AI mediation is on the rise, with chatbots increasingly assisting human mediators in resolving disputes. Here’s what AI mediation is capable of—and where it falls short.
… Read AI Mediation: Using AI to Help Mediate Disputes 
Discover step-by-step techniques for avoiding common business negotiation pitfalls when you download a copy of the FREE special report, Business Negotiation Strategies: How to Negotiate Better Business Deals, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
Mediation
What is Mediation?
Worldwide, mediation has become a common means of resolving conflict, ranging from divorce to workplace disputes to broken contracts.
When negotiators can’t come to an agreement but want to avoid an expensive, time-consuming, and potentially rancorous lawsuit, mediation is often their most logical choice. Mediation can help resolve a wide range of disputes. A divorcing couple that can’t reach agreement on child custody might try mediation. So might siblings who disagree about issues related to an inheritance, or companies that are fighting over a failed venture. Sometimes courts require litigants to engage in court-sponsored mediation with the goal of heading off a trial.
In mediation, a trained mediator assists disputants in working together to craft a resolution that each side values. Mediators encourage parties to share information about their positions and explore innovative means of coming together.
Using mediation skills as a leader rather than imposing a decision, a trained mediator applies communication skills, objectivity, and creativity to help disputants reach their own voluntary solution to the conflict. Indeed, one of the tenets of mediation practice is to work subtly so that parties leave feeling as if they have reached accord largely on their own, a strategy that is meant to deepen their commitment to honor the agreement.
In short, mediation is a negotiation between two or more parties facilitated by an agreed-upon third party. Skilled third-party mediators can lower the emotional temperature in a negotiation, foster more effective communication, help uncover less obvious interests, offer face-saving possibilities for movement, and suggest solutions that the parties might have overlooked.
Find out more about mediation by downloading our complimentary special report, Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiations: Top Techniques from Mediation Training Experts. Discover how to choose the right mediator, understand the mediation process, and learn how to engage a mediator to ensure a good outcome.
The following items are tagged Mediation:
Harvard Negotiation Master Class: Advanced Strategies for Experienced Negotiators – November 18–20, 2024
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, MIT, and the Harvard Kennedy School—all of whom are committed to delivering a transformational learning experience.
… Read More
Negotiation Master Class November 2024 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?
… Read More
What is an Arbitration Agreement?
If you have ever owned a cell phone or been issued a credit card, odds are you’ve signed an arbitration agreement. You also may have signed an arbitration agreement when you started your current job or a past one, whether you remember doing so or not.
… Read What is an Arbitration Agreement?
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
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
How Mediation Can Help Resolve Pro Sports Disputes
Worldwide, mediation has become a common means of resolving conflict, ranging from divorce to workplace disputes to broken contracts. Yet mediation remains an underused tool for resolving disputes in U.S. professional sports leagues.
… Read More
Semester Mediation and Conflict Management – Spring 2025
SEMESTER MEDIATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT – ONLINE
Course Dates: Mondays, beginning January 27, 2025 and ending on April 7, 2025 from 6 to 8 p.m. ET (Note: There will be no class the week of February 17, 2025) Faculty: David Seibel and Stevenson Carlebach Register Now – Spring 2025!
After years working on Wall Street and on the launch team … Read More
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.
… 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
Semester Mediation and Conflict Management – Fall 2024
SEMESTER MEDIATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT – ONLINE
Course Dates: Mondays, beginning September 16, 2024 and ending on November 25, 2024 from 6 to 8 p.m. ET (Note: There will be no class the week of October 14, 2024) Faculty: David Seibel and Dan Green Sold Out!
After years working on Wall Street and on the launch team of a Cambridge … 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.
… Read More
Mediation Training: What Can You Expect?
Organizations have long recognized the value of hiring professional mediators to help resolve disputes. More and more, managers have begun to also see value in securing mediation training for themselves and their employees. Although there are times when the services of an unbiased, professional mediator are needed, there may also be instances in which employees … Read Mediation Training: What Can You Expect?
Mediation Secrets for Better Business Negotiations: Top Mediator Techniques
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
Negotiation Case Studies: Google’s Approach to Dispute Resolution
Here’s a great example on how to avoid litigation by pursuing negotiation with your counterparts. In the face of antitrust charges, Google’s guiding principle for dispute resolution is “Don’t litigate, negotiate,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
… Read More
What Is the Difference Between Leadership and Management?: Successful Leadership Strategies From Harvard’s Program on Negotiation
In this FREE special report, we offer advice to help you improve your leadership and negotiation skills.
… Read More
Negotiating Identity and Values-Based Disputes
How Do Parties in Conflict Negotiate Core Beliefs?
Identity and values-based disputes are particularly challenging to resolve, as identities are naturally inflexible and values are typically much less elastic than interest-based issues. In conventional interest-based negotiation, parties often do give up one thing in exchange for getting something they want more. This is often not possible … Read Negotiating Identity and Values-Based Disputes
Undecided on Your Dispute Resolution Process? Combine Mediation and Arbitration, Known as Med-Arb
The choice: arbitration vs. mediation. You’re not sure which of two common dispute resolution processes, mediation or arbitration, to use to resolve your conflict. Mediation is appealing because it would allow you to reach a collaborative settlement, but you’re worried it could end in impasse. You know that arbitration would wrap up your dispute resolution … Read More
Types of Mediation: Choose the Type Best Suited to Your Conflict
When parties involved in a serious conflict want to avoid a court battle, there are types of mediation can be an effective alternative. In mediation, a trained mediator tries to help the parties find common ground using principles of collaborative, mutual-gains negotiation. We tend to think mediation processes are all alike, but in fact, mediators … Read More
Prompting Peace Negotiations
When armed conflict breaks out, observers often quickly raise the prospect of a diplomatic solution. Yet many wars drag on for years, even as the possibility of peace negotiations seems to dim. As Russia’s war on Ukraine reaches the two-year mark, many U.S. and European governments are eager to try to mediate an end to … Read Prompting Peace Negotiations
Dispute Resolution Example: The Chicago Symphony’s Contract Dispute
A dispute resolution example involving the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and management highlights the potential value of involving an influential mediator in negotiations.
… Read More
What Makes a Good Mediator?
What makes a good mediator? And how is it that mediators—who themselves lack any power to impose a solution—nevertheless often lead bitter disputants to agreement?
… Read What Makes a Good Mediator?
Choose the Right Dispute Resolution Process
What is dispute resolution? There are three basic types of dispute resolution, each with its pros and cons. The first two, mediation and arbitration, are considered types of alternative dispute resolution because they are an alternative to litigation.
… Read Choose the Right Dispute Resolution Process
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
Dispute Resolution on Facebook: Using a Negotiation Approach to Resolve a Conflict
For several years, Facebook has been working with social scientists to bring traditional methods of dispute resolution to cyberspace. The site has begun to offer users tools to resolve disputes with one another over offensive or upsetting posts, including insults and photos.
… Read More
Deception in Negotiation
Lying in negotiations is both an ethical and strategic risk. Rather than misrepresenting the truth, a better approach is to reshape reality to align with your goals, making it easier to be truthful. This strategy resolves the dilemmas of dishonesty while maintaining integrity.
… Read Deception in Negotiation
Employee Mediation Techniques – Resolve Disputes and Manage Conflict with These Mediation Skills
If you manage people, disputes will show up at your door. Here are some mediation techniques from the world of alternative dispute resolution to help you resolve conflicts with employees in the workplace.
… Read More
Using E-Mediation and Online Mediation Techniques for Conflict Resolution
Suppose you want to hire a mediator to help you resolve a conflict that you’re having with an individual or a company, but for various reasons, meeting face-to-face would be difficult. That’s where online mediation comes in.
… Read More
Dealing with Difficult People and Negotiation: When Should You Give Up the Fight?
Negotiators often fail to recognize when it’s time to walk away from a negotiation dispute – a trap that can squander time, money, and reputations. In a negotiation where pride and property are at stake, it may help to know when to give up the fight with your counterpart.
… Read More
In Contract Negotiations, Agree on How You’ll Disagree
During the course of a complex negotiation, the last thing we want to think about is the possibility that a serious disagreement or contract breach will arise during the implementation stage. Yet we also know that such conflicts are common.
… Read More
Employment Contract Negotiation: Morals Clauses
Employment contract negotiation in some industries involves the negotiation of morals clauses—an increasingly common way for organizations to protect themselves from employee misbehavior.
… Read Employment Contract Negotiation: Morals Clauses
How to Renegotiate a Bad Deal
Think you have some stories from trying to renegotiate? Try this one on for size. Many viewed the deal to be a terrible one from the start. Back in December 2008, Richard M. Daley, then Chicago’s mayor, announced that his administration had agreed to lease the city’s parking meters for 75 years to a private company … Read How to Renegotiate a Bad Deal
Business Conflict Management
In the business world, workplace disputes are all too common. Consider these real-life conflict scenarios: a group of employees who, working overtime to make up for staff shortages, complain to their manager that they aren’t getting paid enough for the extra time. A colleague confides about his boss’s verbal abuse. Two employees argue openly about … Read Business Conflict Management
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.
… Read More
How Mediation Works When Both Parties Agree They Need Help Resolving the Dispute
Negotiations have reached an impasse, but both sides agree on one thing: you need help resolving the dispute. You engage a neutral mediator to do just that. Rather than acting as a judge who decides who “wins” or “loses,” a third-party mediator assists parties in reaching an agreement.
… Read More
Negotiations and Logrolling: Discover Opportunities to Generate Mutual Gains
Logrolling is the act of trading across issues in a negotiation. Logrolling requires that a negotiator knows his or her own priorities, but also the priorities of the other side. If one side values something more than the other, they should be given it in exchange for reciprocity on issues that are a higher priority … Read More
What is Crisis Management in Negotiation?
Organizations often establish elaborate business crisis management plans. Through a rapid, centralized response, an organization can shift swiftly and efficiently from day-to-day operations into crisis-management mode, whether that crisis involves a building evacuation, a tumble in the company’s stock price, or a product recall.
