Tag Archives: Negotiation

President Trump’s Negotiation Skills (or Lack Thereof) – Part 3

The first two parts of this series describe President Trump’s recent problems in negotiation, here and here.  In the continuing media analysis of his negotiation skills (or lack thereof), USA Today’s Jill Lawrence writes that he is a “nightmare negotiating partner.” Ms. Lawrence, the author of The Art of the Political Deal, says, “The only … Continue reading President Trump’s Negotiation Skills (or Lack Thereof) – Part 3

An Alternative Approach to International Negotiation

I recently posted one item focusing on President Trump’s approach to negotiation generally, using Mexico as an example of a negotiation partner, and another one analyzing his approach to dealing with North Korea. MFOI Elayne Greenberg pointed me to an article on the BBC website discussing the approach of another world leader, Pope Francis.  He … Continue reading An Alternative Approach to International Negotiation

President Trump’s Negotiation Skills (or Lack Thereof) – Part 2

This adds to my recent post where I cited news accounts of how Mr. Trump’s negotiation gambits about building a border wall and withdrawing from NAFTA are backfiring with Mexico.  Mexican officials interpreted his threats as bluffs and hardened their positions – the opposite of Mr. Trump’s goals in the negotiations. The problem of taking … Continue reading President Trump’s Negotiation Skills (or Lack Thereof) – Part 2

President Trump’s Negotiation Skills (or Lack Thereof) – Part 1

You may recall my recent post, Learning from Trump’s Negotiation Failure, which provided a post-mortem of the failure to enact the health care legislation he supported.  In our session on negotiation theory at the ABA SDR conference, TFOI Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff noted that she used this negotiation as a case study in her class. SFOI Rishi Batra … Continue reading President Trump’s Negotiation Skills (or Lack Thereof) – Part 1

Learning from Trump’s Negotiation Failure

You may recall that, a year ago, I suggested that if Donald J. Trump was elected president, “we will undoubtedly replace Getting to Yes with Art of the Deal” in our negotiation courses. After his spectacular failure to get to enough “yeses” to enact the Republican health care bill, I’m starting to have second thoughts. … Continue reading Learning from Trump’s Negotiation Failure

Touching Story of Relationship of Constructive Engagement in Conflict

I think that one of our main missions in the DR field is to promote constructive engagement in conflict.  We know that conflict is inevitable and it can be constructive and/or destructive.  Often, when people are in conflict, it is very destructive and everyone just wants to end the conflict as quickly as possible while … Continue reading Touching Story of Relationship of Constructive Engagement in Conflict

Drop Everything and Read Noam’s Masterpiece Right Now

I generally prefer not to tell people what to do.  So perhaps I should reframe the title of this post to “If You Don’t Read Noam’s Masterpiece Right This Minute, You Will Hate Yourself Forever.” I refer to Noam Ebner’s article, Negotiation is Changing, which is part of the Tower of Babel symposium.  He has … Continue reading Drop Everything and Read Noam’s Masterpiece Right Now

Moving Negotiation Theory from the Tower of Babel Toward a World of Mutual Understanding

Missouri’s 2016 Tower of Babel  symposium resulted in a set of excellent articles.  My introductory essay synthesizes insights from the symposium. The following is the conclusion from that essay, without footnotes. Our current negotiation theory needs improvement.  As we develop better negotiation theory, we should start by appreciating the valuable work that has been done by our … Continue reading Moving Negotiation Theory from the Tower of Babel Toward a World of Mutual Understanding

Drafts of Tower of Babel Symposium Articles

I am pleased to share with you drafts of the articles from Missouri’s symposium last fall, Moving Negotiation Theory from the Tower of Babel Toward a World of Mutual Understanding. Clicking on the titles below will take you to the abstracts with more information about each piece as well as a link to the articles … Continue reading Drafts of Tower of Babel Symposium Articles

What is Negotiation, Anyway?

I know, I know.  This sounds like another one of my dumb questions. Actually, it is surprisingly difficult.  Consider the following activities. Kids trading baseball cards, parents promising children ice cream if they finish eating their veggies, large groups of friends ordering dinner at a Chinese restaurant, families planning a vacation, tourists haggling at a … Continue reading What is Negotiation, Anyway?