Negotiate WELL Case Collection

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The Negotiate WELL collection provides multimedia, evidence-based materials for teaching and learning about gender in negotiation and career-related negotiations. The collection is inclusive of life experiences from early career to executive leadership, the boundaries of work and family, and historically marginalized perspectives.

To facilitate in-class or asynchronous instruction, you will find links to cases, a workbook, videos, slides, background readings, and teaching notes.

Teaching Plan: When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations *Updated November 2023* (Price: FREE) 
Length: 19 pages
Teaching Slides: When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations (Price: FREE)
Length: 27 slides

Related Readings: "When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations," by Hannah Riley Bowles, Bobbi Thomason and Immaculada Marcias-Alonso, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, January 2022. Links to external site.
Webinars: "When Gender Matters: The Case of Advocacy for Self vs. Others," with Hannah Riley Bowles, Negotiation and Team Resources Institute and iDecisionGames panel presentation, June 2, 2023. Download Slide Presentation
"When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations," with Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard VPAL event, June 2, 2022.
"When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations," with Hannah Riley Bowles, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, 2022.


Learning Objective: The overarching learning objective is to help students recognize the situational circumstances that moderate gender effects in negotiation. Core lessons include: (a) A person’s gender is not a reliable predictor of their negotiation behavior or outcomes, (b) Gender effects in negotiation are most reliably predicted by situational factors, and (c) Two general categories of situational factors that tend to predict gender effects in negotiation are (i) the salience and relevance of gender in context (e.g., social-cultural context, intersecting identities) and (ii) ambiguity on what is negotiable, how to negotiate, and who are the parties. The lesson concludes with prescriptive suggestions for individuals and organizations to mitigate unwanted effects of gender in negotiation. See Related Reading on When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations

Abstract: A person’s gender is not a reliable predictor of their negotiation behavior or outcomes because the degree and character of gender dynamics in negotiation vary across situations. Systematic effects of gender on negotiation are best predicted by situational characteristics that cue gendered behavior or increase reliance on gendered standards for agreement. In this review, we illuminate two levers that heighten or constrain the potential for gender effects in organizational negotiations: (1) the salience and relevance of gender within the negotiating context and (2) the degree of ambiguity (i.e., lack of objective standards or information) with regard to what is negotiable, how to negotiate, or who the parties are as negotiators. In our summary, we review practical implications of this research for organizational leaders and individuals who are motivated to reduce gender-based inequities in negotiation outcomes. In conclusion, we suggest future directions for research on gender in organizational negotiations.

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Short-form Workbook: Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL (Price: FREE)
Length: 4 pages
Learning Objective: This workbook was designed to help individuals prepare strategically for their career negotiations. Core learning objectives follow the Be SURE framework. Start with your goals (role, workload, pay). Understand what you are negotiating (asking, bending, shaping). Reduce ambiguity about what and how to negotiate and who are the parties. Enhance your negotiations through relationships and your relationships through negotiation (e.g., leverage your social networks to create mutually beneficial solutions).

Long-form Workbook and Teaching Plan: Negotiate WELL (Work, Education, Life, & Leadership): A Strategic Preparation Workbook (Price: $2.50)
Length: 10 pages
Learning Objective: This workbook was designed to help individuals prepare strategically for their career negotiations. Core learning objectives include: (a) Broadening users’ perspective of the range of possible career-related negotiations (e.g., role, workload, pay); (b) Helping users recognize and prepare appropriately for three main types of career negotiations (i.e., asking, bending, shaping); (c) coaching users to employ negotiation skills to advance career goals, prepare systematically for negotiation opportunities, and search for mutually beneficial solutions with negotiation counterparts.

Teaching Slides: Prepare Strategically for Career Negotiations
Related Readings: 
"Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary," Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2021, (14 pages). Links to external site.

Videos: The following videos facilitate asynchronous learning by explaining the overall purpose and each section of the Workbooks. Links to the videos are also accessible at the beginning of each section of the Workbook.

Introduction (2 minutes 48 seconds)
Learning Objective: Introduces users to the Strategic
Preparation Workbook.

Asking, Bending, Shaping (3 minutes 48 seconds)
Learning Objective: It is valuable to understand whether you are seeking something standard (asking), requesting a special exception (bending), or proposing a change to the way you and others work together (shaping). Whether you are asking, bending, or shaping informs the arguments that will make you persuasive and with whom you need to negotiate to be successful.

Reducing Ambiguity (2 minutes 1 second)
Learning Objective: Figuring out what is negotiable and how to negotiate effectively is core to your negotiation preparation. It is also helpful to clearly understand who your counterparts are as negotiators and to clarify what you want others to understand about you.