… Read What is Crisis Management in Negotiation?
How to Negotiate a Business Deal
In late 2016 and early 2017, news stories abounded of companies that were having second thoughts about planned mega-mergers. Abbott Laboratories began looking for ways to exit its acquisition of Alere, citing investigations of the medical test maker, for example. And Verizon started rethinking its acquisition of Yahoo! following a data breach at the tech … Read How to Negotiate a Business Deal
What is Med-Arb?
When parties find themselves involved in a serious conflict, they often try to avoid the expense and hassle of litigation by turning to one of the two most common alternative dispute resolution processes: mediation or arbitration. Disputants who are concerned about these drawbacks might want to consider a hybrid mediation-arbitration approach called med-arb.
… Read What is Med-Arb?
Teach Your Students to Take Their Mediation Skills to the Next Level
Mediation is a critical conflict resolution skill for students in a variety of fields: business, international relations, law, and public policy, to name a few. Once students have mastered mediation basics, they can hone their skills by trying to mediate more complex conflicts as well as by learning the key differences between facilitation and mediation. … Read More
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Training: Mediation Curriculum
In 2009, we collected many types of curriculum materials from teachers and trainers who attended the Mediation Pedagogy Conference. We received general materials about classes on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as well as highly specific and idiosyncratic units like Conflict Resolution through Literature: Romeo and Juliet and a negotiating training package for female managers … Read More
How Does Mediation Work in a Lawsuit?
No one likes to go to court. Not only is it expensive and time-consuming, but it often leads to frustrating results and damaged relationships. So, how does mediation work in a lawsuit and is legal mediation a better route?
… Read How Does Mediation Work in a Lawsuit?
Top 10 Negotiation Skills You Must Learn to Succeed
Increasingly, business negotiators recognize that the most effective bargainers are skilled at both creating value and claiming value—that is, they both collaborate and compete. The following 10 negotiation skills will help you succeed at integrative negotiation.
… Read More
What are the Three Basic Types of Dispute Resolution? What to Know About Mediation, Arbitration, and Litigation
When it comes to dispute resolution, there are so many choices available to us. Understandably, disputants are often confused about which process to apply to their situation. This article offers some guidance.
… Read More
What is Conflict Resolution, and How Does It Work?
If you work with others, sooner or later you will almost inevitably face the need for conflict resolution. You may need to mediate a dispute between two members of your department. Or you may find yourself angered by something a colleague reportedly said about you in a meeting. Or you may need to engage in … Read More
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
Why is Negotiation Important: Mediation in Transactional Negotiations
We generally think of mediation as a dispute-resolution device. Federal mediators intervene when collective bargaining breaks down. Diplomats are sometimes called in to mediate conflicts between nations. So-called multi-door courthouses encourage litigants to mediate before incurring the costs – and risks – of going to trial.
… Read More
What is Alternative Dispute Resolution?
So, you’re stuck in a serious dispute, but you’re desperate to avoid the hassle and expense of a court case. You’ve heard about alternative dispute resolution but are not sure what it entails.
… Read What is Alternative Dispute Resolution?
What Is an Umbrella Agreement?
Business negotiators tend to want the best of both worlds. When reaching an agreement, they want to pin down parties’ respective rights and responsibilities, but they also want to retain the flexibility they need to deal with ever-changing business conditions. One solution to this apparent dilemma is to craft an umbrella agreement.
… Read What Is an Umbrella Agreement?
The Mediation Process and Dispute Resolution
As compared with other forms of dispute resolution, mediation can have an informal, improvisational feel. Mediation can include some or all of the following six steps.
… Read The Mediation Process and Dispute Resolution
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
Mediation and the Conflict Resolution Process
It’s often the case that when two people or organizations try to resolve a dispute by determining who is right, they get stuck. That’s why so many disputes end up in court. There is a better way to resolve your dispute: by hiring an expert mediator who focuses not on rights but on interests—the needs, … Read Mediation and the Conflict Resolution Process
Teaching Mediation: Exercises to Help Students Acquire Mediation Skills
Often, disputing parties are unable achieve satisfactory or sustainable outcomes on their own through direct negotiation, and require the assistance of a mediator or facilitator. Mediators can help parties involved in a dispute through examining the issues at hand, uncovering the parties’ underlying interests, and identifying creative solutions. To act as mediator requires a great … Read More
Redevelopment Negotiation: The Challenges of Rebuilding the World Trade Center
In the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center more than 20 years ago in New York City, there were difficult questions and challenges facing those who were involved in the redevelopment negotiation. For instance, how do we build consensus around complex solutions when there are emotionally charged issues at stake?
The Teaching Negotiation … Read More
Top Negotiation Case Studies in Business: Apple and Dispute Resolution in the Courts
In August 2012, a California jury ruled that Samsung would have to pay Apple more than $1 billion in damages for patent violations of Apple products, particularly its iPhone. The judge eventually reduced the payout to $600 million. In November 2013, another jury ruled that Samsung would have to pay Apple $290 million of the … Read More
Three Questions to Ask About the Dispute Resolution Process
Dispute resolution is often a multistep process that can start with negotiation, move on to mediation, and, if necessary, end in arbitration or litigation.
… Read More
Negotiation Journal celebrates 40th anniversary, new publisher, and diamond open access in 2024
The MIT Press is proud to announce it is the new publisher of Negotiation Journal, and that the journal will become a diamond open access publication in 2024. Founded in 1984 and copublished with the Program on Negotiation (PON), which is a consortium of Harvard, MIT, and Tufts housed at Harvard Law School, Negotiation Journal … Read More
Negotiations in the News: Lessons for Business Negotiators
What can business negotiators learn from current negotiations in the news? Quite a bit, according to the dozens of negotiation experts who contributed to the January 2019 special issue of the Negotiation Journal, entitled “Negotiation and Conflict Resolution in the Age of Trump.”
… Read More
How to Win at Win-Win Negotiation
Win-win negotiation, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t require us to choose between collaborating and competing. Here’s how to get the best of both worlds.
… Read How to Win at Win-Win Negotiation
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
Teach Your Students to Negotiate Climate Change
How Can Communities Negotiate Climate Change Risks?
With ocean temperatures rising and hurricanes growing more frequent and severe, the impacts of climate change are dramatically affecting many communities. The severe flooding brought on by repeated storms has forced the impacted communities to confront a range of public health risks, as well as evaluations of drainage and … Read Teach Your Students to Negotiate Climate Change
Managing Emotions in Negotiation: Teaching Students to Turn Emotions into an Opportunity for Mutual Gain
How do you move from an emotionally charged moment in a negotiation to a mutually beneficial agreement? In negotiations of all types, whether buying a house or negotiating a company acquisition, emotions naturally manifest. Left unaddressed, emotions can derail a negotiation and make agreement seem impossible.
… Read More
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
Strategies to Resolve Conflict: Learning from Star Wars
When we think of conflict-management experts, we tend to think of mediators, lawyers, professors, and hostage negotiators. But what about Jedis, Wookiees, droids, and Sith? After all, “conflict is everywhere in Star Wars,” as Noam Ebner and Jen Reynolds write in the introduction to Star Wars and Conflict Resolution: There Are Alternatives to Fighting. From … Read More
Dispute Resolution: The Advantages of a Neutral Third-Party Mediator
In an article, “Beyond Blame: Choosing a Mediator,” Stephen B. Goldberg advised business negotiators involved in a dispute to seek out an interests-based mediator to assist both sides in reaching a mutually satisfactory dispute resolution.
… Read More
Mediation Process and Business Negotiations: How Does Mediation Work in a Lawsuit?
How does mediation work in a lawsuit? What benefits can mediation offer businesses that deal with multiple contractual agreements, some of which may end in disputes? These questions were answered by Harvard Law School Associate Professor and negotiation expert Dan Greiner in an “Ask the Negotiation Coach” segment from our Negotiation Briefings newsletter.
… Read More
Lessons for Business Negotiators: Negotiation Techniques from International Diplomacy
Executives rarely view themselves as diplomats engaged in international diplomacy but business negotiators often find the two fields share negotiation skills and negotiation techniques. Rightly or wrongly, diplomacy evokes images of frivolity – days spent wandering exotic capitals, nights spent cruising embassy cocktail parties.
… Read More
Arbitration vs Mediation: The Definition of Mediation as a Problem Solving Process
Mediation is often thought of as a last step to adjudicate disputes. In this article, professor Lawrence Susskind spells out the hidden advantages of using mediation early in the process to solve problems and reach voluntary compliance agreements.
… Read More
Negotiator Toolbox: Using E-Mediation to Resolve Disputes
You want to hire a mediator to help you resolve a conflict that you’re having with an individual or a company, but meeting face-to-face would be difficult. Perhaps you and the other party are located in different geographic areas, or social-distancing guidelines are keeping you apart.
… Read More
Crisis Negotiations: Advice for Ending Tense Standoffs
How can you engage in crisis negotiations with someone who doesn’t trust you? Consider bringing in individuals the other party does trust to play the role of mediator in the dispute, as the FBI did to promote a peaceful end to a standoff with occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in February 2016.
… Read More
Planning Your Syllabus for Next Semester? Check Out the Brief Course Outlines from the TNRC
Planning a new course for next semester or looking to reinvent a current one? Check out our brief course outlines to get started planning your syllabus.
The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) now offers brief outlines for eleven different course types which include recommended simulations and books and highlight key teaching points. While all teaching materials … Read More
Interest-Based Negotiation: In Mediation, Focus on Your Goals
How can you get through to people who seem uninterested in finding common ground? How can you deal with seemingly irrational negotiators who use insults, threats, and other hardball tactics to try to get their way?
… Read More
The Qualities of a Good Mediator: Abrasiveness?
Is abrasiveness one of the qualities of a good mediator? That’s the question posed by to Francesca Gino, Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Here is the original question and Dr. Gino’s answer.
