Help   |   Contact Us

 

Related Resources

Below is a list of videos/movies about real-life negotiations. The following are used in the course:

  1. "Listening for Understanding" - referenced in the slides and syllabus as the Coleman video case.
  2. Late Shift - referenced in the slides as The Leno-Letterman NBC negotiations.
  3. "Negotiating Change" - referenced as Negotiating Change case with video debrief.

Popular Films

  • The Late Shift
  • Barbarians at the Gate
  • Pirates of Silicon Valley
  • Startup.com

Documentaries

Film Clip Movies on Leadership and Emotion

  • Gandhi
  • Crimson Tides

Movies with Clips on Trust

  • Problem Child
  • Patch Adams

Film Clip on Empathy and Trust

  • The Doctor

Harvard Business School Videos on Negotiation (http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/)

  • Getting to Yes
  • Negotiating Change

CRMlearning.com Videos (http://www.crmlearning.com/)

  • Abilene Paradox (illusion of transparency and tacit negotiations)
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Dealing with Conflict

GPN Video

  • Listening for understanding (Carl Rogers, tacit negotiation, lack of emotional intelligence, norms of organizational silence - http://netche.unl.edu/catalog/)

Also: NETCHE, Inc. (Nebraska Educational Television Council for Higher Education, Inc.)

Details of Labor Documentaries

  • Final Offer, 1985, is an NFB documentary which follows the 1985 negotiations between the United Auto Workers and General Motors. Bob White, the Canadian leader, finds he is being interfered with by his American headquarters. The International advocates pursuing profit-sharing instead of annual increases.White, inspired by the Canadian militancy he is only barely able to keep reined in, holds firm in his own negotiations. The permanent split between the now CAW and the UAW is evident by the end. Limited availability. Not rated but very colourful language.
  • Harlan County, U.S.A., 1977, is a Barbara Kopple documentary that follows an extended strike at the Brookside Mine. The UMWA picket line is rapidly losing ground until they are joined by their wives, sisters, and daughters, who bring new hope and new tactics to the line. The arrival of women on the line brings the question of violence to the forefront. The film celebrates the spirit and courage of the women in a careful mesh of fear of the past and hope for the future.
  • Harry Bridges: A Man and His Union, 1992. Harry Bridges was the leader of the American West Coast longshoremen's union and this film demonstrates his prowess at this position. It follows his life through the 1934 San Francisco General Strike and through attempts by the American government to brand him as a communists. A successful capture of both his triumphs and his mistakes. Limited availability. Not rated.
  • The Burning Season, 1994, stars Raul Julia and Sonia Braga. It is an account of the life of Chico Mendes, the leader of a series of sit-down strikes by the rubber tappers of the Xapuri Rural Worker's Union, of Brazil. His attempts to save the livelihoods of the workers and the forests catches the attention of American environmental groups but not even the Americans are able to prevent the murder of first Mendes' mentor, and then of Mendes himself. Chico Mendes was killed in 1988 by a rancher and his son who eventually escaped from prison. Easy availability. R.
  • American Dream, 1989, was directed by Barbara Kopple of Harlan County U.S.A. fame. This academy-award winning documentary focuses on a conflict between Local P-9 of the UFCW and Hormel Meats of Austin, Minnesota. It presents both perspectives, and that of the International Union which dislikes the Local's militancy. The film is gloomy, but realistic in its attempt to present all three sides fairly. Limited Availability. PG-13.

Other Movies

  • The Late Shift: Based on the non-fiction best-seller, The Late Shift is an irreverent, behind-the-scenes look at the conflict over who would succeed Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show, Jay Leno or David Letterman. Beginning with Carson's retirement, the made-for-cable film follows the backstage manueverings of both camps. When NBC chooses, Letterman refuses to lose quietly. Hosting The Tonight Show has been his life-long dream, and he is willing to do whatever it takes, even hiring an agent, to get what he wants. Indeed, Letterman soon finds himself working with ultra-powerful Hollywood agent Mike Ovitz and receiving huge offers from competing networks. Meanwhile, NBC has more trouble with the Leno Tonight Show than expected, thanks to Leno's manager Helen Kushnick (Kathy Bates). Kushnick's acerbic, foul-mouthed manner and increasingly petty behavior infuriates the higher-ups at NBC -- so much so that some suggest they give the show to Letterman after all. A series of intense negotiations follows, under the shadow of ludicrously frenzied media attention. While the presentation of both Leno and Letterman (played by unknowns Daniel Roebuck and John Michael Higgins, respectively) is fairly sympathetic, the film is far-less charitable to Kushnick and NBC executives.