Featured Article

How serious is your agent’s conflict of interest?

A dispute between TV writers and their agents highlights how competing motives can keep agents from bargaining hard on their clients’ behalf.
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To get unstuck, enlist a mediator

Most businesspeople understand the value of using mediation to resolve conflicts, but did you know that professional mediators can help you reach agreement during the dealmaking phase? Stephen Goldberg, professor emeritus at Northwestern School of Law, describes how mediators can aid parties in creating value at the negotiating table.
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When your words push their buttons

In negotiation and conflict resolution, taboo words and terms can take talks off the rails. A deeper discussion may be needed to get negotiations back on track.
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Trying to negotiate consensus on the court

Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts faced the challenge of a lifetime in negotiations over the court’s Obamacare decision, according to a new biography. His struggle to balance conflicting goals can illuminate best practices for team talks.
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Is your BATNA really a sure thing?

In negotiation, a smart way to determine whether to accept or reject a deal is to compare it to your best alternative to a negotiated agreement. But when our no-deal alternative is uncertain, our decisions are often flawed, new research shows.
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To resolve conflict, address dignity concerns

Dignity violations can often be found at the core of interpersonal conflicts, according to Dr. Donna Hicks, an associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
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Negotiating in extra innings

Lengthy free-agent negotiations in Major League Baseball have players crying foul.
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Managing negotiators? Avoid 3 common mistakes

When supervising negotiators, leaders often fail to provide an optimal level of support and feedback. Here’s how to ensure you’ll be a help rather than a hindrance.
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Space for interpretation

Negotiators tend to view language interpreters as neutral, but reality is more complicated, according to Sanda Kaufman, a professor of Planning, Public Policy, and Administration at Cleveland State University who studies negotiation and intervention in urban, environmental, and organizational contexts.
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Amazon’s secret deal backfires

When Amazon revealed in late November that it would be dividing HQ2 between the most obvious contenders—New York City and the Washington, D.C., area—many cried foul. Had the competition been nothing more than a publicity stunt aimed at driving up tax incentives and securing valuable information about communities for use in future projects?
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