1. Chapter 10 Conflict and Negotiation
Don’t forget
the power of “Yes”

2. Chapter 10 Study Questions
What is the nature of conflict in organizations? How can conflict be managed? What is the nature of negotiation in organizations? What are alternative strategies for negotiation?
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

3. What is the nature of conflict in organizations?
Conflicts occur whenever disagreements exist in a social setting or when emotional antagonisms create friction between individuals or groups.
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, dislike, fear, resentment, and the like.
Conflicts in teams, at work, and in our personal lives occur in at least two basic forms—substantive and emotional. Both types are common, ever present, and challenging.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

4. What is the nature of conflict in organizations?
"If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an enemy. …But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it." —Oliver Wendell Holmes
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

5. Inter-organizational
Levels of Conflict in Organizations
Interpersonal
Can be caused by rivalries; personality differences
Intrape rsonal
Pressur e from incom patible (intern al) goals or expect ations
Intergroup
Causes are substantive (competition for resources) or emotional
Competition for market share
Inter-organizational
Interpersonal conflict occurs between two or more individuals who are in opposition to one another. It may be substantive, emotional, or both.
Intrapersonal:
Approach-approach conflict occurs when a person must choose between two positive and equally attractive alternatives.
Avoidance-avoidance conflict occurs when a person must choose between two negative and equally unattractive alternatives.
Approach-avoidance conflict occurs when a person must decide to do something that has both positive and negative consequences.
Intergroup – occurs between teams, perhaps ones competing for scarce resources or rewards, and perhaps ones whose members have emotional problems with one.
Interorganizational - most commonly thought of in terms of the competition and rivalry that characterizes firms operating in the same markets.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

6. What is the nature of conflict in organizations?
Functional conflict
Results in constructive, positive benefits to individuals, the team, or the organization.
Dysfunctional conflict
Destructive to an individual or team.
There is no doubt that conflict in organizations can be upsetting both to the individuals directly involved and to others affected by its occurrence. It can be quite uncomfortable, for example, to work in an environment in which two co-workers are continually hostile toward each other or two teams are always battling for top management attention.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

7. Figure 10.1: Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict
The two faces of conflict: functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

8. What is the nature of conflict in organizations?
Potential benefits of functional conflict
Brings important problems to the surface so they can be addressed.
Causes decisions to be carefully considered.
Increases amount of information used for decision making.
Provides opportunities for creativity.
An effective manager or team leader is able to stimulate constructive conflict in situations in which satisfaction
with the status quo inhibits needed change and development.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

9. What is the nature of conflict in organizations?
Potential outcomes of dysfunctional conflict
Diverts energies.
Hurts group cohesion;
Promotes interpersonal hostilities.
Creates a negative environment.
Can decrease performance and job satisfaction.
Can contribute to absenteeism and job turnover.
Managers and team leaders should be alert to destructive conflicts and be quick to take action to prevent or eliminate them—or at least minimize their disadvantages.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

10. What is the nature of conflict in organizations?
Culture and conflict
Culture and cultural differences must be considered for their conflict potential.
Sensitivity and respect when working across cultures can often tap the performance advantages of both diversity and constructive conflict.
Among the dimensions of national culture, for example, substantial differences may be noted in time orientation. When
persons from short-term cultures such as the United States try to work with persons from long-term cultures such as Japan, the likelihood of conflict developing is high. The same holds true when individualists work with collectivists and when persons from high-power-distance cultures work with those from low-power distance cultures.
People who are not able or willing to recognize and respect cultural differences can contribute to the emergence of dysfunctional situations in multicultural teams.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

11. How can conflict be managed?
Conflict resolution
Situation in which the underlying reasons for a given destructive conflict are eliminated.
When conflicts go unresolved the stage is often set for future conflicts of the same or related sort. Rather than trying
to deny the existence of conflict or settle on a temporary resolution, it is always best to deal with important conflicts in such ways that they are completely resolved. This requires a good understanding of the stages of conflict, the potential
causes of conflict, and indirect and direct approaches to conflict management.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

