Role-Play Simulations

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CBI is an industry leader in developing role-play simulations for training purposes. In these exercises, participants assume stakeholder and third-party roles, are given confidential instructions, and then engage in negotiations that mirror real life situations. This gives them an opportunity to 'try out' the key tools and strategies presented in the training. Following each exercise, participants take part in a debriefing aimed at drawing out key lessons and highlighting what might appear to be tensions that arise between theory and practice.

CBI has produced and conducted role-play simulations for organizations ranging from the United Nations to Fortune 25 corporations, covering a variety of issues (see examples below).

Our tailored role-play simulations, available for purchase, offer several benefits: 

  • By focusing on a simpler (but still accurate) representation of the challenges participants will face when they try to apply methods learned in training, they can see more clearly the individual and organizational capabilities that need to be developed.
  • By playing assigned roles (often quite distinct from their real-life roles), participants can develop a better appreciation for the perspectives of others with whom they may need to negotiate or interact.
  • By using carefully crafted role-play simulations (as opposed to case studies or other teaching scenarios) instructors can ensure that every trainee will be forced to confront particular negotiation puzzles or problems.
  • By participating in well-managed debriefings, participants will be able to tie the general lessons of a role-play exercise to the specific needs of their organization, and allow them to formulate a follow-up action agenda.


For more information on the benefits of using role-play simulations, view this article prepared by the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program (PDP) and CBI: "Using Role Play Simulations to Enhance Public and Organizational Learning"


Purchasing Information:
For more information on CBI's ready-to-use and custom role-play simulations, please call us at (617) 492-1414 or send us an inquiry. Many CBI role-play simulations are also available for immediate purchase at the Program on Negotation at Harvard Law School Clearinghouse.


Examples of CBI Role-Play Simulations:
 The examples below represent a sampling of CBI's ready-to-use role-play simulations.

Regulatory Negotiation

  • ChemCo, Inc.
    A six-person negotiation simulation involving industrial factory representatives and environmental agency representatives over air quality and economic concerns. Both sides have experienced damaging negative publicity. The game illustrates how negotiations can be used to resolve conflicts among scientists when scientific data are in dispute.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse

  • DirtyStuff II
    A six-person exercise designed for federal agencies in the United States to use in training participants in upcoming regulatory negotiation. It introduces the role of a facilitator/mediator and emphasizes "single-text" negotiation.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse


Intra-Organizational Disputes

  • Ellis v. MacroB
    A five-person simulation focused on mediating values-based legal disputes; specifically, disputes involving potentially conflicting values and interests around issues of homosexuality and religious faith. It demonstrates that assisted negotiation (i.e., mediation) can be used to reconcile parties with conflicting values.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse

  • Multimode, Inc.
    A two-party intra-organization budget negotiation between a company's human resources office and the vice president for finance. The game explores the use of interest-based negotiation concepts in what is traditionally a hard bargaining situation..
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse


Resource Management Conflicts

  • Fisheries
    A seven-party facilitated meeting over whether or not a particular section of the seafloor should be designated a protected area and closed to fishing. This a joint fact finding exercise.
    > To order, please call CBI at (617) 492-1414 or send us a message.

  • Owls
    A seven-party exercise which challenges participants to frame a joint fact finding mission in a contested ecosystem management situation.
    > To order, please call CBI at (617) 492-1414 or send us a message.


Cross-Cultural Negotiation

  • Big Pipeline in Swagwit
    A negotiation between representatives of a construction company and a First Nation group regarding the allocation of construction jobs associated with the building of a pipeline across the reserve. It emphasizes cross-cultural negotiation.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse

  • Development Dispute at Menehune Bay
    A seven-person facilitated negotiation of a land development dispute involving environmental issues, native rights, and commercial interests in Hawaii. It focuses on the role of a facilitator in a complex multi-party, multi-issue dispute.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse


Stakeholder Engagement

  • Teflex Products
    A six-person negotiation among representatives of a pharmaceutical company, a medical drug manufacturer, and three consumer organizations over the delayed release of a new drug. It emphasizes the use of mutual gains negotiating principles in dealing with an angry public.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse

  • World Trade Center Redevelopment Negotiation
    A six-person mediated negotiation involving representatives of the city, state, developer, insurer, and victims' families regarding the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This exercise highlights the special difficulties of multiparty negotiation in the public arena, including the use of mediation in situations when emotionally charged issues are in play.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse


Scientific or Technical Negotiations

  • Long River
    A seven-person mediation involving representatives of governmental, business, environmental, recreational, and tribal interests involved in a science-based dispute over the formulation of an instream flow action plan. It challenges all parties to commit to using a mediator's services and examines the benefits of pursuing an adaptive management approach to dealing with scientific uncertainty.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse

  • Viatex
    A two-player simulation between a company called Viatex that makes plastic bottles and Brattlebury, one of its clients, which produces pharmaceuticals. The game examines the benefits of working collaboratively to find mutual gains in a difficult business situation.
    > To order, please call CBI at (617) 492-1414 or send us a message.


Transboundary or Global Treaty-making

  • Foreign Direct Investment in Mandoa
    A multiparty negotiation involving government officials trying to agree on a foreign direct investment strategy that balances the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The game offers an opportunity to try consensus-building techniques in an international political context with a political appointee as facilitator.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse

  • Managing Groundwater Beneath the Pablo-Burford Border
    A ten-person co-chaired negotiation involving representatives of two adjacent countries trying to agree on the best response to a severe transboundary water shortage crisis. It emphasizes the importance of agenda control and the power of option creation among other things. It focuses heavily on how to handle scientific and technical disagreements in a highly charged political context.
    > Order this simulation from PON Clearinghouse