Relationships and Negotiation (4 minutes 25 seconds)
Learning Objective: The mantra “enhance your negotiation through relationships and your relationships through negotiation” will help you achieve your current objectives and increase the potential for future cooperation with counterparts.

Intersectionality and Negotiations (4 minutes 45 seconds)
Learning Objective: The Strategic Preparation Workbook was intentionally designed to benefit diverse negotiators, particularly those from historically marginalized or less powerful groups.

 

Case and Teaching PlanEvelyn Diop (Price $1.25)
Length: 5 pages
Learning Objective: This teaching case provides instructors an opportunity to explore the role of negotiation in career advancement, including seizing and shaping new leadership opportunities. The case is motivated by research on women’s career negotiations that expands the conversation beyond asking for higher pay to include integrative problem solving in relation to one’s work roles and strategic goals. This case is designed to facilitate a live class discussion—either online (synchronous) or in person—about how to prepare strategically and conduct career-related negotiations. Students analyze a potential negotiation opportunity and learn how to make a proposal that works for both parties. When combined with the Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL and the Negotiate WELL (Work, Education, Life, & Leadership): A Strategic Preparation Workbook, students can immediately apply the negotiating framework concepts to their own negotiations. The case is designed to support negotiations for midcareers and executive-level professionals. Correspondingly, there is an optional background reading, which is "Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary.
Synopsis: Evelyn is a seasoned nonprofit fundraising professional with roots in the corporate world, who thrives when faced with a strategic challenge. While she had been successfully leading change as a chief development officer (CDO) at a major Global NGO, Evelyn is approached by a search firm for a similar position at another global organization. Evelyn is intrigued by the opportunity and embarks in the recruitment process. As she contemplates and navigates the job negotiation process, Evelyn considers her strategic goals, identifies red flags, and thinks about how to best present herself and her vision. From Part A to E, the case highlights decisions points in Evelyn’s negotiation process, providing the opportunity to discuss the importance of strategic preparation for shaping leadership opportunities.
Related Readings: "Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary," Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2021, (14 pages). Links to external site.

Case and Teaching Plan: Nadine Vogel: Negotiating Work and Life (Price $3.95)
Length: 43 pages plus video supplement
Learning Objective: This teaching case provides instructors an opportunity to explore the role of negotiation in career advancement, including work-life and professional challenges. The case is motivated by research on women’s career negotiations that expands the conversation beyond asking for higher pay to include integrative problem solving in relation to one’s work roles and work-life conflicts (Bowles, Thomason, & Bear, 2019).
Synopsis: This case tells the career story of a leader who rose from a humbling career start to head a new corporate division she envisioned to serve the financial needs of families with children with disabilities. The case recounts how Vogel negotiated pivotal points in her career path, including overcoming gender biases to her career advancement, generating integrative solutions to work-life challenges, and crafting opportunities for meaningful work.
Teaching SlidesPrepare Strategically for Career Negotiations 
Related Reading: "Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary," Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2021, (14 pages). Links to external site.
Additional Case Material: "Nadine Vogel: Transforming the Marketplace, Workplace, and Workforce for People with Disabilities," Lakshmi Ramarajan, Hannah Riley-Bowles, and Michael Norris, Harvard Business School Case 420-062, March 2020. (Revised January 2023.) Links to external site.
Video: This case is accompanied by video supplements which are available to instructors with educator access.

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Case and Teaching Plan: Angel Torres and Sequel: Angel Torres Sequel (FREE) 
Length: Main case: 2 pages; Sequel: 1 page
Learning Objective: This case is designed to facilitate a live, in-class discussion—either online (synchronous) or in person—about how to recognize opportunities to negotiate and prepare strategically for negotiations in ways that further the interests of all parties. Students will analyze potential negotiations and practice generating proposals that work for all parties involved. The Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL and the Negotiate WELL (Work, Education, Life, & Leadership): A Strategic Preparation Workbook are related resources for students to apply concepts from the negotiating framework to their own career negotiations. This case, written from the perspective of an undergraduate college student beginning a summer internship, is designed to support negotiations to advance early careers.
Synopsis: The Angel case was developed from accounts by students and managers about challenges and opportunities in early career employment opportunities for students in technology and engineering jobs, particularly those from less privileged and historically marginalized backgrounds. The teaching plan is motivated by research on career negotiations and on implications of gender and other status-linked identities for career self-advocacy (e.g., see suggested background readings).
The case protagonist, Angel Torres, is a college sophomore who has been placed in their first summer internship. While Angel hopes the internship might lead to a full-time job after graduation, the work, so far, has been basic and has not provided Angel an opportunity to show their full abilities. Angel has an idea of how to improve the user interface of the company’s primary app but isn’t sure whether or how to propose the idea. Chatter among interns at work have given Angel concerns around pay. Angel also faces a work-family challenge involving a family chore that requires them to negotiate an alternative work schedule. To be gender-inclusive, the protagonist is described without reference to gendered pronouns. The central question for students is, what might Angel try to negotiate to improve their internship experience—and how? 
In the sequel case, Angel reaches out to colleagues and friends for information and advice to help inform their negotiation choices, illustrating the importance of reducing ambiguity through negotiation preparation.
Teaching Slides: Prepare Strategically for Career Negotiations 
Related Reading: "Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL," by Zoe Williams and Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard Kennedy School Case #2230.4, (4 pages). 
Videos: This case includes a video supplement that is available to instructors as part of the teaching plan (embedded below).