12. Figure 10.2 The Stages of Conflict
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13. How can conflict be managed ?
Conflict antecedents
Establish the conditions from which conflicts are likely to emerge.
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14. How can conflict be managed?
Perceived conflict
When the antecedents become the basis for substantive or emotional differences between people or groups.
Felt conflict
Conflict experienced as tension that motivates the person to take action to reduce feelings of discomfort.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

15. How can conflict be managed?
Manifest conflict
Expressed openly in behavior.
Conflict aftermath
Removing or correcting antecedents.
Conflict suppression
No change in antecedent conditions occurs even though the manifest conflict behaviors may be temporarily controlled.
Conflict suppression is a superficial and often temporary state that leaves the situation open to future conflicts over similar issues. Although it is perhaps useful in the short run, only true conflict resolution establishes conditions that eliminate an existing conflict and reduce the potential for it to recur in the future.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

16. How can conflict be managed?
Causes of conflict
Vertical conflict
Occurs between levels and commonly involves supervisor-subordinate and team-leader disagreements over resources, goals, deadlines, or performance results.
Horizontal conflict
Occurs between persons or group working at the same hierarchical level.
Line-staff conflict
Involves disagreements between line and staff personnel over who has authority and control over decisions on matters such as budgets, technology, and human resource practices.
The very nature of organizations as hierarchical systems provides a basis for conflict as individuals and teams work within the authority structure.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

17. How can conflict be managed?
Role ambiguity conflicts
Occur when the communication of task expectations is unclear or upsetting in some way.
Task and workflow interdependencies
Occur when people or units are required to cooperate to meet challenging goals.
Domain ambiguities
Occur when individuals or teams lack adequate task direction or goals and misunderstand such things as customer jurisdiction or scope authority.
Conflict is likely when individuals or teams are placed in ambiguous situations where it is difficult for them to understand just who is responsible for what, and why.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

18. How can conflict be managed?
Resource scarcity
When resources are scarce, working relationships are likely to suffer.
Power or value asymmetries
Occur when interdependent people or teams differ substantially from one another in status and influence or in values.
Conflict resulting from asymmetry can occur when a low-power person needs the help of a high-power person who does not respond, when people who hold dramatically different values are forced to work together on a task, or when a high-status person is required to interact with and perhaps be dependent on someone of lower status.
Resource scarcity is especially true in organizations that are experiencing downsizing or financial difficulties. As cutbacks occur, various individuals or teams try to position themselves to gain or retain maximum shares of the shrinking resource pool. They are also likely to resist resource redistribution or to employ countermeasures to defend their resources from redistribution to others.
Conflict resulting from asymmetry is prone to occur, for example, when a low-power person needs the
help of a high-power person who does not respond, when people who hold dramatically different values
are forced to work together on a task, or when a high-status person is required to interact with and
perhaps be dependent on someone of lower status.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

19. How can conflict be managed?
Indirect strategies:
Managed interdependence
Decoupling, or taking action to eliminate or reduce the required contact between conflicting parties.
Buffering is another approach that can be used when the inputs of one team are the outputs of another.
The conflicting units can then be separated from one another, and each can be provided separate access to valued
resources. Although decoupling may reduce conflict, it may also result in duplication and a poor allocation of valued resources.
The classic buffering technique is to build an inventory, or buffer, between the teams so that any output slowdown or excess is absorbed by the inventory and does not directly pressure the target group. Although it reduces conflict, this technique is increasingly out of favor because it increases inventory costs. This consequence is contrary to the elements of just-in time delivery, which is now valued in operations management.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

20. How can conflict be managed?
Appeal to common goals
Focusing the attention of potentially conflicting individuals and teams on one mutually desirable conclusion.
By elevating the potential dispute to a common framework wherein the parties recognize their mutual interdependence in achieving common goals, petty disputes can be put in perspective.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

