Conflict Management and Bargaining Strategies in Workplace

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Power is one of the most significant aspects of organizational leadership. Not only is it essential

to gaining more control over decision-making matters, it is also important in moving up the

hierarchy. Having power and using it for your purpose are two different phenomena. For

example, any manager or supervisor with the authority to reward or punish his employees has the

freedom to pass orders without being challenged since most of his requests are approved merely

because of the power allotted to him [ CITATION Din11 \l 1033 ].

There are several different types of power strategies that are used by different employers to

ensure organizational balance and control of power. Mostly, legitimate power is associated with

the role an individual has in an organization, such as a manager. Reward power comes with the

ability to reward employees such as pay rise and other attractive perks. Reward power and

legitimate power accompany each other effectively and are greatest when there a minimum

reward available. In addition to this, coercive powers work to take away an employee’s power

and privileges, it is to do with someone in supply chain.

From a very early age, I have learned the basics of politics, its purpose and how it can be used to

develop an effective system. This has led to great interest in political activities from my side

especially politics involving society issues, workplace matters and governmental concerns.

Despite being a strong supporter of politics in such matter, I have always vouched to keep

politics away from my workplaces. The aim has always been to prevent power of politics from

affecting my position in any organization as I believe use of politics to influence greater

authority or perks in an organization is equivalent to taking unfair advantage.

With vast corporate experience under my belt, I have worked at several organizations where I

have witnessed the abuse of power and use of politics to receive unfair advantages such as

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greater perks and rewards, frequent promotions and causing unnecessary conflicts for personal

gains. During my role as a consumer banking Intern in one of the finest banks in the country, I

had the experience of working under a tyrannical supervisor who not only provided frequent

punishment to his employees but was also the reason behind several demotions, resignations as

well as drop in productivity and sales. Despite being an intern, I received an equal treatment as

my colleagues. During the period of six weeks, I had to complete six major projects instead of

the planed three and was work up to twelve hours daily along with my teams for project

execution. This period of my life remains to be one of the fondest memories of my career since it

taught me a lesson on corporate hardships very early in the career and prepared me to be ready

for anything in this line [ CITATION MaZ07 \l 1033 ].

As per Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI), used by various HR departments

across the world, there are five key styles that are used to tackle on conflict management

situations: collaborating, competing, avoiding, accommodating and compromising. Each style

has its own benefits and drawbacks and is suited to a personality independently thus all of them

hold significant value.

While I have experience many of these styles, the most suitable style that fits my personality

objectives is collaboration style. The combination of being assertive and cooperative at the same

time while trying to reach a solution that satisfies all parties is one my favorite aspects of this

method. A style which is in opposition of avoidance strategy, the aim to is to provide both sides

what they want and reduce the negative feelings generated. As a result, this style is applicable in

situations when long-term relationships of two or more parties are on the line and are dependent

on the outcome of this conflict. This happens to be an occurrence more frequently such as

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integration of two different departments into one where you aim to get the best out of this newly

formed department.

With a tendency to seek win-win situations for all parties involved, I have always made use of

integrative business strategies seek solutions that are acceptable for all parties. Famously known

as the interest-based bargaining, this negotiation strategy is based on developing mutually

beneficial relationship that cater the interests of all disputants. In my corporate experience, these

two strategies align perfectly in deriving the best possible solutions for both parties. However,

with multiple options on the table to explore with both strategies, several combinations are

possible depending on the circumstances.

Bibliography
Dinar, S. (2011). Conflict and cooperation along international rivers: scarcity, bargaining strategies, and

negotiation. Beyond resource wars: scarcity, environmental degradation, and international

cooperation, 165.

Ma, Z. (2007). Chinese conflict management styles and negotiation behaviors: An empirical

test. International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 7(1), 101-119.

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