Are mutually agreed upon là gì

Negotiation as Your BATNA: The Syrian Civil War and Crisis Negotiations

Posted November 8th, 2022 by & filed under BATNA.

Sometimes your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) is realizing that the negotiation itself is worth the risk. Back in May 2012, the United States and Russia announced a plan to hold a peace conference aimed at ending the civil war in Syria, which had killed more than 70,000 people at that time. … Read  

Managing Multiparty Negotiations

Posted February 7th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Free Report.

If you’re in a negotiation with many parties who have varying positions, it may be tempting to join a coalition with parties who share at least some of your goals. But should you join one? … Read  

Identify Your Negotiation Style: Advanced Negotiation Strategies and Concepts

Posted November 7th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Negotiation Skills.

Have you ever wondered if your negotiation style is too tough or too accommodating? Too cooperative or too selfish? You might strive for an ideal balance, but, chances are, your innate and learned tendencies will have a strong impact on how you negotiate. … Read  

BATNA Basics: Boost Your Power at the Bargaining Table

Posted April 19th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Free Report.

Perfect your negotiation skills in this free special report, BATNA Basics: Boost Your Power at the Bargaining Table from Harvard Law School. … Read  

Managing Expectations in Negotiations

Posted November 7th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Successful negotiators work hard to ensure that when they and their counterpart leave a negotiation, both sides feel satisfied with the agreement. Why should you care whether the other side is pleased with negotiations or not? … Read  

Business Negotiation Strategies: How to Negotiate Better Business Deals

Posted April 19th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Free Report.

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  

What is Med-Arb?

Posted November 7th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Mediation.

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  

Dealmaking: Secrets of Successful Dealmaking in Business Negotiations

Posted April 19th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Free Report.

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  

Repairing Relationships Using Negotiation Skills

Posted November 3rd, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Dispute Resolution.

Negotiation is not only something we do at work; often the toughest negotiations we encounter are in our personal lives. Some of the most successful negotiation examples of the power of negotiation skills in dispute resolution is when they repair relationships between friends. … Read  

Arbitration vs Mediation: What’s Wrong with Traditional Arbitration?

Posted November 3rd, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Mediation.

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  

Value Claiming in Negotiation

Posted November 1st, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Negotiation Skills.

In most negotiations, we face two goals: claiming value and creating value. Value can be defined as anything you would like to get out a negotiation, whether it be more dollars, a consulting contract, a new rug, an end to conflict, and so on. … Read  

What is Distributive Negotiation and Five Proven Strategies

Posted October 31st, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Dealmaking.

Most negotiations call for very different, even opposing, skills: collaboration and competition. To get a great deal, we typically must work with others to find new sources of value while also competing with them to claim as much of that value for ourselves. Before mastering the intricacies of value creation in negotiation, it helps to … Read  

Power in Negotiation: Examples of Being Overly Committed to the Deal

Posted October 31st, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Dealmaking.

When you’re more tightly bound to an agreement than your counterpart is, trouble could follow in negotiation. Manage your escalation of commitment—and level the playing field. … Read  

Negotiation in Business: Ethics, Bias, and Bargaining in Good Faith

Posted October 31st, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

As we’ve discussed in previous articles about negotiation examples in business, a negotiator’s beliefs concerning negotiation ethics are affected by cognitive biases. You probably can recall times when a negotiating opponent made what appeared to be a blatant misstatement. If you’re like most people, you assumed the person was lying to gain an advantage. … Read  

MESO Negotiation: The Benefits of Making Multiple Equivalent Simultaneous Offers in Business Negotiations

Posted October 27th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

In MESO, negotiation in which multiple offers are presented simultaneously at the negotiation table, effective negotiators seek opportunities to create value. By making tradeoffs across issues, parties can obtain greater value on the issues that are most important to them. … Read  

How to Balance Your Own Values in Negotiation

Posted October 27th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

What are the best negotiation examples from real life? Imagine that you’ve been negotiating the sale of a property that is owned by your company. The buyer has made an attractive offer that you’ve tentatively accepted. Your boss is pleased with the terms as they stand, but suggests that you go back to the buyer … Read  

How to Find the ZOPA in Business Negotiations

Posted October 24th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

In business negotiation, two polar-opposite errors are common: reaching agreement when it wouldn’t be wise to do so, and walking away from a mutually beneficial outcome. How can you avoid these pitfalls? Through careful preparation that includes an analysis of the zone of possible agreement, or ZOPA in business negotiations. … Read  

Advice for Bargaining Abroad: Tips on How To Overcome Cultural Barriers

Posted October 24th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

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  

What Leads to Renegotiation?

Posted October 24th, 2022 by Jeswald Salacuse & filed under Uncategorized.

Renegotiation is generally triggered for one of two reasons: an imperfect contract or changed circumstances. The goal of any written contract is to express the parties’ full understanding of their deal. … Read  

Distributive Bargaining Strategies

Posted October 20th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Wise negotiators recognize the value of both collaborating and competing at the bargaining table. They look for ways to increase the pie of value for all parties, often by identifying differences across issues and making tradeoffs. And they also rely on distributive bargaining strategies to try to claim as much of that larger pie for … Read  

Examples of Difficult Situations at Work: Consensus and Negotiated Agreements

Posted October 20th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

How do negotiators reach consensus while engaged in intense negotiated agreements, often contentious, bargaining sessions with their counterparts? Here are some ways negotiators have reached consensus with colleagues and counterparts in the workplace. … Read  

Negotiation Research on Mediation Techniques: Focus on Interests

Posted October 20th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Teaching the Fundamentals: The Best Introductory Negotiation Role Play Simulations

Posted October 18th, 2022 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

Introductory negotiation courses are taught in law and business schools around the world, but are also increasingly taught to undergraduates and in all types of corporate settings. No matter the context, though, the basic elements of negotiation are roughly similar. Teaching interest-based negotiation, the Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA), the Best Alternative to a Negotiated … Read  

Contract Negotiations and Business Communication: How to Write an Iron-Clad Contract

Posted October 18th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

In contract negotiations, writing a contract that both encapsulates the negotiated agreement but also incorporates future elements such as the business relationship and the sustainability of the agreement can be a daunting task for even the most experienced negotiators. Executives often leave the legal issues surrounding their deals to their attorneys. While this division of … Read  

MESO: Make Multiple Equivalent Simultaneous Offers to Create Value in Dealmaking Table

Posted October 18th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

MESO negotiation, a negotiation strategy for creating value with a counterpart who may be reluctant to negotiate, allows negotiators to propose multiple offers without signaling commitment or preference for any one option. Business negotiators that practice integrative negotiation strategies often complain that although they try to focus on creating value, they run into far too many difficult … Read  

Understanding the Negotiation Skills You Need to Negotiate with Friends and Family

Posted October 17th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Who achieves the best negotiated agreements: strangers, friends, or romantic partners? In a 1993 negotiation role-play simulation, Margaret Neale of Stanford University and Kathleen McGinn found that pairs of friends achieved higher joint gains than married couples and pairs of strangers. … Read  

What is Negotiation?

Posted October 13th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

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

Power in Negotiations: How to Maximize a Weak BATNA

Posted October 13th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

In business negotiations, we tend to assume that it’s the more financially successful party that has an edge. But if that party has a weak BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement, it could be the seemingly weaker party that comes out on top. … Read  

Top Ten Posts About Conflict Resolution

Posted October 11th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Conflict resolution is the process of resolving a dispute or a conflict by meeting at least some of each side’s needs and addressing their interests. Conflict resolution sometimes requires both a power-based and an interest-based approach, such as the simultaneous pursuit of litigation (the use of legal power) and negotiation (attempts to reconcile each party’s … Read  

10 Hard-Bargaining Tactics to Watch Out for in a Negotiation

Posted October 10th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

Don’t be caught unprepared by hard bargainers, warn Robert Mnookin, Scott Peppet, and Andrew Tulumello in their book Beyond Winning. … Read  

Top 10 Negotiation Skills You Must Learn to Succeed

Posted October 10th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

3 Negotiation Strategies for Conflict Resolution

Posted October 10th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

When a dispute flares up and conflict resolution is required, the outcome can be sadly predictable: the conflict escalates, with each side blaming the other in increasingly strident terms. The dispute may end up in litigation, and the relationship may be forever damaged. … Read  

Negotiated Agreements: Why You Should Limit Your Options

Posted October 6th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

A process of finding your counterparts interests and reconciling them with your own. But what if you or your counterpart presents a myriad of options and offers at the negotiation table? … Read  

How to Control Your Emotions in Conflict Resolution

Posted October 4th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

To guard against acting irrationally or in ways that can harm you, authors of Beyond Reason: Using Emotions As You Negotiate Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro advise you to take your emotional temperature during a negotiation. Specifically, try to gauge whether your emotions are manageable, starting to heat up, or threatening to boil over. … Read  

Managing Difficult Negotiators

Posted October 3rd, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

In negotiation, we are often confronted with the task of dealing with difficult people—those who seem to prefer to set up roadblocks rather than break down walls, or who choose to take hardline stances rather than seeking common ground. If you’re skilled in BATNA negotiations, you’ll have an easier time dealing with such people. … Read  

How Principal Agent Theory Works in Business Negotiations: Dealmaking Strategies for Bargaining with Agents

Posted October 3rd, 2022 by Lawrence Susskind & filed under Business Negotiations.