… Read The Qualities of a Good Mediator: Abrasiveness?
Using Online Dispute Resolution and E-Mediation to Resolve Workplace Conflict
When their employees get into disagreements with one another, managers have various ways of coping. For example, they can try to mediate the dispute themselves; they can make use of in-house procedures and systems set up for managing disputes, if they exist; or they can refer the case to a professional mediator.
… Read More
How to Overcome Barriers and Save Your Negotiated Agreement at the Bargaining Table
Back in November 2012, Hostess Brands announced that it had failed to reach a negotiated agreement with its second-biggest union and, as a result, was permanently shutting down its operations.
The news was met with dismay by baby boomers and others who had grown up with the 80-year-old company’s shelf-stable confections. But consumers had been passing … Read More
Mediation: Sitting Down at the Table
One of the central skills of a mediator is the ability to solve problems. And while problem solving skills may lead to successfully negotiated agreements between disputing parties, an effective mediator also has to get each side to agree to sit down at the bargaining table in the first place.
… Read Mediation: Sitting Down at the Table
Arbitration vs Mediation: What’s Wrong with Traditional Arbitration?
Arbitration vs mediation: Traditionally, the arbitrator is not limited to selecting one of the parties’ contract proposals but may determine the contract terms on his own. If negotiators know that impasse will lead to traditional arbitration, they typically assume that the arbitrator will reach a decision that’s an approximate midpoint between their final offers.
… Read More
A Business Negotiation Case Study: Ending the NHL Lockout
How can negotiators overcome impasse and achieve win-win negotiated agreements at the bargaining table? This example illustrates the power of expanding the focus of the negotiations by looking for tradeoffs.
… Read More
Advice for Bargaining Abroad: Tips on How To Overcome Cultural Barriers
Imagine that you’re the CEO of a sports clothing manufacturer based in Chicago. You recently traveled to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to meet with a distributor who has a rich and diverse network in the European sports market.
… Read More
Negotiation Research on Mediation Techniques: Focus on Interests
There is a better way to resolve your dispute: by hiring an expert mediator with a focus on interests – the needs, desires, or concerns that underlie each side’s positions according to negotiation research on mediation techniques.
… Read More
Mediation vs Arbitration – The Alternative Dispute Resolution Process
Many negotiation researchers debating the merits of mediation vs arbitration wonder why alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are not more popular than they currently are.
… Read More
Negotiation Challenges for Family Business Relationships
Communication in business negotiations is important – but even more so when your counterparts and negotiating partners are family members. In this article drawn from negotiation research, the negotiation strategies for avoiding conflict and crafting win-win negotiated agreements are outlined.
… Read More
When Lose-Lose is the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA)
As the famous tale “The Gift of the Magi” illustrates, sometimes the best outcomes in negotiated agreements is a lose-lose situation for both parties.
… Read More
Alternative Dispute Resolution In-House: Mediation, Arbitration, or Med-Arb?
The three most common alternative dispute resolution techniques are mediation, arbitration, and med-arb. However, it can often be difficult to determine which method is best for your particular situation. Here are four possible objectives you may have as a leader in your organization and suggestions for which type of ADR may be most appropriate in that … Read More
Dispute Resolution, NHL style
The deal suggests a valuable way for business negotiators in all realms to break through thorny disputes: expand your focus by looking for tradeoffs that cut across time periods.
… Read Dispute Resolution, NHL style
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
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR): Negotiating for the Right Mediator
Knowing what to look for in a mediator is key to successful dispute resolution. Know what qualities to look for, the purpose of the mediator, and how alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes like mediation can benefit even the most entrenched disputes.
… Read More
A Negotiation Impasse Between England and France Leads to Skirmish Over Scallops
When parties are fighting for scarce resources, disputes can become intense. Negotiation is often the answer, but agreements may need to be continually revisited to keep the peace, and a negotiation impasse can result in renewed conflict. That’s the main takeaway from the dispute that erupted in the English Channel between French and British fishermen … Read More
For Dispute Resolution, Consider a Lawyer Trained as a Mediator
If you needed a lawyer to help you settle a business dispute, would you prefer (a) one who was completely partisan toward your point of view or (b) one who acted as a mediator and saw both sides of the conflict?
You might assume that the partisan lawyer would work harder for you than someone who … Read More
Dealing with Difficult People – Even When You Don’t Want To
In your negotiations, have you ever faced a truly difficult negotiator—someone whose behavior seems designed to provoke, thwart, and annoy you beyond all measure? We often have strong incentives to negotiate with those we find obstinate, unpredictable, abrasive, or untrustworthy. When we avoid dealing with difficult people, we risk missing out on important opportunities. But … 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
Negotiation Research You Can Use: Moving from In-Person to Online Mediation
Laptops, smartphones, databases, and project-management software have become common tools of the negotiation trade. Meanwhile, even as online dispute resolution has risen in popularity, online mediation remains elusive, with mediation being a largely technology-free zone, with smartphones often turned off and tucked away.
“The field of mediation has proved surprisingly resistant to technological influence, an island … Read More
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
Digitally Enhanced Simulation Packages – With Live Data Analytics
In-depth Teaching Materials with Real Time Data Analytics Designed to Enhance Teaching Negotiation
From the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) at PON, and iDecisionGames: digitally enhanced simulation packages designed to take your teaching to the next level.
The Enhanced Simulation Package from the TNRC and iDecisionGames brings a new, interactive learning experience to teaching negotiation. This easy … Read More
Plan Your Curriculum for Next Semester
How do we utilize lessons learned from teaching online when returning to the classroom and planning a curriculum?
After more than a year of remote learning, students and teachers alike are eager to return to classrooms in the fall. During the pandemic, however, many instructors made significant investments in online teaching resources, lesson plans, and … Read Plan Your Curriculum for Next Semester
Dear Negotiation Coach: To Get Unstuck, Hire a Mediator
Most business people understand the value of using mediation to resolve conflicts, but did you know that professional mediators can help you reach an agreement during the dealmaking phase? Stephen Goldberg, professor emeritus at Northwestern School of Law, describes how you can hire a mediator to aid both parties in creating value at the negotiating … Read More
Mediated Communication Pitfalls
Faster, cheaper, and less risky than a court trial, mediated communication can empower parties to try to overcome their differences. But as a mediated communication example involving the National Football League (NFL) and its former players over liability for head injuries illustrates, mediation needs to be conducted carefully, or it can create even greater harm.
A … Read Mediated Communication Pitfalls
Methods of Dispute Resolution: Building Trust in Online Mediation
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, mediators and other negotiation practitioners often insisted on meeting in person, convinced that online methods of dispute resolution lack “the human touch”—the warmth, energy, body language, and other subtle factors that build essential ingredients in conflict resolution, including trust, empathy, and rapport.
But when lockdowns and social-distancing restrictions took hold in the … Read More
The Best Negotiation Exercises, Simulations and Videos
Have you planned your curriculum and purchased your teaching material for next semester? We’re here to help you to find the best negotiation exercises and teaching aids for your negotiation classes.
… Read More
Teaching Community Dispute Resolution: Exercises to Facilitate Positive Change
Community dispute resolution provides communities with a forum to address conflict, uncover and resolve the underlying issues, and thereby achieve positive change. Community dispute resolution provides an alternative to the judicial system and facilitates collaborative community relationships. Community dispute resolution processes can include training and educational activities, and may involve a mediator from within the … Read More
Tips for Teaching Simulations Online: Q&A with David Seibel
Check out the video from our recent session on teaching simulations online to pick up tips for running negotiation exercises remotely!
Apprehensive about using role-play simulations in your remote or online blended course? Pick up tips on how to make simulations run smoothly over video, including how to best manage breakouts, run multiparty simulations, report results, … Read More
Definition of Mediation and the Mediation Process: The Impact of Lawyers on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
How does the presence of lawyers affect the mediation process and mediations in general? You might guess that when one or both sides bring an attorney to a mediation, the process would become more contentious and adversarial, with impasse more likely, than if the parties worked solely with a mediator.
… Read More
Dealing with Difficult Employees
When dealing with difficult employees, leaders often feel overwhelmed and frustrated by a task that can seem like a distraction from broader organizational goals. But managing personnel issues, including conflict among employees, is a pivotal leadership task—and one that can be improved with knowledge and practice. The following solutions for dealing with difficult employees will … Read Dealing with Difficult Employees
Mediation Checklist: 5 Questions to Ask When Hiring Mediators
Are you hiring a mediator? When considering a potential mediator, create a mediation checklist and ask the following questions of those who have worked with him in the past.
… Read More
Ethics in Business Negotiations and in Leadership: How Collusion Limits Value Creating Opportunities
It started with Steve Jobs. That’s the story told by the flood of e-mail messages subpoenaed in a class-action lawsuit filed against Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe by 64,613 Silicon Valley software engineers who claim that the companies conspired to keep them from switching employers.
… Read More
In Contract Negotiation, Wise Business Negotiators Sweat the Small Stuff
What are business negotiators responsible for in contract negotiation? Many would say they’re in charge of building relationships and new business, crafting creative solutions, and fighting for the best deal possible. Few, however, would say they’re responsible for ensuring that the deal holds up well over time.
… Read More
Negotiation Research on Organizational Approaches to Negotiating Systems
While most negotiation research aims to sharpen individual managers’ skills, there is growing scholarly and professional interest in an organizational approach to negotiation.A systemic perspective evaluates the training, authority, procedures, and resources that manager need to improve their companies’ “return on negotiation,” as consultant Danny Ertel puts it. Looking at negotiations broadly reveals important design … Read More
Negotiating with Millennials – How to Overcome Cultural Differences in Communication
Negotiation training often focuses on bridging gaps between negotiators with different styles, backgrounds, or objectives, but what about overcoming generational barriers in negotiation? Generational differences need not stymie efforts at the bargaining table. In this segment from “Dear Negotiation Coach,” we explore how to overcome cultural differences in communication with members of the Millennial generation.
