Teaching Negotiation

Teaching negotiation includes instructional areas such as deal setup and design, dispute resolution systems, arbitration, mediation, and meeting facilitation as well as the use of interactive role-play exercises, books, videos, training materials and role-play simulations designed around a specific negotiation skill or concept. The Program on Negotiation’s educational resource center, known as the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), develops a wide-range of role-play simulations—including the popular Sally Soprano negotiation case study—interactive teaching exercises, books, videos, and scholarly papers devoted to the application of teaching negotiation and training effective negotiators.

Materials in the TNRC cover negotiation-related issues in areas ranging from climate change to ethics. Many of the themes are substantive (e.g., environmental negotiations or business negotiations), some target specific sectors (e.g., health care industry), or address particular contexts (e.g., cross-cultural negotiation skills) while others are more process oriented (e.g., facilitation).

The most popular simulation topics include:

  • Environmental
  • Real Estate
  • Workplace
  • Public Policy
  • Teaching in Law
  • Water Management Simulations

In addition, once a year, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School selects an outstanding individual who embodies what it means to be a truly great negotiator. To earn the Great Negotiator Award, the honoree must be a distinguished leader whose lifelong accomplishments in the field of dispute resolution and negotiation have had compelling and lasting results.

To help students and professionals learn valuable lessons from these highly skilled negotiators, PON’s Great Negotiator Case Study Series features in-depth studies such as Stuart Eizenstat: Negotiating the Final Accounts of World War II and Lakhdar Brahimi: Negotiating a New Government for Afghanistan.

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Teach Your Students to Negotiate Cross-Border Water Conflicts

Lara SanPietro   •  07/15/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

With the south-western United States experiencing a years-long drought which has dramatically depleted the Colorado River, there are many signs that water conflicts will become more frequent. Negotiating cross-border water conflicts requires balancing political interests, power dynamics, scientific research, and legal parameters. Success in water negotiations hinges on prediction and monitoring arrangements as well as … Learn More About This Program

Planning for Cyber Defense of Critical Urban Infrastructure

Lara SanPietro   •  06/27/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

negotiation skills

Save Fairport: Planning for Social Cyber Defense of Critical Urban Infrastructure

Cybersecurity for critical urban infrastructure is a major public safety issue for cities. Cyber-attacks can cause major physical damage, as well as sow chaos and undermine public faith in government. Cyber criminals constantly develop new types of malware, which may not be detectable by … Learn More About This Program

Teaching Contract Negotiation: Using the Mutual Gains Approach

Lara SanPietro   •  06/07/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

anchoring effect

How do you use the mutual gains approach in contract negotiations?
In contract negotiations, parties can often resort to positional bargaining instead of using the mutual gains approach. Teaching students to generate creative options in contract negotiations can help them avoid positional bargaining and achieve more beneficial and sustainable agreements. The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) … Learn More About This Program

Teaching Mediation: Exercises to Help Students Acquire Mediation Skills

Lara SanPietro   •  06/03/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Mediation Hire a Mediator

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 … Learn More About This Program

Redevelopment Negotiation: The Challenges of Rebuilding the World Trade Center

Lara SanPietro   •  05/20/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

negotiation

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 … Learn More About This Program

Bidding in an International Business Negotiation: Euro-Idol

Lara SanPietro   •  05/13/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Euro-Idol

Euro-Idol is a four-party, two-round international business negotiation over the selection of the host country and city for the upcoming Euro-Idol music competition. In this bidding simulation from the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), cities must place bids to host the Euro-Idol competition, and therefore gain the economic benefits that come with hosting such a … Learn More About This Program

Check Out Videos from the PON 40th Anniversary Symposium on Negotiation Pedagogy, Practice, & Research

Lara SanPietro   •  05/02/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

The PON 40th Anniversary Symposium featured presentations on the latest innovations in negotiation scholarship, pedagogy, and practice.
On December 9th, 2023, negotiation teachers, trainers, and practitioners from around the world gathered with  PON faculty to reflect on the evolution of the program over the last 40 years, as well as learn about the latest developments and … Learn More About This Program

New Simulation: International Business Acquisition Negotiated Online

Lara SanPietro   •  04/08/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Ren the Robot

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

Download Your Next Mediation Video

Lara SanPietro   •  03/11/2024   •  Filed in Teaching Negotiation

Negotiation Videos

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

Advice for Peace: Ending Civil War in Colombia

Lara SanPietro   •  02/20/2024   •  Filed in Great Negotiator Award, Pedagogy at PON, Teaching Negotiation

Colombia Peace Advisory Team

Check out this freely available video of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Peace Advisory Team as they discuss lessons learned from the Colombian peace process negotiations with the FARC guerrillas.
 

The civil war in Colombia lasted 52 years, taking the lives of at least 220,000 people and displacing up to seven million civilians. In … Read Advice for Peace: Ending Civil War in Colombia

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