21. How can conflict be managed?
Upward referral
Problems are moved from the level of conflicting individual or teams and referred up the hierarchy for more senior managers to address.
Altering scripts and myths
Superficial management managed by scripts, or behavioral routines, that become part of the organization’s culture.
Managers removed from day-today affairs may fail to diagnose the real causes of a conflict, and conflict resolution
may be superficial.
By sticking with the script, expressing only low-key disagreement, and then quickly acting as if everything has been resolved, for instance, the managers publicly act as if problems are being addressed. Such scripts can be altered to
allow and encourage active confrontation of issues and disagreements.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

22. Figure 10.4. Direct conflict management strategies.
Five direct conflict management strategies.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

23. How can conflict be managed?
Lose-lose conflict
Nobody gets what he or she wants; underlying reasons for remain unresolved. Strategies include:
Avoidance.
Accommodation- playing down differences.
Compromise- giving up something valued.
The underlying reasons for the conflict remain unaffected, and a similar conflict is likely to occur in the future. Lose–lose outcomes are likely when the conflict management strategies involve little or no assertiveness.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

24. How can conflict be managed?
Win-Lose conflict
One party achieves its desires at the expense and to the exclusion of the other party’s desires.
Competition - achieve domination through force, superior skill, or domination.
Authoritative command – formal authority used to end conflict.
Win-lose conflict is a high-assertiveness and low- cooperativeness situation.
Win-lose strategies fail to address the root causes of the conflict and tend to suppress the desires of at least one of the conflicting parties. As a result, future conflicts over the same issues are likely to occur.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

25. How can conflict be managed?
Win-Win conflict
Achieved by a blend of both high cooperativeness and high assertiveness.
Collaboration or problem solving
involves recognition by all conflicting parties that something is wrong and need attention. It Stresses gathering and evaluating information in solving disputes and making choices.
Win–win outcomes eliminate the reasons for continuing or resurrecting the conflict because nothing has been avoided or suppressed. All relevant issues are raised and openly discussed.
The ultimate test for collaboration and a win–win solution is whether or not the conflicting parties see that the solution to the conflict (1) achieves each party’s goals, (2) is acceptable to both parties, and (3) establishes a process whereby all parties involved see a responsibility to be open and honest about facts and feelings. When success in each
of these areas is achieved, the likelihood of true conflict resolution is greatly increased.
Collaboration and problem solving may not be feasible if the organization’s dominant culture rewards competition too highly and fails to place a value on cooperation.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

26. In your experience… Think of a conflict you had with a co-worker…
Was it handled directly or indirectly?
How was it resolved? Think about the technique that was used.
Has the conflict re-appeared?
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

27. What is the nature of negotiation in organizations?
The process of making joint decisions when the parties involved have different preferences.
Negotiation has special significance in teams and work settings, where disagreements are likely to arise over such diverse matters as wage rates, task objectives, performance evaluations, job assignments, work schedules, work locations, and more.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

28. What is the nature of negotiation in organizations?
Substance goals
Outcomes that relate to “content” issues under negotiation.
Relationship goals
Outcomes that relate 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.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

29. What is the nature of negotiation in organizations?
Effective negotiation factors:
Quality – negotiation results offer a “quality” agreement that is wise and satisfactory to all sides.
Harmony – negotiation is “harmonious” and fosters rather than inhibits good interpersonal relations.
Efficiency - negotiation is “efficient” and no more time consuming or costly than absolutely necessary.
Effective negotiation occurs when substance issues are resolved and working relationships are maintained or even improved.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

30. What is negotiation? Ethical aspects of negotiation
The motivation to behave ethically in negotiations is put to the test by each party’s desire to “get more” than the other from the negotiation and/or by a belief that there are insufficient resources to satisfy all parties.
Managers and others involved in negotiations should strive for high ethical standards of conduct, but this goal can get sidetracked by an overemphasis on self interests.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

31. What is the nature of negotiation in organizations?
Two-party negotiation
Manager negotiates directly with one other person.
Group negotiation
Manager is part of a team whose members are negotiating.
Intergroup negotiation
Manager is part of a group that is negotiating with another group.
Constituency negotiation
Each party represents a broader constituency.
Managers and team leaders should be prepared to participate in at least four major action settings for negotiations.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

