Improvisational Negotiation: A Mediator's Stories of Conflict About Love, Money, Anger -- and the Strategies That Resolved Them

by Jeffrey Krivis

Improvisational Negotiation presents an original approach for mediators, negotiators, and other dispute resolution professionals. Drawing on his own experience plus those of his colleagues, Jeffrey Krivis offers the reader dramatic, well-crafted, and highly instructive stories about people in conflict - families, organizations, corporations - and shows how mediated negotiations help them to reach a successful resolution. Unlike most books on the topic, Improvisational Negotiation does not focus on theory, philosophy, or formulaic procedures. The book highlights entertaining true stories that illuminate the skills and tools a good mediator uses to direct a successful negotiation and then asks the questions: What happened? and What strategies can we learn?

336 pages, Hardcover

First published December 17, 2005

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like it because it sounded contrived, too "digested."

[JHM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I wanted this book to be more than it was. I very much like the concept: providing a lot of stories from actual mediation practice which illustrate a wide variety of ways a mediator can engage with people in conflict and help them come to mutually satisfactory resolutions. These accounts show that the process is far more one of discerning the emotional roots and interests of the conflict and managing them than it is one of rational argument.

The reason I didn't like it more than I did, and why I didn't finish is, is that I didn't think the "What Strategies Can We Learn" section after each story didn't go into more depth.

My disclaimer is that I'm just getting started in mediation training. I will probably come back to this book in six months to a year and see if I find it more useful then.