Interactive Conflict &

Negotiation Skills – part 2

 Contents
• Inter group behaviour & conflict
• Organisational conflict
• Negotiation skills
• Traditional approaches
• Emerging skills
 Inter Group conflict
 Occurs among members of different
teams or groups.
 Competition for resources
 Task interdependence – more in a
sequential technological process
 Jurisdictional ambiguity – “turf” problems
 Status struggles – HR departments feel
they are inequitably treated
 Marketing – Manufacturing
Areas of Potential Goal Conflict
MARKETING VS.
Operative goal is
Goal Conflict customer satisfaction
Conflict Area Typical Comment
Breadth of product line: “Our customers “
demand variety.”
New product introduction: “New products are our
lifeblood.”
Production scheduling: “We need faster response.
Lead times are too long.”
Physical distribution: “Why don’t we ever have
the right merchandise
in inventory?”
Quality: “Why can’t we have
reasonable quality
at low cost?”
MANUFACTURING
Operative goal is
production efficiency
Typical Comment
“The product line is too
broad, all we get are
short, uneconomical runs.”
“Unnecessary design changes
are prohibitively expensive.”
“We need realistic customer
commitments that don’t
change like the wind direction
“We can’t afford to keep huge
inventories.”
“Why must we always offer
options that are too
expensive and offer little
customer utility?”
 Intra organizational Conflict
• Vertical conflict
– Conflict that exists between supervisors and
subordinates, who may disagree about the best way to
accomplish a task.
• Horizontal conflict
– Between employees or departments at the same level
• Line staff conflict
– Occurs over the involvement of staff people in line
decisions say teachers and curriculum specialists
 Inter organizational conflict
 Conflict that exists between organizations
that are interdependent with the same
suppliers, customers, competitors, and
governmental agencies
 Occurs during the competition and rivalry
that characterize firms operating in the
same markets.
 Occurs between unions and organizations
employing their members.
Occurs between government regulatory
agencies and organizations subject to their
surveillance.
Occurs between organizations and suppliers
of raw materials.
Sources of Conflict

Figure 16.3
The conflict Process
The Conflict Process:
Stage I: Potential Opposition or
Incompatibility
1. Communication:
 Semantic difficulties, misunderstandings,
and “noise”
2. Structure:
 Size and specialization of jobs
 Jurisdictional clarity/ambiguity
 Member/goal incompatibility
 Leadership styles (close or participative)
 Reward systems (win-lose)
 Dependence/interdependence of groups
3. Personal Variables:
Differing individual value systems
Personality types
Stage II: Cognition and Personalization
Perceived Conflict
Awareness by one or
Felt Conflict
more parties of the Emotional involvement in
existence of conditions a conflict creating
that create anxiety, tenseness,
opportunities for frustration, or hostility.
conflict to arise.

Conflict Definition

Negative Emotions Positive Feelings

 Stage III: Intentions
1. Intentions:
Decisions to act in a given
way.

Cooperativeness:
• Attempting to satisfy the other party’s
concerns.
Assertiveness:
• Attempting to satisfy one’s own concerns.
Dimensions of Conflict-Handling
Intentions:
 How can conflict be
managed successfully?
 Direct conflict management approaches are
based on the relative emphasis that a person
places on assertiveness and
cooperativeness.
 Assertiveness:
 Attempting to satisfy one’s own
concerns.
 Unassertive versus assertive.
 Cooperativeness:
 Attempting to satisfy the other party’s
concern.
 Uncooperative versus cooperative.
 Stage III: Intentions (cont’d)
1. Competing
A desire to satisfy one’s interests, regardless
of the impact on the other party to the
conflict.
Competition and authoritative command:
Assertive and uncooperative.
Working against the wishes of the other party.
Fighting to dominate in win/lose competition.
Forcing things to a favorable conclusion through the exercise of
authority.
2. Collaborating
A situation in which the parties to a conflict
each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all
parties.
Collaboration and problem solving:
Assertive and cooperative.
Seeking the satisfaction of everyone’s concerns by working
through differences.
Finding and solving problems so everyone gains as a result.
3. Avoiding
The desire to withdraw from or suppress a
conflict.
Avoidance:
Unassertive and uncooperative.
Downplaying disagreement.
Failing to participate in the situation and/or staying neutral at all
costs.
 Stage III: Intentions (cont’d)
4. Accommodating:
The willingness of one party in a conflict to place
the opponent’s interests above his or her own.
Accommodation or smoothing:
Unassertive and cooperative.
Letting the other’s wishes rule.
Smoothing over differences to maintain superficial harmony.
5. Compromising:
A situation in which each party to a conflict is
willing to give up something.
Compromise:
Moderate assertiveness and moderate cooperativeness.
Working toward partial satisfaction of everyone’s concerns.
Seeking acceptable rather than optimal solutions so that no one totally
wins or loses.
 Stage IV: Behavior

Conflict Management:
The use of resolution and stimulation
techniques to achieve the desired level
of conflict.
 Stage V: Outcomes
 Functional Outcomes from Conflict:
 Increased group performance
 Improved quality of decisions
 Stimulation of creativity and innovation
 Encouragement of interest and curiosity
 Provision of a medium for problem-solving
 Creation of an environment for self-evaluation
and change
 Creating Functional Conflict:
 Reward dissent and punish conflict avoiders.
 Stage V: Outcomes

 Dysfunctional Outcomes from

Conflict:
 Development of discontent
 Reduced group effectiveness
 Retarded communication
 Reduced group cohesiveness
 Infighting among group members overcomes
group goals
Managing Conflict –
negotiation skills
 How can conflict be managed
successfully?