… Read More
Employee Grievances: Are Most Legal Disputes Resolved in Litigation or Arbitration?
A common question asked is, “If most legal disputes are resolved in litigation, is there room for arbitration or mediation?”
… 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
Mediation: Negotiating a More Satisfactory Divorce
We’ve all heard nightmarish stories of divorce battles that take years—and cost a small fortune—to resolve. The task of negotiating child and spousal support, dividing property and other possessions, and establishing child-custody arrangements can be daunting, especially when the principals are barely speaking to each other. In the worst-case scenario, bitter spouses hire cutthroat lawyers … Read More
Teaching with Video-Based Negotiation Scenarios
Access to multimedia content has rapidly increased throughout the world, with videos and short clips permeating our daily life. We are consuming, producing, and interacting with videos more now than ever before. In light of increasing video fluency and interest in using videos in education, the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching Negotiation Resource Center is creating … Read Teaching with Video-Based Negotiation Scenarios
When Michael Bloomberg and NYC Teachers Both Lost
It’s hard to imagine a negotiation example in which negotiating counterparts would choose to sacrifice hundreds of millions of dollars rather than reach agreement.
But back in 2013, this is the choice that New York City and its teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), made when they declared impasse on a new teacher evaluation … Read When Michael Bloomberg and NYC Teachers Both Lost
Nagorno-Karabakh: Decades Old Conflict Resurfaces Between Armenia and Azerbaijan
The brutal conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has resurfaced in recent weeks, bringing devastation to many communities in the region.
Nagorno-Karabakh, located in the Caucasus Mountains, is internationally recognized to be part of Azerbaijan, but is politically controlled by an Armenian ethnic majority. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war over … Read More
Conflict Negotiation Skills for Ending Partnerships Peacefully
The process of dissolving a partnership can be wrenching, whether the split is undertaken by a couple, business partners, or an organization. But as many real-life examples of conflict resolution show, there are proven ways to calm the turmoil that often accompanies partnership dissolutions and set parties up for a hopeful future. Among conflict resolution … Read More
How Fast-Food Workers Used Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to Demand Higher Wages
Labor unions are the most obvious example of negotiating coalitions. If an individual employee made demands of its employer, the company could threaten to hire someone else.
… Read More
Coping with Difficult Coworkers
At one time or another, most of us have found ourselves coping with difficult coworkers. We might experience flare-ups over workload, funding, or personality issues, to name just a few sources of workplace conflict. The experience of coping with difficult coworkers can be extremely stressful. The following conflict negotiation skills can help you address this … Read Coping with Difficult Coworkers
A Mediation Intervention in Chicago
A contract dispute in the spring of 2019 between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and its musicians led to a disruptive seven-week strike, the longest in the venerable orchestra’s 128-year history. An unexpected intervention by Chicago’s departing mayor drew the dispute to a harmonious finale—and illustrates the role of the mediation process in conflict resolution.
Negotiations … Read A Mediation Intervention in Chicago
Ask A Negotiation Expert: Federal Mediation Comes Out of the Shadows
U.S. federal mediators often work on the front lines of high-profile labor-management disputes, yet—aiming for neutrality and confidentiality—tend to keep a low profile themselves. We spoke to Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) principal deputy director Gary Hattal about how the FMCS, which was founded in 1947, strives to meet its mission of promoting effective … Read More
Using Online Dispute Resolution to Resolve Workplace Conflict
Many people are working from home these days, but that doesn’t mean disputes between employees have evaporated. In fact, the inability to hash things out in person might exacerbate long-simmering conflicts and leave people feeling even more alienated from one another. The stress we’re all facing from the threat of COVID-19 and disruptions to daily … Read More
Negotiating organizational breakups
For decades, the United Methodist Church (UMC) has grappled with internal disagreement over its doctrine on LGBTQ rights, which prohibits same-sex marriage and noncelibate gay clergy. Methodists in the United States, who comprise more than half of the church’s 12.5 million members, increasingly have found those positions untenable, particularly after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized … Read Negotiating organizational breakups
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
Harvard Law Professor Guhan Subramanian Moderates Panel on Difficult Negotiation Scenarios
In Harvard Law Today, Brett Milano published an article titled, Catastrophic harms, complicated questions reviewed a recent panel, “Innovative Models for Resolving Disputes after Mass Disasters and Catastrophic Harms,” held at Harvard Law School on Oct. 22. As mentioned in the article, it “brought together three experts who have helped resolve disputes after recent historic … Read More
2019 Negotiation Pedagogy Conference
Join us in Cambridge on Friday, November 15th, 2019 for a conference on excellence and innovation in teaching negotiation.
The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) at the inter-university Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is pleased to announce that the 2019 Negotiation Pedagogy Conference will take place on Friday, November 15th, 2019 at Harvard Law … Read 2019 Negotiation Pedagogy Conference
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
What is Divorce Mediation?
A divorce can take years—and cost a small fortune—to resolve. The task of negotiating child and spousal support, dividing property and other possessions, and establishing child-custody arrangements can be overwhelming, especially when the principals are barely speaking to each other. In the worst-case scenario, separating spouses hire cutthroat lawyers to make rigid (and sometimes outrageous) … Read What is Divorce Mediation?
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
Mandated Mediation: What to Expect
More and more companies are inserting alternative dispute resolution (ADR) clauses in their contracts with customers and vendors—and even, in some cases, in agreements with their own employees. ADR clauses can be beneficial for all concerned if it means avoiding the cost, delay, and uncertainty of going to court. Mandated mediation, in particular, may offer … Read Mandated Mediation: What to Expect
Grading a Negotiation: Examples of How to Evaluate Student Performance
Whether to grade student role-play performance, process and outcomes is a tricky question. Jim Lawrence, a long-time PON contributor, simulation author, attorney and practicing mediator with Frost Brown Todd LLC, recently shared his thoughts on the value and purpose of grading students participating in negotiation simulations.
… Read More
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
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
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
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!
How to Manage Conflict at Work
A 62-year-old salesman believes he has convincing evidence that his boss passed him over for a promotion because of his age. What options does he have? He could let the matter drop and perhaps look for another job. He could file an employment-discrimination lawsuit. Or, if his company offers mediation services, he could have the … Read How to Manage Conflict at Work
Deflated by your deal? Get them back to the table
According to U.S. president Donald Trump, trade pacts forged by past American presidents have left the nation with a slew of raw deals. To reduce trade deficits, the president announced on March 1 that he would be imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, a move that would impact China, Europe, and Canada in one … Read Deflated by your deal? Get them back to the table
Crisis Negotiations: After the West Coast Ports Conflict, Damage Remained
No one wants to engage in crisis negotiations. When parties need to hurriedly work out a solution to a shared problem, time is short, tempers are frayed, and the disaster is looming. Feeling they’ve exhausted good-faith bargaining, parties in crisis negotiations may believe they face an impossible choice between caving in to the other side’s … Read More
Negotiating Indigenous Land Rights
Teach Your Students to Address Fundamental Value Differences While Negotiating Indigenous Land Rights
Indigenous land rights have been a key aspect of negotiations by private companies and governments around the world. Indigenous land rights are the rights of indigenous peoples to land and natural resources, which they have occupied for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. … Read Negotiating Indigenous Land Rights
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
Real Leaders Negotiate to Meet Their Organization’s Goals
Imagine a typical leader, and you might think of someone who is bold, decisive, visionary, assertive, and charismatic. Now think about the kinds of actions that such a leader might regularly engage in. Delegating, making top-down decisions, and otherwise exerting one’s power might immediately come to mind.
A behavior that’s not typically at the top of … Read More
Teach Your Students Spoiler Management in Negotiations
What can you do to protect a negotiation from spoilers?
The greatest risk to a negotiation can come from parties at the table who are intent on spoiling the agreement. Spoilers are parties in a negotiation who believe that the agreement will threaten their power and interests, and so they spoil the negotiation.
Some spoilers have limited … Read More
How to Build Trust at the Bargaining Table
To maximize the joint gain created by a deal, both sides need to take risks which requires building trust in negotiations. Here’s how negotiators can establish the necessary trust.
… Read How to Build Trust at the Bargaining Table
Announcing the 2017 PON Summer Fellows
PON offers fellowship grants to students at Harvard University, MIT, Tufts University and other Boston-area schools who are doing internships or undertaking summer research projects in negotiation and dispute resolution in partnership with public, nonprofit or academic organizations. The Summer Fellowship Program’s emphasis is on advancing the links between scholarship and practice in negotiation and … Read Announcing the 2017 PON Summer Fellows
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
Dealmaking: Dealing with the Other Side’s Constituents
During a meeting with a potential customer, a new salesperson leaves the room several times to make phone calls. Each time when she returns, she tells the customer she can’t accept the terms they just negotiated. Exasperated by her apparent lack of authority, the customer ends the meeting abruptly.
… Read More
Mediation Used in Dispute Resolution Over Art Museums
When partners are negotiating a new business deal, overconfidence can lead them to overlook the possibility that the business will fail or otherwise struggle. Wise negotiators envision not only the best-case scenario, but the worst-case scenario, and prepare for it before signing on the dotted line.
… Read More
How Does Mediation Work in a Lawsuit: Choosing the Right Mediator
How does mediation work in a lawsuit? For those new to mediation, we advise you being by getting a list of mediators from a reputable provider agency. You can find these agencies by searching under dispute resolution or by inquiring with your organization’s legal department.
… 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
Mediating Better Community Relations in New Orleans
On May 14, Susan Hutson, the independent police monitor for the city of New Orleans brought together community stakeholders and police officials to help formulate a program that would allow police officers and citizens to mediate minor disagreements, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Aided by a professional mediator, citizens and officers would sit face to … Read More
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
Mediation Techniques for Conflict Resolution: Negotiation Strategies to Consider Before You Outsource
Learn how mediation techniques could have informed Apple’s negotiation strategies when it discovered discrepancies in working conditions among its supplier factories in China.