The Program on Negotiation has identified three basic sets of circumstances in business negotiations where you’ll be better off tapping an agent (see also principal-agent theory) to take your place at the bargaining table (at least for part of the negotiating process): … Read  

Business Negotiation Skills: How to Deal with a Failing Business Partnership

Posted September 29th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

It had seemed like the beginning of a fruitful relationship. In April 2012, six wealthy businessmen teamed up to buy the Philadelphia Inquirer and several affiliated businesses for $61.1 million, promising to work together to reverse the newspaper’s flagging fortunes. Their infusions of cash and appointment of a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter, William K. Marimow, as … Read  

Principled Negotiation: Focus on Interests to Create Value

Posted September 26th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

There’s a better, third way of negotiating—one that doesn’t rely on toughness or accommodation, but that will improve your likelihood of meeting your negotiation goals. In their pivotal negotiation text, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (Penguin, 2nd edition, 1991), Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton of the Harvard Negotiation Project promote … Read  

Are You Ready to Negotiate?

Posted September 26th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

“Winging it” is a fine approach to life’s minor decisions, but when you negotiate, it can be disastrous. Follow these three preparation steps and improve your agreements. … Read  

Six Strategies for Creating Value at the Negotiation Table

Posted September 22nd, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

In today’s market, consumers are often the more powerful parties in negotiations with sellers. To claim the most value in your next haggling experience, use the following six negotiation strategies. … Read  

When Lose-Lose is the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA)

Posted September 20th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Negotiation Research Examines Ethics in Negotiating

Posted September 19th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Lack of transparency regarding negotiations between hospitals and the insurers known as preferred provider organizations, or PPOs, is a key contributor to spiraling health-care costs in the United States, back in a 2013 article in the New York Times. This topic has many questioning ethics in negotiating within the healthcare industry. The problem starts with the … Read  

Dealmaking: Relationship Rules for Dealmakers

Posted September 19th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Here are some concrete guidelines for fostering a strong relationship between deal making partners, drawn from The Global Negotiator: Making, Managing, and Mending Deals Around the World in the 21st Century, by Tufts University professor Jeswald W. Salacuse: … Read  

Understanding Exclusive Negotiation Periods in Business Negotiations

Posted September 19th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

The clearest method for achieving exclusivity in negotiation is an exclusive negotiation period during which both sides agree not to talk to third parties, even if approached unexpectedly by others. In some arenas, these terms are called no-talk periods. … Read  

5 Common Negotiation Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them

Posted September 15th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Sometimes our negotiation mistakes are glaring: We accidentally reveal our bottom line, criticize the other party when patience was warranted, or get our numbers mixed up. More often, though, our negotiation mistakes are invisible: We get a perfectly good deal, but are unaware that we could have gotten a better one if we hadn’t succumbed … Read  

6 Bargaining Tips and BATNA Essentials

Posted September 13th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

The best bargaining tips taught by the experts should offer ways to enhance your bargaining power in negotiation. To do this, you must cultivate a strong BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. The more appealing your best alternative is, the more comfortable you will feel asking for more in your current negotiation—secure in … Read  

Why Negotiations Fail

Posted September 13th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

When we think of failed business negotiations, most of us picture negotiators walking away from the table in disappointment. But that’s only one type of disappointing negotiation. Failed business negotiations also include those that parties come to regret over time and those that fall apart during implementation. The following three types of negotiation failures are … Read  

Dispute Resolution, NHL style

Posted September 13th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Negotiation in Business Without a BATNA – Is It Possible?

Posted September 12th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

In a negotiation scenario, you always have a best alternative to a negotiated agreement. Negotiation research and negotiation strategy helps negotiators find their BATNA, leverage it at the bargaining table, and illustrates the impact that knowing your BATNA has on a negotiation. … Read  

Developing Negotiation Skills for Integrative Negotiations – Does Personality Matter?

Posted September 12th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Imagine that after some negative experiences at the bargaining table or if you are frustrated in your efforts to improve your negotiation skills, you’ve started to worry that you simply don’t have the right personality to be a great negotiator let alone a value-creating, integrative negotiations expert. The other party always seems to get the … Read  

How to Mitigate Stress at the Bargaining Table

Posted September 12th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Conventional wisdom, not to mention the popularity of no-haggle car buying, suggests that many people anticipate important negotiations with the same dread they reserve for root canals. … Read  

Negotiation in Business: Starbucks and Kraft’s Coffee Conflict

Posted September 8th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

Sometimes even the best agreements arising out of negotiation in business and are liable to failure and such is the case with the dispute between food giants Starbucks and Kraft (now Kraft-Heinz). … Read  

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies and Power in Negotiation

Posted September 6th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

When you expect people to be competitive, it’s not only your own behavior that changes. You also set up a self-fulfilling prophecy, such that your expectations about the other side’s behavior lead him to behave in ways that confirm your expectations. … Read  

Power in Negotiation: The Impact on Negotiators and the Negotiation Process

Posted September 5th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

According to Dacher Keltner of the University of California at Berkeley and his colleagues, power in negotiation affects two primary neurological regulators of behavior: the behavioral approach system and the behavioral inhibition system. Powerful negotiators demonstrate “approach related” behaviors such as expressing positive moods and searching for rewards in their environment. … Read  

Dealing with Difficult People? Negotiation Lessons from Ronald Reagan

Posted September 5th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Conflict Resolution.

In recent months, U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders have struggled to find a winning strategy to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to back away from his aggressions toward Ukraine. In a Wall Street Journal editorial, Ken Adelman, U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to the United Nations and arms-control director, writes that recently … Read  

Use a Negotiation Preparation Worksheet for Continuous Improvement

Posted September 1st, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

When determining the best alternative to a negotiated agreement or BATNA (the point at which the negotiators ought to walk away from the table), executives should check in with key organizational leaders. … Read  

How to Use Tradeoffs to Create Value in Your Negotiations

Posted September 1st, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

How do expectations of fairness and reciprocity at the bargaining table impact negotiator decisions regarding the strategies and tactics they use at the negotiation table? … Read  

Writing the Negotiated Agreement

Posted August 30th, 2022 by Guhan Subramanian & filed under Uncategorized.

Some negotiations end with a negotiated agreement that is a plan of action rather than a signed contract – for example, a plumber agrees to fix the tile damage caused by his work. Other negotiations wouldn’t be appropriate to commemorate in writing, such as how you and your spouse decide to discipline your young … Read  

Negotiating Skills: How to Bargain “Behind the Table”

Posted August 30th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, U.S. president George H. W. Bush and his secretary of state, James Baker, were eager to win international support for German reunification and German membership in NATO. But Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev faced strong opposition to these measures from members of his own Communist Party. Both … Read  

Using Integrative Negotiation Techniques to Close the Deal

Posted August 29th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Like a contingency, a condition to a deal is a related though far less common deal-structuring technique. A condition is an ‘if’ statement like a contingency, but, whereas a contingency depends on unknown future events, a condition is entirely within the control of the parties involved. … Read  

Finding Mutual Gains In “Non-Negotiation”

Posted August 25th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

The National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers faced a dilemma. Mid-contract, the team’s star wide receiver, Antonio Brown, asked the team to improve upon the six-year, $42.5 million deal they negotiated back in 2012. Brown had risen to become the best receiver in football and believed he was underpaid. … Read  

Negotiation Advice for Buying a Car: Tips for Improving Your Negotiating Position

Posted August 25th, 2022 by Kristen Zapata & filed under Business Negotiations.

How can you negotiate the best possible price for a new car? This is a common negotiation question, and naturally so. A car is one of the most significant purchases you’ll ever make—and the price is almost always negotiable. Here are a few tips to improve your performance: … Read  

3 Types of Power in Negotiation

Posted August 23rd, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Social psychologists have described different types of power that exist in society, and negotiators can leverage these types of power in negotiation as well. … Read  

What Is Distributive Negotiation?

Posted August 23rd, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

What is distributive negotiation? Distributive negotiation involves haggling over a fixed amount of value—that is, slicing up the pie. In a distributive negotiation, there is likely only one issue at stake, typically price. When you are negotiating with a merchant in a foreign bazaar, or over a used car closer to home, you are generally … Read  

Use Integrative Negotiation Strategies to Create Value at the Bargaining Table

Posted August 22nd, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

How can you uncover additional value, make useful trades, and put together a package that exceeds your party’s expectations? Here are four integrative negotiation strategies for value creation that all negotiators should add to their toolkit. … Read  

Power in Negotiation: How Effective Negotiators Project Power at the Negotiation Table

Posted August 22nd, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Negotiating power generally comes from one of three sources, according to Northwestern University professor Adam D. Galinsky and New York University professor Joe C. Magee. … Read  

Lessons for Business Negotiators: Negotiation Techniques from International Diplomacy

Posted August 18th, 2022 by Jeswald Salacuse & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Employee Mediation Techniques – Resolve Disputes and Manage Conflict with These Mediation Skills

Posted August 16th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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. … Read  

How to Negotiate with Friends and Family

Posted August 16th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

“Never do business with friends,” the adage goes. But should you always stay away from an opportunity to negotiate with friends and family? A strict policy of keeping friends and family members out of our business lives would be impractical, and it could cause us to pass up potentially valuable negotiating opportunities. … Read  

How to Overcome Cultural Barriers in Communication – Cultural Approximations of Time and the Impact on Negotiations

Posted August 16th, 2022 by Riley Scheuritzel & filed under Uncategorized.

Some of the most fundamental international negotiation skills to develop are negotiation strategies on how to overcome cultural barriers in communication. … Read  

What Is an Umbrella Agreement?

