Organizational Behaviour

Canadian Edition
Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie

Prepared by: Joan Condie

 Chapter 18

Conflict and Negotiation

Questions
 What is conflict?
 How can conflict be managed successfully?
 What is negotiation?
 What are the different strategies involved in
negotiation?

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Conflict
 Conflict occurs when parties disagree over
substantive issues or when emotional
antagonisms create friction between the parties
 Conflict is inevitable in organizations
 Managers must be comfortable recognizing
potential conflict, and dealing with it to satisfy
both the organization and the people directly
involved

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Types of Conflict
 Substantive conflict:
 A fundamental disagreement over which ends or
goals to pursue and how to achieve them
 Varying viewpoints to be expected among people
who work together
 Emotional conflict:
 Interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of
anger, mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, etc.
 Clash of personalities

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Functional Conflict
 Results in positive benefits to the person, group, or
organization
 Brings problem to surface to be addressed
 Prompts careful consideration of decision
 Increases info
 Offers opportunities for creativity

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Dysfunctional Conflict
 Works to the disadvantage of the person, group, or
organization
 Wastes energies
 Hurts cohesion
 Promotes interpersonal hostilities
 Creates negative environment
 Thereby harming productivity, job satisfaction,
turnover, absenteeism

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Levels of Conflict
 Intrapersonal conflict
 Approach-approach conflict
 Avoidance-avoidance conflict
 Approach-avoidance conflict
 Interpersonal conflict
 Intergroup conflict
 Interorganizational conflict

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Culture and Conflict
 Cultural differences are potential sources of
conflict
 E.g., time orientation – urgency and timing of issues
 E.g., individualism versus collectivism
 E.g., people from low power-distance culture
working with those from high power-distance culture

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Stages of Conflict Development
1. Antecedent conditions
 Likely to create conflict
2. Perceived conflict
 Awareness of differences
3. Felt conflict
 Tension motivates action
4. Manifest conflict
 Conflict expressed; resolution or
suppression occurs
 Conflict aftermath

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Types of Conflict Situations
 Vertical conflict
 Occurs between hierarchical levels and usually involves
supervisor-subordinate disagreements
 Horizontal conflict
 Occurs between persons or groups at the same
hierarchical level
 Line-staff conflict
 Usually involves disagreements over who has authority
and control
 Role conflict
 Occurs due to inadequate communication of task
expectations
Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Causes of Conflict
 Workflow interdependence
 Occurs among people and units who must co-operate to
meet challenging goals
 Domain ambiguities
 Misunderstandings over tasks and responsibilities
 Resource scarcity
 Occurs as a result of competition over scarce resources
 Power or value asymmetries
 Occurs when interdependent people or groups differ in
their status, influence, or values

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Indirect Conflict-Management
Approaches
 Reduce interdependence
 Decoupling
 Buffering
 Linking-pins
 Appeal to common goals
 Hierarchical referral
 Alter scripts and myths

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Direct Conflict-Management
Approaches
 Approaches vary in relative emphasis on
assertiveness and co-operation, leading to
different outcomes (who “wins”)
 Lose-lose approaches
 Avoidance
 Compromise
 Accommodation

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Direct Conflict-Management
Approaches
 Win-lose approaches
 Competition
 Authoritative command

 Win-win approaches
 Collaboration
 Problem-solving

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Negotiation
 Process of making joint decisions when the parties
involved have different preferences
 Two important goals:
 Substance goals – reasonable outcomes
 Relationship goals – future working relationship
 Ethical aspects
 High ethical standards difficult to achieve when
overemphasis on self-interests
 Ethics affect conflict aftermath

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Organizational Settings for
Negotiation
 Two-party negotiation
 Group negotiation
 Intergroup negotiation
 Constituency negotiation

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Cultural Impact on Negotiations
 Substantial impact as negotiation approach is
based on differing values
 E.g., North Americans seek quick, definitive
agreement versus Chinese moving slowly with
focus on first developing a relationship, reluctant to
commit in writing, and consider everything
modifiable

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Negotiation Strategies
 Criteria for evaluating negotiation effectiveness:
1. Quality of agreement
2. Harmony of relationship
3. Efficiency
 Two general approaches:
 Distributive negotiation
 Integrative negotiation

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Distributive Negotiation
 Focuses on positions declared by parties; each
trying to claim certain portions of available pie
 Hard distributive negotiation
 Soft distributive negotiation
 Bargaining zone is the zone between one party’s
minimum reservation point and the other’s
maximum reservation point

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Integrative Negotiation
 Focus on merits of issues; parties try to enlarge on
available pie rather than claim certain portions
 Win-win approach that needs:
 Willingness to trust, to share info, to ask questions
 Separating people from problems
 Focusing on interests rather than positions
 Avoiding premature judgements
 Separating creation from evaluation of alternatives
 Using objective criteria
 Familiarity with BATNA

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Common Negotiation
Pitfalls
 Myth of fixed pie
 Escalating commitment
 Overconfidence
 Communication problems
 Telling problem
 Hearing problem

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Third-Party Roles in Negotiation
 Arbitration
 A neutral third party acts as judge
with power to issue decision that
is binding on all parties
 Mediation
 A neutral third party uses
persuasion and rational argument
to get the parties to reach a
negotiated solution

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Currie Organizational Behaviour, Canadian Edition Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Copyright
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