… Read More
Capture the Best of Mediation and Arbitration
The problem: You’re not sure which of the two most common dispute-resolution processes, mediation or arbitration, to use to resolve your conflict. Mediation is appealing because it would allow you to reach a collaborative settlement, but you’re worried it could end in impasse. You know that arbitration would wrap up your dispute conclusively, but it … Read Capture the Best of Mediation and Arbitration
How Mediation Works
When negotiators can’t come to agreement but want to avoid an expensive, time-consuming, and potentially rancorous lawsuit, mediation is often their most logical choice. Mediation can help to resolve a wide range of disputes.
… Read How Mediation Works
A Closer Look at Court-Sponsored Mediation
No one likes to go to court. Not only is it expensive and time-consuming, it often leads to frustrating results and damaged relationships. So is court-sponsored mediation a better route?
The answer is “sometimes,” according to a comprehensive survey of court-affiliated mediation programs by Roselle L. Wissler of Arizona State University’s College of Law in Tempe. … Read A Closer Look at Court-Sponsored Mediation
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
Contract Negotiations: Before You Sign on the Dotted Line
When times are tight, contracts are often broken. These days, parties on both sides of sales agreements are struggling to fulfill their promises, and contract workers are having trouble getting paid by their employers.
… Read More
Dispute Resolution and Divorce Solutions for Jolie, Pitt, and Others
The news that actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are headed for divorce puts the issue of divorce negotiations in the spotlight.
… Read More
What’s Keeping You from Closing the Deal?
When talks stall, it’s tempting to jump to conclusions: “It’s purely a price gap.” “They’re being unreasonable.” “We’re not communicating well.” “We’re in a weak position.”
… Read What’s Keeping You from Closing the Deal?
Using Mediators to Resolve Disputes
You’ve seen how mediators can help one organizational team prepare for a complex negotiation. But what about when litigation looms?
… Read Using Mediators to Resolve Disputes
How to Conduct a Mediation During Crisis Negotiations
The most difficult peace negotiations in recent decades—in Ireland, the Middle East, the former Yugoslavia, and Sri Lanka—were plagued by a common enemy: violent disruptions by spoilers opposed to the peace process. In each of these cases, extremists stalled negotiations by creating security crises that divided public opinion and drove negotiators apart.
… Read More
How Your Organization Can Benefit from Mediation Techniques
If you manage people, disputes will show up at your door. The marketing VP protests that the budget cap you and your new finance VP proposed is hindering a research initiative you supported. Two young sales representatives are embroiled in a turf war. Your administrative assistant is upset because the HR director won’t approve the … Read More
Dispute Resolution: Mandatory Arbitration Agreements Under Fire
A shake-up is afoot regarding large companies’ use of mandatory arbitration to settle disputes with consumers.
… Read More
Make the Most of Mediation in Negotiations and Dispute Resolution
What at first seemed like a minor misunderstanding has spiraled out of control. A Chicago-based printing company hired your Chicago-based IT consulting firm to train its staff to use its new computer system.
… Read More
Is Mediation Expertise What You Need?
When a negotiation escalates into a dispute, most managers understand the value of seeking out a mediator for professional assistance with the matter. The question of whom to hire, however, is less clear-cut. What type of expetise should your mediator have, and where should you look for her? In this article, we will walk you … Read Is Mediation Expertise What You Need?
Conflict and Conflict Resolution at Work
In the workplace, negotiations with coworkers over issues such as project assignments, departmental funding, and vacation requests can sometimes flare into conflicts. When they do, the experience can be stressful, and the organizational outcomes sometimes suffers as a result.
… Read Conflict and Conflict Resolution at Work
Announcing the 2016 PON Summer Fellows
PON offers fellowship grants to students at Harvard University, MIT, Tufts University and other Boston-area schools who are doing internships or undertaking summer research projects in negotiation and dispute resolution in partnership with public, non-profit or academic organizations. The Summer Fellowship Program’s emphasis is on advancing the links between scholarship and practice in negotiation and … Read Announcing the 2016 PON Summer Fellows
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
For Paris Climate Accord, April 22 Marks Moment of Truth
The global climate change accord talks are some of the most interesting negotiations to have taken place in the past year. This article examines the at-the-table issues the negotiators faced with China and other world leaders in attempting to forge a negotiated agreement on climate change.
… Read More
In Acrimonious Disputes, Conflict Management is Key
Parties to a business dispute often become so focused on beating the other party that they lose sight of their most important goals. Conflict management efforts can be even more intense and seeming insurmountable between estranged romantic partners with a history of acrimony and distrust.
Consider rock star Madonna’s ongoing legal dispute with her ex-husband, film … Read More
Using Mediation to Resolve International Disputes
As businesses increasingly branch out globally, they also face the possibility of broken contracts and strained relationships. Mediation can be an effective means of resolving disputes and getting business partners back on track, but do intercultural differences complicate the process? If so, how can disputants and mediators adjust?
Elizabeth D. Salmon of the University of Maryland … Read Using Mediation to Resolve International Disputes
Top 10 Best Negotiations of 2014: Negotiation Case Studies Drawn from Negotiation Examples in Real Life
Rather than unparalleled triumphs and victories, many of the 10 Best Negotiations of 2014 share a common theme of “making the best of a bad situation.” From climate change to Congress to Cuba, negotiators often found themselves trying to claw their way out of the darkness and into the light. Here are 10 negotiations that … Read More
Negotiation Skills for Resolving International Conflicts
What are the essential skills a negotiator needs to resolve conflicts abroad? How do international conflicts differ from domestic conflicts? What issues specific to bargaining across borders emerges in intercultural negotiations? In this article we explore ways in which negotiators can develop bargaining skills to overcome any barriers to communication they may encounter in negotiations … Read More
Top Worst Negotiation Case Studies: Real Life Examples of Bargaining Gone Wrong
Sometimes negotiators care so much about the issues at stake that they mistake compromise for surrender. Sometimes they’re so confident things will go their way they don’t try hard enough. Our list of the 10 Worst Negotiations of 2014 includes talks that failed for one or both of these reasons, as well as for numerous … Read More
Dear Negotiation Coach: Should You Stay or Should You Go?
Q: As a senior manager at my company, I have spent most of the past year trying to settle litigation with another company in our industry. We are about to go into our third mediation session in a few weeks. However, I have just been promoted to a job where I will have responsibility for … 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 PON Summer Fellows
About the PON Summer Fellowship Program:
PON offers fellowship grants to students at Harvard University, MIT, Tufts University and other Boston-area schools who are doing internships or undertaking summer research projects in negotiation and dispute resolution in partnership with public, non-profit or academic organizations. The Summer Fellowship Program’s emphasis is on advancing the links between scholarship … Read Announcing the 2015 PON Summer Fellows
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
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
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
“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
How Does Mediation Work?
How does mediation work in practice? As compared with other forms of dispute resolution, mediation can have an informal, improvisational feel. Mediation can include some or all of the following six steps, writes Kimberlee K. Kovach in The Handbook of Dispute Resolution (Jossey-Bass, 2005):
1. Planning. Before mediation begins, the mediator helps the parties decide where … Read How Does Mediation Work?
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
Can Mediation Settle the James Brown Dispute?
Back in 2000, James Brown, the legendary “Godfather of Soul,” signed a will leaving most of his estate—valued up to $100 million—to provide scholarships to needy children. In an audio tape, the musician explained that he hoped to cement his legacy with these good deeds. In the will, Brown also set aside scholarship funds for … Read More
Conflict Resolution: Just what the doctor ordered? Bringing Judges Into Medical-Malpractice Negotiations
Medical-malpractice litigation can be a lengthy, expensive, and contentious process.
Lawyers on both sides might spend months or years conducting discovery and deposing
witnesses. As for settlement negotiations, they tend to occur late in the process and are often treated as a perfunctory step before a trial.
… Read More
Detroit Moves Forward, Thanks to Mediation
About 15 months after becoming the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, Detroit is on track to begin rebuilding and growing stronger. On November 7, a federal judge approved a plan aimed at ridding the city of its $7 billion in debt and investing about $1.7 billion in city services, the New York Times … Read More
Dealmaking: Help Your Agreement Go the Distance
Help your agreement go the distance If your deal doesn’t work in the real world, it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. Here’s expert advice on increasing the odds of successful implementation.
… Read More
In Business Negotiations, Restraint Can Be Key—Even in High Fashion
When employees leave an unsatisfying job, the feeling of relief they feel sometimes motivates them to explain their decision to whomever will listen. But that tendency can backfire and necessitate tense business negotiations, as a recent story from the world of high fashion illustrates. In November 2012, designer Nicolas Ghesquière startled the fashion world with … Read More
Lawyers in Mediation and the Mediation Process
How does the presence of lawyers affect the process of mediation? You might guess that when one or both sides bring an attorney to a mediation, the process would become more contentious and adversarial, with impasse more likely, than if the parties worked solely with a mediator. That conventional wisdom is contradicted by new research … Read Lawyers in Mediation and the Mediation Process
In Dispute Resolution, A Tale of Two Arthurs
In the business world, long-term loyalty to a CEO is supposed to be a good thing. For New England supermarket chain Market Basket, however, employees’ reverent appreciation for their former chief and co-owner, Arthur T. Demoulas, has proved to be destructive to the business in the short term, causing employee and customer protests as well … Read In Dispute Resolution, A Tale of Two Arthurs
At the Office, Conflict Management is Key
In the workplace, misunderstandings, power struggles, and stress can cause conflict to fester and take a toll on productivity. The best organizations put in place conflict management processes and systems to confront conflict directly. Unfortunately, too many organizations fail to do so—and suffer the consequences of sweeping conflict under the rug.
