in partnership with the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University and the Volkswagen Foundation.
… Read More
“Confronting Evil” Panel Videos Now Available Online
On Saturday, April 20, 2013, the Program on Negotiation co-hosted a conference on “Confronting Evil: Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” in partnership with the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University and the Volkswagen Foundation.
Originally scheduled to commence on Friday, April 19th, the conference had to be condensed to a single day due to the lock-down of the Boston … Read More
Congratulations to the Harvard Law School Class of 2013
Congratulations to the graduates of Harvard Law School’s Class of 2013 and appreciation to Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust at today’s graduation events for recognizing the Program on Negotiation’s Confronting Evil Conference, cosponsored by the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard and the Volkswagen Foundation, as one of the many ways HLS seeks to solve … Read More
Negotiation Design Dimensions: A Checklist
Here the Program on Negotiation offers a checklist of negotiation design categories. Whether your overall negotiation design is decide-announce-defend (DAD) or full-consensus (FC), or a hybrid of both, raising these issues is usually preferable to falling into a set of important decisions by default.
… Read Negotiation Design Dimensions: A Checklist
2013 Winner of the Raiffa Doctoral Student Paper Award
The Program on Negotiation has awarded Netta Barak-Corren the 2013 Howard Raiffa Doctoral Student Paper Award for her paper, co-written with Edy Glozman and Ilan Yaniv, “False Negotiations: The Art & Science of Not Reaching an Agreement.” Ms. Barak-Corren is an LLM candidate at Harvard Law School.
About the Award:
The annual prize of $1000 is awarded … Read More
HNLR Symposium Review: “Ideas and Impact: Roger Fisher’s Legacy”
On March 2, 2013, the Harvard Negotiation Law Review held their 2013 Symposium, entitled “Ideas and Impact: Roger Fisher’s Legacy.” This event celebrated Professor Fisher, co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project and the Program on Negotiation. Professor Fisher passed away last summer.
During the day-long event, distinguished panelists explored current trends and opportunities for aspiring scholars … Read More
Announcing the 2013-2014 PON Graduate Research Fellows
The Program on Negotiation Graduate Research Fellowships are designed to encourage young scholars from the social sciences and professional disciplines to pursue theoretical, empirical, and/or applied research in negotiation and dispute resolution. Consistent with the PON goal of fostering the development of the next generation of scholars, this program provides support for one year of … Read More
PON panel discusses Track II Negotiations, Islands of Coordination and Unilateral Moves in the New Middle East
On March 4th, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School hosted a panel discussion entitled: “Negotiations by Other Means: Track II, Unilateral Action, Robust Third Party Role and Islands of Coordination in the New Middle East.”
The panel featured three veterans of high profile Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy: Ambassador Dore Gold, President of the Jerusalem Center for … Read More
Social Perceptions at the Crossroads: Why Sex (Still) Impacts the Perception and Evaluation of Other Status-Linked Identities
On November 1, 2012, Professor Kerri Johnson from the University of California, Los Angeles, delivered a talk at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her lecture, entitled “Social Perceptions at the Crossroads: Why Sex (Still) Impacts the Perception and Evaluation of Other Status-Linked Identities,” was part of a year-long research seminar co-sponsored by the Program on Negotiation … Read More
Complexity Personified: International Standards Negotiations from a Microsoft Manager’s Perspective
Complexity Personified: International Standards Negotiations from a Microsoft Manager’s Perspective
On April 3, 2013, the Program on Negotiation hosted Jason Matusow, General Manager of International Standards at Microsoft, for a lunch seminar. His talk, titled “Complexity Personified: International Standards Negotiations from a Microsoft Manager’s Perspective,” covered the myriad of challenges that can arise when managing both … Read More
PON co-sponsored conference addresses the challenges of “Confronting Evil”
On Saturday, April 20th more than a hundred people came out to Harvard to attend the PON co-sponsored conference “Confronting Evil: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.” Held just six days after the bombings at the Boston Marathon, and one day after many area residents were asked to “shelter in place” by the police during their search for the … Read More
Confronting Evil: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Conference underway
Today’s Confronting Evil: Interdisciplinary Conference will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Emerson Hall on the Harvard University Campus. All four panels will be presented today.
… Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: “Does our negotiating plan sound unethical?”
Q: My husband and I would like to sell our condo and buy a house right away, but we need to save a bit more money, as we are slightly under water on our current mortgage and want to preserve our nest egg. Recently, however, an acquaintance of ours told us that he loves our … Read More
Learning from the deficit-reduction talks
Does anyone down there know how to cut a deal?” Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said to Vice President Joe Biden. It was Sunday, December 30, 2012, the day before the “fiscal cliff ” deadline, and the minority leader had phoned Biden out of a sense of desperation, report Patrick O’Connor and Peter Nicholas in the … Read Learning from the deficit-reduction talks
PON Podcast: My Neighbourhood with Julia Bacha, Just Vision
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School held a panel discussion following a screening of My Neighborhood, a Just Vision documentary. The podcast is now available.
… Read More
Making the Most Out of Negotiation Training
A passive approach to learning rarely leads to future negotiation success. To maximize your training experience, follow these guidelines.
… Read Making the Most Out of Negotiation Training
Negotiations by Other Means: Track II, Unilateral Action, Robust Third Party Role and Islands of Coordination in the New Middle East
As direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations appear to have ground to an indefinite halt, attention has shifted to other, less conventional methods for achieving mutually desirable outcomes for the two peoples. Tonight’s panelists will discuss the potential of alternatives including Track II diplomacy, isolated areas of coordination, a pro-active role of the third party and even … Read More
Harvard Negotiation Law Review Symposium Will Honor Roger Fisher
The Harvard Negotiation Law Review’s 2013 Symposium, entitled, “Ideas and Impact: Roger Fisher’s Legacy,” will be held on Saturday, March 2, 2013 at the Harvard Law School in Austin North from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The full-day event will explore the contributions of the late Roger Fisher, co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project and … Read More
The Program on Negotiation to screen Roger Fisher’s The Advocates
The Program on Negotiation will present an episode of The Advocates, an award winning television show created in 1969 by the late Roger Fisher.
… Read More
The Mediator as Negotiation Advisor: Team versus Individual Interests
If you’ve ever been part of an organization team preparing to negotiate an agreement with another organization, you probably have faced this frustrating task: Aligning your individual interests , other team members’ interests, and those of your company as a whole.
… Read More
Israeli Settlement Withdrawal: Negotiation lessons from the past, and planning for the future
This presentation by Karen Lee Bar-Sinai and Prof. Robert Mnookin is the fourth seminar exploring the role of urban planning in negotiation, co-sponsored by the Middle East Negotiation Initiative (MENI) at the Program on Negotiation and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
… Read More
Women and Negotiation: Their Place at the Table in the US and Abroad
Katrin Bennhold, staff writer for the International Herald Tribune, and Paula Gutlove, Professor of Negotiation and Conflict Management Practice at the Simmons College School of Management, will present a talk on Women and Negotiation.
… Read More
PON Film Series Event: My Neighbourhood Screening with Julia Bacha, Just Vision
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School are pleased to present a screening of “My Neighborhood,” a new Just Vision documentary. A panel discussion will be held after the screening with Julia Bacha, director/producer of My Neighbourhood.
… Read More
PON co-sponsors negotiation skills training for Israeli and Palestinian students
Thanks to leadership from the Middle East Negotiation Initiative (MENI) of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, a series of negotiation skills trainings was recently provided to eleventh grade students from Jewish and Arab schools in Israel. These two-day workshops, co-sponsored by the Program on Negotiation and the Amal Network and funded by … Read More
The Role of Designers in Negotiating Israeli-Palestinian Borders
This presentation by Karen Lee Bar-Sinai and Prof. Robert Mnookin is the third of four seminars exploring the role of urban planning in negotiation, co-sponsored by the Middle East Negotiation Initiative (MENI) at the Program on Negotiation and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
… Read More
Robert Mnookin Joins Panel to Discuss the Fiscal Cliff Negotiations on NPR’s Forum
Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School Chair Robert Mnookin was recently invited to a panel discussion on San Francisco radio station KQED’s ‘Forum’ to discuss the fiscal cliff negotiations.
