Group 2: Chapter 14 - Conflicts and Negotiations

Conflict is a phase that starts when one party perceives that something that the first party worries about
has negatively impacted, or is about to negatively affect, another party. Functional conflict are conflicts
that help the group's objectives and enhance its success. Dysfunctional conflict is conflict that hinders
group performance. There are three types of conflict: 1. Task conflict is conflict over content and goals of
the work. 2. Relationship conflict is conflict based on interpersonal relationships. 3. Process conflict is
conflict over how work gets done. Relationship disputes often tend to be the most physically exhausting
of the three forms for people. Task conflict was positively correlated with success among top
management teams, while lower friction in the company was negatively associated with group
performance. Another way of interpreting conflict is to consider its locus, or the context in which the
conflict takes place. There are three loci of conflict: 1. Dyadic conflict is conflict that occurs between two
people. 2. Intragroup conflict is conflict that occurs within a group or team. 3. Intergroup conflict is
conflict between different groups or teams. Functional and unstable conflict awareness requires not only
that we consider the type of conflict, but also that we need to know where it happens.

The second thing is The conflict process. Firstly, stage of conflict is the appearance of conditions that
create opportunities for it to arise. We group the conditions into three general categories: communication ,
structure, and personal variables. Secondly, just because a disagreement is a perceived conflict does not
mean it is personalized. Emotions play a major role in shaping perceptions. Thirdly, Intentions intervene
between people’s perceptions and emotions , and their overt behavior. There is slippage between
intentions and behaviors, so behaviors does not always accurately reflect a person’s intentions. When one
person seeks to satisfy his other own interests regardless of the impact on the other parties in the conflict,
that person is competing . We refer to this intention as accommodating. Next , The behavior stage
includes statements, actions, and reactions made by conflicting parties, usually as overt attempts to
implement their own intentions. Under ideal conditions , a person’s intentions should translate into
comparable behaviors. Lastly, outcomes is divided into two part. Firstly, The destructive consequences of
conflict on the performance of a group or an organization are generally well known: Uncontrolled
opposition breeds discontent, which acts to dissolve common ties and eventually leads to the destruction
of the group. Secondly, is managing functional conflict. In addition to knowing the principles of conflict
motivation we just discussed, there are some practical guidelines for managers.

Negotiation is the process in which 2 or more parties exchange goods and services and attempt to agree
on the the exchange rate for the. There are two general approaches to negotiation: distributive bargaining(
negotiation that seek to divide up a fixed amount of resources, a win lose situation. The essence of it is
negotiating over who gets what share of a fixed pie) and integrative bargaining ( negotiation that seeks
one or more settlements that can create a win-win solution, it tend to built animosity and deepen divisions
when people have to work together on an ongoing basis. Compromise maybe your worse enemy in
negotiating a win-win agreement.
Research provides 5 crucial steps in the negotiation process: (1) Preparation and planning – which mean
do your homework, studies the history leading up to this negotiation, set goals and assess the other party’s
goals, prepare our arguents with facts and figures and always aim for the win-win situation. (2) Definition
of Ground Rules – we inform the other party who will do the negotiation, where will it take place, and
what issue need to be avoid or understand before going into the negotiation (3) Clarification and
Justification – this phase is best for educating each other on the issues (4) Bargaining and Problem
Solving – The essence of the negotiation process is the actual give-and-take in trying to hash out an
agreement. This is where both parties need to make concessions. (5) Closure and Implementation – The
final step is formalizing the agreement and developing procedures necessary for implementing and
monitoring it.
Four factors influence how effectively in individual negotiate: personality, mood emotion culture
and gender. Personality trait in negotiation: Most research has focused on the big five traits of
agreeableness, for obvious reasons-agreeable individual are cooperative, compliant kind and conflict
averse. It appears that the degree to which agreeableness and personality more generally affect
negotiation outcome depending on the situation, then type of negotiation may matter as well. Self-
efficiency is one individual different variables that consistently seem to relate to negotiation outcome.
Mood/emotion in negotiations: a Negotiator who show anger can induce concession. Another factor is
how genuine your anger is “faked” anger, or anger produced from surface acting ,is not effective, but
showing anger that genuine is. Another relevant emotion is disappointment, a negotiator who perceives
disappointment from his or her counterpart concedes more. Anxiety also appear to have an impact on
negotiation. Culture in negotiations: it appear that people generally negotiate more effectively within
culture than between them, also it appears that cross cultural negotiations it is especially important that
negotiators be high in openness. Finally because emotion are culturally sensitive, negotiator needs to be
especially aware of the emotional dynamic in cross-culture negotiation. Gender differences in
negotiations: There are many areas of organizational behavior in which men and women are not that
different. A popular stereotype is that woman are More corporative and pleasant in negotiation than man.
These differences affect both negotiation behavior and negotiation outcome, Compared to men, women
tend to behave in the less assertive, less self interest and more accommodation manner. One
comprehensive literature review suggest that the tendencies for men to receive better negotiation outcome
in some situation does not cover all situation. Factors that increase the predictability of negotiation also
tend to reduce gender difference. Research is less clear on whether a woman can improve the outcome by
showing some gentle stereotypic behavior. But other researcher disagree and argue that what can best
benefit woman is to break down gender stereotype for the individual to hold them.

To really understand negotiations in practice, then, we must consider the social factors of reputation and
relationships. Your reputation is the way other people think and talk about you. And when it comes to
negotiation, having a reputation for being trustworthy matter.Individuals who have higher reputations are
better liked have more understood power in negotiations The most effective way to build trust is
consistently convey a combination of competence and integrity. And there is more to repeated
negotiations than just reputation. Repeated negotiations built on a foundation of trust over time will also
help negotiation partners share emotional bonds, and those relationships is what make the negotiations
become more effective.
When issues between negotiating parties are unable to resolve, a third-party negotiator can be turn in to
help. There are three basic third-party roles: mediator, arbitrator, and conciliator. A mediator facilitates a
negotiated solution by using reasoning, persuasion, and suggestions for alternatives. An Arbitrator has
the authority to dictate an agreement. A conciliator is trusted to provides an informal communication
link between the negotiator and the opponent.
In reflection, many people assume conflict lowers group and organizational performance, this assumption
is frequently incorrect. Conflict can be either constructive or destructive to the functioning of a group or
unit. Levels of conflict can be either too high or too low to be constructive. Either extreme hinders
performance. An optimal level is one that prevents stagnation, stimulates creativity, allows tensions to be
released, and initiates the seeds of change without being disruptive or preventing the coordination of
activities. So, it all depends on the capabilities of the leaders, the leaders must strive to stabilize the
conflict level between employees and promote to create better productivity.