Posted August 16th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

The Mediation Process and Dispute Resolution

Posted August 15th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Negotiating a Non-Compete Agreement with Employers

Posted August 15th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

In integrative negotiation, each side seeks to create and claim value with an eye towards the future of the negotiating relationship. One way of securing this relationship is a noncompete agreement: Employers sometimes ask potential employees to agree not to work for their competitors in the future but don’t assume such requests are nonnegotiable. … Read  

How to Deal with Threats: 4 Negotiation Tips for Managing Conflict at the Bargaining Table

Posted August 15th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Sooner or later, every negotiator faces threats at the bargaining table. How should you respond when the other side threatens to walk away, file a lawsuit, or damage your reputation? These negotiation tips will help. … Read  

The Negotiation Process in China

Posted August 15th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

With its booming economy and growing international consumer influence, the role of negotiation in international business is more important than ever and negotiation skills appropriate for China are in high-demand. Here are a few negotiation tips to help you successfully navigate your next round of business negotiations in China. … Read  

Negotiations, Gender, and Status at the Bargaining Table

Posted August 9th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

When it comes to different characteristics of negotiation styles, a growing body of research suggests that status consciousness varies depending on the gender of interested parties. … Read  

The Importance of Relationship Building in China

Posted August 4th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Although most Americans treat those they know differently than they treat strangers, Chinese relationship building towards insiders and outsiders tends to be more extreme than in the United States – and therefore more important in negotiations in China than many Americans understand. … Read  

What is BATNA? How to Find Your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement

Posted August 4th, 2022 by Guhan Subramanian & filed under BATNA.

Your BATNA, or the ability to identify a negotiator’s best alternative to a negotiated agreement, is among one of the many pieces of information negotiators seek when formulating dealmaking and negotiation strategies. If your current negotiation reaches an impasse, what’s your best outside option? … Read  

The Advantages of Bias at the Negotiation Table

Posted August 2nd, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

What impact do cognitive biases have on bargaining scenarios? Work by negotiation researchers Russell B. Korobkin of UCLA and Chris P. Guthrie of Vanderbilt University suggests how to turn knowledge of four specific biases into tools of persuasion. … Read  

The Pitfalls of Negotiations Over Email

Posted August 1st, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Negotiation research suggests that email often poses more problems than solutions when it comes to relationships, information exchange, and outcomes in conflict resolution negotiation scenarios. First, establishing social rapport via email can be challenging. The lack of nonverbal cues and the dearth of social norms regarding its use can cause negotiators to be impolite and … Read  

Elements of Conflict: Diagnose What’s Gone Wrong

Posted July 28th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Conflict Resolution.

In the heat of conflict, it can be difficult to think rationally about how you got where you are and how you might make things better. But by taking a break to consider the elements of conflict, you can move toward a more rational assessment of the dispute and come up with ways to address … Read  

VIDEO: William Ury on “Getting to Yes with Yourself”

Posted July 28th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

BATNA and Other Sources of Power at the Negotiation Table

Posted July 26th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

BATNA negotiations involve a negotiators knowledge of her best alternatives to a negotiated agreement and are one of three sources of negotiating power at the bargaining table, according to negotiation researcher Adam D. Galinsky and New York University’s Joe C. Magee. … Read  

Why is Negotiation Important: Mediation in Transactional Negotiations

Posted July 26th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Business Negotiation Skills: How to Enhance Your Negotiated Agreement

Posted July 26th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

A common topic in our business negotiations articles are negotiation topics in business about enhancing your deal after signing the negotiated agreement. After all, not all contracts are created equal. … Read  

Managing Difficult Conversations: Achieving Objectives with Backmapping Negotiation Strategies

Posted July 26th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

The problem: Your negotiation seems to be over before it has begun. Your targeted counterpart is refusing to sit down with you or simply ignoring your requests. How can you get her to see that she would benefit from negotiating with you? … Read  

Negotiation Examples: How Crisis Negotiators Use Text Messaging

Posted July 25th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

In their negotiation training, police and professional hostage negotiators are taught skills that will help them defuse tense situations over the course of long phone calls, such as engaging in active listening, determining the person’s emotions from his or her inflection, and trust building. … Read  

Negotiation Preparation Strategies

Posted July 21st, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

When an important negotiation is looming, “winging it” is never the answer. The best negotiators engage in thorough negotiation preparation. That means taking plenty of time to analyze what you want, your bargaining position, and the other side’s likely wants and alternatives. … Read  

Sales Negotiation Techniques

Posted July 21st, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

In sales negotiations, making the first offer is often a smart move. The first offer can anchor the discussion that follows and can have a powerful effect on the final outcome. But if the other party makes the first offer, you’ll need to be prepared to frame your counteroffer carefully. What is framing in negotiation? It … Read  

The Importance of Communication in Multiparty Negotiations

Posted July 19th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

When a team is preparing for a critical negotiation, members need to appoint a leader, allocate roles and responsibilities, and discuss their at-the-table strategy. Another key objective that teams sometimes fail to discuss is the importance of staying “on message” – that is, making sure that statements by individual members don’t contradict the group’s agreed-upon … Read  

Negotiation Tactics, BATNA and Examples for Creating Value in Business Negotiations

Posted July 18th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Learning great BATNA examples, or estimations of your best alternative to a negotiated agreement as well as that of your negotiating counterpart, are essential to effective negotiation strategies. When preparing to negotiate, always take time to consider these important questions. … Read  

Take your BATNA to the Next Level

Posted July 18th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

If your current negotiation reaches an impasse, what’s your best outside option? Most seasoned negotiators understand the value of evaluating their BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement, a concept that Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton introduced in their seminal book, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (Penguin, 1991, second … Read  

What is Conflict Resolution, and How Does It Work?

Posted June 14th, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Conflict Resolution.

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  

Business Negotiations: How to Improve Your Reputation at the Bargaining Table

Posted June 13th, 2022 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

In multi-issue business negotiations, research suggests that the advantage goes to negotiators with a reputation for collaboration rather than competition. In a series of studies by Catherine H. Tinsley and Kathleen O’Connor, participants were told they would be negotiating with someone who had either a tough reputation, a cooperative reputation, or an unknown reputation. Although … Read  

Teaching Critical Leadership Skills

Posted May 13th, 2022 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

Running a multinational corporation, starting a small business, or leading a diplomatic mission all require critical leadership skills. Being an effective leader necessitates negotiating both within your organization and with external partners. In Real Leaders Negotiate, author Jeswald Salacuse explains that leaders can increase their effectiveness by using negotiation in each of the three phases … Read  

How to Overcome Barriers and Save Your Negotiated Agreement at the Bargaining Table

Posted March 21st, 2022 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Elements of Negotiation Style: Angela Merkel

Posted October 4th, 2021 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

What is your negotiation style? Some negotiators make a strong impression through bold opening statements and mesmerizing presentations. Others closely observe and gather information before making any decisive moves. Angela Merkel, who chose not to run for reelection in 2021 after nearly 16 years as Germany’s chancellor, has demonstrated the latter type of negotiation style: … Read  

The Deal-Making Process: Playing the Long Game

Posted September 20th, 2021 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

Do you have regrets about the deals that got away? If so, you might be newly motivated by the deal-making process of famed Hollywood movie and television producer Albert S. Ruddy. For 50 years he pursued two pet film projects—each of which finally led to a negotiated agreement and is coming to fruition. A Deal-Making Process … Read  

In Negotiation, it’s All in the Timing

Posted July 15th, 2021 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Back on July 11, 2000, U.S. president Bill Clinton welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to a summit at Camp David aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all. The summit covered various contentious issues, including territory, settlements, security, and the status of refugees. After about two weeks, … Read  

Q&A with William Ury, author of Getting To Yes With Yourself

Posted June 25th, 2021 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy? We interviewed William Ury, co-founder of the Program on Negotiation, one of the world’s leading experts on negotiation, and bestselling author of Getting to Yes and Getting Past No, about his book, Getting To Yes With Yourself. Great negotiators know that the path to resolution is not always linear but rather … Read  

10 Notable Negotiations of 2020

Posted January 11th, 2021 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

If there’s one thing that negotiators have practiced this year, it’s thinking on their feet. As our 10 notable negotiations of 2020 illustrate, the coronavirus pandemic left individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and governments trying to replace outmoded plans with more workable alternatives.  10 Notable Negotiations of 2020 10. Struggling to play ball. This year, sports leagues scrambled to … Read  

Bargaining in Bad Faith: Dealing with “False Negotiators”

Posted December 31st, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

We tend to forget—at our peril—that not everyone at the bargaining table wants to close a deal and may be bargaining in bad faith. Consider the following negotiations:

A competitor approaches you about a potential partnership. After a series of meetings that seemed promising, however, your counterpart stops returning your calls. You are left with the nagging … Read  

Definition of Mediation and the Mediation Process: The Impact of Lawyers on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

Posted December 31st, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

For Business Negotiators, Patience Can be a Virtue

Posted December 22nd, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

Business negotiators know that persistence and tenacity can make all the difference between impasse and a game-changing breakthrough. Take the saga behind Microsoft’s 2013 announcement of its pending $7.2 billion acquisition of Finnish mobile phone company Nokia’s handset and services business. The two parties engaged in many months of fruitless talks before either side believed … Read  

Leveraging BATNA at the Dinner Table: Negotiate Your Way to Holiday Cheer

Posted December 21st, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, or so they say. As we look ahead to winter vacation and seemingly endless days of family celebrations, many feel a sense of dread, anticipating tensions and conflict as drearily predictable as overcooked turkey and practical gifts. Even those who look forward to family get-togethers often end … Read  