… Read More
Training for Non-Face-to-Face Negotiations
Negotiating by email poses a set of challenges that one doesn’t often encounter in face-to-face negotiations.
Without the benefit of seeing your counterpart’s body language, what one person might intend to be a straightforward request the other might perceive to be rude.
A legitimate delay responding to an email offer by one party might be construed … Read Training for Non-Face-to-Face Negotiations
Happy Holidays from the Program on Negotiation.
The offices of the Program on Negotiation will be closed from December 24 through January 1, 2013.
… Read Happy Holidays from the Program on Negotiation.
Negotiating the Fiscal Crisis
How can we avert a full-throttle drive over the fiscal cliff? Despite some promising signs of movement on both sides of the aisle, the current negotiation approach – positional bargaining – is bound to bring us dangerously close to the edge.
… Read Negotiating the Fiscal Crisis
Negotiating Two Steps Ahead of the ‘Fiscal Cliff’
Program on Negotiation and Harvard Business School professor Deepak Malhotra recently sat down with CNBC to discuss the fiscal cliff and how Democrats and Republicans can not only complete their current negotiation successfully, but also their future negotiations.
… Read Negotiating Two Steps Ahead of the ‘Fiscal Cliff’
Program on Negotiation (PON) Film Series Screening of ‘The Island President’ Featured in the Harvard Crimson
The Program on Negotiation Film Series recently screened “The Island President,” the story of President Mohamed Nasheed’s efforts to garner world-wide attention on climate change, as rising sea levels threatened the survival of his country, the Maldives. In introducing the film, PON Managing Director Susan Hackley said, “This wonderful film shows how a skilled negotiator … Read More
Team Building, One Player at a Time
In late October, the Detroit Tigers were preparing to face off against the San Francisco Giants in Major League Baseball’s World Series. In 2002 and 2003, the Tigers had two of the worst seasons in baseball history, losing a combined 225 games. But through years of calculated decision making and negotiations, team president Dave Dombrowski … Read Team Building, One Player at a Time
Unilateral Initiatives in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict
Yaakov Katz, a correspondent for The Jerusalem Post and Jane’s Defence Weekly, and Prof. Robert Mnookin, the Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, will discuss Unilateral Initiatives in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict.
… Read More
Measuring the Cost of Betrayal Aversion
Richard Zeckhauser and Program on Negotiation faculty member Iris Bohnet have found that negotiators leave substantial amounts of money on the table due to betrayal aversion. They conducted experiments in which they compared people’s willingness to take risks in two decision situations. The first situation is a lottery whose outcome is based on chance. Participants … Read Measuring the Cost of Betrayal Aversion
The Role of Urban Planners in Negotiations: Case Study of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations
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
The Island President
The Program on Negotiation, the Environmental Law Program at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Law Documentary Studio are pleased to present a screening of The Island President with post-screening discussion led by Hardy Merriman, Senior Advisor at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.
… Read The Island President
There is No ‘I’ in Team, Only in Organizations
The old saying goes, “there is no ‘I’ in team,” but recent research by Program on Negotiation faculty member and Harvard Business School Associate Professor Francesca Gino and others suggests that an organization should pay attention to the various individuals it recruits, and by doing so it can improve employee retention and productivity.
… Read There is No ‘I’ in Team, Only in Organizations
The Role of Architects in Negotiations: Designing a “Yes” in Jerusalem
This presentation by Karen Lee Bar-Sinai and Prof. Robert Mnookin is the second of four seminars exploring the role of urban planning in negotiation, co-sponsored by the Middle East Negotiation Initiative (MENI) at the Program on Negotiation and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
… Read More
Water Diplomacy: Using a Creative Approach
The case of Jordan and Israel shows how even countries at war can negotiate a water agreement if it is framed in non-zero sum terms and trust continues to be built over time. And that is not the only case of a treaty that has succeeded against all odds to bridge conflicting water interests; the … Read Water Diplomacy: Using a Creative Approach
Water Diplomacy: Value Creating Approachs to Water Negotiation
Zero-sum thinking emerges when people conceive of water as a fixed resource – one provided by nature in a given quantity that is either static or diminishing. Based on these assumptions, diplomats often focus on what share of the existing water will be given to each entity. Negotiations of this type typically involve decision makers … Read More
Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) to Help NYC Councilman Daniel Garodnick Develop a Plan to Cut the City’s Annual Legal Payouts
The Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) will conduct a study for New York City Councilman Daniel Garodnick examining the municipality’s annual legal settlement payouts, the New York Daily News reports.
