Managing Conflict

In Organizations
UWI MSBM
 Defining Conflict

The term conflict refers to any situation where two or

more mutually exclusive goals are sought and cannot be
achieved at the same time, or where two disparate
approaches are taken to achievement of the same goal”.
 Definition
“ . . .a struggle over values or claims to status, power,
and scarce resources, in which the aims of the
conflicting parties are not only to gain the desired values
but also to neutralize, injure or eliminate rivals.” (1968,
p. 232, cited in Picard, 1998, p. 3)
 Dispute Vs Conflict

Disputes are open manifestations of underlying conflict;

All disputes are conflicts but not all conflicts are
disputes;
But it is hard to find examples of open conflicts that
could not ALSO be viewed as a dispute.
 21st century approach to conflict
Conflict and dispute doesn't exist in the workplace without a preexisting
problem
Identifying the source (issues) of the conflict before it turns into a
dispute is key to workplace harmony and maintaining productivity
Issues such as:
i. Personal problems
ii. Cultural differences
iii. Management style
iv. Precarious employment/engagement
 Conflict (Fenn, Lowe and Speck)

“Conflict. . . exists wherever there is incompatibility of interest,

and therefore is pandemic. Conflict can be managed, possibly to
the extent of preventing a dispute resulting from the conflict.”
http://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/conmgt/v15y1997i6p513-518.html
 Dispute (Fenn, Lowe and Speck

“Dispute is associated with distinct justiciable issues.

Disputes require resolution. This means that they can be
managed: the process of dispute resolution lends itself to
third party intervention.”
http://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/conmgt/v15y1997i6p513-
518.html
 Three Concepts
Resolving a dispute involves an understanding of three concepts .
Interests
Rights and
Power
These are the three basic elements
of any dispute.
 Interest & Position

The parties to a dispute have certain interests at stake.

“Interests are needs, desires, concerns, fears – the things
one cares about or wants.”
(Brett and Goldberg, p. 5)
“Solutions or outcomes pre-determined by one party
without consideration for the interest of others.”
 Interests v. Positions

Interests underlie the positions that people adopt when they set
out to settle a dispute.
Rights
Rights refer to independent standards established under law or
under contract or – in industrial relations – under custom and
practice (socially acceptable standards of behaviour).
Power
Power is the ability to force another party to do something
against his will or natural inclination.
Using the concepts

These three concepts give us an insight into three different

approaches that parties might take to resolving a dispute.
Three approaches

In seeking to resolve a dispute parties may take one of three

approaches. They may. . .
◦ . . . attempt to reconcile their underlying interests
◦ . . . determine who is right and/or
◦ . . . determine who is most powerful.
Interest based methods

This involves methods for teasing out, identifying the

respective interest of disputing parties and seeking to find
common ground. The most common is interest-based
negotiation. Another is mediation/conciliation.
Determine Who Is Right
• Where the parties focus on determining who is right they
employ some independent standard such as the law or
clauses in a CLA.
• Parties who take this approach to negotiating IR
disputes will often end up at the IDT and then to
perhaps go to the Court
Determining who is more powerful

Exercising power in IR usually means a strike (lock-

out) or the threat of a strike (lock-out). The idea is
to impose some cost on the other party such that
he feels that it is cheaper to give in to your
demands, or drop demands that he is making on
you.
Determining who is more powerful
Exercising power in IR usually means a strike (lock-
out) or the threat of a strike (lock-out). The idea is
to impose some cost on the other party such that
he feels that it is cheaper to give in to your
demands, or drop demands that he is making on
you.
Which approach is best

Depends on four interrelated considerations . . .

Transaction costs
Satisfaction with outcomes
Effect on relationships
Recurrence/sustainability
Transactions Cost

• This is a term used to describe the cost of

disputing. In power-based approaches the party
who has the ability to impose the highest cost is
more likely to win.
Satisfaction

• A party will believe that a dispute is properly

resolved if that party is satisfied with the
outcome. Workers may feel satisfied at the end
of a strike if they have stuck it to management –
even if they have lost money.
 Relationship

• In some cases (certainly in IR) the future

relationship matters a lot!
 Sustainability

• Good practitioners recognise that a solution must

be sustainable. One does not want the same
dispute to recur again or for the settlement to
“fail to stick”
(Brett and Goldberg, p. 12)
Why use interest-based approaches?

• “. . . In general, reconciling interests is less costly

than determining who is right, which in turn is less
costly than determining who is more powerful.”
 Not interests alone . .

