Conflict and Negotiation

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Conflict
Conflict Defined Is a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about. Is that point in an ongoing activity when an interaction crosses over to become an interparty conflict. Encompasses a wide range of conflicts that people experience in organizations Incompatibility of goals Differences over interpretations of facts Disagreements based on behavioral expectations

Transitions in conflict Thought

1. Traditional View of Conflict The belief that all conflict is harmful and must be avoided.
Causes
Causes: Poor communication

Lack of openness
Failure to respond to employee needs

2. Human Relations View of Conflict The belief that conflict is a natural and inevitable outcome in any group. 3. Integrationists View of Conflict The belief that conflict is not only a positive force in a group but that it is absolutely necessary for a group to perform effectively.

Types / Levels of Conflict

Interpersonal Conflict: between individuals based on differing goals or values. Intragroup Conflict: occurs within a group or team. Intergroup Conflict: occurs between 2 or more teams or groups. - Managers play a key role in resolution of this conflict Interorganizational Conflict: occurs across organizations. - Managers in one firm may feel another is not behaving ethically.

Types of Conflict
Interpersonal Intergroup

Intragroup

Inter Organizational

Sources of Conflict

Different goals and time horizons: different groups have differing goals.

Production focuses on efficiency; Marketing on sales.

Overlapping authority: two or more managers claim authority for the same activities.

Leads to conflict between the managers and workers.

Task Interdependencies: one member of a group fails to finish a task that another depends on.

This makes the worker that is waiting fall behind.

Incompatible Evaluation or reward system: workers are evaluated for one thing, but are told to do something different.

Groups rewarded for low cost but firm needs higher service.

Scarce Resources: managers can conflict over allocation of resources.

When all resources are scarce, managers can fight over allocations.

Status inconsistencies: some groups have higher status than others.

Leads to managers feeling others are favored.

Status Inconsistency

Different Goals & Time Horizons

Scarce Resources

Overlapping Authority

Sources of Conflict
Incompatible Evaluation & Reward Task Interdependencies

How can conflict be managed successfully?

Accommodation or smoothing.
Unassertive and cooperative.
Letting the others wishes rule. Smoothing over differences to maintain superficial harmony.

Compromise. Moderate assertiveness and moderate cooperativeness. Working toward partial satisfaction of everyones concerns. Seeking acceptable rather than optimal solutions so that no one totally wins or loses.

 Competition and authoritative command. Assertive and uncooperative. Working against the wishes of the other party. Fighting to dominate in win/lose competition. Forcing things to a favorable conclusion through the exercise of authority.
Collaboration and problem solving. Assertive and cooperative. Seeking the satisfaction of everyones concerns by working through differences. Finding and solving problems so everyone gains as a result.

How can conflict be managed successfully?

The issue of who wins? Lose-lose conflict. Occurs when nobody gets what he or she wants. Avoidance, accommodation or smoothing, and

compromise are forms of lose-lose conflict. Win-lose conflict. One part achieves its desires at the expense and to the exclusion of the other partys desires. Competition and authoritative command are forms of win-lose conflict. Win-win conflict. Both parties achieve their desires. Collaboration or problem solving are forms of win-win conflict.

Resolving a Conflict

Functional Conflict Resolution: handle conflict by compromise or collaboration between parties.

Compromise: each party concerned about their goal accomplishment and is willing to engage in give and take to reach a reasonable solution. Collaboration: parties try to handle conflict without making concessions by coming up with a new way to resolve differences.

Managers also need to address individual sources of conflict.

Managing Individual Conflict

Increase awareness of the source of conflict Can conflict source can be found and corrected? Increase diversity awareness and skills Older workers may resent younger workers, or experience cultural differences. Practice Job Rotation & Temporary assignments Provides a good view of what others face. Use permanent transfers & dismissal if needed Avoids problem interaction. Change organizations structure Conflict can signal the need to adjust the structure.

What is Negotiation?
Negotiation.
The process of making joint

decisions when the parties involved have different preferences.

The process whereby two or more

parties decide what each will give and take in an exchange between them.

 Effective negotiation.
Occurs when substance issues are resolved and

working relationships are maintained or improved. Criteria for an effective negotiation. Quality. Harmony. Efficiency.
Ethical aspects of negotiation.
To maintain good working relationships, negotiating

parties should strive for high ethical standards.

The negotiating parties should avoid being side tracked

by self-interests, thereby being tempted to pursue unethical actions.

What are the different strategies involved in negotiation?

Distributive negotiation.
Focuses on positions staked out or declared

by the conflicting parties.

Parties try to claim certain portions of the

existing pie.
Integrative negotiation.
Sometimes called principled negotiation. Focuses on the merits of the issues. Parties try to enlarge the available pie.

Distributive Versus Integrative Bargaining

Bargaining Characteristics Available Resources Primary Motivations Primary Interests Congruent Focus of Relationships

Distributive Characteristics Fixed Amount of Resources to be Divided I win, you lose Opposed to each other Short term

Integrative Characteristics Variable Amount of Resources to be Divided I win, you win Convergent or with each other Long term

What are the different strategies involved in negotiation?

Distributive negotiation. The key questions is: Who is going to get this resource? Hard distributive negotiation. Each party holds out to get its own way. Soft distributive negotiation. One party is willing to make concessions to the other

party to get things over. Bargaining zone. The range between one partys minimum reservation point and the other partys maximum reservation point. A positive bargaining zone exists when the two parties points overlap. A positive bargaining zone provides room for negotiation.

 Integrative negotiation. The key questions is: How can the

resource best be utilized? Is less confrontational than distributive negotiation, and permits a broader range of alternative solutions to be considered. Opportunity for a true win-win solution. Range of feasible negotiation tactics. Selective avoidance. Compromise. True collaboration.

 Gaining truly integrative agreements rests on: Supportive attitudes. Constructive behaviors.

Good information.
Supportive attitudes. Integrative agreements require that each party must:

Approach the negotiation with a willingness to trust

the other party. Convey a willingness to share information with the other party. Show a willingness to ask concrete questions of the other party.

 Constructive behaviors. Reaching integrative agreements depends on the negotiators ability to:

Separate the people from the problem. Focus on interests rather than positions. Avoid making premature judgments. Keep alternative creation separate from evaluation. Judge possible agreements on an objective set of criteria or standards.

Good information.
Each negotiation party must know what he/she will do if an

agreement cant be reached.

Each party must understand the relative importance of the

other partys interests

 Common negotiation pitfalls.

The myth of the fixed pie. The possibility of escalating commitment. Negotiators often develop overconfidence in their positions. Communication problems can cause difficulties during a negotiation.

Telling problem. Hearing problem. Third-party roles in negotiation.

Arbitration.

A third party acts as a judge and has the power

to issue a decision that is binding on all disputing parties.

Mediation.

A neutral third party tries to engage the disputing

parties in a negotiated solution through persuasion and rational argument.

Negotiation Strategies for Interactive Bargaining

Emphasize Super ordinate Goals: these are goals both parties agree on.

Keeps the big picture in focus.

Focus on the problem, NOT the people: dont make it personal.

It is easy to dwell on peoples shortcomings rather than problems. Once this occurs, people resist negotiation.

 Focus on interests, not demands: demands are what you want, interests are why you want them.

Demands are confrontational and slow negotiations.

Create new options for joint gain: focusing on interests allows for new ideas to come forth.

Perhaps there is a new solution that can solve the issue.

Focus on what is fair: emphasizing fairness allows both parties to give a bit and agree.