Case and Teaching Plan: Priya Iman (FREE)
Length: 1 page
Learning Objective: This case is designed to facilitate a live class discussion—either online (synchronous) or in person—about how to prepare strategically for career-related negotiations. Students analyze a potential negotiation opportunity and learn how to make a proposal that works for both parties. When combined with the Negotiate WELL (Work, Education, Life, & Leadership): A Strategic Preparation Workbook, students can immediately apply the negotiating framework concepts to their own negotiations. The case is designed to support negotiations of professionals in their early or mid-careers. Correspondingly, there are two options for background readings, “Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL," or a Harvard Business Review article, “Negotiating Your Next Job,” which follow the same basic framework with adapted negotiation examples.
Synopsis: Priya, a graduate student of public policy, was offered internships from two units within the International Development Fund. One offered a good salary, took advantage of her past work experience but was longer than she wanted; the other, offered no pay but would give her the work experience she wanted and was the perfect length. The case details the offers and asks students to consider whether Priya has room to negotiate aspects of either offer.
Teaching SlidesPrepare Strategically for Career Negotiations 
Related Readings: "Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary," Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2021. (14 pages) Links to external site.
"Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL," by Zoe Williams and Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard Kennedy School Case #2230.4, (4 pages). 

Case and Teaching Plan: Maryam Hassan (FREE)
Length: 3 pages
Learning Objective: This case is designed to facilitate a live, in-class discussion—either online (synchronous) or in person—about how to recognize opportunities to negotiate and prepare strategically for negotiations in ways that further the interests of all parties. Students will analyze potential negotiations and practice generating proposals that work for all parties involved. The Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL and the Negotiate WELL (Work, Education, Life, & Leadership): A Strategic Preparation Workbook are related resources for students to apply concepts from the negotiating framework to their own career negotiations. This case is designed to support negotiations to advance early careers.
Synopsis: Maryam and Sameer, brother and sister, were searching for an apartment in Hitech City, Hyderabad. Recent college graduates who were now starting jobs with high-profile technology firms, they wanted to lease an apartment together. The case details their challenge in negotiating with a potential landlord amid cultural and religious concerns. Maryam must address the landlord’s biases and concerns through a careful negotiation involving compromise, building personal relationships, and re-setting expectations.
Teaching SlidesPrepare Strategically for Career Negotiations 
Related Readings: "Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary," Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2021, (14 pages). Links to external site.
"Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL," by Zoe Williams and Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard Kennedy School Case #2230.4, (4 pages). 

Case: Shahana Patel (FREE)
Length: 2 pages
Learning Objective: This case is designed to facilitate a live, in-class discussion—either online (synchronous) or in person—about how to recognize opportunities to negotiate and prepare strategically for negotiations in ways that further the interests of all parties. Students will analyze potential negotiations and practice generating proposals that work for all parties involved. The Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL and the Negotiate WELL (Work, Education, Life, & Leadership): A Strategic Preparation Workbook are related resources for students to apply concepts from the negotiating framework to their own career negotiations. This case is designed to support negotiations to advance early careers. 
Synopsis: Shahana had just received a job offer from a trendy global startup in India, but she was getting married in five months and wanted to negotiate for a short leave for the wedding and a transfer to the company’s Hong Kong office to be with her new husband. In balancing her career and personal goals, Shahana has to negotiate with both her fiancé and her potential new employer through a careful negotiation involving compromise and re-setting expectations.
Teaching SlidesPrepare Strategically for Career Negotiations 
Related Readings: "Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary," Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2021, (14 pages). Links to external site.
"Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL," by Zoe Williams and Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard Kennedy School Case #2230.4, (4 pages). 