The Top Three Defensive Negotiation Strategies You Need to Know

Posted December 15th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

In the course of a career, a negotiator will confront many skilled persuaders. Here, we review three defensive negotiation strategies a negotiator can employ. … Read  

Mediation Checklist: 5 Questions to Ask When Hiring Mediators

Posted December 15th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

A Negotiation Preparation Checklist

Posted December 14th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Without a doubt, the biggest mistake that negotiators make—and one that many make routinely—is failing to thoroughly prepare. When you haven’t done the necessary analysis and research, you are highly likely to leave value on the table and even to be taken advantage of by your counterpart. A negotiation preparation checklist can help you avoid … Read  

Putting Your Negotiated Agreement Into Action

Posted December 10th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Normally negotiators focus on the deal-at-hand as well as those present at the negotiation table, neglecting other aspects of the negotiated agreement that would not only impact others outside of the room but also require their cooperation for the agreement’s success and viability. … Read  

BATNA and Risky Negotiation Tactics

Posted December 8th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

Your BATNA is your “best alternative to a negotiated agreement.” Expect that your negotiating counterpart has one going into a negotiation, and so should you. Below is a good BATNA negotiation example involving how to leverage your away-from-the-bargaining-table options and the risks inherent with such a negotiation strategy. … Read  

A Win Win Negotiation Case Study Using Mind Mapping Negotiation Skills

Posted December 8th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

A win win negotiation case study using mind mapping to discover your counterpart’s interests for collaborative, integrative negotiations can occur. … Read  

Setting Standards in Negotiations

Posted December 3rd, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

As the starting point from which all commercial transactions occur, from purchasing equipment to setting salaries, negotiatiosn in business is an essential skill no matter what field a negotiator finds herself. Using an objective standard can strengthen your proposal and eliminate emotional bias. … Read  

Star Wars Stories: George Lucas and a Strong BATNA, Passed Over

Posted December 1st, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

In negotiation, your best source of power is typically your best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA. When you are aware that you have an appealing alternative deal to the one you’re working on, you will be less tempted to accept an agreement that doesn’t meet your minimum requirements. A strong BATNA gives you … Read  

Techniques for Leading Multiparty Negotiations: Structuring the Bargaining Process

Posted November 30th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Imagine leading negotiations involving representatives from most of the world’s nations on a contentious topic such as sustainable development. Where would you start? How would you proceed when conflict emerged? How would you know when it was time to wrap things up? … Read  

Managing a Multiparty Negotiation

Posted November 26th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Multiparty negotiations can be incredibly challenging. Just ask the negotiators from over 170 countries who managed to reach agreement on October 15 on a legally binding accord to combat climate change. … Read  

Navigating Business Relationships Using Negotiation

Posted November 26th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

A three-year dispute between Starbucks and Kraft Foods over distribution of Starbucks packaged coffee in grocery stores was resolved in 2013 when an arbitrator determined that Starbucks had breached its agreement with Kraft and ordered the coffeemaker to pay the food giant $2.75 billion. … Read  

Negotiating with Millennials – How to Overcome Cultural Differences in Communication

Posted November 24th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

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  

5 Tips for Improving Your Negotiation Skills

Posted November 23rd, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

The prospect of boosting our negotiation skills can be so overwhelming that we often delay taking the necessary steps we can follow to improve, such as taking time to prepare thoroughly. The following five guidelines will help you break this daunting task into a series of manageable—and often essential—strategies. … Read  

The Importance of Power in Negotiations: Taylor Swift Shakes it Off

Posted November 23rd, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

In negotiation, our success often hinges on our bargaining power—which in turn can depend on forces beyond our control. That truism was highlighted in two recent disputes arising from business negotiations over the pricing of copyrighted material in the digital era, one from the music world, the other from publishing. … Read  

5 Types of Negotiation Skills

Posted November 19th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Businesspeople who are looking for effective negotiation strategies often confront a dizzying array of advice. It can be useful to take a step back and categorize these strategies into various types of negotiation tactics. Highlighting the benefits of negotiation in business, the following five types of negotiation tactics can help you think more broadly about … Read  

Price Anchoring 101

Posted November 19th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Opening offers have a strong effect in price negotiations. The first offer typically serves as an anchor that strongly influences the discussion that follows. In research documenting price anchoring, psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky found that even random numbers can have a dramatic impact on people’s subsequent judgments and decisions. … Read  

Salary Negotiations and How to Negotiate Performance-Based Pay

Posted November 17th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Salary negotiations are never predictable. Imagine that you are a sales rep with a company that is getting hit hard by a financial crisis. No one has been laid off yet, but everyone is nervous about that possibility. In an effort to save jobs, your sales manager has quietly proposed that everyone take lower base … Read  

For Price Negotiators, Preparation is the Key to Success

Posted November 17th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Some cultures have a long tradition of haggling—bargaining back and forth about the price of an item—in markets and bazaars. By contrast, in the United States and many other countries, haggling between buyers and sellers is an under-practiced skill. You might routinely pass up opportunities to haggle in situations where financial negotiations are not the … Read  

For Better Communication, Try Appreciation

Posted November 16th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Many professional negotiators have come away from talks wondering, How did that pleasant discussion turn sour? Why did the deal unravel at the last minute? … Read  

Understanding Your Counterpart’s BATNA

Posted November 16th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

One of the most popular questions concerning negotiation strategy and an area of negotiation research that draws heavily on negotiation examples in real life is how do negotiators identify their BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement, and even better, how do they identify their counterpart’s BATNA? Consider the saga of a company that … Read  

Negotiation in Business: Ignore Sunk Costs

Posted November 12th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Think about what your house, condominium, or some other valuable asset might be worth in today’s market. Did the price you paid for it affect your answer? … Read  

An Example of the Anchoring Effect

Posted November 10th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

People tend to irrationally fixate on the first number put forth in a negotiation—the anchor—no matter how arbitrary it may be. Even when we know the anchor has limited relevance, we fail to sufficiently adjust our judgments away from it. This is the anchoring effect. … Read  

Overcoming Barriers to Agreement: How Dell Computer’s BATNA Informed Its Privatization Negotiations

Posted November 10th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

In negotiation, your best source of power typically is your “best alternative to a negotiated agreement,” or BATNA. By cultivating appealing options away from the table, you free yourself up to walk away in the event of a disappointing deal. … Read  

How to Create Value at the Negotiation Table: Strategies for Creating Win-Win Negotiations

Posted November 9th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

While you might choose many processes for conducting your negotiations, we recommend the following three steps of a mutual-gains approach to negotiations: … Read  

Leadership Styles in Crisis Negotiations

Posted November 9th, 2020 by Alex Green & filed under Uncategorized.

Since the start of the global economic recession in 2008, few issues have proven as explosive as the Greek debt crisis. The Greek government’s commitment to repay billions of dollars in loans has been a source of contention with creditors ever since a sizable bailout was issued in 2010. … Read  

What to Do When Your BATNA is Not Good Enough

Posted November 5th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

The following question was featured in the “Ask the Negotiation Coach” section of the Negotiation Briefings newsletter, April 2010 issue. Question: What should I do when a negotiation seems to be all about price, I have no BATNA, and the other side knows it? … Read  

Trust and Honesty in Negotiations: Dealing with Dishonest Negotiators

Posted November 3rd, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Negotiating opportunities sometimes come from challenging sources: a family member who has been unreliable in the past but promises to make a change; a business competitor that approaches you about a joint venture; a difficult boss with whom you would like to work out a better relationship. … Read  

Communicate Your Interests Behind the Deal

Posted November 3rd, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

As integrative negotiations students know well, focusing on interests in negotiation has proven to be the most reliable way to create value and resolve conflicts. Experience indicates that communicating with your lawyers the motivations behind a deal or negotiated agreement is well worth the time. … Read  

Negotiation and Bargaining with Your BATNA in Mind

Posted October 29th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

Experienced negotiators understand they should reject any deal that is inferior to their best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA. What is a BATNA in negotiation? Your BATNA is the best possible outcome you could get if you walked away from your current negotiation and bargaining situation. When negotiating at an auto dealership, for … Read  

Coming Up with Win-Win Solutions at the Bargaining Table

Posted October 27th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Even those who effectively engage in an integrative negotiations or mutual-gains approach to negotiation, a bargaining scenario in which parties work together to meet interests and maximize value creation during the negotiation process, can be stymied by the task of dividing up a seemingly fixed pie of resources, such as budgets, revenue, and time. … Read  

The Hidden Hazards of BATNA Development

Posted October 26th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

The following question was posed to Program on Negotiation faculty member and associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School in the Negotiations, Organizations & Markets Unit, Francesca Gino and involves a negotiation example from real life from the world of business negotiations. … Read  

Negotiation Ethics: How to Navigate Ethical Dilemmas at the Bargaining Table

Posted October 26th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

After buying a new car, you’re eager to sell your old car. It looks well kept, but you had problems with the engine last winter. Now it’s late summer. Should you tell prospective buyers about the engine, which might or might not act up when the weather turns? … Read  

What is BATNA?

Posted October 22nd, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

What is BATNA? Negotiations in which each counterpart has a best alternative to a negotiated agreement are scenarios in which the incentive to work together must exceed the value of alternatives away from the negotiation table. … Read  

Negotiation Techniques: How to Predict a Negotiator’s Decisions

Posted October 20th, 2020 by Breanna Beaumont & filed under Uncategorized.

