Negotiation has played a significant role in the development of our society since time immemorial. Every time a conflict arose between two individuals, groups, societies or nations, and stakes were too high to endanger their relationship through raw power or threat, they resorted to a negotiation to get to a working agreement.

The use of negotiation as a means of conflict management and dispute resolution has been around long before these terms were even defined. As this area started getting more specific, mediation and arbitration emerged as two main tools of negotiation. In many developed countries, industrial laws account for the use of these methods in case of a conflict, in India, the trend of including dispute resolution in business contracts is fast catching up, despite it not being mandatory. Businesses are beginning to realise that in a place where time is money, losing both time and money in fighting out is a double whammy. Prof Himanshu Rai teaches, researches, and trains people in negotiations, and has nearly a decade of experience in the academic and practical aspects of this field at various levels.