PodcastThe Negotiate WELL Podcast (FREE)
Length: 4 episodes; 15-18 minutes each/66 minutes total
Synopsis: This Podcast aims to illustrate how everyone, at every level, can use negotiation as a tool to meet their Work, Educational, Life, and Leadership aspirations. Stories of real people are used to illuminate the basic steps and principles of the “Be SURE” negotiation preparation tool. Negotiate WELL is hosted by Jesus Murillo, produced by Wonder Media Network, with content direction by Hannah Riley Bowles and the financial support of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership. 

Webinars
:
"
When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations," with Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard VPAL event, June 2, 2022.
"When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations," with Hannah Riley Bowles, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, 2022.

Video:
"3 Things You Should Know About the Gender Pay Gap," Women in Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School, YouTube, 2019. Links to external site.

Strategic Preparation Videos: The following free videos are part of the strategic preparation series and included in the workbook.


Introduction Video (2 minutes 48 seconds)
Learning Objective: Introduces users to the Strategic
Preparation Workbook.

Asking, Bending, Shaping Video (3 minutes 48 seconds)
Learning Objective: It is valuable to understand whether you are seeking something standard (asking), requesting a special exception (bending), or proposing a change to the way you and others work together (shaping). Whether you are asking, bending, or shaping informs the arguments that will make you persuasive and with whom you need to negotiate to be successful.

Reducing Ambiguity Video (2 minutes 1 second)
Learning Objective: Figuring out what is negotiable and how to negotiate effectively is core to your negotiation preparation. It is also helpful to clearly understand who your counterparts are as negotiators and to clarify what you want others to understand about you.

Relationships and Negotiation (4 minutes 25 seconds)
Learning Objective: The mantra “enhance your negotiation through relationships and your relationships through negotiation” will help you achieve your current objectives and increase the potential for future cooperation with counterparts.

Intersectionality and Negotiations (4 minutes 45 seconds)
Learning Objective: The Strategic Preparation Workbook was intentionally designed to benefit diverse negotiators, particularly those from historically marginalized or less powerful groups.

Teaching SlidesPrepare Strategically for Career Negotiations 
Length: 15 slides
Learning Objective: These slides are designed for use in conjunction with the Executive or Early Career cases (linked above) and the Strategic Preparation Workbook. The slides cover a four-step “Be SURE” process for preparing for a career negotiation. See Related Readings on “Negotiating Your Next Job” and “Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL."

Teaching Slides: When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations
Length: 27 slides
Learning Objective: These slides are designed for use in conjunction with the teaching plan “When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations.” The slides illustrate situational circumstances that moderate gender effects in negotiation and conclude with prescriptive suggestions for individuals and organizations. See Related Reading on When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations.

"How Women Can Negotiate for the Academic Career They Truly Want," Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard Business Publishing Education, March 2023, (4 pages). Links to external site.

"3 Negotiation Myths Still Harming Women's Careers," with Kathryn Valentine and Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard Business Review, October 4, 2022, (5 pages). Links to external site. 

"When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations," with Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard VPAL event, June 2, 2022. Links to external site.

"Briefing Sheet: 'Be SURE' You Are Prepared to Negotiate WELL," by Zoe Williams and Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard Kennedy School Case #2230.4, May 6, 2022, (4 pages). 

"Negotiating as a Woman of Color," Deepa Purushottam, Deborah M. Kolb, Hannah Riley Bowles, and Valerie Purdie-Greenaway, Harvard Business Review, January 14, 2022, (11 pages). Links to external site.

"When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations," Hannah Riley Bowles, Bobbi Thomason, and Immaculada Marcias-Alonso, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, January 2022, (14 pages). Links to external site.

"Self-Advocating in Early Career," Hannah Riley Bowles and Zoe Williams, Harvard Kennedy School Case #2203.0, March 8, 2021, (4 pages). 

"Negotiating Your Next Job: Focus on Your Role, Responsibilities, and Career Trajectory, Not Your Salary," Hannah Riley Bowles and Bobbi Thomason, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2021, (14 pages). Links to external site.

"Reconceptualizing What and How Women Negotiate for Career Advancement," by Hannah Riley Bowles, Bobbi Thomason, and Julia B. Bear, Academy of Management Journal, December 2019, (27 pages). Links to external site.

"Why Women Don't Negotiate Their Job Offers," Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard Business Review, June 2014, (6 pages). Links to external site.

For technical questions on accessing Negotiate WELL materials, please email hkscaseprogram@hks.harvard.edu. For substantive questions about the teaching materials, reach out to Hannah Riley Bowles at hannah_bowles@hks.harvard.edu.

Negotiate WELL is made possible thanks to the support of the Carol J. Hamilton Funds, the HKS Center for Public Leadership and Women and Public Policy Program, and HKS Case Program/SLATE.