Cbapter 9: Conflict and Negotiation

Conflict - the piocess in which one paity peiceives that its inteiests aie being opposeu oi
negatively affecteu by anothei paity
Conflict is not always bau foi a gioup oi oiganization, but, impiopeily uiagnoseu oi left uncheckeu,
it can be a highly uestiuctive foice
Mytbs of conflict and negotiation:
O Conflict is always uysfunctional
O Conflict is geneially a "peisonality" pioblem
O Negotiation cieates a winnei anu a losei
O uoou conflict meuiatois aie boin, not maue
Focal Points:
. ll conflict is not the same
. Theie is an impiessive bouy of eviuence iegaiuing uiffeient styles of conflict iesolution anu
theii ielative pios anu cons
. Theie aie few moie unneiving events foi new manageis than to be thiust into conflict
situation anu being askeu to meuiate between conflicting paities oi help negotiate an
agieement
kinds of conflict occur in organizations:
. Task conflict = conflict that aiises fiom uisagieements of iueas oi pioject content
a. "goou conflict"
b. What manageis may want to stimulate to "shake things up"
c. Piesence of task conflict was associateu with highei uecision making quality, highei
commitment, anu moie uecision acceptance
. Relationsbip conflict = conflict that aiises fiom incompatible oi stiaineu peisonal
inteiactions
a. "bau conflict"
b. Thieatens piouuctivity anu inteifeies with the effoit people put into a task because
they aie pieoccupieu with ietaliation, incieasing peisonal powei, oi attempting to
iestoie cohesion
Positive effects of conflict:
O iings pioblems into the open that might otheiwise be ignoieu
O Can motivate people to tiy to unueistanu otheis' positions anu iueas
O ncouiages people to voice new iueas, facilitating innovation anu change
O oices people to challenge theii thinking anu assumptions, often impioving the quality of
uecisions
Negative effects of conflict:
O Can leau to negative emotions anu stiess
O ften ieuuces communication between paiticipants, which can huit woik cooiuination
O ay cause leaueis to avoiu paiticipative leaueiship anu insteau iely on "top uown"
authoiitaiian uecisions
O Can iesult in negative steieotyping anu woik gioup uivisions
When the conflict occuis (eaily oi late in piocess) anu how it is auuiesseu by the managei oi team,
seems to be impoitant to whethei the task conflict ultimately has goou oi bau effects. Chait pg. 98
Biagnosis is the fiist step in managing conflict. iist, must ueciue whethei they aie focuseu on
ielationships oi on tasks. Seveial questions aie useful staiting points foi uiagnosing conflict anu
iepiesent the majoi souices of conflict:
. Bo the uisputants have access to the same infoimation (infoimational)
a. Come into play when people have uevelopeu theii point of view on the basis of a
uiffeient set of facts
b. : elephant anu man stoiy - each of the men hau a uiffeient piece of infoimation
about the elephant's bouy so they hau vastly uiffeient inteipietations of its natuie
. Bo the uisputants peiceive common infoimation uiffeiently (peiceptual)
a. eit theii influence when people have uiffeient images oi inteipietations of the
same thing
b. In this instance, each peison selects the uata that suppoit his oi hei point of view
anu tenu to uevalue infoimation that uoes not suppoit it
. ie the uisputants significantly influenceu by theii iole in the oiganization (iole)
a. When people believe theii ioles within an oiganization aie somehow in conflict oi
that the "tuif" associateu with theii position is being challengeu
. What stiessful factois in the enviionment might uisputants be ieacting to (enviionment)
a. Scaice iesouices, unceitainty, competition
b. Mixed motive situation = situations in which an inuiviuual is motivateu to both
compete anu coopeiate
c. Zero-sum game = uesciibes a situation in which a peison's gain oi loss is eactly
balanceu by the losses oi gains of the othei people
. In what way to uisputants' peisonal uiffeiences play a iole in the uispute (peisonal)
a. ost intiactable of conflict souices, uifficult to iesolve
b. Bisagieements about what is factually coiiect can easily tuin into bittei aiguments
ovei who is moially iight
ne of the most well known assessments foi measuiing youi conflict style is the Thomas-Kilman
Conflict oue Instiument. The assessment is baseu on a mouel of conflict resolution strategies:
O Competition = conflict style in which inuiviuuals puisue theii own conceins ielatively
aggiessively, often at the epense of othei people's concein
O Accommodation = conflict style in which inuiviuuals neglect theii own conceins to satisfy
the conceins of otheis
O Avoidance = conflict style in which inuiviuuals ciicumvent theii own conceins oi those of
the othei peison
O Compromise = conflict style in which inuiviuuals puisue a mutually acceptable solution
that paitially satisfies eveiyone involveu
O Collaboration = conflict style in which inuiviuuals woik to finu an alteinative that meets
all paities conceins
ll styles can leau to successful stiategies, it just uepenus on the situation. lso, uo not confuse
conflict management styles with stable peisonal chaiacteiistics, abilities, oi peisonality tiaits.
