CHAPTER 17

Managing Conflict,
Politics,
and Negotiation

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 Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

1. Explain why conflict arises and identify

the types and sources of conflict in
organizations.
2. Describe conflict management strategies
that managers can use to resolve conflict
effectively.
3. Understand the nature of negotiation and
why integrative bargaining is more
effective than distributive negotiation.

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 Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

4. Describe ways in which managers can

promote integrative bargaining in
organizations.
5. Explain why managers need to be
attuned to organizational politics, and
describe the political strategies that
managers can use to become politically
skilled.

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 Organizational Conflict

Organizational conflict
• The discord that arises when the goals,
interests, or values of different individuals or
groups are incompatible and those individuals
or groups block one another’s attempts to
achieve their objectives
• Conflict inevitable
• Can exist between departments and divisions

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 Figure 17.1 The Effect of Conflict on
Organizational Performance

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 Types of Conflict (1 of 3)

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 Types of Conflict (2 of 3)

Interpersonal conflict
• Conflict between individuals due to
differences in their goals or values
Intragroup conflict
• Conflict within a group, team or department

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 Types of Conflict (3 of 3)

Intergroup conflict
• Conflict between two or more teams, groups
or departments
• Managers play key role in resolution
Interorganizational conflict
• Conflict that arises across organizations

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 Sources of Conflict (1 of 5)

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 Sources of Conflict (2 of 5)

Different goals and time horizons

• Different groups have differing goals and time
horizons.
Overlapping authority
• Two or more managers claim authority for the
same activities, which leads to conflict.

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 Sources of Conflict (3 of 5)

Task interdependencies
• One member of a group or a group fails to
finish a task that another member or group
depends on, causing the waiting worker or
group to fall behind.

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 Sources of Conflict (4 of 5)

Different evaluation or reward systems

• A group is rewarded for achieving a goal, but
another interdependent group is rewarded for
achieving a goal that conflicts with the first
group.

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 Sources of Conflict (5 of 5)

Scarce resources
• Managers can come into conflict over the
allocation of scare resources.
Status inconsistencies
• Some individuals and groups have a higher
organizational status than others, leading to
conflict with lower-status groups.

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 Conflict Management Strategies (1 of 7)

Functional conflict resolution

• Handling conflict by compromise or
collaboration between parties

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 Conflict Management Strategies (2 of 7)

Compromise
• Each party is concerned about not only their
goal accomplishment but also the goal
accomplishment of the other party. Each is
willing to engage in a give-and-take exchange
to reach a reasonable solution.
• Meet each other halfway.

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 Conflict Management Strategies (3 of 7)

Collaboration
• Both parties try to satisfy their goals by finding
an approach that leaves them both better off
and does not require concessions on issues
that are important to either party.

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 Conflict Management Strategies (4 of 7)

Accommodation
• An ineffective conflict-handling approach in
which one party, typically with weaker power,
gives in to the demands of the other, typically
more powerful, party
• Okay, we’ll do it your way (although I don’t
want to)

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 Conflict Management Strategies (5 of 7)

Avoidance
• An ineffective conflict-handling approach in
which the parties try to ignore the problem
and do nothing to resolve their differences
• If I ignore it, it will go away

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 Conflict Management Strategies (6 of 7)

Competition
• An ineffective conflict-handling approach in
which each party tries to maximize its own
gain and has little interest in understanding
the other party’s position or arriving at a
solution that will allow both parties to achieve
their goals

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 Conflict Management Strategies (7 of 7)

Problem-solving approach
• Focuses on objective outcomes—not
individual opinions or views—thus respecting
and preserving social relationships within a
group
• Helps reduce stress of interpersonal conflict

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 Strategies Focused on Individuals

Practicing job rotation or temporary

assignments

Increasing awareness of sources of conflict

Increasing diversity awareness and skills

Using permanent transfers or dismissals when

necessary

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 Strategies Focused on the
Whole Organization
• Changing an organization’s structure or
culture