Improving your negotiation skills can only take you so far – eventually you need to assess you behavior preferences as a negotiator. Being able to predict how you will behave in a given bargaining scenario will help you augment the negotiation training you have received as well as help you achieve better outcomes at the … Read  

Negotiation Skills in Business Communication – Use Chaos to Your Advantage at the Bargaining Table

Posted October 20th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Some of the most successful negotiation examples that we have covered here include negotiators engaging in improvisation at the negotiation table, turning chaotic situations into advantages in negotiation scenarios. … Read  

In Group Negotiation, Avoid a Turf Battle

Posted October 15th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

In group negotiation, turf battles—heated conflicts over territory, control, rights, or power—are common. Department heads clash over scarce resources. Companies, community groups, and governments get tied up in lawsuits over undeveloped land. Across the globe, fishing groups have depleted fish stocks in their rush to catch the biggest share for themselves. … Read  

Know Your BATNA: The Power of Information in Negotiation

Posted October 15th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

Knowing when to walk away in a negotiation is some of the most powerful information in negotiation a negotiator can bring to the bargaining table – and this means a negotiator should know her BATNA or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. … Read  

What is the Right of First Refusal?

Posted October 15th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

When transferring property, sellers sometimes insist on real estate rights of first refusal – the chance to be first in line to repurchase the property if their buyer later decides to sell. … Read  

Negotiation Strategies: Seek Advice from Others When Negotiating

Posted October 13th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Negotiation skills in business communication and seeking advice from others, what are the potential benefits? Advice seeking inherently employs multiple self-presentation tactics (including ingratiation, self-promotion, and supplication), it allows us to improve both our competence and our likability. … Read  

5 Win-Win Negotiation Strategies

Posted October 13th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Business negotiators understand the importance of reaching a win-win negotiation: when both sides are satisfied with their agreement, the odds of a long-lasting and successful business partnership are much higher. But concrete strategies for generating a win-win contract often seem elusive. The following five, from experts at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, … Read  

Negotiating Around a Bad BATNA

Posted October 8th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

Don’t assume your public statements will win over a reluctant negotiator. Know when it’s best to move on and make the most of your current situation. … Read  

South Korea’s Innovative Long-Term Negotiation Strategy with North Korea

Posted October 6th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

In negotiation, a combination of several negotiation strategies may be needed to move past a difficult impasse. The decades-long protracted negotiations between North Korea and South Korea provides such a case study. … Read  

Negotiation Games

Posted October 6th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Going to trial, it’s said, is like rolling the dice. In this article, we discuss what negotiators need to be aware of to avoid negotiation games before heading to the courtroom. … Read  

Price Negotiation Advice for Consumers

Posted October 6th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

It’s official: Price negotiations aren’t just for big-ticket items anymore. The prices of furniture, electronics, wine, jewelry, and other “medium-ticket” goods are now frequently up for discussion. The ancient art of haggling has made a comeback, so brush up on your skills with our six price negotiation tactics. … Read  

Mutually Beneficial Agreements: Tips for Creating Deals that Last

Posted October 5th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

David Schwimmer, the actor who played Ross on the hit television comedy Friends, famously convinced the show’s five other leads in the early years of its run to negotiate their contracts with NBC as a team. The “mini union” formed by the actors ultimately helped them negotiate an unprecedented $1 million each per episode during … Read  

Deceptive Tactics in Negotiation: How to Ward Them Off

Posted October 5th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Deceptive tactics in negotiation can run rampant: parties “stretch” the numbers, conceal key information, and make promises they know they can’t keep. The benefits of negotiation in business offer strong incentives to detect these behaviors. Unfortunately, however, most of us are very poor lie detectors. Even professionals who encounter liars regularly, such as police officers and … Read  

Negotiation Skills in Business Negotiation and Status Consciousness

Posted September 28th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Before and during your negotiation, think about who you’ve chosen as a reference group against which you measure yourself. Did you select the group purely to enhance your own status, or did you try to make a more appropriate comparison? What are your negotiation skills in business communication? … Read  

Negotiating organizational breakups

Posted February 29th, 2020 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

How to Negotiate in Good Faith

Posted January 6th, 2020 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

Have you ever negotiated with someone who seemed intent on sabotaging the negotiation or taking unfair advantage? If so, you would benefit from learning more about what it mean to negotiate in good faith. … Read  

Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement: Beyond the Basics

Posted December 30th, 2019 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

What is your greatest source of power in negotiation? In their landmark negotiation book Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (Penguin, 1991), Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton write that it is often a strong BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. Before and during their negotiations, wise negotiators determine their … Read  

10 Top Negotiation Examples

Posted September 26th, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Here’s a recap of some of the most interesting and challenging negotiation examples, featuring many of the world’s most famous negotiators. … Read  

Conflict and Negotiation Case Study: Long-Term Business Partnerships and Negotiated Agreements

Posted September 26th, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

To protect the future interests of their organization, negotiators sometimes must accept fewer benefits or absorb greater burdens in the short run to maximize the value to all relevant parties – including future employees and shareholders – over time. Suppose that the operations VPs of two subsidiaries of an energy company are preparing to negotiate the … Read  

Conflict Management and Negotiating When Pride is at Stake

Posted September 23rd, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

The fallout from Iceland’s financial crisis offers a case study in dealing with those who have suffered a significant blow to their self-esteem. In late 2008, Iceland teetered on the edge of bankruptcy following the collapse of its three largest banks. Since becoming independent of the government in 2002, the banks had pursued a strategy … Read  

Top 10 International Business Negotiation Case Studies

Posted September 10th, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Here is a list offering a broad overview of negotiation case studies from the recent past along with analysis of each bargaining scenario: … Read  

10 Popular Business Negotiation Articles

Posted August 29th, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

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. 1. What is the Right of First Refusal? Rights … Read  

Crisis Negotiation Skills: The Hostage Negotiator’s Drill

Posted August 29th, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Here are some negotiating skills from the world of crisis negotiations: Hostage negotiators stress the importance of discussing the “drill”—goals, ground rules, and operating principles—with their team before beginning talks with a hostage taker. … Read  

What is the Multi-Door Courthouse Concept

Posted August 22nd, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

As a collaboration between UST School of Law and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the following is the transcript of a conversation between the creator of the multi-door courthouse, Harvard Law Professor Frank E.A. Sander, and the executive director and founder of the University of St. Thomas (UST) International ADR [Alternative Dispute … Read  

Top International Negotiation Case Studies in Business: The Microsoft-Nokia Deal

Posted August 6th, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

International negotiation brings on more challenges than most. On September 3, 2013, Microsoft announced a deal to acquire Finnish mobile phone company Nokia’s handset and services business for $7.2 billion, the New York Times reported. The agreement marked a belated but bold move by Microsoft to upgrade its presence in handheld devices and signals an … Read  

Best-In-Class Negotiation Case Studies

Posted August 5th, 2019 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

What’s one of the best ways to teach the art and science of negotiation? Case studies and articles that spark lively discussion or facilitate self-reflection. Based on real-world examples, these teaching resources are designed to help students envision how to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom and beyond. The Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) at … Read  

Role Play Simulations to Help You Become a Better Mediator

Posted July 25th, 2019 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

10 Notable Negotiations

Posted July 9th, 2019 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

In 2016, political dealmaking and corporate mergers took center stage. We look back on some of the most notable of these negotiations, which offer significant lessons to professional negotiators. … Read  

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

Posted May 23rd, 2019 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Negotiation Strategies for Dealing with Spoilers

Posted April 1st, 2019 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

Amazon’s announcement on February 14 that it was backing out of a recent deal to build a major new campus in New York City was as bitter as a Valentine’s Day breakup could be. But the budding relationship between Amazon and New York didn’t have to end in acrimony and broken dreams, Harvard Business School … Read  

10 Negotiation Failures

Posted March 26th, 2019 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Here’s a list of some of the most notable negotiation flops – from deals that were over before they started, to those that were botched at the table, to those that proved disastrous well after the ink had dried. … Read  

Conflict Resolution Scenarios: Negotiating Values

Posted February 18th, 2019 by Katie Shonk & filed under Conflict Resolution.