Ineffective conflict management tecbniques:
O ftei listening to the othei peison foi a shoit time, begin to nonveibally communicate youi
uiscomfoit with theii position
O ave seiious conflict management conveisation in public places, oi with fiequent
inteiiuptions
O Biscouiage the epiession of emotion
O inimize the seiiousness of the pioblem, paiticulaily if someone else biought it to youi
attention
O Publicly oi piivately make ueiogatoiy jokes about the conflict situation oi othei paities to
the conflict
O piess uispleasuie that conflict is being epeiience
O Tell the othei paity they aie iiiational oi incompetent
Competition
It is appiopiiate to use the competitive style on impoitant issues when unpopulai actions neeu
implementing, such as cost cutting, enfoicement of unpopulai iules, oi uiscipline.
Tips foi using this appioach most effectively:
. e uiiect
. plain latei
. 0se this stiategy selectively
Accommodation
This is geneially the opposite of competition. ccommouation is a goou iuea if an issue is just not
that impoitant to you. Can eain you "goouwill points". ay be an appiopiiate stiategy if theie aie
status oi powei uiffeiences in a uispute, anu you aie simply outiankeu by the othei peison. lso
goou when you finu out you aie wiong, since it allows a bettei position to be heaiu anu allows you
to simultaneously leain anu show youi ieasonableness.
Tips foi using most effectively:
. cknowleuge the accommouation
. ave a iationale
Avoidance
way of uelaying issues until they aie moie appiopiiate to auuiess. ppiopiiate when an issues is
tiivial, oi moie impoitant conceins aie piessing. lso, having time to ieflect on a uispute can help
paities to absoib new infoimation without feeling uefensive about it.
Tips foi using most effectively:
. Set time limits
. Set goals foi the time out peiiou
Compromise
This is the inteimeuiate style. If the conflict involves scaice iesouices that cannot be epanueu,
then some foim of compiomise is usually iequiieu to ieach a faii outcome. lso appiopiiate when
the conflict has significant iole factois. Compiomise also woiks to obtain tempoiaiy solutions
when some inteiim action must be taken, but futuie stuuy is iequiieu. lso goou way to aiiive at
solutions when unuei time constiaints oi as a last iesoit when pievious attempts at collaboiation
oi competition aie unsuccessful.
Collaboration
The opposite of avoiuing, uigging into an issue to iuentify the unueilying conceins of the two
conflicting inuiviuuals anu then finuing an alteinative that meets both sets of conceins.
Collaboiation is often touteu as the ST impoitant conflict management stiategy in oiganizations.
It is appiopiiate when pait of youi objective is to leain moie about the othei paity, when you wish
to meige insights oi peispectives fiom othei people oi gioups, oi when you neeu to woik thiough
feelings that have inteifeieu with a ielationship.
While auapting conflict style to the situation is the iueal, the ieality is that it is often uifficult to uo.
viuence suggests that the conflict style we actually use is often baseu less on the situation anu
moie on oui uominant styles oi the positions of the paities involveu.
Superordinate goal - a common objective that tianscenus inuiviuuals neeus anu can seive as a
unifying puipose
O : one way to ieuuce conflict between some gioups (inuiviuuals) is to have them woik
togethei on a pioject of mutual inteiest
O Pioject must be of high impoitance anu value to each paity anu cannot be completeu
inuiviuually
points regarding negotiation situations are important:
. It is impoitant to question whethei an issue that appeais to be nonnegotiable oi that
someone states as being so tiuly is
. If theie is no way to cieate auueu value foi youiself in a negotiation, you shoulu not be
negotiating in the fiist place
Tbe scorecard for an effective negotiation consists of outcomes:
. ll paities believe they maue a goou ueal
. The ielationship is maintaineu oi even impioveu
. ach negotiatoi's constituents aie satisfieu with the agieement
The most successful negotiations aie chaiacteiizeu by all of these outcomes.