• Altering the source of conflict

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 Negotiation (1 of 2)

Negotiation
• Method of conflict resolution in which the
parties consider various alternative ways to
allocate resources to arrive at a solution
acceptable to all of them
• Third-party negotiator
• Mediators
• Arbitrators

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 Negotiation (2 of 2)

Third-party negotiator
• An impartial individual with expertise in
handling conflicts and negotiations who helps
parties in conflict reach an acceptable solution

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 Third-Party Negotiators

Mediator
• Facilitates negotiations but has no authority
to impose a solution
Arbitrator
• Can impose what he thinks is a fair solution
to a conflict that both parties are obligated to
pursue

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 Distributive Negotiation (1 of 2)

Distributive negotiation
• Adversarial negotiation in which the parties in
conflict compete to win the most resources
while conceding as little as possible

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 Distributive Negotiation (2 of 2)

Distributive negotiation
• Parties perceive that they have a “fixed pie” of
resources that they need to divide.
• They take a competitive adversarial stance.
• They see no need to interact in the future.
• They do not care if their interpersonal
relationship is damaged by their competitive
negotiation.

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 Integrative Bargaining (1 of 2)

Integrative
bargaining
• Cooperative
negotiation in which
the parties in conflict
work together to
achieve a resolution
that is good for them
both

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 Integrative Bargaining (2 of 2)

Integrative bargaining
• Parties perceive that they might be able to
increase the resource pie by trying to find a
creative solution to the conflict.
• Parties view the conflict as a win-win situation
in which both parties can gain.
• Bargaining is handled through collaboration or
compromise.

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 Strategies to Encourage
Integrative Bargaining
Superordinate goals
• Goals that both parties agree to regardless of
the source of their conflict
• Example: Hofbeck and Steinberg’s German
restaurant

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 Negotiation Strategies for
Integrative Bargaining
Table 17.1

Negotiation Strategies for Integrative Bargaining

Emphasize superordinate goals.
Focus on the problem, not the people.
Focus on interests, not demands.
Create new options for joint gain.
Focus on what is fair.

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 Organizational Politics (1 of 2)

Organizational politics
• The activities managers engage in to increase
their power and to use power effectively to
achieve their goals or overcome resistance or
opposition

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 Organizational Politics (2 of 2)

Political strategies
• Tactics that managers use to increase their
power and to use power effectively to
influence and gain the support of other
people, while overcoming resistance or
opposition

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 The Importance of
Organizational Politics
Politics
• Can be viewed negatively when managers act
in self-interested ways for their own benefit
• Also a positive force that can bring about
needed change when political activity allows a
manager to gain support for needed changes
that will advance the organization

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 Political Strategies for
Increasing Power

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 Political Strategies for Gaining and
Maintaining Power
Strategies Description
Controlling Reduce uncertainty for others in the firm.
uncertainty
Making oneself Develop valuable special knowledge or expertise.
irreplaceable
Being in a Have decision-making control over the firm’s crucial
central position activities and resources.
Generating Hire skilled people or find financing when it is needed.
resources
Building Develop mutually beneficial relations with others inside and
alliances outside the organization.

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 Political Strategies for
Exercising Power

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 Strategies for Exercising Power

Strategies Description
Relying on objective Providing objective information to make
information others feel the manager’s course of
action is correct
Bringing in an outside Using an expert’s opinion to lend
expert credibility to the manager’s proposal
Controlling the Influencing which alternatives are
agenda considered or whether a decision is
actually made
Making everyone a Making sure that everyone whose
winner support is needed benefits personally
from providing that support
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 Example – North Carolina
Association of Family Mediators
The North Carolina Association of
Professional Family Mediators is the
statewide professional organization for
family mediators.
Most members have private practices for
providing mediation services to the public.

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 Video: CH2M Hill

How does CH2M Hill deal with cultural

conflict in the global marketplace?
What conflict strategy is most often used?

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