Take the case of Paradigm … Read At the Office, Conflict Management is Key
The Paradox of Positions
It’s not difficult for negotiators haggling over seemingly finite resources to become entrenched in their positions. Sometimes the only way to get unstuck is to think appreciatively and creatively about the other side. Rather than trying to determine why a person has taken a particular position, consider what she wants, appreciate it, and try to … Read The Paradox of Positions
Negotiating with a Mediator’s Assistance: A Case Study
A few years ago, Stephen B. Goldberg was asked to serve as a facilitator for and adviser to a corporate team from a telecommunications firm that was preparing to negotiate with five other telecom companies on the division of radio spectrum for cellular telephone relay satellites.
… 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
In Mediation, Set Conditions with Care
On April 9, Israel said it was “deeply disappointed” by remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry that seemed to primarily blame Israel for the current breakdown in U.S.-mediated Middle East peace talks, as reported in the New York Times.
Last July, the United States brought Israel and the Palestinians back together for a series of … Read In Mediation, Set Conditions with Care
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
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
Top Business Negotiations of 2013: Robin Thicke versus Marvin Gaye
Thicke had previously acknowledged Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up” as an inspiration for “Blurred Lines,” but he and his cowriters insisted they had not committed copyright infringement. They filed the suit in anticipation of a lawsuit from Gaye’s children.
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Three Things to Consider When Choosing a Mediator
When choosing a mediator, keep in mind that you need not accept the proposals that he makes. In other words, you have total power to prevent mediation from leading to an undesirable outcome.
As a result, the only risk of mediation is that you will expend time and money without reaching agreement.
According to experts, mediation success … Read Three Things to Consider When Choosing a Mediator
Bet you didn’t know…Negotiation research you can use
As state and local governments in the United States have been stretched to the breaking point, conflicts between public-sector employers and employees have become increasingly acrimonious, often resulting in stalemates.
When governments and employee unions reach impasse, they often turn to alternative dispute-resolution practices such as mediation and arbitration. Though these practices can be successful, the … 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
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
A deal blows up
When negotiating a new business partnership, what should you do if you begin to believe that your partner is less attractive than he (or it) first appeared? Duke Energy faced this question during the course of its nearly two years of merger negotiations with Progress Energy.
In July 2012, the two North Carolina– based companies closed … Read A deal blows up
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
Got a raw deal? Renegotiate a better one
Many viewed the deal to be a terrible one from the start. In December 2008, Richard M. Daley, then Chicago’s mayor, announced that his administration had agreed to lease the city’s parking meters for 75 years to a private company for nearly $1.2 billion in an attempt to tackle a budget shortfall of about $500 … Read Got a raw deal? Renegotiate a better one
Dispute Resolution Resources
For more advice on leading an ADR process in your organization, consult these books.
… Read Dispute Resolution Resources
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
What to Do Before the Deal Breaks Down
Whenever one side fails to meet its contractual obligations, renegotiation is more likely to succeed if the parties have a strong relationship. Ideally, the aggrieved party will value long-term relations more than potential gains from a claim for breach of contract. For example, a bank will be more willing to renegotiate a loan with a … Read What to Do Before the Deal Breaks Down
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
Leaving millions on the table
It’s hard to imagine a situation in which negotiating counterparts would choose to sacrifice hundreds of millions of dollars rather than reach agreement. But this is the choice that New York City and its teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), made in January when they declared impasse on a new teacher evaluation system.
Back … Read Leaving millions on the table
Negotiate, Don’t Litigate
When you’re thinking about resolving a dispute in court, it’s crucial to remember that the decision that will be imposed on you is binding.
If blinders lead a judge to grant a motion that should be denied, deny a motion that should be granted, assign responsibility to the wrong party, or award too much or … Read Negotiate, Don’t Litigate
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
Taking Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Too Far
More and more companies are inserting alternative dispute resolution (ADR) clauses in their contracts with customers and vendors, and even in agreements with their own employees. ADR processes such as mediation and arbitration can be beneficial for all concerned if they help avoid the cost, delay, and uncertainty of going to court. Mediation, in particular, … Read More
Grant Strother (HLS 2012) Wins Conflict Prevention and Resolution Award for Best Original Student Article
Recent Harvard Law School Graduate Grant Strother ’12 was selected to receive The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) Outstanding Original Student Article Award for his paper, “Resolving Cultural Property Disputes in the Shadow of the Law.” This award recognizes a student article or paper that is focused on events or issues in … Read More
When impasse looms, bring them back from the brink
On November 20 of last year, Hostess Brands announced that it had failed to reach agreement with its second-biggest union and, as a result, was permanently shutting down its operations.
The news was met with dismay by baby boomers and others who had grown up with the 80-year-old company’s shelf-stable confections. But consumers had been passing … 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
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
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
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
Mediation, Arbitration, and the Promise of Privacy
Negotiators often choose to resolve their conflicts through mediation, arbitration, and other alternative dispute resolution methods because of the privacy these methods promise. Unlike the public nature of litigation, mediation and arbitration typically give parties the freedom to hash out sensitive issues without the fear that their discussions and agreement will become public knowledge. Two … 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
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
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
Resolving Conflicts on the High Seas
In negotiation over a limited pool of resources, conflicts often spring up over what constitutes a fair agreement. If two business partners are going their separate ways, they might have different ideas about how their shared assets should be divided, for example. Currently, such a dispute is playing out between China and four of its … Read Resolving Conflicts on the High Seas
Do You Need a Broker?
According to conventional wisdom, you should always hire a real estate agent when you’re trying to buy a house. The broker’s market expertise will help you decide what moves to make and what price to pay. Because the seller usually has his own broker, the motto “fight fire with fire” applies as well. Perhaps most … Read Do You Need a Broker?
Taking ADR Too Far
More and more companies are inserting alternative dispute resolution (ADR) clauses in their contracts with customers and vendors, and even in agreements with their own employees. ADR processes such as mediation and arbitration can be beneficial for all concerned if they help avoid the cost, delay, and uncertainty of going to court. Mediation, in particular, … Read Taking ADR Too Far
Rapport Comes First
How is it that mediators – who themselves lack any power to impose a solution – nevertheless often lead bitter disputants to agreement? Substantive expertise helps, as does keen analytic skill.
According to a recent survey by Northwestern University law professor Stephen Goldberg, veteran mediators believe that establishing rapport is more important than employing specific techniques … Read Rapport Comes First
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
The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts
“The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts” with Dr. Peter T. Coleman Director of the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution and Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University When: Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Time: 12 – 1 p.m.
Where: Wasserstein Hall, Room B10, Harvard Law School Campus
Please bring your lunch. Drinks and desserts provided.
One … 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
Planting the Seeds of Peace
Tucked away in an idyllic corner of Maine is a summer camp that features many traditional American activities: singing around bonfires, flag raising ceremonies, Color Wars, and chilly dips in the lake. Less ordinary, however, are the daily dialogue sessions, where Israeli and Palestinian campers heatedly discuss their identities, homelands, politics, and pain.
Meet Seeds of … Read Planting the Seeds of Peace
Opening Multiple Doors for Dispute Resolution
The Harvard Law School website featured a story about the Ministry of Justice in Chile hosting Harvard Law School Mediation and Clinical Program students Leah Kang (HLS ’12), Teresa Napoli (HLS ’13), and Apoorva Patel (HLS ’13), as well as HNMCP Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law Jeremy McClane (HLS ’02) so that the students … Read Opening Multiple Doors for Dispute Resolution
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
Beyond diplomacy: Embedding peace and conflict transformation processes in Nepal and Lebanon
“Beyond diplomacy: Embedding peace and conflict transformation processes in Nepal and Lebanon”
with Jeff Seul Chairman, Peace Appeal Foundation and
Martin Wahlisch
International Lawyer and Researcher, Common Space Initiative (Beirut)
Date: November 8, 2011
Time: 4:00-6:00 PM
Where: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
1737 Cambridge Street, Room K-354, Cambridge MA
Contact Chair: Donna Hicks (dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu).
Speaker Bios
Jeff Seul, Chairman of the Peace Appeal Foundation, is a partner in … Read More
Avoid judicial bias with negotiation
Adapted from “Blind Justice? Think Twice Before Going to Court,” by Chris Guthrie (professor, Vanderbilt University Law School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter, April 2007.
Planning to resolve a personal or business dispute in court? Consider that judges don’t make decisions based on a thorough accounting of all the relevant and available information. Instead, like … Read Avoid judicial bias with negotiation
Shuttle diplomacy examined in July issue of Negotiation Journal
In the July 2011 issue of Negotiation Journal, mediator David Hoffman takes a thoughtful look at the role of caucusing in mediation in an article entitled “Mediation and the Art of Shuttle Diplomacy.” The practice of meeting separately with each disputant, while widespread, is not without controversy. Critics have argued that these private sessions give … Read More
Negotiation tactics in the spotlight as debt ceiling debate continues
The lack of progress on the debt ceiling negotiations has raised serious concerns that an agreement will not be reached before the August 2nd deadline. How have the negotiations gotten so derailed?
In a recent interview on Radio Boston, Professor Robert Bordone, director of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program, suggested that one of the … Read More
Bringing Mediators to the Bargaining Table
Adapted from “Mediation in Transactional Negotiation,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter, July 2004.
We generally think of mediation as a dispute-resolution device. Federal mediators intervene when collective bargaining bogs down. Diplomats are sometimes called in to mediate conflicts between nations. So-called multidoor courthouses encourage litigants to mediate before incurring the costs—and risks—of going to trial.
Scott … Read Bringing Mediators to the Bargaining Table
2011 Winner of the Roger Fisher/Frank E. A. Sander Student Paper Prize Announced
Congratulations to Jessica Beess und Chrostin (HLS ’13), the 2011 Fisher/Sander Prize Winner, for her paper “Cross-Border Class Actions and Aggregate Dispute Resolution: Where We Are and How to Move Forward.”
This prize was established in 2007 by the Program on Negotiation in honor of Professors Roger Fisher, the Williston Professor of Law, Emeritus, and Frank … Read More
Why Classic Cases?