• But focussing on interests is not invariably better

“resolving all disputes by reconciling interests
alone is neither possible nor desirable” (p. 15)
 When to Use Rights or Power

• Only when absolutely necessary e.g.

–When the other party won’t come to the negotiating
table
–Impasse/efforts at interest-based negotiation exhausted
–When the relationship does not matter or there is no
long term relationship
 Keys to Bringing Rights / Power
Negotiators to Interests:

• Don’t reciprocate or . . .
• Reciprocate but add an interests-based
proposal
• Don’t get personal
 Non-resolution

• Not all disputes are resolved along the lines we

suggest. Other possibilities are . . .
–One party drops the claim – disengagement
–Avoidance or non-engagement
Look at the Thomas-Kilman Model
 Negotiation

Is a good way to resolve many conflicts and/or

disputes
• Distributive bargaining
• Integrative Bargaining – interest based
negotiations – problem solving approaches to
negotiation.
 Effective Communication & Active
Listening in Conflict Resolution

If you talk to a man in a language he

understands, that goes to his head. If you talk
to him in his language, that goes to his
heart….Nelson Mandela
 Introduction
• What you say and how you say it can be critical to the
success of a negotiation and conflict management
• Similarly the ability to listen well is an important and highly
underrated skill.
• In this section we look at
–Definition of communication
–The importance of communication in negotiation
–Distinction between verbal and non-verbal communication
–Different channels of communication and how they affect
quality and effectiveness.
 Barriers to Effective Communication
At least three broad sets of factors can
distort communication
◦Sender ineffectiveness
◦Receiver ineffectiveness
◦Environmental Issues - noise
 Communication Channels
• “Communication channels are the means available to communicate with
another person or group. “
• E.g.
–direct face-to-face communication (e.g. meetings),
– telecommunications (telephone, e-mail, direct social media e.g.
twitter, Skype)
–indirect communication (through third parties or the traditional
broadcast media, books ‘snail mail’ type letters etc.)
 The Meaning in Communications
• Words in a message account for only 7% of the
meaning transmitted
• Body language = 55%
• Tone of voice = 38%
- Example: speaker believes he clearly communicated the task “I need this
done as soon as possible” but listener may have sensed a relaxed body
posture, reinterprets ‘as soon as possible’ into ‘within a week or two’
- Also, receiver’s values, beliefs, expectations and experiences impact how
they consciously and subconsciously transmit and interpret messages
sent/received
DeMarr & Janasz
 Negotiation and Communication

• ‘When all is said and done, negotiation is really a

specialised form of communication. This means
that everything that can be used to
communicate can be used in negotiating.’ (Illich, 1999, p.
56)
 Verbal Communication
• Linguistic style refers to a persons characteristic
speaking pattern.
• It includes such features as directness or indirectness,
pacing or pausing, word choice, and the use of such
elements as jokes, figures of speech, stories, questions,
and apologies. In other words . . .
• A set of culturally learned signals by which we not only
communicate what we mean but also interpret others’
meaning and evaluate one another as people. (Tannen, in Lewicki
et a., p. 161)
 The List of Skills
• Treat your counterpart well
• Speak clearly in a manner which encourages listening
• Express strong feelings appropriately
• Remain rational in the face of strong feelings
• Be assertive but don’t damage the relationship
• Improve relationship but don’t compromise the
negotiation
• Ask questions and listen effectively
 The Golden Rule

• ‘Treat your opponent in the way in which you

want your opponent to treat you . . . It becomes
very difficult to resist agreeing with you, because
it’s always difficult to resist agreeing with a
decent person.” (p. 7)
 Advantages of the Golden Rule

• Eliminate much of the tension usually present in a

negotiating situation
• Remove any reason for your opponent to resent
you – will encourage him to listen to you.
 Speak Clearly

‘At all stages of the negotiation it is important to

speak clearly so that there is no danger of
misinterpretation.’ . (Ilich, p. 43)
lSome prescriptions:
lSpeak clearly - use short clear sentences
lSpeak for yourself
lAvoid attribution and check assumptions
lAsk them to repeat
 Use Short Clear Sentences

