Conflict and Negotiation

Bunga Aprigati Iskandar, SEI., MSc

Conflict Defined

 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.
 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: The
Traditional View of Conflict
 The belief that all conflict is harmful and must be avoided
 Conflict was bad and to be avoided
 It is viewed negatively and discussed with such terms as violence, destruction, and
irrationality to reinforce its negative connotation
Transitions in Conflict Thought: The
Interactionist View of Conflict
 The belief that conflict is not only a positive force in a group but also an
absolute necessity for a group to perform effectively
 It encourages conflict on the grounds that a harmonious, peaceful, tranquil,
and cooperative group is prone to becoming apathetic, and unresponsive to
needs for change and innovation
 Functional conflict
 Dysfunctional conflict
 Functional conflict
 Conflict that supports the goal of the group and improves its performance
 Dysfunctional conflict
 Conflict that hinders group performance
Transitions in Conflict Thought: The
Resolution-Focused View of Conflict
 The managed conflict perspective does recognize that conflict is probably
inevitable in most organizations, and it focuses more on productive conflict
resolution.
Types of Interactionalist Conflict

• Conflicts over content and goal of the work

Task conflict • Low-to-moderate level of this type are
FUNCTIONAL

Relationship • Conflict based on interpersonal relationships

conflict • Almost always DYSFUNCTIONAL

Process • Conflict over how work needs to be done

conflict • Low level of this type are FUNCTIONAL
The Conflict Process
Stage I: Potential Opposition or
Incompatibility
Communication
• Semantic difficulties, misunderstanding, over communication and noise

Structure
• Size and specialization of jobs
• Jurisdictional clarity/ambiguity
• Member/goal incompatibility
• Leadership style
• Reward systems
• dependence/interdependence of groups
Personal Variables
• Differing individual value systems
• Personality types
Stage II: Cognition and Personalization

Perceived conflict Felt conflict

• Awareness by one or • Emotional

more parties of the involvement in a
existence of conflict creating
conditions that anxiety, tenseness,
create opportunities frustration, or
for conflict to arise hostility
Stage III: Intentions

 Intentions
 Decisions to act in a given way
 Behavior does not always accurately reflect intention
 Dimensions of conflict-handling intentions
 Cooperativeness
 Attempting to satisfy the other party’s concerns

 Assertiveness
 Attempting to satisfy one’s own concerns
Stage IV: Behavior
 Conflict Management
 The use of resolution and stimulation techniques to achieve the desired level of
conflict
 Conflict-Intensity Continuum

Annihilatory Overt efforts to destroy the other party

conflict Aggressive physical attacks
Threats and ultimatums
Assertive verbal attacks
Overt questioning or challenging of others
Minor disagreements or misunderstandings

No Conflict
Conflict Management Techniques

Conflict Resolution Techniques Conflict Stimulation Techniques

• Problem solving • Bringing in outsiders

• Superordinate goals • Communication
• Expansion of resources • Restructuring the organization
• Avoidance • Appointing a devil’s advocate
• Smoothing
• Compromise
• Authoritative command
• Altering the human variable
• Altering the structural
variable
Stage V: Outcomes

Managing functional
Functional Dysfunctional
conflict
• Increased group • Development of • Reward dissent and
performance discontent punish conflict avoiders
• Improved quality of • Reduced group
decisions effectiveness
• Stimulation of creativity • Retarded
and innovation communication
• Encouragement of • Reduced group
interest and curiosity cohesiveness
• Provision of a medium • Infighting among group
for problem solving members overcomes
• Creation of an group goals
environment for self-
evaluation and change
Negotiation

 A process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services and

attempt to agree on the exchange rate for them
 Two general approaches
 Distributive Bargaining
 Negotiation that seeks to divide up a fixed amount of resources; a win-lose situation

 Integrative Bargaining
 Negotiation that seeks one or more settlements that can create a win-win solution
Distributive vs Integrative Bargaining

Bargaining Characteristic Distributive Bargaining Integrative Bargaining

Goal Get all the pie you can Expand the pie
Motivation Win-lose Win-win
Focus Positions Interests
Information sharing Low High
Duration of relationships Short-term Long-term
The Negotiation Process

 BATNA
 The Best Alternative To a Negative
Agreement
 The lowest acceptable value
(outcome) to an individual for a
negotiated agreement
Individual Differences in Negotiation
Effectiveness
 Personality traits
 Extroverts and agreeable people are weaker at distributive negotiation;
disagreeable introverts are best
 Intelligence is a weak indicator of effectiveness
 Mood and emotion
 Ability to show anger helps in distributive bargaining
 Positive moods and emotions help integrative bargaining
 Gender
 Men and women negotiate the same way, but may experience different outcomes
Third-Part Negotiations

Mediator •A neutral third party who facilitates a negotiated solution by

using reasoning, persuasion, and suggestions for alternatives

Arbitrator •A third party to a negotiation who has the authority to

dictate an agreement

Conciliator
•A trusted third party who provides an informal
communication link between the negotiator and the
opponent

Consultant
•An impartial third party, skilled in conflict management,
who attempts to facilitate creative problem solving through
communication and analysis
Global Implication

 Conflict and culture

 Two people from different countries view conflict differently
 E.g. Indian managers are more likely to use accommodation and avoidance while
French managers are likely to use competing tactics
 Cultural differences in Negotiations
 Multiple cross-cultural studies on negotiation styles, some of them are:
 American negotiators are more likely than Japanese bargainers to make a first offer
 North Americans use facts to persuade; Arabs use emotion; and Russians use asserted ideas
 Brazilians say ‘no’ more often than American or Japanese