Why are some negotiation exercises still used in a great many university classes even twenty years after they were written? In an effort to understand more about the enduring quality of some classic teaching materials, we asked faculty affiliated with PON to explain why they think some role play simulations remain bestsellers in the Clearinghouse … Read Why Classic Cases?
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Camera: Video in Negotiation Pedagogy
How can video be used to enhance the teaching of negotiation? This question was addressed by Michael Moffitt from the University of Oregon Law School in his presentation called “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Camera: Video in Negotiation Pedagogy” at the NP @ PON faculty dinner seminar on April 21, 2011. … Read More
Shapiro named 2011 Burke Global Health Fellow
Professor Daniel Shapiro, Associate Director of the Harvard Mediation Project, has been selected as one of four 2011 Burke Global Health Fellows by the Harvard Global Health Institute. During his fellowship, Professor Shapiro will develop materials for a new Harvard course designed to train leaders on how to mediate conflicts with a strong emotional or … Read Shapiro named 2011 Burke Global Health Fellow
Put Apologies in Your Toolbox
Adapted from “Regain Your Counterpart’s Trust with an Apology,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
The problem: Whether you meant to or not, you’ve hurt or offended your negotiating counterpart through your words or actions. Perhaps you’ve shown up late for an appointment one time too many, neglected to follow through on a key contract term, … Read Put Apologies in Your Toolbox
Professor Subramanian and Professor Bordone featured on Law School Homepage
PON Executive Committee member, Professor Guhan Subramanian and Harvard Negotiation Mediation Clinical Program director, Professor Robert Bordone recently coached Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School students in a day long negotiation exercise. Information about the exercise is featured on the HLS homepage. Click here to read more.
… Read More
Nuclear Negotiations with Russia
The PON Brown Bag Lunch Series Presents:
Nuclear Negotiations with Russia
with Assistant Secretary of State & Chief Negotiator of the New START Treaty Rose Gottemoeller
Facilitated by:
HLS Professor Robert Bordone,
Director, Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program
Date: February 25, 2011
Time: 12:00PM to 1:30PM
Where: Hauser Hall, Room 105, Harvard Law School Campus
Join the Program on Negotiation … Read Nuclear Negotiations with Russia
How to Turn a Maybe Into a Yes
Adapted from “Closing the Deal,” by Michael Wheeler (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
You’ve followed the negotiation guidebooks to a T, uncovered the parties’ key interests, brainstormed creative solutions, and even developed good rapport with your counterpart. You’ve done everything right…but you still don’t have agreement.
How do you turn the other … Read How to Turn a Maybe Into a Yes
Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program receives Conflict Prevention and Resolution Institute’s 2010 Award
The Conflict Prevention and Resolution Institute (CPR) selected the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) to be the recipient of its 2010 Problem Solving in the Law School Curriculum Award at its annual awards banquet on January 11, 2011 at the New York offices of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP. The clinic’s director and founder, … Read More
Canceled: The Difference Difference Makes in Mediation
This event has been canceled due to inclement weather. The Women and Public Policy Program and the Center for Public Leadership in coordination with IGA 308M: Inclusive Security present: “The Difference Difference Makes in Mediation”
Date: January 12, 2011
Time: 6:00PM
Location: JFK Jr. Forum
Littauer Building, 1st Floor
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
This event is free and … Read More
Harvard Law School Hosts 2010 American Bar Association Regional Negotiation Competition
Sixteen teams from nine different law schools from throughout the Northeast took part in the ABA Regional Negotiation Competition at HLS on November 13–14, 2010. Approximately 35 judges, all practicing lawyers in the Boston area, evaluated the teams and chose the winners. A team comprised of two first-year law students from Boston College Law School … Read More
Dealing With Constituents
Adapted from “Dealing with Backstage Negotiators,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
Negotiated agreements sometimes go off the rails in the final hour because one side caves in to a constituent’s wishes despite having the authority to make a commitment. Because people tend to approach negotiations with an “us versus them” mentality, they may succumb to … Read Dealing With Constituents
Robert Bordone and HNMCP featured in the HLS Bulletin
“Uncommon Loss: Common Bond,” published in the Harvard Law School Bulletin discusses Project Common Bond, which was started by two former Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program students working with Professor Robert Bordone and clinic associate, Toby Berkman.
“For teens… from around the globe with family members killed or seriously injured in acts of violence, … Read More
Negotiation Advice for the 112th Congress
Professor Robert Bordone, director of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program and Tobias Berkman, Associate of HNMCP, published an article in the Harvard Negotiation Law Review titled Negotiation Advice for the 112th Congress. To read the full article, click here.
“There will be many post-mortems in the wake of the historic changes brought about … Read Negotiation Advice for the 112th Congress
The Big Question
A troubled man bursts into your child’s schoolhouse. Without warning, he chases out all the boys and lines the girls up. Then he begins to shoot them one by one. For decades your people’s backs have been broken by the oppressive yoke of Apartheid. Suddenly, the tables are turned and you and your friends are … Read The Big Question
Winning in the New Century Means…
Co-authored by Pierre Pettigrew, Mark Freeman,
Robert C. Bordone, Reza Nasri, Balaji Chandramohan
In the 21st century, the power to persuade will be a more practical and useful tool for settling disputes than flexing either military or economic muscle. In this posting, Robert C. Bordone, Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Harvard … Read Winning in the New Century Means…
Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program Featured on HLS Website
“In the polarized atmosphere of Washington, D.C. today, consensus is becoming an increasingly rare commodity, as this year’s debates over health care reform and financial regulation have made clear. To help curb that trend, twenty senior federal officials – both Republicans and Democrats – met in Washington in July to hone … Read More
Are You Overlooking Mediation?
Adapted from “Why Aren’t Mediation and Arbitration More Popular?” First published in the Negotiation newsletter.
Many scholars have noted that the business community would greatly benefit from third-party dispute resolution services. The problem is, there isn’t much demand for mediation or arbitration. If the alternative dispute resolution field has in fact built a better mousetrap, why … Read Are You Overlooking Mediation?
When peace breaks out
Adapted from “Framing a Negotiation to Foster Cooperation,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
Sometimes in negotiation, against all apparent odds, peace breaks out. Union leaders and management reach a last-minute agreement that averts a work stoppage. Litigants settle their differences as they mount the courthouse steps. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief and moves on.
But … Read When peace breaks out
2010 Winner of the Raiffa Doctoral Student Paper Award
The Program on Negotiation would like to congratulate Nour Kteily for his paper entitled “Getting to the Table: Factors Affecting the Willingness of Israelis and Palestinians to Negotiate.” Nour is a Ph.D. Psychology candidate in the Department of Psychology at Harvard.
About the Award:
The annual prize of $1000 is awarded to a doctoral student author of … Read More
Announcing the 2010 PON Summer Fellows
About the PON Summer Fellowship Program:
PON offers fellowship grants to students at Harvard University, MIT, Tufts University and other Boston-area schools who are doing internships or undertaking summer research projects in negotiation and dispute resolution in partnership with public, non-profit or academic organizations. The Summer Fellowship Program’s emphasis is on advancing the links between … Read Announcing the 2010 PON Summer Fellows
New Teaching Notes for Three Values-Based Mediation Simulations
NP@PON has developed several new Teaching Notes to accompany the three values-based and identity-based simulations described in the last NP@PON Newsletter. The simulations are available along with an overview Teaching Note, individual teaching notes for each game, and an Annotated Bibliography. The overview Note offers extensive guidance on how to organize discussions about value-based disputes … Read More
2010 Winner of the Roger Fisher/Frank E. A. Sander Student Paper Prize Announced
Congratulations to Jamison Davies (HLS ’11), the 2010 Fisher/Sander Prize Winner, for his paper “Formalizing Legal Reputation Markets.”
This prize was established in 2007 by the Program on Negotiation in honor of Professors Roger Fisher, the Williston Professor of Law, Emeritus, and Frank E. A. Sander, the Bussey Professor of Law, Emeritus, two founders of the … Read More
Making and Using Films to Teach Negotiation
Access to multimedia content is rapidly increasing throughout the world, with videos and short clips permeating our daily life – whether in gas stations, on ATMs, cell phones, or mobile entertainment devices. We are consuming, producing, and interacting with videos more now than ever before: YouTube is the third-most visited website on the Internet, the … Read Making and Using Films to Teach Negotiation
Winners of Harvard Law School’s 57th annual Williston Competition Announced
Winners of Harvard Law School’s 57th annual Williston Competition, Harvard’s annual contract negotiation and drafting competition for first-year law students, were announced on Monday, April 5.
This year’s winners were:
Best Contract Overall: Russell Herman, David Roth, Kristi Jobson and Aaron Dalnoot
Best Representation of Save Our Square: Fentress Jamal Fulton and Betny Townsend
Best Representation of McMillin’s: Adam … Read More
The Brazilian Experience on Dispute Systems Design (DSD): the TAM and Air France cases
“The Brazilian Experience on Dispute Systems Design (DSD): the TAM and Air France cases”
with Diego Faleck (LL.M. ’06), Chief of Staff of the Secretariat of Economic Law of the Ministry of Justice in Brazil Date: April 6, 2010
Time: 12:15PM to 1:15PM Where: Pound Hall, Room 332, Harvard Law School Campus
Click here for a campus map.
Speaker Bio
Diego Faleck … Read More
How to Avoid a Do-Over
Remember that big sales contract you negotiated last fall, the one that got you a fat year-end bonus? Well, your manufacturing department has just told you that delivery will be two months late. So now it’s your job to persuade your customer to accept a new date without canceling the deal. And that’s not all. … Read How to Avoid a Do-Over
Negotiate! Radio
Robert H. Mnookin, author of Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight, will be interviewed on March 17th, 2010 on Negotiate! Radio. Negotiate! Radio is a nonprofit community service initiative. Its objectives are to collect and diffuse information on negotiation, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR), both in theory and by analyzing … Read Negotiate! Radio
A more cooperative divorce
Adapted from “Negotiating a More Civil Divorce,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
In the United States, lawyers who recognize the benefits of collaborative negotiation are sometimes stymied by vengeful clients and ruthless opposing counsel. Many attorneys put up with a contentious settlement process in which litigation is a threat.