• ‘The longer the statement you make, the more

they will edit it so that they can respond.
• The more important your message is the more
succinct it should be.
• If argument is complex – break it down
 Simple is not Simplistic
• If you are buying a computer/car/house you must know
the lingo
• Sometimes it is better to have someone act as your
agent.
• When you know the language of the business
–Your counterpart will immediately understand
–You can exercise more influence – info power
–You may be recognized as an equal
 Do not dilute your argument
• In many areas of life we are encouraged to provide
‘weighty arguments’
–‘Balancing the scales’
–‘Tipping the argument in our favour’
–‘The weight of the argument’
–Issues ‘hanging in the balance’
• The implication is that there is some special merit to
quantity
• The skilled negotiator uses fewer reasons to back up his
position – relies on the strength of his principal argument
 Express Feeling Appropriately
• Its OK to be emotional and express feelings
• Relate tone to substance - do not ‘act out”
people will learn not to take you seriously
• Be aware of “emotions” of others – could
be an act.
 Remain Rational in the Face of Strong
Feelings
• Recall the cycle of attack/defense
• Don’t get caught up in someone else’s emotional
outburst
–Acknowledge their feelings
–Step above the fray
–Encourage them to let it all out
–Separate the feelings from the problem/issue
–Consider whether or not being emotional is helping to solve the
problem
Deference and Indirect Communication
• Indirectness – a tendency to say what we mean without
spelling it out in so many words (Tannen, in Lewicki et al., p. 170)

• Some people are more likely to speak indirectly

–Women v. Men
–Subordinates to their superiors
• Indirectness may signal lack of confidence
 The Best Way to Speak?

• Tannen says the best way is contingent upon

–Authority
–Culture of organisation
–Linguistic styles and the interplay of these styles
 Desiderata
As far as possible, without surrender, be on
good terms with all persons. Speak your truth
quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to
the dull and ignorant; they too have their story”
.
 Communication 101

A key principle for effective interpersonal

communication is: Seek first to understand;
then to be understood
 Listening and Nonverbal Communication
in Negotiation

Beyond hearing, listening is attaching

meaning to the words from all of the
verbal and nonverbal signals
 The Role of Listening

People seldom work hard at listening. Often in conflictual

situations, they hardly listen at all Rather, while their
opponent is talking, they are busy planning their own
response
 Type of Listening
•Passive Listening - one is trying to absorb the information without
attempting to process or enhance the messages being sent
•Attentive Listening - one is genuinely interested and attempts to
fill in the gaps with assumptions based on what the listener wants
to hear rather than what the speaker is actually saying
 Type of Listening
Active Listening – the most powerful level which requires the greatest amount of
work for the listener; communication is a vibrant two-way process that involves
high levels of attentiveness, clarification (via feedback) and message processing
 Definition of Active Listening

• “. . . A communication skill that helps people

solve their own problem.” (p. 40)
• An approach to listening in which the receiver
strives to understand the content, feelings and
interests of the sender.
 Dimensions of effective listening:

•Sensing – hearing the words and receiving the

nonverbal signals
• Processing and evaluating – understanding the
meaning, interpreting the implications, evaluating the
nonverbal cues and remembering the message
• Responding – the listener sending the speaker verbal
or nonverbal signals that he is being heard
 Active Listening in Negotiating
• Shows the speaker that you are concerned
• Leads to better information
• Helps the other party feel they’ve been heard
(important when other party is feeling emotional)
• Invites reciprocity in listening
• Leads to better cooperation and problem solving
• Builds better relationships
 Why active listening . . . ?

• Facilitates communication
• Builds trust
• Facilitate problem solving
• Reduce conflict . . .
• It works
 You May Need It. . .
• In many circumstances it may be necessary to
only listen. . . . a speech . . . in church. You ensure
that you hear and you try to ensure that you
understand.
• Active listening is critically important in resolving
disputes. Under thsese circumstances there is a
problem and the sender is expressing certain
feelings about the problem
 When You Need It
• You use active listening when the other party has
a problem which is caused by your conduct or is
perceived to have been caused by your
conduct.
• When someone else is causing (or is seen to be
causing) you a problem, active listening is
necessary on their part
• Front line supervisors need the skill of active
listening.
 Active Listening
Active listening a.k.a
Empathic listening a.k.a
Empathetic listening

• An approach to listening in which the receiver strives to

understand the content, feelings and interests of the
sender.
 Blocks to active listening
•Judging people
•Thinking in advance you know what someone is
going to say
•Twisting a message to make it say what you
want someone to say
•Your own emotions
 Listening to people you do not like
• Sometimes communication is hampered if you
dislike, mistrust the sender.
• It is necessary in such circumstances to separate
the sender from the message.
 Listening to people you do not like
Listen patiently to what the other
person has to say, even though you
may believe it is wrong or irrelevant.