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.


the harvard negotiation project

What is the Harvard Negotiation Project?

The Harvard Negotiation Project seeks to improve the theory and practice of conflict resolution and negotiation using real-world conflict intervention, theory building, and education and training.

The Harvard Negotiation Project was created in 1979 and was one of the founding organizations of the Program on Negotiation consortium. The work of faculty, staff, and students associated with the Harvard Negotiation Project routinely moves back and forth between the worlds of theory and practice to develop ideas that practitioners find useful and scholars sound.

As the world’s first teaching and research center dedicated to negotiation, its founders are among the true pioneers in the field. As part of their commitment to helping other teachers, the Harvard Negotiation Project staff have developed a wealth of negotiation exercises, teaching notes, videotaped demonstrations, and interactive video and electronic lessons and made them available through the Program on Negotiation and Harvard Business School Publishing.

Along with the many classes and teaching materials, the Harvard Negotiation Project is famous for its development of “principled negotiation” as described in Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton’s groundbreaking work, Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.

Getting to YES has helped negotiators claim value and create value at the bargaining table ever since its first publication in 1981 and continues to do so today. Getting to YES has shown negotiators how to create value for mutual benefit and avoid acrimonious disputes at the bargaining table and, in doing so, has changed the negotiation landscape.

To discover more ways the Harvard Negotiation Project can help you improve your negotiation skills, download a complimentary copy of our special report, Teaching Negotiation, right now!

We will send you a download link to your copy of the report and notify you by email when we post new advice and information on how to improve your teaching negotiation skills.

The following items are tagged the harvard negotiation project:

Negotiation Workshop: Improving Your Negotiating Effectiveness

Posted by & filed under Harvard Negotiation Institute, Harvard Negotiation Institute (Five-Day Programs).

Course Dates: This course is closed Too many negotiators leave value on the table. They painfully divide a small pie after a costly battle while failing to capture offsetting opportunities for joint gain, or win the battle, but at the cost to relationships and reputation that limit long-term value. Reliably negotiating optimal outcomes requires a keen … Read More

Download Your Next Mediation Video

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

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

Negotiating Difficult Conversations: Dealing with Tough Topics Productively

Posted by & filed under Harvard Negotiation Institute, Harvard Negotiation Institute (Five-Day Programs).

Course Dates: This course is closed When negotiations become difficult, emotions often escalate and talks break down. To overcome barriers and turn negotiations from difficult to collaborative, from breakdown to breakthrough, you must learn to understand the inter- and intra-personal dynamics at play. In this program, you will examine how your own assumptions and behaviors can … Read More

Principled Negotiation: Focus on Interests to Create Value

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

Inexperienced negotiators and even many experienced negotiators tend to assume they have a choice between two main strategies: negotiate in a tough, demanding manner or in a friendly, accommodating manner. In fact, there’s a better, third way of negotiating—one that doesn’t rely on toughness or accommodation, but that will improve your likelihood of meeting your … Read More

What is Negotiation?

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

Many people dread negotiation, not recognizing that they negotiate on a regular, even daily basis. Most of us face formal negotiations throughout our personal and professional lives: discussing the terms of a job offer with a recruiter, haggling over the price of a new car, hammering out a contract with a supplier. … Read What is Negotiation?

Managing Difficult Employees: Listening to Learn

Posted by & filed under Dealing with Difficult People.

Managing difficult employees is one of the biggest challenges that leaders face. When employees seem unreasonable, belligerent, or uncooperative, managers may be tempted either to brush aside the problem or, alternatively, to fly off the handle. A better solution when managing difficult staff? Use negotiation techniques to get to the root of underlying problems. The following … Read Managing Difficult Employees: Listening to Learn

The Value of Using Scorable Simulations in Negotiation Training

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

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

Persuasive Parenting through Negotiation

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

In his book How to Negotiate with Kids…Even When You Think You Shouldn’t (Viking, 2003), Scott Brown, a co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School, outlines a framework for dealing with your children using the principles of negotiation. He identifies six principles of “persuasive parenting” that will allow you and your child to … Read Persuasive Parenting through Negotiation

International Negotiation Role Playing: Understanding the Theory and Practice of Systemic Peacebuilding

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution.

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

Ask A Negotiation Expert: Network Building in the Middle East

Posted by & filed under International Negotiation.

A lack of effective communication has worsened ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. In 2014, regional stakeholders created the Negotiation Strategies Institute (NSI) to promote communication across disputing governments and other groups affected by the conflict. With the Harvard Negotiation Project (HNP) as its academic sponsor, NSI holds an intensive 10-month executive program each year … Read More

What an Operatic Role-Play Simulation Can Teach You About Negotiation

Posted by & filed under Teaching 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

2017 Great Negotiator Award Goes to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos

Posted by & filed under Events, Great Negotiator Award, Leadership Skills.

