Managing conflict and negotiation

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Chapter 11

• Managing conflict and negotiation

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Conflict and Negotiations - Key Concepts

• Conflict definition
• Constructive and Destructive aspects
• Levels of conflict
• Stages of conflict
• Indirect and direct conflict mgmt approaches
• Conflict styles/behaviors
• Negotiation
• Hard soft bargaining, ethical conflict
  behaviors
• Coping with Criticism

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Conflict

• Conflict is____________________
• Substantive
• A fundamental disagreement over ends or goals to
  be pursued and the means for their
  accomplishment.
• Emotional
• Interpersonal difficulties that arise over
  feelings of anger, mistrust, fear, and
  resentment.

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Constructive (Functional) Conflict

• Helps identify issues and underlying problems
• Acts as a safety valve, releasing tension and
  anger
• Encourages interaction and involvement
• Promotes creativity
• Facilitates problem solving
• Promotes sharing of information
• Tests strength of ideas - under fire
• Adapted from Gary L. Kreps, Organizational
  Communication, 1986, p. 188-189

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Destructive (Dysfunctional) conflict

• Results in negative outcomes
• Decreases work productivity and job satisfaction
• Increases in absenteeism and turnover
• A successful leader will be alert to destructive
  conflicts and take action

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Levels of conflict
Intrapersonal Interpersonal Intra-group Inter-g
roup Organizational
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Levels of Conflict

• Intrapersonal Level
• Involve actual or perceived pressures from
  incompatible goals or expectations within a
  person
• Ones perceptions differ from others ones
  judgment called into question
• Approach- Approach Conflict
• Choices two positive and equally attractive
  alternatives
• Example two jobs equally positive duties, pay,
  benefits, location

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Levels of Conflict, cont.

• Intrapersonal Level
• Approach- Avoidance Conflict
• Choice something has both positive and negative
  consequences
• Example a great job in a lousy location
• Avoidance Avoidance Conflict
• Choices two negative and equally unattractive
  alternatives
• Example two jobs - neither first choice in
  terms of duties, pay, location

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Levels of Conflict

• Interpersonal
• between two or more individuals
• Intergroup
• among and between groups
• Interorganizational
• related to competition and rivalry that
  characterizes firms operating in the same markets

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Diagnosing Conflict

• Vertical conflict between hierarchical levels
• Supervisor subordinate disagreements over
  resources, goals, deadlines, or performance
• Horizontal conflict same level (coworkers, line
  - staff, functional units)
• Goal incompatibilities ambiguities,
• Perceived resource scarcities
• Power or value differences or interpersonal
  factors

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Stages of Conflict

• Antecedent conditions
• Perceived and felt conflict
• Manifest conflict
• Conflict resolution, management or suppression
• Conflict aftermath
• Proposed by Louis Pondy (1967)

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Desired Outcomes

• Agreement
• Fair and equitable
• Stronger relationships
• Bridges of trust and goodwill for future
• Learning
• Greater self-awareness and creative problem
  solving
• Dean Tjosvolds cooperative conflict model

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The Conflict Process
Perceived conflict
Increased performance

• Antecedent conditions
• communication
• structure
• personal variables

Manifest conflict
Conflict Aftermath
Decreased performance
Felt conflict

• Conflict-handling
• Behaviors/styles
• competition
• collaboration
• accommodation
• avoidance
• compromise

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Indirect Conflict Management Approaches

• Reduce Interdependence
• Reduce required contact, build buffers, assign
  formal liaison
• Appeal to common goals
• Establish a common, overarching goal, ensure
  parties take responsibility
• Use chain of command
• Refer problem to more senior employees/managers
• Redesign the organization
• Rewrite scripts, rituals

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Conflict Styles/Behaviors (from K Thomas, 1976
and Rahim, 1985)
Dominating (competing)
Integrating (collaborating)
High (Assertive)
Compromising (Sharing)
Concern for Self
Avoiding (neglecting)
Obliging (accommodating)
Low (Unassertive)
Low (Uncooperative)
High (Cooperative)
Concern for Others
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Direct Conflict Management Techniques