Yet some U.S. lawyers have begun … Read A more cooperative divorce
Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Federal Government: What’s up at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and elsewhere?
The PON Dispute Resolution Forum and the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program Present: Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Federal Government: What’s up at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and elsewhere? with Deborah Osborne, Group Manager, Dispute Resolution Service, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Thursday, March 4, 2010
8:00AM Breakfast
8:30AM Talk
Pound Hall, Room 335, Harvard Law School Campus
How are ADR principles applied … Read More
Mediating disputes on the job
Adapted from “Resolve Employee Conflicts with Mediation Techniques,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
If you manage people, disputes will show up at your door. The marketing VP protests that the budget cap you and your new finance VP proposed is hindering a research initiative you supported. Two young sales representatives are embroiled in a … Read Mediating disputes on the job
Choosing a mediator
Adapted from “Beyond Blame: Choosing a Mediator,” by Stephen B. Goldberg (professor, Northwestern University), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
When a negotiation escalates into a dispute, most managers understand the value of seeking out a mediator for professional assistance with the matter. The question of whom to hire, however, is less clear-cut. What type of … Read Choosing a mediator
New Live-Mediation Teaching Video Available for Purchase
In preparation for last May’s Mediation Pedagogy Conference at Harvard Law School, NP@PON produced a video of an actual landlord-tenant small claims mediation – from start to finish, including side-bar conversations. It is rare that actual (as opposed to staged or acted) mediations are available for instructional purposes. The mediator in this case is Charles … Read More
Insights from a Communication and Negotiation Conference: The Benefits of Not Knowing
An Experiment: Exploring Interdisciplinary Linkages between Negotiation and Communication Studies
What would negotiation pedagogy look like if we focused more on the core meanings and practices of communication? How can understanding the underpinnings of communication – the components of conversation and the exchange of meaning – help us understand and improve our negotiations? The weekend of … Read More
Summary of Mediation Pedagogy Conference Participant Survey Results
To better understand the teaching needs of the mediation community, Negotiation Pedagogy at the Program on Negotiation (NP@PON) organized a Mediation Pedagogy Conference in May of 2009. In advance of the conference, an 18-question online survey was sent to the 175 conference presenters and registered participants. The 75% response rate allowed us to illuminate important … Read More
Boston Globe Highlights Kenneth Feinberg’s Visit to Prof. Robert Bordone’s Dispute System Design Course
On Tuesday, December 8, 2009, the Front Page of the Boston Globe featured an article on Kenneth Feinberg, President Obama’s “Pay Czar.” Feinberg was a guest lecturer at Professor Robert Bordone’s Dispute Systems Design Course.
To read the Boston Globe article online, click here.
For more information about the Dispute Systems Design Course and Prof. Bordone’s clinical … Read More
Boston Globe highlights mediation trainings for Iraqis
“The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School is a renowned source of expertise in the field,” reported the Boston Globe today in its story, “Iraq latest crucible for Harvard mediation.” Reporting on the work done by conflict resolution professionals at Conflict Management Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the report notes that “The blood not spilled … Read More
Harvard Negotiation Law Review Launches New Website
The Harvard Negotiation Law Review has just launched a new website! HNLR.org features a host of articles on Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, and other dispute resolution topics, as well as archives of print editions of the journal and other ADR content. We are always looking for cutting edge material in the field … Read More
Obama as mediator?
Recently, a local incident grew into a national dispute that seemed ripe for mediation. After being locked out of his home and forcing his way in, Henry Louis Gates, an African-American Harvard University professor, had a confrontation with Cambridge, Massachusetts police sergeant James Crowley and was arrested for disorderly conduct. In a press conference, President … Read Obama as mediator?
Harvard Law School Spotlight on Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program
Harvard Law School’s News Office recently interviewed Harvard Law School’s Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) students and faculty about three of the projects on which they worked during the Spring of 2009.
Click here to read the entire interview http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/clinical-practice/clinic.html
Harvard Law School’s Negotiation & Mediation Clinical … Read More
Mnookin Calls for Mediation
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Professor Robert H. Mnookin, Chair of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, responds to the national debate on the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr..
Mnookin calls for mediation to resolve the conflict between Prof. Gates and the arresting officer. Click here to read … Read Mnookin Calls for Mediation
Negotiation Journal July issue focuses on mediation, multi-party negotiation, trade negotiations and curiosity
As the use of mediation continues to grow, researchers continue to examine what makes mediators effective and what the impact of mediation is on parties in dispute. Four articles in the July 2009 issue of Negotiation Journal provide an in-depth view of mediation effectiveness, with some interesting findings.
In the first article, Stephen Goldberg, Margaret Shaw, … Read More
2009 Winner of the Roger Fisher/Frank E. A. Sander Student Paper Prize Announced
Congratulations to Sean McDonnell (HLS ’09), the 2009 Fisher/Sander Prize Winner, for his paper “Fighting With Faith: The Role of Religion in Dealing With Modern Conflict.”
This prize was established in 2007 by the Program on Negotiation in honor of Professors Roger Fisher, the Williston Professor of Law, Emeritus, and Frank E. A. Sander, the Bussey … Read More
Harvard Negotiation Institute Begins!
On the morning of June 8, 2009, hundreds of participants from around the world began their week-long intensive Basic Negotiation Workshop and Mediation Workshop. Participants will engage with instructors Bruce Patton and Frank Sander for five days of interactive study. There are still seats available in our 2-Day Intensive Basic Negotiation course, which begins Thursday, … Read Harvard Negotiation Institute Begins!
Teachers and Trainers Gather to Talk About Mediation Pedagogy
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
Robert Bordone Appointed Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
Robert Bordone, founding Director of the HLS Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program and the Thaddeus R. Beal Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, was promoted Thursday to full Clinical Professor of Law by unanimous vote of the HLS faculty, Acting Dean Howell Jackson has announced.
Bordone will be teaching two workshops at the Harvard Negotiation Institute this … Read More
Mediation Pedagogy Conference
Registration is now closed for the NP@PON Mediation Pedagogy Conference.
Professors Lawrence Susskind (MIT) and Michael Wheeler (Harvard Business School) are pleased to announce a Mediation Pedagogy Conference to be held by Negotiation Pedagogy at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (NP@PON). This two-day Conference will be held Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May … Read Mediation Pedagogy Conference
Winners of Harvard Law School’s 56th Annual Williston Competition
The winners of Harvard Law School’s 56th annual Williston competition were announced on Tuesday, April 28. The competition, sponsored by the Board of Student Advisers and organized and run by Harvard Negotiators, offers first-year students the opportunity to practice negotiation and contract drafting. Teams of two students participate in the competition which focuses primarily on … Read More
Business Negotiations: Representing Others at the Bargaining Table
You may be negotiating for others, but that doesn’t mean they should be looking over your shoulder. Negotiators often have trouble bargaining effectively in the presence of onlookers, according to researchers Karen Jehn and Lindred Greer of Leiden University in the Netherlands.
… Read More
Rare video of a small-claims mediation
Negotiation Pedagogy at the Program on Negotiation (NP@PON) produced a video of an actual landlord-tenant small claims mediation – from start to finish, including side-bar conversations – for its 2009 Mediation Pedagogy Conference. It is rare that an actual (as opposed to staged or acted) mediation is available for instructional purposes. Of the many different … Read Rare video of a small-claims mediation
Conflict within Companies
Conflict within companies can be very costly, both in time and resources. Alternative Dispute Resolution, or ADR, may be helpful as you consider ways in which you can transition from conflict to productivity within your own organization.
The three most common ADR techniques are: mediation, arbitration, and med-arb. During mediation a neutral third party facilitates a … Read Conflict within Companies
Negotiation and Leadership
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Negotiation Essentials Online
Beyond the Back Table: Working with People and Organizations to Get to Yes
Articles & Insights
BATNA
- Business Negotiations
- Conflict Resolution
- What is an Arbitration Agreement?
- Conflict Management Skills When Dealing with an Angry Public
- In Conflict Resolution, President Carter Turned Flaws Into Virtues
- Conflict Resolution Scenarios: Negotiating Values
- Advanced Negotiation Strategies and Concepts: Hostage Negotiation Tips for Business Negotiators
- Crisis Negotiations
- Dealing with Difficult People
- Dealing with challenging negotiators
- Negotiating with Difficult Personalities and “Dark” Personality Traits
- M&A Negotiation Strategy: Dealing with an Unpredictable Counterpart
- Bargaining in Bad Faith: Dealing with “False Negotiators”
- Dealing with Difficult People and Negotiation: When Should You Give Up the Fight?
- Dealmaking
- Dispute Resolution
- International Negotiation
- Leadership Skills
- Mediation
- AI Mediation: Using AI to Help Mediate Disputes
- How Mediation Can Help Resolve Pro Sports Disputes
- Mediation Training: What Can You Expect?
- Undecided on Your Dispute Resolution Process? Combine Mediation and Arbitration, Known as Med-Arb
- Types of Mediation: Choose the Type Best Suited to Your Conflict
- Negotiation Skills
- Negotiation Training
- Trust in Negotiation: Does Gender Matter?
- Negotiation Training: What’s Special About Technology Negotiations?
- Cole Cannon Esq. Shares His Negotiation and Leadership Experience
- Gender and Negotiation: New Research Findings
- Ethics and Negotiation: 5 Principles of Negotiation to Boost Your Bargaining Skills in Business Situations
- Salary Negotiations
- Teaching Negotiation
- Act Now to Purchase Materials for Next Semester and Avoid a Price Increase
- Negotiating Identity and Values-Based Disputes
- Learn from the Best with the Great Negotiator Case Studies
- Casino Two: Updated Version of Casino Available from the TNRC
- Teach Your Students How to Have Difficult Conversations Over Email
- Win-Win Negotiations