Conflict and Negotiation

Chapter 8
Conflict and
Negotiation
Chapter 8, Stephen P. Robbins and Nancy Langton, Organizational Behaviour, Third Canadian Edition.
Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc.
Chapter Outline
• Conflict Defined
• Sources of Conflict
• From Potential to Actual Conflict
• Conflict Management and Teams
• Negotiation
• Issues in Negotiation
Conflict and Negotiation
Questions for Consideration
Questions for Consi derat ion
• How do we manage conflict?
• When is conflict functional?
• How do we negotiate?
Conflict
• A process that begins when one party perceives
that another party has negatively affected, or is
about to negatively affect, something that the
first party cares about.
– Functional
• Supports the goals of the group and
improves its performance
– Dysfunctional
• Hinders group performance
How Structure Can Lead to
Conflict
• Stimulating conflict
– Size, specialization, and composition of the
group
– Too much reliance on participation
– Diversity of goals among groups
– Ambiguity in precisely defining where
responsibility for actions lies
– Reward systems where one member’s gain is
at another’s expense
Exhibit 8-1 How Conflict
Builds
Conflict-handling Outcomes
Intentions
• Competing • Functional:
• Collaborating increased
• Compromising Behaviour performance
• Avoiding • Dysfunctional:
• Accommodating decreased group
performance
Conflict-Handling
Intentions
• Two Dimensions
– Cooperativeness
• The degree to which one party attempts to
satisfy the other party’s concerns
– Assertiveness
• The degree to which one party attempts to
satisfy his or her own concerns
Specific Intentions
• Competing
• A desire to satisfy one’s interests, regardless of
the impact on the other parties.
• Collaborating
• A situation where the parties to a conflict each
desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties
• Avoiding
• The desire to withdraw from or suppress a
conflict.
• Accommodating
• The willingness of one party in a conflict to place
the opponent’s interests above his or her own
• Compromising
• A situation in which each party to a conflict is
willing to give up something
Exhibit 8-2 Dimensions of
Conflict-Handling
Intentions Assertive
Competing Collaborating
Assertiveness
Compromising
Unassertive
Avoiding Accommodating
Uncooperative Cooperative
Cooperativeness
Exhibit 8-4
Conflict Intensity
Continuum
Annihilatory Overt efforts to destroy
conflict the other party
Aggressive physical attacks
Threats and ultimatums
Assertive verbal attacks
Overt questioning or
challenging of others
Minor disagreements or
No misunderstandings
conflict
Types of Conflict
• Cognitive
– Conflict related to differences in perspectives and
judgments
• Task-oriented
• Results in identifying differences
• Usually functional conflict
• Affective
– Emotional conflict aimed at a person rather than an
issue
• Dysfunctional conflict
Reducing Group Conflict
• Team members reduced conflict using the
following tactics:
– Worked with more, rather than less, information
– Debated on the basis of facts
– Developed multiple alternatives to enrich the level of
debate
– Shared commonly agreed-upon goals
– Injected humour into the decision process
– Maintained a balanced power structure
– Resolved issues without forcing consensus
Negotiation
• A process in which two or more parties
exchange goods or services and attempt to agree
upon the exchange rate for them
– Distributive bargaining
• Negotiation that seeks to divide up a fixed
amount of resources; a win-lose situation
– Integrative bargaining
• Negotiation that seeks one or more
settlements that can create a win-win
solution
Exhibit 8-6 Distributive
versus
Integrative Bargaining
Bargaining Distributive Integrative
Characteristic Bargaining Bargaining
Available resources Fixed amount of Variable amount of resources to

resources to be divided be divided
I win, you lose
Primary motivations I win, you win
Opposed to each other
Primary interests Convergent or congruent with
Short term
each other
Focus of relationships Long term
How to Negotiate
• Assess personal goals, consider other’s
goals, develop strategy
• Identify target and resistance points
– Target: what one would like to achieve
– Resistance: lowest outcome acceptable
• Identify BATNA
– Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement
Issues in Negotiation
• Gender Differences
• Cross-Cultural Differences
• Alcohol and Negotiations
• Third-Party Negotiations
Gender Differences
• Women
– More inclined to be concerned with feelings and
perceptions, and take a longer-term view
– View the bargaining session as part of an overall
relationship
– Tend to want all parties in the negotiation to be
empowered
– Use dialogue to achieve understanding
• Men
– View the bargaining session as a separate event
– Use dialogue to persuade
Alcohol Consumption and
Negotiations
– Negotiators who had been drinking
• Were more aggressive and more likely to
insult, mislead, and threaten their opponent
• Were more likely to make mistakes, saying
such things as "I propose a start date of 12
weeks . . . no, 4 weeks. I'm sorry, I was
confused"
• Were more likely to focus on irrelevant
information or misunderstand the problem
• Were not aware that alcohol had influenced
their performance, when in fact it had
Alcohol Consumption and
Negotiations
– Sober negotiators
• Were were more likely to look for
win-win solutions
• Did not do well when bargaining
against someone who had been
drinking, as the drinker tended to be
far more aggressive
Third Party Roles in
Negotiations
• Conciliator
• Mediator
• Arbitrator
Conciliator
• Trusted third party who provides an
informal communication link between the
negotiator and the opponent
– Informal link
– Used extensively in international, labour,
family and community disputes
– Fact-find, interpret messages, persuade
disputants to develop agreements
Mediator
• A neutral third party who facilitates a
negotiated solution by using reasoning,
persuasion, and suggestions for alternatives
– Labour-management negotiations and civil court
disputes
– Settlement rate is about 60%; satisfaction rate is
about 75%
– Participants must be motivated to bargain and settle
– Best under moderate levels of conflict
– Mediator must appear neutral and non-coercive
Arbitrator
• Has authority to dictate an agreement
– Voluntary (requested) or compulsory
(imposed by law or contract)
– Always results in a settlement
– May result in further conflict
Summary and Implications
• Conflict can be either constructive or destructive
to the functioning of a group.
• An optimal level of conflict:
– Prevents stagnation
– Stimulates creativity
– Releases tension
– And initiates the seeds for change
• Inadequate or excessive levels of conflict can
hinder group effectiveness.
Summary and Implications
• Don’t assume there's one conflict-handling
intention that is always best.
– Use competition when quick, decisive action is vital
– Use collaboration to find an integrative solution
– Use avoidance when an issue is trivial
– Use accommodation when you find you’re wrong
– Use compromise when goals are important
• Negotiation is an ongoing activity in groups
• Intergroup conflicts can also affect an
organization’s performance.
Point-CounterPoint
• Conflict Is Good for • All Conflicts Are
the Organization Dysfunctional!
▲ Conflict is a means by which ▲ The negative consequences
to bring about radical change from conflict can be
▲ Conflict facilitates group devastating
cohesiveness ▲ Effective managers build
▲ Conflict improves group and teamwork not conflict
organizational effectiveness ▲ Competition is good for an
▲ Conflict brings about a organization, but not conflict
slightly higher, more ▲ Managers who accept and
constructive level of tension stimulate conflict don’t
survive in organizations

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Chapter 8

Aggressive physical attacks

Threats and ultimatums

Assertive verbal attacks

Available resources Fixed amount of Variable amount of resources to

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