The most heated types of conflict in organizations and in our personal lives often concern our core values, such as our personal moral standards, our religious and political beliefs, and our family’s welfare. Such values conflicts can escalate and intervening quickly in cases of conflict is essential. The following three conflict resolution scenarios can help … Read  

Negotiation Techniques and Tactics: Power Plays

Posted February 4th, 2019 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Imagine you’re a chef who is having trouble finding cooks in an oversaturated restaurant market. You’re so desperate to get fully staffed that you find yourself making significant concessions on salary, scheduling, and other issues during interviews with potential hires. … Read  

Business Negotiation Solutions: Coping with Low Power

Posted January 14th, 2019 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

In business negotiations, a little power is better than none at all, right? After all, if talks with a prospective client fail, we’d rather have a few unpromising leads to turn to rather than none. … Read  

How to Find the Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) Between Friends

Posted August 13th, 2018 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Finding the zone of possible agreement in negotiations can be difficult, especially when dealing with friends and family. We all know people who have “alligator arms.” When the restaurant check comes, they can’t manage to reach their wallets, or they quibble that they had the small tomato juice, and you had the large. … Read  

A Bad BATNA for Modern Farmer Magazine

Posted July 9th, 2018 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

In business negotiations, our mistakes sometimes end up affecting not only the current deal, but our best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA, in deals that lie down the road. That’s a lesson that Ann Marie Gardner, the founder and editor of the hip new magazine Modern Farmer, has learned the hard way. … Read  

Bargaining at a Fever Pitch

Posted May 29th, 2018 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Have you ever won an auction only to realize later that you overbid for the prize? In competitive bidding situations, it’s easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment and overpay. The Boston Red Sox 2006 procurement of Japanese pitching phenomenon Daisuke “Dice-K” Matsuzaka offers a lesson in keeping cool in these … Read  

An Exclusivity Period: A Useful Tool for Eliminating the Competition

Posted April 30th, 2018 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Imagine you’re competing with multiple parties to secure a coveted resource, such as your dream house, a cool invention, or a talented new hire. How might you stand out from the pack and win the prize? While negotiating its $13.4 billion acquisition of upscale grocer Whole Foods in 2017, online retailer Amazon did so in … Read  

How Chaos at the Bargaining Table Can Help Negotiators Reach Agreement

Posted April 24th, 2018 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Here are some examples of negotiation situations in which chaos at the bargaining table works to the negotiator’s advantage. Whether conducting business negotiations involving commercial transactions or personal disputes with a friend, the following negotiating skills and techniques can be used. … Read  

Managing Faultlines in Group Negotiations

Posted April 23rd, 2018 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Group negotiations are a fact of managerial life, yet the outcomes of teamwork are highly unpredictable. Sometimes groups cohere, reaching novel solutions to nagging problems, and sometimes infighting causes them to collapse. How can you predict when conflict will emerge in groups, and what can you do to stop it? Dora Lau of the Chinese University … Read  

Crossed Wires? Negotiation Games To Help Your Business Deal Sidestep Legal, Technical And Emotional Glitches

Posted December 21st, 2017 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

What’s faster than the pace of technological development? The pace of lawsuits being filed about the adoption of new technologies, patent infringement, and intellectual property rights. In our modern world, professionals must be able to resolve highly challenging technology-related disputes – often before they reach the courtroom. That’s where the Program on Negotiation’s Teaching … Read  

Gender Discrimination: How to Reach a Negotiated Agreement

Posted December 14th, 2017 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

As you know, gender stereotypes often enter the negotiation process. Women and men are perceived to, and often do, act differently in negotiations. Furthermore, gender-based discrimination—such as less pay, unequal treatment, and sexual harassment—is often a source of conflict. With the resources available through the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC), professionals can learn how to … Read  

What is the Anchoring Bias?

Posted November 6th, 2017 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

It may be the most burning question in business negotiation: Should you make the first offer? Traditionally, negotiators were advised to wait for the other side to make a first offer. According to this reasoning, the other side’s offer gives you valuable information about his goals and alternatives. More recently, however, research on the anchoring bias has … Read  

How a Bad BATNA Keeps Medicare Drug Prices High

Posted October 26th, 2017 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

It’s Negotiation 101: to get what you want, you need to be able to make a credible threat to walk away from a subpar deal. And for your threat to be credible, you can’t walk in with a bad BATNA, you have to have a strong BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. In … Read  

How to Break Through Barriers in Negotiation When Dealing with Difficult People

Posted September 14th, 2017 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

In negotiation, we sometimes face the dreaded task of asking difficult people, intimidating opponents, and otherwise daunting counterparts for a big favor. How can we close the deal when we can barely summon up the courage to talk to the person in the first place? … Read  

Bullard Houses Role-Play Simulation Helps Researchers Explore Gender Inequality

Posted September 11th, 2017 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

In a recent Slate.com article, writer and PhD in Psychology Jane Hu described the findings of a research study by Professor Laura J. Kray, University of California, Berkeley. Kray, along with co-authors Jessica Kennedy, PhD, and Alex Van Zant, PhD, investigated the role gender played in negotiation and focused specifically on whether the stereotype of women … Read  

Teach Your Students Spoiler Management in Negotiations

Posted August 2nd, 2017 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

How to Avoid Preparing Unethical Negotiation Plans

Posted July 20th, 2017 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

To what degree should you level the playing field for your counterpart in negotiations? Let’s turn to the question of whether you have an ethical obligation to educate an uninformed buyer. … Read  

MESO Negotiation: Learn from a Seller’s Market

Posted June 26th, 2017 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

What negotiating skills can negotiators take away from hyper competitive bargaining situations? With home sales heating up (again) in some parts of the United States, homebuyers are facing competition they haven’t seen since before the real-estate bubble burst back in 2008, and it’s showing up in the form of packed open houses, multiple bids above … Read  

How Short-Term Focus Contributes to Future Disasters in Business Negotiations

Posted June 8th, 2017 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Negotiators tend to concentrate too closely on the here and now. By incorporating future concerns into your talks, you’ll make sounder decisions and guard against crises. In the midst of the current U.S.financial crisis, accusations of greed on Wall Street have sounded across the globe. Greed may be a significant factor in the collapse of credit … Read  

Video: Setting the Stage for Productive Negotiations

Posted May 15th, 2017 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Understanding how to arrange the meeting space is a key aspect of preparing for productive negotiations. In this video, Guhan Subramanian, professor at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, discusses a real world example of how seating arrangements can influence a negotiator’s success. The discussion was held in his negotiation training workshop “Setting the … Read  

Exercising Your BATNA: When American Apparel Ousted Dov Charney

Posted April 13th, 2017 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

On June 18, 2015 the board of retailer American Apparel informed the company’s controversial founder, Dov Charney, that it was ousting him from his roles as chairman and CEO. For years, Charney had fended off sexual-harrassment lawsuits and rumors of inappropriate behavior. But only when the company’s creditors grew anxious about its long-term liability did … Read  

Mediation Used in Dispute Resolution Over Art Museums

Posted March 9th, 2017 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

BATNA: Negotiation Preparation to Help Avoid Giving Up at the Bargaining Table

Posted March 7th, 2017 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

When you expect an opponent to be competitive, your confidence in the outcomes you can achieve in negotiation is likely to plummet. In negotiation research with Adam Galinsky of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, negotiators were provided with some background about their counterpart including information on how competitive their counterpart has been in previous negotiations. … Read  

Top International Multiparty Negotiations: Dissent in the European Union

Posted February 21st, 2017 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

A European Union summit held in late October 2013 failed to make headway toward more coordination of economic policies. Facing resistance from Germany in particular, European officials grew pessimistic regarding their odds of negotiating a deal over the next year to lay the foundation for a banking union for the 17 nations that use the … Read  

Using Your BATNA: Bruce Patton and William Ury Discuss the ‘Fiscal Cliff’

Posted February 14th, 2017 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

A standoff between Democrat President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans in 2012 focused attention on the negotiation styles employed by the two parties as they sought to secure their interests while also working toward the resolution of a budgetary battle. … Read  

A Chance at a Win-Win Negotiation in Hollywood?

Posted February 7th, 2017 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Question: What’s the best way to minimize the risk of long-term financial commitments and wrap up a win-win negotiation? … Read  

The Leadership Skills of Late Night

Posted January 23rd, 2017 by Alex Green & filed under Uncategorized.

Selecting the right person for a challenging job is often more than just a hiring decision. It’s a negotiation. Doing it well requires exceptional leadership skills. Nowhere is this clearer than in late night television. Last year, Jay Leno left The Tonight Show. … Read  

Negotiation and Leadership Skills: Jerry Brown Re-Frames a Deal at High Speed

Posted January 19th, 2017 by Alex Green & filed under Uncategorized.

Starting construction on an 800-mile rail network in the world’s 8th largest economy without the funds in place to finish the job may seem crazy, but in California Governor Jerry Brown’s case it was a calculated gamble by a seasoned leader intent on winning a long-term negotiation. … Read  

Diplomatic Negotiations to Build a Winning Coalition to Negotiate with Iran

Posted December 27th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany were able to arrive at a negotiated agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran to curtail its nuclear weapons development program. Read this article to find out what diplomatic negotiation strategies were employed by the representatives from the bargaining countries and how they impacted … Read  

In Platform Negotiations with Clinton, Sanders Was Victorious

Posted December 20th, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

With the 2016 Democratic National Convention now over, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders used the Hillary Clinton campaign’s fear of a divisive spectacle in Philadelphia to extract concessions on the party’s official platform and committee assignments. The senator’s tough dealmaking suggests an important negotiation lesson: Always know your BATNA and ZOPA in any negotiation. … Read  

Examples of Negotiation in Business: When “Shrink to Grow” Pays Off

Posted December 19th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Learn how BP and Russian negotiators came together and created value in a tough business negotiation even though expansion of the negotiated relationship was not on the bargaining table. … Read  

Protecting Yourself from Competitive Expectations

Posted November 22nd, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Like other cognitive biases, competitive expectations can be insidious. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to forestall their negative consequences. … Read  

Creating and Claiming Value Through Haggling – Assess The Other Party’s BATNA in Dealmaking Negotiations

Posted November 15th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

Now it’s time to assess the best deal you might get. Figuring out the other party’s reservation price is the key to knowing how far you will be able to push him, write Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman in their book Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining … Read  

Worst Negotiation Tactics of 2015

Posted November 10th, 2016 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

Here are some of the worst negotiation tactics displayed during calendar year 2015 – from hard-bargaining, distributive negotiation strategies aimed at getting the whole pie to stonewalling strategies intended to stymy the development of a negotiated agreement. … Read  

Worst Negotiation Tactics of 2015

Posted November 10th, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Here are some of the worst negotiation tactics displayed during calendar year 2015 – from hard-bargaining, distributive negotiation strategies aimed at getting the whole pie to stonewalling strategies intended to stymy the development of a negotiated agreement. … Read  

How to Write a Contract: Three Deal-Drafting Pitfalls

Posted November 8th, 2016 by Guhan Subramanian & filed under Uncategorized.

