Michael Wheeler holds the MBA Class of 1952 Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School where teaches both Complex Negotiation and The Moral Leader, as well as a variety of executive courses. In recent years he served as faculty chair of the first year MBA program and headed the required Negotiation course.  He has also taught Leadership, Values, and Decision Making, and, as Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, Mediation & Consensus Building.

Wheeler’s current research focuses on negotiation dynamics, dispute resolution, organizational design, and ethics. He is the editor of the Negotiation Journal and co-director of the Negotiation Pedagogy initiative at the inter-university Program on Negotiation.

He has also written scores of negotiation exercises, cases, notes, and self-assessment tools. These materials cover subjects ranging from nonverbal communication and complexity theory, to the parallels between negotiation strategy and both jazz and war-fighting. He has written extensive case studies of negotiation system design, documenting GE’s “early dispute resolution initiative” and Guinness’s process for approving acquisitions and joint ventures. With colleagues Gerald Zaltman and Kimberlyn Leary, he is investigating emotions and unconscious attitudes that people bring to the bargaining table.  With Clark Freshman he is also exploring nonverbal communication and lie detection in negotiation.

He holds degrees from Amherst College, Boston University, and Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1969. He has been a panelist for the American Arbitration Association, and has served as a mediator or arbitrator in a variety of business and regulatory disputes. He has advised corporate clients, trade organizations, and government agencies on negotiation issues in the United States and abroad.

These lunchtime events--available to all HBS clubs worldwide--are only for paid members of the New York Club; one of the continuing benefits of supporting the wide range of activities for area alumni and other goals of the Club--including providing scholarships and pro-bono consulting. If you would like to become a member, do so on-line or if you need help with the website, call the Club office at 212-947-5544.

Monday, February 8th, 2010