 Conflict resolution:
A situation in which the underlying reasons
for a given destructive conflict are
eliminated.
Effective resolution begins with a diagnosis of
the stage to which conflict has developed
and recognition of the cause(s) of the
conflict.
 Conflict Management Strategies:
• Functional Conflict Resolution
– Handling conflict by compromise or
collaboration between parties.
• Compromise: each party is concerned
about their goal accomplishment and is
willing to engage in give-and-take
exchange to reach a reasonable solution.
• Collaboration: parties try to handle the
conflict without making concessions by
coming up with a new way to resolve their
differences that leaves them both better off.
– Managers also must address individual
sources of conflict.
 Conflict Management Strategies (cont’d)

Strategies Focused on Individuals

Increasing awareness of the Can conflict source can be found
source of conflict and corrected?

Increasing diversity awareness Older workers may resent younger

and skills workers, or experience cultural
differences.

Practicing job rotation or Provides a good view of what

temporary assignments others face.

Using permanent transfers and Avoids problem interactions.

dismissals when necessary
 Conflict Management Strategies (cont’d)
Strategies Focused on The Whole Organization
Changing the structure of the Shifting from a functional
organization structure to a product structure as
the organization increases in size.

Increasing the levels of Using cross-functional teams to

integration in the organization resolve conflicts between
departments.

Changing the organization’s Taking steps to change

culture dysfunctional norms and values to
reduce conflict and refocus the
organization on effective goals.

Altering the source of the If conflict is due to overlapping

conflict authority, managers can fix the
problem at the source.
The Strategy-Structure Relationship:

Strategy Structural Option

Innovation Organic: A loose structure; low
specialization, low formalization,
decentralized

Cost minimization Mechanistic: Tight control; extensive

work specialization, high formalization,
high centralization

Imitation Mechanistic and organic: Mix of

loose with tight properties; tight
controls over current activities and
looser controls for new undertakings
 Organization Structure: Its
Determinants and Outcomes

Implicit Models of Organizational Structure:

Perceptions that people hold regarding structural
variables formed by observing things around them
in an unscientific fashion.
 Conflict Out come

• Win-Lose
• Lose-Lose
• Compromise
• Win-Win
 Win-Lose
• In Win – Lose, one party gets what he
or she wants, whereas the other
comes up short.

• Power is the distinguishing

characteristic in win-lose problem
solving, for it necessary to defeat an
opponent to get what one wants.
 Lose-Lose
• Neither party is satisfied with the
outcome.

• Most of us have seen battles of pride

in which both parties strike out and
both suffer.
 Compromise
• Compromise give both parties some of
what they wanted, though both sacrifice
part of their goals.

• Although compromises may be the best

obtainable result in some conflicts, it’s
important to realize that both people in a
dispute can often work together to find
much better solutions.
 Win – Win
• The goal is to find a solution that satisfies
the needs of everyone involved.
• Not only do the parties avoid trying to win
at the other’s expense, but they also
believe that by working together it is
possible to find a solution that goes
beyond mere compromise and allows all
parties to reach their goal in the conflict.
Conflict Resolution
 Managing conflicts:

 Indirect conflict management approaches:

 Reduced interdependence.
 Appeals to common goals.
 Hierarchical referral.
 Alterations in the use of mythology and
scripts.
 Managing conflicts:

 Reduced interdependence:
 Used for adjusting level of interdependency
when work-flow conflicts exists.
 Options:
 Decoupling.
 Buffering.
 Linking pins.
 Managing conflicts:

 Appeals to common goals:

 Focusing the attention of potentially conflicting
parties on one mutually desirable goal.
 Helping parties to recognize their mutual
interdependence:
 Can be difficult to achieve if:
 Prior performance is poor.
 Parties disagree over how to improve
performance.
 Managing conflicts:
 Hierarchical referral:
 Makes use of the chain of command for
conflict resolution.
 Problems with hierarchical referral:
 May not result in true conflict resolution.
 Possibility of inaccurate diagnosis of
causes of conflict, resulting in only
superficial resolution.
 Superiors may attribute conflict to poor
interpersonal relationships.
 How can conflict be
managed successfully?
 Alterations in the use of mythology and scripts.
 Scripts are behavioral routines that become
part of the organization’s culture.
 Scripts prescribe ways of dealing with conflict.
Thank you