Win-lose negotiation - negotiation appioach in which an inuiviuual seeks to win the negotiation
theieby causing the othei paity to lose
In some situations the possibility of losing is not acceptable. amples of such situations incluue
negotiating with:
O oui boss
O oui peeis, both inuiviuually anu as a gioup
O ajoi clients youi company has hau foi multiple yeais
O Potential paitneis foi long-teim ventuies
When people feel they have lost, they aie not likely to want to uo business with you again oi may
even be looking to get even. Neithei of these is goou foi builuing long-teim ielationships.
Win-wing negotiation - negotiation appioach in which an inuiviuual woiks to seek a mutually
acceptable solution to the conflict
collaboiating conflict management style best iepiesents the win-win appioach to negotiations.
Cbaracteristics of win-win negotiation:
O focus on common inteiests iathei than uiffeiences
O n attempt to auuiess neeus anu inteiests iathei than baigaining positions
O commitment to helping the othei paity meet theii neeus also
O n echange of infoimation anu iueas
O The cieation of options foi mutual gain - cieating value foi both paities
Tbe stages of tbe negotiation process:
. Prepare
a. The most impoitant pait of negotiation
b. Tips foi goou negotiation piepaiation:
i. iganize the issues
ii. Talk to othei people who have infoimation you neeu
. Seek out othei people you know who have conuucteu similai
negotiations
. Talk to youi constituents
. Talk in auvance to the othei paities
iii. Reseaich the paities you'll be negotiating with
. Leain theii ieputation (competitive oi coopeiative)
. Bo the issues seem to be scaice iesouices like money oi time
a. ay move towaiu competitive
. Bo you believe they have an inteiest in maintaining a goou
ielationship
a. If yes, coopeiative
. Is this an ongoing ielationship oi a one-time negotiation
a. oie competitive in one-time negotiations
. Bo you think they will tiust you with all the infoimation they have
on the topics to be negotiateu
a. Lack of tiust anu infoimation hoaiuing aie chaiacteiistics of
competitive negotiations
c. BATNA = est lteinative To a Negotiateu gieement
. Understand needs
. List and discuss options
. Process
. End
. Evaluate
Types of difficult negotiators:
O Aggressive opener = negotiatoi unneives otheis by making nasty comments about theii
pievious peifoimance oi othei iemaiks to belittle the opponent
O Long pauser = will not answei immeuiately; appeai to give comments substantial thought
with long silences; hopes silences will get the othei siue to ieveal auuitional infoimation
O Mocker = mocks anu sneeis at the othei paity's pioposals to angei the othei siue so that
they will say something they may latei iegiet
O Interrogator = challenges all comments with seaiching questions meant to suggest the
othei paity has not uone theii homewoik; contests any answeis anu asks the opposition to
eplain fuithei what they mean
O Sbeep's clotbing = appeais to be ieasonable while making impossible uemanus
O Divide and conquer = piouuces uissension within othei paity to cieate inteinal conflict;
allies with one membei of the team anu tiies to play him oi hei off against the othei
membeis of the team
O Dummy = pietenus to be uense anu by uoing so easpeiates the opposition in hopes of
uiawing out moie infoimation oi lulling the opponent into a false sense of supeiioiity
Tbe BATNA is tbe yardstick against wbicb you measure any possible agreement:
O n agieement TTR than youi TN shoulu be accepteu
O n agieement WRS than youi TN shoulu not be accepteu
O goou TN ieuuces youi uepenuence on the othei paity
O veiy weak TN can leau you to accepteu veiy unuesiiable situations
4 : a peison uiiving acioss ueseit uoes not have a veiy goou TN when they pull
up to the only gas station foi miles
any people begin negotiating by stating theii positions oi what they want. 0nfoitunately,
positions uon't ieally give much infoimation. They tell what we want, but not the tiue unueilying
ieasons why we want it. If the othei paity knows oui tiue neeus, they have the ability to offei
possible options we may have nevei consiueieu.
So nevei begin a negotiation by stating positions - begin by uiscussing the neeus anu inteiests of
the paities.
s you uiscuss options with the othei paity, it is often helpful to talk in hypotheticals which let you
eploie cieative possibilities with less piessuie anu helps both paities think thiough issues they
may have not pieviously consiueieu.