The transfer of an agreement from negotiators to lawyers or other professional deal drafters can introduce three main types of mistakes. Read on to discover how you can avoid making these same mistakes at the bargaining table during your next dealmaking negotiation session. … Read  

10 Top Business Negotiations

Posted November 3rd, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Looking back on the past, 2013 witnessed a series of colorful mergers, acquisitions, and other deals. Here are the 10 top negotiations and negotiation trends of that year from which business dealmakers can learn. … Read  

Managing Cultural Differences: Negotiation Strategy and Diplomacy

Posted October 31st, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Diplomats deal with difficult people when engaging in international negotiations in ways integrative negotiators may find useful for developing their negotiation skills. … Read  

Contract Negotiations: Before You Sign on the Dotted Line

Posted October 25th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Dealmaking: Avoiding Pitfalls in Deal Drafting

Posted October 20th, 2016 by Guhan Subramanian & filed under Uncategorized.

Whatever the root causes of faulty drafting, negotiators need to better understand and manage certain aspects of the deal drafting process. Here are three ways to ensure that breakdowns don’t occur on the way from handshake to contract. … Read  

How to Avoid Faulty Negotiated Agreements

Posted October 6th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Some of the trickier aspects of designing the right contract with your agent include properly aligning her incentives and monitoring her work. Supervising your agent can be especially hard when she knows more than you do about the area of work. For example, hiring an agent who is a lawyer and paying her on an … Read  

How to Avoid the Domino Effect in International Negotiations

Posted October 3rd, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

“Give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile.” Unfortunately, that’s the attitude with which many people approach negotiation. Convinced that their counterparts will take advantage of any concessions and compromise they make, they refuse to make any at all. … Read  

Exploring New Opportunities to Negotiate in Conflict Resolution

Posted August 8th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Many U.S. law schools are in crisis, to hear some tell it. To combat economic downturns, many law firms instituted policies of mass layoffs and pay cuts. Years after the 2008 financial recession, few have recovered. … Read  

Conflict Resolution Games: Life, Death, and Career Consequences

Posted July 29th, 2016 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

High-Stakes Conflict Resolution Games In Drug Testing in the Workplace—a popular role-play from the TNRC—a truck driver tests positive for marijuana in a random drug test. To play this conflict resolution game, participants assume the roles of truck driver, personnel director, and a representative from the Employee Assistance Program Center, and then explore the question: What is the … Read  

Beware Self-Fulfilling Prophecies in Negotiation

Posted July 25th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction of expectations that a person has that comes true because he or she expects it will. … Read  

How to Avoid Intercultural Barriers: A Better Negotiation Map

Posted May 24th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

How often have you heard that, when entering a negotiation, you should get your allies onboard first? Conventional wisdom, but not always the best advice. When the United States sought to build a global anti-Iraq coalition following Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, for instance, Israel appeared to be its strongest regional ally. … Read  

Case Study: Teaching with a Powerful Negotiated Agreement

Posted May 16th, 2016 by Lara SanPietro & filed under Uncategorized.

What do a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the CEO of an international financial advisory firm, and the former United States ambassador to the United Nations have in common? They’ve all received the Great Negotiator Award. Every year, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School bestows this prestigious honor on distinguished leaders whose lifelong accomplishments in … Read  

In Renegotiation with Britain, EU Faced Weak BATNA

Posted March 17th, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

How David Cameron’s Tory government’s plans to leave the euro-zone have EU ministers scrambling in negotiations with a weak alternative to a negotiated agreement. … Read  

With Patient Approach, FBI Steered Oregon Occupiers Toward Their BATNA

Posted March 10th, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

The 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon ended on February 11 when the last occupiers surrendered. Federal authorities in six states also arrested seven others accused of being involved in the occupation, according to the Associated Press. The standoff had begun when Ammon Bundy and his followers took over the … Read  

In Business Negotiations for Super Bowl I Tape, NFL Stops the Clock

Posted February 8th, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under Business Negotiations.

The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35 to 10 in Super Bowl I. But that’s not the end of the story. In business negotiations, and particularly sales negotiation, enthusiasm is required when trying to convince our counterparts that we have what they need. But that enthusiasm isn’t always infectious. The tale of … Read  

In Negotiations with Ben Affleck, No Appealing BATNA

Posted February 2nd, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

In negotiation, your best source of power is typically your best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA. Having a strong outside alternative enables you to walk away from a deal that doesn’t meet your needs or that would compromise your vision or ethics. But when you are dealing with a negotiating partner who seems irreplaceable, … Read  

Top 10 Celebrity Negotiations of 2015

Posted January 21st, 2016 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Here are the top 10 celebrity negotiations from the year 2015. From integrative bargaining strategies to building bridges with counterparts in contentious talks, these negotiation scenarios demonstrate the effectiveness of collaborative, win-win negotiation tactics. … Read  

Don’t Let the Outside Voices Ruin the Dialogue Inside: Limiting the Impact of Outsiders on Your Negotiation

Posted January 9th, 2016 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

How US Secretary of State John Kerry overcame the objections of influential outsiders and headed off their attempts to influence proceedings at the negotiation table. … Read  

Win-Win Negotiation with Bethenny Frankel

Posted November 19th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

In this negotiation scenario straight from reality television, Lu Ann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, and Sonja Morgan test their negotiating prowess against reality tv network Bravo in their contract renewal renegotiations. Skinnygirl mogul and financial whiz kid, Bethenny Frankel, offers a template for bargaining for success on reality tv and beyond. … Read  

Negotiation Skills in Business Communication: Status Anxiety

Posted July 29th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Negotiation Skills in Business Communication: Campeau Corporation and Federated Department Stores Sometimes in negotiation we are forced to deal not only with the issues on the table but also with concerns about status. One famous instance took place in the late 1980s, when Robert Campeau, head of the Campeau Corporation and then one of Fortune magazine’s “50 … Read  

Stop outsiders from sabotaging your deal

Posted May 5th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

A deal had been a long time coming. Back in November 2013, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for lighter economic sanctions from Western nations. To hammer out the details, Iran entered into talks with six nations: China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Eventually, the talks … Read  

What Does Conflict Management Mean in Business Negotiations with Competitors?

Posted March 30th, 2015 by Katie Shonk & filed under Conflict Resolution.

They say it pays to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but in business negotiation, keeping your enemies—or competitors—close could end you up in court, as Apple’s recent encounter with the U.S. Department of Justice suggests. The story begins back in 2007 when, unhappy with Amazon’s low, flat price of $9.99 for e-books, five … Read  

International Negotiation: Your Own Worst Enemy?

Posted February 27th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Knowing how to manage your own internal conflicts before engaging in negotiations is an invaluable negotiation skill negotiators should develop prior to engaging in international negotiations, business or otherwise. … Read  

Deal Negotiation and Dealmaking: What to Do On Your Own

Posted February 9th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Six negotiation skills tips for negotiators seeking to creative value during their next round at the bargaining table. Business negotiators are often faced with the complex task of coordinating multiple parties – here are some tips for the individual business negotiator on how to achieve success in her next deal negotiation. … Read  

Tough Negotiation Tips from Jennifer Aniston?

Posted February 3rd, 2015 by Alex Green & filed under Uncategorized.

Fans of the television show Friends got a treat last month when Netflix made all 236 episodes of the blockbuster hit available to stream online. At first glance actors Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston and the rest of the star-studded cast might not be your first pick to peg as formidable negotiators, but at the height … Read  

Preparing for Multiparty Negotiation

Posted January 16th, 2015 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

When you’re getting ready to meet with more than one party, the usual steps of two-party negotiation apply. … Read  

The battle for the LA Clippers

Posted October 15th, 2014 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

On April 29, the National Basketball Association (NBA) banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the league for life and fined him $2.5 million in reaction to racist remarks he made during a phone call, which were made public. The NBA’s announcement, as reported by Scott Cacciola in the New York Times, set off … Read  

Lawyers in Mediation and the Mediation Process

Posted September 12th, 2014 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

To Close an International Negotiation, Obama Tries a Domestic “Work-Around”

Posted September 9th, 2014 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

As he entered his second term in office, President Obama set a goal of taking concrete steps to address global climate change. A global agreement on the issue is in sight, but a key obstacle stands in the way: the U.S. Senate. According to the Constitution, a president needs approval from a two-thirds majority of … Read  

For Bank of America, Dealmaking to Turn the Page

Posted September 3rd, 2014 by Katie Shonk & filed under Uncategorized.

Negotiation often marks a new beginning: of a partnership, a project, or employment relationship. At other times, the goal of dealmaking is as much about reaching an ending as it is about moving forward. That’s the attitude with which Bank of America wrapped up its settlement negotiations with the Department of Justice (DOJ) last month. For … Read  

Conflict Management: When Do “Sacred” Issues Keep Negotiators Apart?

Posted August 25th, 2014 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

At some point or another, most negotiators claim that a certain issue is a deal breaker.If you’re trying to sell your business, for instance, you might walk away from talks with a potential buyer who you believe would lay off many of your longtime employees. Or if someone asks you to go in on a … Read  

At the Met, Conflict Management in a Minor Key

Posted June 17th, 2014 by Katie Shonk & filed under Conflict Resolution.