32. What are the alternative strategies for negotiation?
Distributive negotiation
Focuses on positions staked out or declared by the conflicting parties.
Integrative negotiation
Sometimes called principled negotiation.
Focuses on the “merits” of the issues.
Managers and workers alike are constantly negotiating over not only just pay and raises, but also such
things as work goals or preferences and access to any variety of scarce resources. These resources may be money, time, people, facilities, equipment, and so on. In all such cases the general approach to, or strategy for, the negotiation can have a major influence on its outcomes.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

33. What are the alternative strategies for negotiation?
Distributive negotiation
“Who is going to get this resource?”
“Hard” distributive negotiation (win/lose)
Each party holds out to get its own way.
“Soft” distributive negotiation (lose/lose)
One party tries to find the ways to meet the other’s desires.
The hard approach may lead to a win–lose outcome in which one party dominates and gains. Or it can lead to an impasse.
A soft approach leads to accommodation, in which one party gives in to the other, or to compromise, in which each
party gives up something of value in order to reach agreement. In either case at least some latent dissatisfaction is likely to develop. Even when the soft approach results in compromise (e.g., splitting the difference between the initial
positions equally), dissatisfaction may exist since each party is still deprived of what it originally wanted.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

34. What are the alternative strategies for negotiation?
Bargaining zone
Range between one party’s minimum reservation point and the other party’s maximum reservation point.
Classic two-party bargaining always involves the delicate tasks of first discovering the respective reservation points (one’s own and the other’s) and then working toward an agreement that lies somewhere within the resulting bargaining zone and is acceptable to each party.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

35. What are the alternative strategies for negotiation?
Integrative negotiation
“How can the resource best be used?”
Less confrontational than distributive negotiation.
Allows a broader range of alternative solutions to be considered.
A win-win solution is possible.
At one extreme, integrative negotiation may involve selective avoidance, in which both parties realize that there are more important things on which to focus their time and attention The time, energy, and effort needed to negotiate may not be worth the rewards.
Compromise can also play a role in the integrative approach, but it must have an enduring basis. This is most likely to occur when the compromise involves each party giving up something of perceived lesser personal value to gain something of greater value.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

36. What are the alternative strategies for negotiation?
Foundations of Integrative negotiation
Attitudinal
Willingness to trust, share information, and ask concrete questions.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

37. What are the alternative strategies for negotiation?
Behavioral
Separate the people from the problem.
Don’t allow emotional considerations to affect the negotiations.
Focus on common interests rather than solutions.
Avoid premature judgments.
Keep the identification of alternatives separate from their evaluation.
Judge possible agreements by set criteria or standards.
During a negotiation all behavior is important for both its actual impact and the impressions it leaves behind.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

38. What are the alternative strategies for negotiation?
Informational
Each party must know what he or she will do if an agreement can’t be reached.
Each party must identify and understand their personal interest in the situation.
Each party must know what is really important to them in the case at hand, and they must come to understand the relative importance of the other party’s interests.
The information foundations of integrative agreements are substantial. They involve each party becoming familiar with the BATNA, or “best alternative to a negotiated agreement.”
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

39. Common negotiation pitfalls
“Fixed Pie” myth
The pie can be expanded
Escalating Commitment
Taking a stand forces sticking to it.
self-discipline is needed.
Overconfidence
Always try to understand the merits of the other party’s position as well.
Too much telling and
not enough active listening
Seek to be understood, but also, to understand.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

40. What are the alternative strategies for negotiation?
Third party negotiations
A neutral third party works with persons involved in a negotiation to help them resolve impasses and settle disputes.
Arbitration
A neutral third party acts as a “judge” and has the power to issue a decision that is binding on all parties.
Arbitration ruling takes place after the arbitrator listens to the positions advanced by the parties involved in a dispute.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

41. What are the different strategies involved in negotiation?
Mediation
A neutral third party tries to engage the parties in a negotiated solution through persuasion and rational argument.
Mediation is a common approach in labor–management negotiations, where trained mediators acceptable to both sides are called in to help resolve bargaining impasses. Unlike an arbitrator, the mediator is not able to dictate a solution.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.