Resources

Policies and Guidelines

For Employees and Faculty

For information about the following topics, please visit the Harvard Intranet for Employees (and Faculty) (HarvIE).

  • Discrimination 
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For Faculty

For information about the following topics, please visit Faculty Development and Diversity

  • Handbooks and Research Policies 
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  • Diversity and Equity 
  • Hiring and Retention 

For Students

For information about the following, please visit the student handbook for your school: https://www.harvard.edu/academics/schools/

  • Degree and Performance Requirements
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  • Student Conduct and Expectations
  • Discipline and Grievance Processes  
  • Grading/Withdrawal Policies
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  • Academic Resources  

For Postdoctoral/Research Fellows

For information about the following, please visit, please visit your local Post-Doctoral Affairs Office through that portion of HarvIE.

  • Benefits
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  • Resources, Policies, Contacts
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For Everyone at Harvard

Trainings

The Ombuds team provides highly interactive trainings with custom-designed exercises, case studies and presentations.  Topics include Negotiation Skills, Managing Conflicts Effectively, How to Have a Difficult Conversation and Best Practices for Authorship.  Other topics are available upon request. 

Self-Help Handouts

Authorship

Recommended Best Practices for Determining Authorship

Familiarize yourself with the HMS Authorship Guidelines and encourage the same of your colleagues and collaborators. If you oversee a lab, provide authorship guidelines to all newcomers to the lab and a description of the lab’s usual ways of deciding authorship and authorship order.

Download Recommended Best Practices for Determining Authorship (Word document)

Let’s Talk About Authorship

Rashid, Naim. “Lets Talk About Authorship” www.science.org. 29 September 2022, from Science, Vol 377, Issue 6614.

I avoided authorship discussions with collaborators—until I learned some hard lessons. As I moved into an assistant professor position, I knew publishing was crucial for my career. Initially I didn’t have the funding or projects to recruit my own graduate students, so I co-supervised students who were under the primary supervision of other colleagues. I shared the intellectual burden and was a co-author on the resulting papers. My colleagues and I were quite satisfied with this win-win situation, and everything seemed to be going smoothly—until I moved to another institution.

Continue Reading on Science.org.

Active Listening Techniques

Familiarize yourself with tools to use when listening: Encourage, Clarify, Restate, Reflect, Summarize and Validate.

Download the Active Listening Techniques document

Concerns About Bullying at Work

Concerns About Bullying at Work

Bullying at work is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of a person by one or more workers that takes the form of verbal abuse: conduct or behaviors that are threatening, intimidating, or humiliating; sabotage that prevents work from getting done; or some combination of the three.

(The Bully at Work, 2nd edition – Gary Namie, Ruth Namie)

Some bullying is done behind closed doors, some in meetings or in front of co-workers. Bullying can be both verbal and non-verbal. Bullies dominate, want control, and threaten and diminish the targeted individual. Bullying can be personally devastating to the targeted individual, causing serious health issues (stress, flare-up of auto-immune illness, lowered self esteem, depression). Bullies are both male and female and select both strong and weak members of their team as targets.

Download Concerns about Bullying at Work (Word document)

Considerations When Preparing for a Challenging Conversation

Learn the six steps to navigate your way through a challenging conversation.

Download Considerations When Preparing for A Challenging Conversation

Delivering Effective Feedback

Find out how to give effective feedback in four steps.

Download Delivering Effective Feedback

Do’s and Don’ts for Responding When Your Behavior is Perceived as Offensive 

Understand how to respond when your behavior is perceived as offensive. 

Download Do’s and Don’ts for Responding When Your Behavior is Perceived as Offensive

Elements of an Effective Apology

An apology is a powerful means of reconciliation and restoring trust.However, sometimes even well-intentioned apologies can exacerbate a conflict. It may be helpful to consider what elements to include in a statement of apology to make it most effective and constructive.

Download Elements of an Effective Apology

Legal Referral Services

Find off-campus legal services (not an endorsement of services).

Download Legal Referral Services

Top 10 Dispute Resolutions Skills

With the help of our top 10 dispute resolution skills, you can cover all the bases the next time you are trying to bring a complex conflict to an end.

Download Top 10 Dispute Resolution Skills

Recommended Reading

Conflict Management

Beating the Workplace Bully: A Tactical Guide to Taking Charge. Curry, Lynne, New York: AMACOM/American Management Association, 2016. 

BIFF: Quick Responses to High-Conflict People, their Personal Attacks, Hostile Email and Social Media Meltdowns. Eddy, Bill, LCSW, ESQ.2nd ed., Unhooked Books, LLC, 2011. 

The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job. Namie, Gary and Ruth Namie, PhD. 2nd ed., Sourcebooks, 2009. 

Conflict Management: A Communications Skills Approach. Borisoff, D. and D. Victor, 2nd. Edition, Pearson, 1997. 

Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution. Kriesberg, L. and B. Dayton, 5th Edition Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, https://rowman.com.  

Controlling the Costs of Conflict: How to Design a System for Your Organization. Slaikeu, K. and R. Hasson, Jossey-Bass, 1998. www.josseybass.com

Dealing with People You Can’t Stand: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst. Brinkman, Rick, and Rick Kirschner,3rd Revised edition. McGraw-Hill Education, 2012.  

Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most (Stone, Douglas, Bruce Patton and Sheila. Heen (with foreword by: R. Fisher), 10th Anniversary Edition. Penguin Books, 2010.  

The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution: Preserving Relationships at Work, at Home, and in the Community. Weeks, D., Tarcher Perigee. 1994. 

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Fisher, R., W. Ury, and B. Patton; 3rd Edition Penguin Books, 2011. 

Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling. Schein, Edgar H., San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2014. Print. 

Interactive Conflict Resolution (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution). R. Fisher, Syracuse University Press, 1997. 

The Keys to Conflict Resolution: Proven Methods for Resolving Disputes Voluntarily. Kheel, T. and W. Lurie (Introduction); Four Walls Eight Windows, 2001. 

The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict. Moore, C., Jossey-Bass, 4th Edition, 2014, www.josseybass.com

People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts. Bolton, R., Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1979.  

The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict Through Empowerment and Recognition. Bush, R. Baruch and J. Folger; Jossey-Bass, 2005, www.josseybass.com.  

When Push Comes to Shove: A Practical Guide to Mediating Disputes. Slaikeu, K., Jossey-Bass, 1996. www.josseybass.com

Negotiation

Everyday Negotiation: Navigating the Hidden Agendas in Bargaining. Kolb, D and J. Miller, Jossey-Bass, 2003. 

Gender and the Shadow Negotiation. Kolb, D., CGO Insights, 1998. 

Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People. Ury, W., Bantam Books, 1991.  

Getting to Yes. Fisher, R. and W. Ury, Penguin Press, 1981. 

Negotiating at Work: Turn Small Wins into Big Gains. Kolb, D. and J. Porter; Jossey-Bass, 2015. 

Negotiating Power: Getting and Using Influence. Fisher,n R., 27 American Behavioral Science 149, 150-64, 1983.   

Negotiating with Emotion: High-Stakes Deal Making is Fraught With Feeling: Should We Really Ignore That?”. Leary, K., J. Pillemer, and M. Wheeler; Harvard Business Review, 2013 

Staying with No. Weeks H., Harvard Management Communication Letter, 2004 

“When David Meets Goliath: Dealing with Power Differentials in Negotiations”. Adler, R. and E. Silverstein, 5 Harvard Law Review 1-112, 2000,  http://www.hnlr.org/article/archive