This spring, the Metropolitan Opera opened labor talks with the 16 unions representing its workers, whose contracts all expire at the end of July, the New York Times reports. Labor and management agree on one fundamental point—that the opera is struggling financially amid falling ticket sales, a depleted endowment, and growing expenses. Perhaps not surprisingly, … Read  

Top Ten Business Deals of 2013: US Housing Market Recovery

Posted January 14th, 2014 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

With home sales heating up in some U.S. regions in 2013, homebuyers faced competition they haven’t seen since before the real-estate bubble burst, and it showed up in the form of packed open houses, multiple bids above the asking price, and all-cash offers. … Read  

Will you behave ethically?

Posted November 15th, 2013 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

A lack of transparency regarding negotiations between hospitals and the insurers known as preferred provider organizations, or PPOs, is a key contributor to spiraling health-care costs in the United States, according to an August article in the New York Times. The problem starts with the somewhat arbitrary, sky-high prices that hospitals put on their supplies and … Read  

Searching for a Debt Ceiling: Boehner’s Uncertain BATNA

Posted September 24th, 2013 by Katie Shonk & filed under BATNA.

As the U.S. government approaches a potentially catastrophic default on its debt in October, President Obama remains determined to avoid negotiations with Republican leaders on the issue, the New York Times reports, a situation that leaves House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner with an uncertain BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. … Read  

Choosing When to Choose

Posted July 15th, 2013 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

When it comes to negotiation, the more choices on the table, the better your outcomes will be – right? Not necessarily. An excess of options can stand in the way off efficient agreements and, moreover, prevent you from being satisfied with the final result. … Read  

Wheelers and Dealers?

Posted May 3rd, 2013 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Car salespeople truly understand how to use modest concessions to extract much larger ones. First, they spend a long time legitimating the sticker price and suggesting that it’s not only fair, but nonnegotiable. … Read  

Managing Status in Negotiation

Posted March 29th, 2013 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Concerns about status will arise in any negotiation. How can you deal with them, both in yourself and in others? The following six guidelines can help in virtually any context … Read  

Learning from the deficit-reduction talks

Posted March 15th, 2013 by PON Staff & filed under BATNA.

Does anyone down there know how to cut a deal?” Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said to Vice President Joe Biden. It was Sunday, December 30, 2012, the day before the “fiscal cliff ” deadline, and the minority leader had phoned Biden out of a sense of desperation, report Patrick O’Connor and Peter Nicholas in the … Read  

The Mediator as Negotiation Advisor: Team versus Individual Interests

Posted February 11th, 2013 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

If you’ve ever been part of an organization team preparing to negotiate an agreement with another organization, you probably have faced this frustrating task: Aligning your individual interests , other team members’ interests, and those of your company as a whole. … Read  

Negotiating Two Steps Ahead of the ‘Fiscal Cliff’

Posted December 5th, 2012 by PON Staff & filed under Conflict Resolution.

Program on Negotiation and Harvard Business School professor Deepak Malhotra recently sat down with CNBC to discuss the fiscal cliff and how Democrats and Republicans can not only complete their current negotiation successfully, but also their future negotiations. … Read  

Bring Your Deal Back from the Brink: Probe the Other Side’s Point of View

Posted October 9th, 2012 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

How can you figure out the motives behind someone’s seemingly stubborn position? Begin by questioning her about the problem she is trying to solve. Deal blockers may be held back by financial, legal, personal, or other constraints you don’t know about, according to Harvard Business School professor Deepak Malhotra. A tough stance could also communicate … Read  

Crisis Negotiations – Rolling the Dice in Court

Posted July 2nd, 2012 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Going to trial, it’s said, is like rolling the dice. That proved true when an exasperated federal judge, the Honorable Gregory A. Presnell, ordered litigants to play a game of Rock Paper Scissors if they could not privately resolve their differences over a procedural issue. The lawyers were stalemated on where to depose a witness … Read  

Negotiating the Distance Between You

Posted October 18th, 2011 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “How to Negotiate When You’re (Literally) Far Apart,” by Roderick I. Swaab (professor, INSEAD) and Adam D. Galinsky (professor, Northwestern University), first published in the Negotiation newsletter, February 2007. Growing economic globalization offers a multitude of new opportunities yet often necessitates alternatives to face-to-face meetings, such as phone calls, e-mails, videoconferences, or instant messages. … Read  

Winning at “Win-Win”

Posted October 14th, 2011 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Lawrence Susskind (Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) “Win-win” has become a popular term in the field of negotiation, but many people have mis-perceptions about what it actually means. In this blog post, Professor Lawrence Susskind, a member of PON’s Executive Committee, clarifies that a “win-win” negotiated outcome is … Read  

Conflict management from the start

Posted September 27th, 2011 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Adapted from “Before You Sign on the Dotted Line…”first published in the Negotiation newsletter, May 2009. After reaching an agreement, professionals often rely on their lawyers to draw up the official contract. Unfortunately, miscommunication between negotiators and their lawyers often leads to costly mistakes. Contract terms may not accurately represent the negotiated agreement, key deal terms … Read  

Get Ready for Team Talks

Posted June 6th, 2011 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “Strength in Numbers: Negotiating as a Team,” by Elizabeth A. Mannix (professor, Cornell University), first published in the Negotiation newsletter, May 2005. The widespread belief in “strength in numbers” suggests that having more players on your team should be a benefit, not a burden. But this belief can lead team members to underprepare … Read  

Find Strength in Numbers

Posted September 13th, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “Make Your Weak Position Strong,” by Deepak Malhotra (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter. A common complaint among managers and executives who attend negotiation courses and seminars is that they don’t learn enough about negotiating from a position of weakness. What can you do when you have a weak BATNA, … Read  

Keeping Your Options Alive

Posted July 26th, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “Better or Best: Keeping Your Options Open,” by Michael Wheeler (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter. Jim, a well-regarded residential developer operating outside Philadelphia, has been scouting around for a site for his next project. Two properties seem promising. The Abbott estate consists of 75 acres of woodlands and some … Read  

When Does Personality Matter?

Posted July 26th, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “When Tough Talk Is Beside the Point,” by Hal Movius (instructor, The Program on Technology Negotiation, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter. Most of us intuitively believe that personality traits such as toughness matter a great deal in negotiation. Yet studies by Bruce Barry and Raymond Friedman of … Read  

Questioning threats

Posted June 21st, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “How to Defuse Threats at the Bargaining Table,” by Katie A. Liljenquist (professor, Brigham Young University) and Adam D. Galinsky (professor, Northwestern University), first published in the Negotiation newsletter. Sooner or later, every negotiator faces threats at the bargaining table. How should you respond when the other side threatens to walk away, file a … Read  

When “fairness” is a distraction

Posted May 14th, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “Accept or Reject?” by Deepak Malhotra (professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Negotiators usually have strong feelings about fairness. Unfortunately, our fairness perceptions tend to be biased in a self-serving manner. Research has shown that, at the end of a negotiation, most people feel they were more cooperative … Read  

Gain greater leverage with sole suppliers

Posted May 3rd, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Adapted from “Negotiating with Sole Suppliers,” by David Lax (managing principal, Lax Sebenius LLC), first published in the Negotiation newsletter. Negotiators often wonder how to do business with sole suppliers who know they don’t have any real outside alternative and who take advantage of this. Without the power of a realistic best alternative to a negotiated … Read  

Powerful Thoughts

Posted April 27th, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

For many people, thinking about the role of power in negotiation can be paralyzing. In fact, the same people who are anxious about negotiating in general tend to be anxious about exerting their power during negotiation. Why? Perhaps because most of us realize that power, even when not explicitly discussed, is often the precipitating and … Read  

Too much commitment?

Posted April 20th, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “Are You Overly Committed to the Deal?” First published in the Negotiation newsletter. A telecommuter hires a carpenter to build a workstation for her home office. The carpenter’s contract requires payment of 50% upon signing, an additional 30% halfway through the job, and the final 20% upon completion. When the job is done, … Read  

“Are We Exclusive?”

Posted March 30th, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

Ron McAfee, a carpenter and roofing expert, spent considerable time working with a condominium association on the design of a new roof deck. After gaining agreement on the proposed layout, design, and materials, McAfee submitted a written bid of $12,500. One of the board members subsequently showed McAfee’s plans to another roofer, who offered to … Read  

How to Lighten Your Burdens

Posted March 23rd, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Business Negotiations.

For decades, General Electric (GE) and the Environmental Protection Agency sparred over who would pay for the removal of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, that GE had discharged into New York’s Hudson River, a cleanup project expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. In October 2005, the two sides came to an agreement. … Read  

Are you afraid of commitment?

Posted January 12th, 2010 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Adapted from “Overcoming Stage Fright: How to Prepare for a Negotiation,” by Michael Wheeler (Professor, Harvard Business School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Many negotiators grow anxious as they approach the bargaining table, a reaction that puts them in good company with other distinguished professionals. Laurence Olivier’s stage fright almost ended his acting … Read  

Winners of Harvard Law School’s 56th Annual Williston Competition

Posted May 4th, 2009 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

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  

Negotiating When Business and Family Collide

Posted June 30th, 2008 by PON Staff & filed under Uncategorized.

Basic negotiation skills may seem easy to apply in business situations but what about when business and family collide? For example, a 69-year-old CEO of a large financial firm that has been in his family for three generations is considering retirement. He has three children who may be interested in taking over the business in addition … Read