Conflict and Negotiations

Chapter 15
 Chapter 15 Study Questions

 What is conflict?
 How can conflict be managed
successfully?
 What is negotiation?
 What are the different strategies
involved in negotiation?
Study Question 1: What is conflict?

 Conflict occurs whenever:

– Disagreements exist in a social situation over

issues of substance.
– Emotional antagonisms cause frictions

between individuals or groups.

 Types of conflict.
• Substantive conflict.
– A fundamental disagreement over ends
or goals to be pursued and the means
for their accomplishment.
• Emotional conflict.
– Interpersonal difficulties that arise over
feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear,
resentment, etc.
 Levels of conflict.
– Interpersonal conflict.
• Occurs between two or more individuals
who are in opposition to one another
1. Personal differences
2. Information deficiency
3. Role incompatibility
4. Environmental Stress
 Shrinking resources, downsizing, competitive
pressures, high degree of uncertainty
 Levels of conflict
– Intergroup conflict.
• Occurs among members of different
teams or groups.
Reasons:
1. Competition for resources
2. Task Interdependence
3. Jurisdictional Ambiguity
4. Status struggles
 Levels of conflict
Characteristics of Inter-group conflict
1. There is a clear distinction between WE and They
2. Group becomes more cohesive and pulls together to
present a solid front to defeat the other group
3. The positive feelings and cohesion with-in group do not
transfer to members of the out group. The members of the
out group are viewed as the enemy rather than neutrals
4. Threatened group members feel superior, they
overestimate their own strength and underestimate that of
members of other groups
5. Amount of communication among conflicting groups
decrease
6. If a group is losing cohesiveness among group members
decreases and experience increase in tension. They look
for escape goat to blame their failure
 Levels of conflict
– Interorganizational conflict.
• Commonly refers to the competition
and rivalry that characterize firms
operating in the same markets.
• Encompasses disagreements that
exist between any two or more
organizations.
 Functional and Dysfunctional
Conflict
 Potential benefits of functional conflict.
– Surfaces important problems so they can be
addressed.
– Causes careful consideration of decisions.
– Causes reconsideration of decisions.
– Increases information available for decision
making.
– Provides opportunities for creativity.
 Functional and Dysfunctional
Conflict
 Potential disadvantages of dysfunctional
conflict.
– Diverts energies.
– Harms group cohesion.
– Promotes interpersonal hostilities.
– Creates overall negative environment.
– Can decrease work productivity and job
satisfaction.
– Can contribute to absenteeism and job
turnover.
 Culture and conflict
– Culture and cultural differences must be
considered for their conflict potential.
– Individuals who are not able to recognize
and respect the impact of culture may
contribute to emergence of dysfunctional
situations
– Cross-cultural sensitivity helps defuse
dysfunctional conflict and capture
advantages that constructive conflict may
offer.
 Conflict Management
• Stages For Conflict:
1. Conflict antecedents:
 Conditions from which conflicts are likely to develop
 Become the basis for substantive or emotional conflict
2.
Perceived Conflicts:
 Perception of differences between the parties
3. Felt Conflict:
 When conflict is felt it is experienced as tension that
motivates the person to take action and reduce
feelings of discomfort
 For conflict to be resolved both parties must perceive it
and feel the need to do something about it
 Conflict Management
4. Manifest Conflict