… Read More
Water Diplomacy: The Role of Science in Water Diplomacy
Scientific and technical knowledge is important in water negotiations, but not in the ways it has often been used. It is counterproductive to use scientific information to justify arbitrary (political) decisions. For example, scientific information about water has increased dramatically over the last several decades, but our ability to manage water resources has not improved … Read More
Water Diplomacy: Creating Value and Building Trust in Transboundary Water Negotiations – Israel and Jordan, From War to Water Sharing
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
Covering Conflict: War, Storytelling and the Impact of Witnessing Violence
Reuters photographer Finbarr O’Reilly and Dr. Bessel A. van der Kolk, Medical Director of the Boston Trauma Center, will discuss the emotional toll of war, how trauma affects brain and body alike, and what it takes to witness and narrate violent struggle in the world.
… Read More
Debating Body Language: U.S. Presidential Candidate’s Unspoken Messages
How important is body language to how you are perceived?
How about when you are debating national policy in front of millions of television viewers?
… Read More
Thirteen Days in the Age of Nuclear Threat: Negotiation Lessons for Peaceful Coexistence
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
Robert Mnookin Honored by International Academy of Mediators with Lifetime Achievement Award
Program on Negotiation Chair Robert Mnookin was honored by the International Academy of Mediators with a lifetime achievement award during the organization’s fall 2012 conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
… Read More
Childhood Memories and Morality: Do Memories Lead You to Behave More Ethically?
Experiments conducted by Program on Negotiation faculty member Francesca Gino and her colleague Sreedhan Desai suggest that remembering childhood memories may cause a person to behave in a more ethical manner.
… Read More
The Program on Negotiation Mourns the Loss of Co-Founder Roger Fisher
Roger Fisher, co-founder of the Program on Negotiation and the Harvard Negotiation Project, died on August 25 at age 90. A true pioneer and leader, he helped launch a new way of thinking about negotiation, and he worked tirelessly to help people deal productively with conflict.
“Through his writing and teaching, Roger Fisher’s seminal contributions literally … Read More
Bring Back Your Deal from the Brink: Weigh the Benefits of a Concession
Another option for dealing with difficult negotiations is to craft what Harvard Law School professor Robert C. Bordone calls a “workaround” – a strategy for meeting your current goals without the involvement or support of your adversary. You might be able to induce a yes with a tempting concession on a key issue, according to … Read More
Bring Your Deal Back from the Brink: Probe the Other Side’s Point of View
How can you figure out the motives behind someone’s seemingly stubborn position? Begin by questioning her about the problem she is trying to solve. Deal blockers may be held back by financial, legal, personal, or other constraints you don’t know about, according to Harvard Business School professor Deepak Malhotra. A tough stance could also communicate … Read More
Bring Back Your Deal from the Brink
What can you do when a difficult person is the main obstacle to a promising deal? There are a number of strategies you can use to bring the deal back from the brink of failure. In a series of posts, the Program on Negotiation will offer ten suggestions.
… Read Bring Back Your Deal from the Brink
Europe at a Crossroads: The Story of Greece and What It Reveals About Structural Problems in the Eurozone
On the day before the next European Council Meeting (Oct. 18-19), George Papandreou, former prime minister of Greece, will talk about the crisis in Europe, how Greece points to deeper problems within the European Union, and why a stronger integration of member states could be a way forward. He will be in conversation with economist, … Read More
A Common Ground Approach to Societal Conflict Resolution
The Program on Negotiation is pleased to present:
A Common Ground Approach to Societal Conflict Resolution with
John Marks President and Founder of Search for Common Ground and
Susan Collin Marks
Senior Vice President of Search for Common Ground
Monday, October 15th, 2012
12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Wasserstein 2004
Harvard Law School Campus
Please bring your own lunch; soft drinks and cookies will be served
About … Read More
2012 Program on Negotiation Fall Open House
Interested in negotiation and conflict resolution?
