Faculty staff profile

Mara Olekalns

PhD, BA (Hons) (Adel)
Professor of Management - Negotiations

Mara’s expertise is within the fields of negotiation and conflict resolution.

Her research focuses on communication processes in negotiation. She is interested in how the timing and sequencing of negotiation strategies affects negotiators’ outcomes, particularly their ability to create value in the negotiation; and als in identifying the contextual, cognitive and dispositional factors that shape strategy choice and sequencing. More recently, she investigated the impact of first impressions and turning points on trust in negotiation.

In addition to her role at MBS, Mara has been a Visiting Research Scholar at Kellogg Graduate School of Management’s Dispute Resolution Research Centre. She has held lecturing positions at the University of Melbourne and University of Otago, as well as a range of management positions in the Australian Public Service. She also has considerable experience as a presenter on executive development programs.

Mara has published in leading international management, psychology and communication journals, and has presented her work extensively at international conferences. She was a board member of the International Association of Conflict Management and is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Conflict Management.