Lax and Sebenius are co-founders of the Program on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School. James Sebenius is the vice chair of the program and a member of the committee and he is in charge of the University’s annual Great Negotiator Award program (HBS). Both men are the founders of Lax Sebenius LLC, a firm that helps governments and companies in cases that require complex negotiations that range from alliances, acquisitions, mergers and commercial contracts to joint ventures by giving them effective services with David Lax being the managing principal of the firm. Lax also served as the director of the Harvard Negotiation Roundtable, a program which involves the teaching of strategic negotiation skills on a weekly basis at the Harvard Business School.
The organization’s theory is based on a three-dimensional negotiation strategy that is grouped into three processes namely tactics, deal design and set up (Lax and Sebenius, 2003). These negotiation strategies include negotiating at the table which encompasses knowledge of proper and effective tactics of communication, negotiating on the drawing board which entails by laying out great principles which will ensure that both parties gain from the negotiations and negotiating away from the table by using the right people to negotiate and choosing the right issues to discuss in light of the specific reason for carrying out negotiations (LaxSebenius, n.d.). This is in line with their desire to give better results to their clients so as to ensure that they restructure the business relationships of companies in the case of alliances and mergers and offer unique customized solutions to their customers to ensure that their negotiations results in acquisition of businesses and resolving disputes (LaxSebenius, n.d.). This is done through the help of the training that they give to their trainees at the program in Harvard Business School and employees at the firm.
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The knowledge of the two scholars is applied in ensuring that the team that is involved in the negotiations does not consult one party but involves both parties in order to manage tension and claims from both sides (Sebenius, 2005). They apply the use of an assessment of risks, time preferences, and probabilities to rate the possible steps to be taken in the negotiations so as to ensure that avoid any uncertainties and to make the negotiations fruitful for both parties (Sebenius, 2005). This factor combined with the three-dimensional strategies ensures that the firm remains a credible negotiation firm and ensures that it maximizes on its productivity and efficiency.
The human resource frame of the LaxSebenius LLC firm focuses mainly on the skills that the co-founders of the firm are interested in incorporating in its trainees and employees of the firm. The founders are interested in ensuring that the employees are skilled enough and able to carry out effective and successful negotiations before they are allowed to directly handle clients. Lax and Sebenius put emphasis on fostering meaningful relationships between the employees and the clients so as to ensure that they continue to acquire more business clients on behalf of the firm. The two executives also insist on having good relationships with their employees so as to impart them with the necessary skills that they require in order to increase their negotiating capabilities. As a result, they are able to increase and improve the roles and values of their employees. This makes their employees feel more valuable and appreciated in a firm that deals with huge corporations such as Ericsson, Royal Dutch Shell, American Express and Lufthansa. Imparting them with these values also ensures that they are able to represent different countries in negotiations thus ensuring that they get the global exposure that they require.
References
LaxSebenius. (N.d.). The 3D Negotiation Approach. Negotiate. Retrieved from http://www.negotiate.com/services/3d-negotiation
Lax, D. A. and Sebenius, J. K. (2003, November). 3-D Negotiation: Playing the Whole Game. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2003/11/3-d-negotiation-playing-the-whole-game
Sebenius, J. K. (2005, August). Negotiation Analysis: Between Decisions and Games. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/51ca/542f7a753dce6fe78e69c9278014535ce5dc.pdf