• Lose-lose
• Avoidance
• Sidestep, postpone, withdraw
• Accommodation
• Play down differences and highlight similarities
  yield, obey or sacrifice to other
• Compromise
• Split the difference, exchange concessions, seek
  the middle-ground

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Direct Conflict Management Techniques

• Win-lose
• Competition
• one party achieves its desires at the expense and
  to the exclusion of the other partys desires
• Stand for your rights defend your position -
  which you believe is correct

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Direct Conflict Management Techniques

• Win-win
• Collaboration
• Achieve each others goals
• Acceptable by both parties
• Establishes a process whereby all parties
  involved feel a responsibility to be open and
  honest about facts and feelings
• Explore the disagreement to learn from each other
• Results in problem solving or situation
  improvement

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Negotiation

• Process of making joint decisions when the
  parties involved have different preferences
• Successful negotiations
• Substantive goals
• Concerned with outcomes relative to the content
  issues at hand
• Relational goals
• Concerned with outcomes relating to how well
  people involved in the negotiation, and any
  constituencies they may represent, are able to
  work with one another once the process is
  concluded

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Distributive Negotiating

• Hard Bargaining
• When each party holds out to get its own way
• Leads to competition
• Soft Bargaining
• When one party is willing to make concessions to
  the other to end the impasse
• Leads to accommodation

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Staking Out the Bargaining Zone
Party As aspiration range
Party Bs aspiration range
Settlement range
Party As target point
Party Bs target point
Party Bs resistance point
Party As resistance point
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Integrative Negotiating

• Principled negotiations
• Negotiations based on the merits of the
  situation
• Foundations for gaining integrative agreements
• Be willing to trust the other
• Be willing to share information
• Be willing to ask concrete questions

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Ethical Conflict Behaviors

• Argue the specific issue at hand
• Focus on interests not positions
• Avoid dirty fighting (character attacks, slander,
  overly aggressive tactics)
• Separate the problem from the people
• Construct a reasonable argument
• Be open to alternate perspectives
• Avoid premature judgments
• Listen actively and evaluate fairly
• Judge using objective criteria
• Adapted from Kreps, 1986, Organizational
  Communication, p.189. And Schermerhorn

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Coping with Criticism

• Based on work by Ronald Adler and Gregg Walker
  (OSU)
• osu.orst.edu/instruct/comm440-540/ criticism.htm

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Constructive Criticism

• The generation of evaluative comments
• Can promote constructive growth in individuals
  and relationships

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Guidelines for the Critic

• Understand why you are offering criticism
• Try to understand the other person
• Describe the behavior, not the person
• Focus on specifics and the here and now, not
  generalities or the past
• Emphasize your feelings
• Invite a collaborative discussion to solve the
  problem
• Allow the other person to make decisions

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When Criticized ...

• Recognize and welcome the value of constructive
  criticism
• Listen actively, with an open mind
• Paraphrase what the other is saying
• Try to understand the others perspective
• Work hard to avoid becoming defensive
• Maintain your own power and authority to make
  decisions
• Communicate clearly how you feel and think
• Insist on valid criticism

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Ask for Specifics

• Ask for specifics
• What is the specific behavior (s) that bothers
  this person?
• In what circumstances does the objectionable
  behavior occur?
• Does this criticism also involve others?

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Ask About Consequences ..

• Ask about the consequences of your behavior
• What need of theirs is not being met?
• What negative consequences have occurred as a
  result of this behavior?

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Resolution

• Make sure you understand the original complaint
  or problem
• Take time and make the effort to hear out the
  other person completely
• Ask how s/he would suggest the issue be resolved
• Provide feedback on your point of view and how
  you plan to proceed only after completing the
  previous 3 steps