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

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

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

Bruce Allen’s Essay on Dealing with Russians and Unintended Nuclear War

Posted by & filed under International Negotiation.

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

On Its Head: Teaching Negotiation in a Flipped Classroom

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

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

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

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

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

with

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

Rev. Septemmy E. Lakawa Research Associate … Read More

Negotiating the Path of Abraham: The Flip Side of the Middle East

Posted by & filed under Daily, Events.

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

Hong Kong Lawyer Benny Tai Inspired by Harvard Negotiation Project Authors

Posted by & filed under Teaching Negotiation.

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

HNLR Symposium Review: “Ideas and Impact: Roger Fisher’s Legacy”

Posted by & filed under Dispute Resolution, Events, Videos.

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

Complexity Personified: International Standards Negotiations from a Microsoft Manager’s Perspective

Posted by & filed under International Negotiation, Videos.

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

Harvard Negotiation Law Review Symposium Will Honor Roger Fisher

Posted by & filed under Dispute Resolution, Negotiation Skills.

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 Mourns the Loss of Co-Founder Roger Fisher

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

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

PON faculty member Daniel Shapiro takes part in panel discussion reflecting on the World Economic Forum

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

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

PON Film Series presents “The Interrupters”

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

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

Dr. Ury featured in Washington Post article on debt ceiling negotiations

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution.

In a recent article published in the Washington Post, Dr. William Ury, co-founder of the Program on Negotiation, suggests that Republicans and Democrats hammering out a deal on the national debt ceiling could benefit from the experience of negotiators. Professional negotiators know that certain tactics can backfire in tense situations.  Issuing ultimatums, publicly criticizing your counterpart, … Read More

Why Classic Cases?

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

Why are some negotiation exercises still used in a great many university classes even twenty years after they were written? In an effort to understand more about the enduring quality of some classic teaching materials, we asked faculty affiliated with PON to explain why they think some role play simulations remain bestsellers in the Clearinghouse … Read Why Classic Cases?

Norwegian Foreign Minister visits PON

Posted by & filed under Daily, International Negotiation.

On December 6, 2010, faculty and associates from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School met at a private lunch with Norway’s Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Store, and the ambassador of Norway to the U.S., Wegger Chr. Strommen. At the meeting, the Foreign Minister described how he helped bring decades of negotiation with the … Read Norwegian Foreign Minister visits PON

New PON Teaching Materials About the Work of Martti Ahtisaari, 2010 Great Negotiator Award Recipient

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

The Program on Negotiation’s 2010 Great Negotiator Award was given to former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari, for his many significant achievements in the fields of negotiation and diplomacy. He was central to the Namibian independence negotiations in the late 1980s. He also served as chief United Nations negotiator to Kosovo from 2005-2006, and was instrumental … Read More

Negotiate with Your Kids?

Posted by & filed under Daily, Negotiation Skills.

Adapted from “Negotiate Better Relationships with Your Children,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter. Getting a good night’s sleep and eating a healthy dinner might seem like obvious goals for parents to have for their young children, but kids won’t always agree. When faced with back talk, tantrums, and tears, most parents vacillate between laying down … Read Negotiate with Your Kids?

Bruce Patton on Teaching the Micro-Skills of Negotiation

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

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

PON hosts “world premiere” of Abraham Path Initiative Films

Posted by & filed under Conflict Resolution, Daily, Events, Harvard Negotiation Project, Negotiation Skills, PON Film Series.

The PON Film Series has shown nearly 50 films over the past several years at events that are open to students and the public. On December 8, the PON Film Series had a “world premiere” of several short films about the Abraham Path Initiative, a hiking trail being developed in the Middle … Read More

Teachers and Trainers Gather to Talk About Mediation Pedagogy

Posted by & filed under Daily, Pedagogy at PON, Research Projects.

By Larry Susskind Nearly two hundred educators and trainers from eighteen countries gathered on May 15th and 16th to share ideas about teaching mediation.  It was unusual for mediation teachers and trainers from fields as diverse as law, family services, public management, business, international relations, urban planning, community development, psychotherapy, and education to share ideas on … Read More

Negotiating with Your Children

Posted by & filed under Negotiation Skills.

Negotiating with your children may seem counterintuitive but parents can build stronger relationships with them by implementing a problem-solving approach when trying to resolve family conflicts. In his book How to Negotiate with Kids…Even When You Think You Shouldn’t (Viking, 2003), Scott Brown, a founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School, outlines a … Read Negotiating with Your Children