Come to the Program on Negotiation Open House!
The open house will begin at 6:30pm on Wednesday, October 3rd in Milstein East B in the new Wasserstein building, on the Harvard Law School campus.
Meet students and faculty interested in Alternative Dispute Resolution and learn how to get involved. Students from the … Read 2012 Program on Negotiation Fall Open House
Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program is Nominated for an Innovating Justice Award
The Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) is nominated for an Innovating Justice Award for its proposal, “Retooling Legal Education and Dispute Systems Designers.”
… Read More
The Role of Urban Planners in Negotiations: Case Study of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations
Karen Lee Bar-Sinai is the director and co-founder of SAYA/Design for Change (www.sayarch.com). SAYA is based in Israel and specializes in what can be called “peace architecture” — using planning and design to support decision-making, negotiations and peace processes in areas of conflict. Bar-Sinai’s talk will explore how urban design thinking and planning can … Read More
Roger Fisher Papers Open at Harvard Law School Library
Roger Fisher, one of the cofounders of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and Samuel Williston Professor of Law, Emeritus, was honored on the 8th of April with a celebration of his career, research, and contributions to both the HLS community and the field of negotiation.
… Read More
Framing the Issue: Program on Negotiation Chair Robert Mnookin Leads HLS Reading Group in Study of U.S.-Cuba Relations
Reading groups at Harvard Law School, consisting of 2Ls and 3Ls, present faculty and students with opportunities to study with one another in a less formal setting. Additionally, students are encouraged and are able to gain an in-depth knowledge of the particular reading group’s subject matter.
… Read More
Announcing the 2012-2013 PON Graduate Research Fellows
The Program on Negotiation Graduate Research Fellowships are designed to encourage young scholars from the social sciences and professional disciplines to pursue theoretical, empirical, and/or applied research in negotiation and dispute resolution. Consistent with the PON goal of fostering the development of the next generation of scholars, this program provides support for one year of … Read More
Great Negotiator Award 2012
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, in conjunction with the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School, honored distinguished statesman and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III as the recipient of their Great Negotiator Award for 2012. Secretary Baker served under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1992.
A … Read Great Negotiator Award 2012
Goals Gone Wild
Max H. Bazerman sat down with Sean Silverthorne of Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge to discuss goal setting and how to effectively set goals on an individual and organizational level.
Researchers from top business schools have collaborated on research demonstrating that, in some cases, goal setting may actually do more harm than good.
… Read Goals Gone Wild
Yemeni Activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman to speak at Harvard
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, in partnership with The Center for Public Leadership and the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School
invites the public to an address by
Tawakkol Karman Nobel Peace Prize Co-recipient, 2011 Yemeni Political Activist and Journalist
When: Thursday, June 7, 2012
Time: 6 p.m.
Where: Institute of Politics Forum, Harvard Kennedy School
Free and open … Read More
Gabriella Blum Named Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Harvard Law School
Program on Negotiation faculty member and Harvard Law School faculty member Gabriella Blum was appointed Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law on April 10, 2012. To commemorate the occasion, Blum delivered a lecture entitled “The Fog of Victory” in which she discussed the meaning of victory in modern warfare.
In her opening … Read More
The Pulitzer Board Stands in Judgment
On April 16, the Pulitzer Prize board announced its annual writing prizes, with two notable omissions: the board chose not to award Pulitzers in the categories of fiction and editorial writing. The reaction from the publishing industry to the Pulitzer’s fiction snub, in particular, was swift and hostile. “If I feel disappointment as a writer … Read The Pulitzer Board Stands in Judgment
Frank Sander Honored at American Bar Association 14th Annual Spring Conference
With beautiful weather outside and the cherry blossom season in full bloom, over 1000 attendees filled the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section’s conference halls as it held its 14th annual conference in Washington, D.C.