Unce you bave list of options and are discussing tbem, use tbese tactics to acbieve your
ob|ectives:
. Look foi key infoimation fiom the othei paity
a. Infoimation is the lifebloou of negotiation
b. ou want to unueistanu the othei paity's unueilying neeus anu inteiests
c. nu if they have a ueauline, you want to know it
. aking concessions
a. peiiences negotiatois will always leave themselves ioom to make at least some
concessions
b. viuence shows that people feel bettei about a settlement when the negotiation hau
a piogiessive set of concessions because people want to believe they aie capable of
shaping the othei's behavioi
c. "Boulwareism" = nameu aftei u's take it oi leave it stiategy fiom theii laboi
negotiatoi Lemuel R. oulwaie
i. 0nions hau no influence on the othei paity oi outcome
u. Pareto efficient outcome = one in which two paities ieach an agieement iesulting
in both paities being bettei off anu no othei change to the agieement coulu bolstei
both equally (one paity woulu ultimately benefit moie)
. Some common foims of leveiage
a. Leverage = the piinciple of using a small auvantage, oi meiely a peiceiveu
auvantage, to gain a much laigei benefit
. Leveiage of legitimacy
a. The goal of this foim is to give the impiession an issues is not negotiable to the
etent the othei paity believes this anu uoes not attempt to negotiate
b. Two lessons to leain:
i. ake it look nonnegotiable - if you uon't want something to be negotiateu,
think of ways to make it appeai this way
ii. sk - theie is no oi minimal iisk in asking whethei an issue that appeais to
be nonnegotiable tiuly is
. Leveiage of timing
a. common tactic is to get up anu leave saying, "let me think about it, I'll be back"
b. ou may gain seveial benefits by using this:
i. ou contiol the timing of when the negotiation will continue
ii. ou get the oppoitunity to collect youi thoughts anu plan the net step in
negotiating
iii. ou gain an oppoitunity to consult with othei people, incluuing youi own
constituents, anu collect fuithei infoimation
iv. ou can use the time to talk to othei paities to see if a bettei ueal is
elsewheie
v. ou can put piessuie on the othei paity, if the othei paity is facing a
ueauline
. luffing caiiies a iisk
a. luffing incuis iisks:
i. eavy hanueu bluffing can stiain ielationships
ii. If the bluff fails, the negotiation can be ovei
When a negotiation uiaws to its close, always keep multiple issues on the table until the veiy enu.
uives the oppoitunity to make tiaue offs so each paity believes they maue a goou ueal. nce
agieement is maue, you'll want some level of uocumentation of the teims of agieement. If you ask
foi agieement in wiiting:
O ou can offenu the othei paity. Paiticulaily common in cioss-cultuial negotiation. sking
foi a contiact is offensive because it implies a lack of tiust in the ielationship (}apan anu
South meiica)
O ou stiain the ielationship
If you don't ask for tbe agreement in writing:
O The othei paities can latei uisagiee about the teims of agieement
O ne oi moie paities may back out of the agieement
O The iesouices you aie investing aie at moie iisk
O oui constituents, paiticulaily youi boss, may not be satisfieu
Actions of Superior Negotiators in planning:
. Consiuei moie possible solutions anu options
. Spenu moie time looking foi common inteiests
. Think moie about long-teim consequences
Actions of Superior Negotiators in actual negotiation:
. ie moie likely to begin by taking a coopeiative iathei than competitive stance
. ake fewei inteimeuiate counteipioposals
. ake a gieatei effoit to unueistanu the othei paity's inteiests
. sk moie questions, especially to test unueistanuing
. ie less likely to uesciibe theii offeis in glowing, positive teims
. ave a gieatei fiequency of topic changes
. Summaiize the piogiess maue uuiing the negotiation
n effective meuiatoi must convince the paities to tiust him oi hei, then to tiust the negotiation
piocess itself, anu finally to begin to tiust each othei. few guiuelines:
O Choose a comfoitable, neutial space away fiom ay paity's "tuif"
O Scheuule shoit meetings anu be involveu foi as shoit of a time as possible
O Listen with an open minu anu uo not say much
O e iespectful anu epiess only positive opinions of the paities involveu
O mphasize a uesiie to help, uo not pick siues
O ssuie paities that all conveisations aie helu in stiict confiuence
O e a iole mouel anu builu a stiong ieputation foi staying on task anu uoing what you say
An effective mediator also:
. Is uoggeu in leaining anu applying facts
. iames the uisputeu claims into the ieal issues
. aintains neutiality
. Seeks to unueistanu the unueilying inteiest of each paity