 When conflict is expressed openly in behavior, it is

said to be manifest conflict
 Removing or correcting the antecedents may resolve
the conflict
Stages of conflict
 Conflict Management
 Causes of conflict.
– Vertical conflict.
• Occurs between hierarchical levels.
– Horizontal conflict.
• Occurs between persons or groups at the same hierarchical level.
– Line-staff conflict.
• Involves disagreements over who has authority and control over
specific matters.
– Role conflicts.
• Occur when the communication of task expectations proves
inadequate or upsetting.
– Workflow interdependencies.
• Occur when people or units are required to cooperate to meet
challenging goals.
 Conflict Management
 Causes of conflict. (cont.)
– Domain ambiguities.
• Occur as misunderstandings over such things as
customer jurisdiction or scope of authority
– Resource scarcity.
• When resources are scarce, working relationships
are likely to suffer.
– Power or value asymmetries.
• Occur when interdependent people or groups differ
substantially from one another in status and
influence or in values.
Conflict Management
 Conflict Management
 Lose-lose conflict.
– Avoidance.
• Everyone simply pretends that the conflict does not
really exist and hopes that it will go away.
– Accommodation or smoothing.
• Involves playing down differences among the
conflicting parties and highlighting similarities and
areas of agreement.
– Compromise.
• Each party gives up something of value, but
neither party’s desires are fully satisfied
 Conflict Management
 Win-lose conflict.
– Competition.
• One party achieves a victory through the
use of force, superior skills, or domination.
– Authoritative command.
• Use of formal authority to dictate a solution
and specify who gains what and who loses
what.
 Conflict Management
 Win-win conflict.
– Collaboration or problem solving.
• Recognition by all conflicting parties that
something is wrong and needs attention, and it
stresses gathering and evaluating information in
solving disputes and making choices.
• Collaboration and problem solving are preferred to
gain true conflict resolution when time and cost
permit.
 Conflict Management
 Win-win solutions should:
– Achieve each other’s goals.

– Be acceptable to both parties.

– Establish a process whereby both

parties see a responsibility to be open
and honest about facts and feelings.
 Conflict Management
 Potential disadvantages of collaboration.
– Collaboration requires time and energy.

– Both parties to the conflict need to be

assertive and cooperative.
– Collaboration may not be feasible if the
organization’s culture does not value
cooperation.
 Negotiation
 The process of making joint decisions when
parties involved have different preferences
 Effective negotiation.
– Occurs when substance issues are resolved and
working relationships are maintained or improved.
– Criteria for an effective negotiation.
• Quality. The negotiation results offer a quality agreement
that is wise and satisfactory to all sides
• Harmony. Fosters good interpersonal relations
• Efficiency. No more time consuming or costly than
absolutely necessary
 Negotiation
 Ethical aspects of negotiation.
– To maintain good working relationships, negotiators
should strive for high ethical standards.
– The unethical negotiator may be targeted for revenge.

– Unethical negotiating actions may become habitual.

 Negotiation
 Organizational settings for negotiation.

– Two-party negotiation.
• Manager negotiates directly with one other
person.

– Group negotiation.
• Manager is part of a group whose members
are negotiating.
 Negotiation
 Organizational settings for negotiation (cont.).

– Intergroup negotiation.
• Manager is part of a group that is
negotiating with another group.
– Constituency negotiation.
• Manager is involved in negotiation with
other persons, with each party representing
a broader constituency.
 Strategies for negotiation
 Distributive negotiation..
– Parties try to claim certain portions of the
existing pie.
 Integrative negotiation.
– Sometimes called principled negotiation.
– Focuses on the merits of the issues.
 Strategies for negotiation
 Distributive negotiation.
– The key question is: “Who is going to get this
resource?”
– “Hard” distributive negotiation.
• Each party holds out to get its own way.
• Leads to competition to maximize self interest
– “Soft” distributive negotiation.
• One party is willing to make concessions to the
other party to get things over.
• Latent dissatisfaction likely to develop
 Strategies for negotiation
 Integrative negotiation.
– The key question is: “How can the resource
best be utilized?”
– Is less confrontational than distributive
negotiation, and permits a broader range of
alternative solutions to be considered.
– Opportunity for a true win-win solution.
 Strategies for negotiation
 Attitudinal foundations of integrative
agreements.
– Willingness to trust the other party.
– Willingness to share information with the other
party.
– Willingness to ask concrete questions of the
other party.
 Strategies for negotiation
 Behavioral foundations of integrative
agreements.
– Ability to separate the people from the
problem.
– Ability to focus on interests rather than
positions.
– Ability to avoid making premature judgments.
–.
 Strategies for negotiation
 Information foundations of integrative
agreements.
– Each party must know what he or she will do if
an agreement can’t be reached.
– Each party must determine what is personally
important in the situation.
– Each party must achieve an understanding of
what the other party values.
 Strategies for negotiation
 Common negotiation pitfalls.
– Possibility of escalating commitment.
– Negotiators often develop overconfidence in
their positions.
– Communication problems can cause
difficulties during a negotiation.
• Telling problem.
• Hearing problem.