This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Group Decision and Negotiation, GDN 2020, which was planned to be held in Toronto, ON, Canada, during June 7–11, 2020. The conference was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, it was decided to publish the proceedings, because the review process had already been completed at the time the cancellation was decided. The field of Group Decision and Negotiation focuses on decision processes with at least two participants and a common goal but conflicting individual goals. Research areas of Group Decision and Negotiation include electronic negotiations, experiments, the role of emotions in group decision and negotiations, preference elicitation and decision support for group decisions and negotiations, and conflict resolution principles. The 14 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 75 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: Conflict Resolution, Preference Modeling for Group Decision and Negotiation, Intelligent Group Decision Making and Consensus Process, Collaborative Decision Making Processes.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Group Decision and Negotiation, GDN 2021, which was planned to be held in Toronto, ON, Canada, during June 6–10, 2021. The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The field of Group Decision and Negotiation focuses on decision processes with at least two participants and a common goal but conflicting individual goals. Research areas of Group Decision and Negotiation include electronic negotiations, experiments, the role of emotions in group decision and negotiations, preference elicitation and decision support for group decisions and negotiations, and conflict resolution principles. The 12 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 74 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: pandemic responses; preference modeling for group decision and negotiation; conflict resolution; and collaborative decision making processes.

The volume offers an exploration of methods for analysis of emotion in negotiation, such as cognitive modeling, discourse analysis, all testing, subsequent multidimensional scaling, impression rating, and graph modeling for conflict resolution, reasonable and unreasonable disagreement. It covers activities, such as business negotiation, conflict solving, bargaining, task management meetings, discussions, and elaborates on different kinds of emotions. Some emotions stimulate negotiation (e.g. empathy), others -hinder it (e.g. disgust). However, all emotions open a door to uncertainty in relations and negotiation, which in turn provides an opportunity. The volume views language in negotiation not only as a vehicle for transmission of thought but also as a manifestation of emotion and the ethical.

Publication of the Handbook of Group Decision and Negotiation marks a milestone in the evolution of the group decision and negotiation (GDN) eld. On this occasion, editors Colin Eden and Marc Kilgour asked me to write a brief history of the eld to provide background and context for the volume. They said that I am in a good position to do so: Actively involved in creating the GDN Section and serving as its chair; founding and leading the GDN journal, Group Decision and Negotiation as editor-in-chief, and the book series, “Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation” as editor; and serving as general chair of the GDN annual meetings. I accepted their invitation to write a brief history. In 1989 what is now the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) established its Section on Group Decision and Negotiation. The journal Group Decision and Negotiation was founded in 1992, published by Springer in cooperation with INFORMS and the GDN Section. In 2003, as an ext- sion of the journal, the Springer book series, “Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation” was inaugurated.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Group Decision and Negotiation, GDN 2020, which was planned to be held in Toronto, ON, Canada, during June 7–11, 2020. The conference was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, it was decided to publish the proceedings, because the review process had already been completed at the time the cancellation was decided. The field of Group Decision and Negotiation focuses on decision processes with at least two participants and a common goal but conflicting individual goals. Research areas of Group Decision and Negotiation include electronic negotiations, experiments, the role of emotions in group decision and negotiations, preference elicitation and decision support for group decisions and negotiations, and conflict resolution principles. The 14 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 75 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: Conflict Resolution, Preference Modeling for Group Decision and Negotiation, Intelligent Group Decision Making and Consensus Process, Collaborative Decision Making Processes.

Established as the foremost textbook on communication, the seventh edition of Owen Hargie’s Skilled Interpersonal Communication is thoroughly revised and updated with the latest research findings, theoretical developments and applications. The contribution of skilled interpersonal communication to success in both personal and professional contexts is now widely recognised and extensively researched. People have a deep-seated and universal need to interact with others, and the greater their communicative ability the more satisfying and rewarding will be their lives. The main focus of this book is on the identification, analysis and evaluation of the core skills needed in these interactions. The first two chapters provide details of the nature of interpersonal communication and socially skilled performance, respectively, with a review of the main theoretical perspectives pertaining to each. The book then offers detailed accounts of the fourteen main skill areas: nonverbal communication, reinforcement, questioning, reflecting, listening, explaining, self-disclosure, set induction, closure, assertiveness, influencing, negotiating and interacting in and leading group discussions. The book concludes with a discussion on the ethical issues in interpersonal communication. This new edition also features an extended section on groupthink and analyses the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on aspects such as greeting patterns and the effectiveness of Project Fear by the UK government to secure citizen compliance. Written by one of the foremost international experts in the field, this is essential reading for students of interpersonal communication in general and to qualified personnel and trainees in many fields.