On Saturday, April 21, the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution honored Frank Sander, A.B., LL.B., Bussey Professor of Law Emeritus and … Read More
Trusting Truth: The Path to Avoiding Gridlock in Public Dialogue
“Trusting Truth: The Path to Avoiding Gridlock in Public Dialogue” with Ron Suskind
, A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence, Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy,
Kennedy School of Government
Date: Monday, April 23, 2012Time: 4:00-6:00 PM
Where: CGIS South S-250, 1730 Cambridge Street
Contact Chair: Donna Hicks (dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu)
Speaker Bio: Ron Suskind is the A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence. One of the … Read More
2012 Great Negotiator Award event will honor former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III on March 29th
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
2012 Great Negotiator event will honor James A. Baker, III
2012 Great Negotiator Event honoring
James A. Baker, III
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 1:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School
This event is free and open to the public.
Join former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III as he discusses with faculty his most challenging negotiations, including the efforts that resulted in the Madrid Conference, the … Read More
PON faculty member Daniel Shapiro takes part in panel discussion reflecting on the World Economic Forum
In a panel discussion on February 3 at the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard faculty members shared their reflections on this year’s annual summit of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Panelists included Dr. Daniel Shapiro of the Harvard Negotiation Project, as well as Kennedy School faculty Charles W. Eliot … Read More
Russia’s Leadership Challenges in the 21st Century
Russia’s Leadership Challenges in the 21st Century with Kevin Ryan Executive Director for Research Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Kennedy School of Government and Simon Saradzhyan Fellow Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Kennedy School of Government Date: Monday, March 26, 2012 Time: 4:00-6:00 PM Where: CGIS South S-050, 1730 Cambridge Street Contact Chair: Donna Hicks (dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu)
Speaker Bios
Brigadier General Kevin Ryan (U.S. Army retired) is Executive Director … Read More
Moving Forward in Mediation Together
The teacher’s federation has qualms with the current education bill’s stipulations regarding the scheduling and terms for mediation between the federation and provincial government. The government is open to further negotiations, but refuses to offer more money. Susan Lambert, president of the British Columbia Teacher’s Federation, asserts that the government is acting in bad faith, … Read Moving Forward in Mediation Together
Closing the Deal is Only the Beginning of the Endgame
Often it is the relatively small details of an agreement that can cause the most consternation in negotiation. When viewed in light of the big picture, these details can be of minor importance, but while in the heat of the action they can become points of contention capable of derailing the process altogether, especially if … Read More
The Secret Talks That Led to the Fall of Apartheid
“The Secret Talks That Led to the Fall of Apartheid”
with Michael Young
Date: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 Time: 7:30 – 9 PM
Where: Langdell North, Harvard Law School
Event is free and open to the public; Refreshments will be served
Co-sponsored by: Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Mediation Program, Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and Harvard … Read More
Professor Mnookin participates in panel discussion on Shalit deal
Hostage negotiations are challenging in any situation, but the Israeli-Palestinian prisoner exchange involving Gilad Shalit in 2011 was more challenging than most. Learning lessons from this exchange was the topic of a panel discussion, entitled “In the Aftermath of the Shalit Deal: Insights regarding Hostage-Barricade Situations and Hostage Negotiations,” held at Haifa University’s School of … Read More
Pakistan and the US: Ships Passing in the Night
Pakistan and the US: Ships Passing in the Night with Pir Zubair Shah Reporter for The New York Times and Nieman Fellow and David Greenway Columnist for The Boston Globe and Shorenstein Fellow Date: Monday, February 27, 2012 Time: 4:00-6:00 PM Where: CGIS South S-354, 1730 Cambridge Street Contact Chair: Donna Hicks (dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu)
Speaker Bios
H.D.S. (David) Greenway is a contributing columnist for The Boston Globe, The International Herald … Read Pakistan and the US: Ships Passing in the Night
Fight or Flight
Many things factor into whether you choose “fight or flight” when faced with a difficult situation in life. Whether it is a disagreeable coworker or a border struggle between nations, the decisions made at the onset of conflict often determine the tenor of the entire proceedi