*EXAM* Leader as Conflict Handler and Negotiator/Chapter 14: Conflict and Negotiation

Stage of conflict... stage 5: Outcomes.

Can be functional, to increase group performance or dysfunctional, to decrease group performance. Both functional and dysfunctional reduce group member satisfaction and trust.

What is BATNA?

Determine you and your other side's BATNA. The lowest acceptable value or outcome to an individual for a negotiated agreement. Any offer you receive that is higher than BATNA is better than an impasse. Think about what the other side is willing to give up. The bottom line for negotiations - lowest value you will take before you walk away.

4. Bargaining and Problem Solving

Give and take, make concessions.

Who does not benefit from task conflict?

Groups performing routine tasks that don't require creativity won't benefit from task conflict. Also, if the group is already engaged in active discussion of ideas in a non confrontational way, adding conflict will not help generate more ideas.

What combination of win-lose-withdraw-lose-not-too-bad is it? When is it the most effective?

Lose - Win. When you find you're wrong, when you need to learn or show reasonableness, when you should allow a better position to be heard, when issues are more important to others than to yourself, when you want to satisfy others and maintain cooperation, when you can build social credits for later issues, when you are outmatched and losing - to minimize loss, when harmony and stability are especially important, and when employees can develop by learning from mistakes. Most effective for low power, trivial things, boss's wishes "managing up", customer relations. Example, favors build reciprocity "I owe you" building social capital.

Stage of conflict... stage 1: potential opposition or incompatibility: conditions: Personal variables.

Personal variables. People high in the personality traits of disagreeableness, neuroticism, or self monitoring are prone to tangle with other people more often, and to react poorly when conflicts occur. Emotions can also cause conflict.

Traditional view of conflict: Where did the dysfunctional conflict come from?

Poor communication, a lack of openness and trust between people, and the failure of managers to be responsive to the needs and aspirations of their employees.

Types of interactionist conflict ...process conflict

Process conflict. Conflict over how work gets done.

Types of interactionist conflict ...relationship conflict

Relationship conflict. Conflict based on interpersonal relationships.

How do you create functional conflict?

Reward dissent, or conflict, and punish conflict avoiders. It starts with a good leader that hire people that way by person-organization fit and looking at values. For example, Zappos offers people $4,000 to quit to make sure employees want to be there.

Stage of conflict... stage 1: potential opposition or incompatibility: structure: conditions: structure: that create conflict.

Structure. Conflict: large group, high specialization, young group members, high turnover, high ambiguity leading to fighting for control of resources, diverse goals, rewards where one member's gain is at another's expense, dependency on another group.

Types of interactionist conflict ...task conflict

Task conflict. Conflicts over content and goals of the work.

Stage of conflict... stage 1: potential opposition or incompatibility.

The appearance of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise. They don't need to lead directly to conflict but one of them is necessary for conflict to surface. Conditions are communication, structure, and personal variables.

Assertiveness

The degree to which one party attempts to satisfy his own concerns.

Dysfunctional Outcomes

Uncontrolled opposition breeds discontent, which acts to dissolve common ties and eventually leads to the destruction of the group. It reduces group effectiveness. Consequences include poor communication, reductions in group cohesiveness, and subordination of group goals to the primacy of infighting among members.

As the supplier, what are their interests in bargaining?

Volume, profit, cost, brand reputation, maintaining customer, design.

1. Preparation and planning

What's the nature of the conflict? What's the history leading up to this negotiation? Who is involved and what are their perceptions of the conflict? What do you want from the negotiation? What are your goals? Put your goals in writing and develop a range of outcomes from "most helpful" to "minimally acceptable" to keep your attention focused.

Define felt conflict.

When individuals become emotionally involved and start to experience anxiety, tension, frustration, or hostility.

What is the area between the target point and resistance point?

Each party's aspiration range. As long as there is some overlap between A's and B's aspiration ranges, there exists a settlement range in which each one's aspirations can be met.

Conflict stimulants

- Bring in outsiders: senior management, client to discussion. - Restructuring the organization: bureaucracy to organic. - Appointing a devil's advocate.

Dysfunctional conflict

- Development of discontent. - Reduced group effectiveness. - Retarded communication. - Reduced group cohesiveness. - Infighting among group members overcomes group goals.

Functional 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.

Conflict resolution techniques

- Problem solving. Going back and forth. - Superordinate goals: going for the big picture. Big broad goals we can all agree on. - Expansion of resources. Additional resources we can bring in to make everyone happy and resolve the conflict. - Avoidance. Walk away. - Smoothing: smoothing the differences. Focusing on things in common. - Compromise. - Authoritative command: boss/high authority. - Altering the human variable: train people to have better conflict management or fire people. - Altering the structural variables: look at different processes like altering rewards, changing people's offices. - Communication.

What are the five stages of conflict?

1. Personal opposition or incompatibility. 2. Cognition and personalization. 3. Intentions. 4. Behavior. 5. Outcomes.

What are the five steps of the negotiation process?

1. Preparation and planning. 2. Definition of ground rules. 3. Clarification and justification. 4. Bargaining and problem solving. 5. Closure and implementation.

What causes bullying?

A desire to dominate others. Protecting one's power, especially when threatened. Protecting one's ego, especially when threatened.

Define perceived conflict.

A may be aware that B and A are in a serious disagreement but it may not make A tense or anxious, and it may have no effect whatsoever on A's affection toward B.

Define conflict.

A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about. That point in an ongoing activity when an interaction "crosses over" to become an interparty conflict.

Define negotiation, or bargaining.

A process that occurs when two or more parties decide how to allocate scarce resources. A process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree on the exchange rate for them.

What conflict handling style is for low assertiveness and high cooperativeness?

Accommodating.

Conflict Handling Intention: Accomodating

Accommodating. A party who seeks to appease an opponent may be willing to put the opponent's interests above his own, sacrificing to maintain the relationship. Example, supporting someone else's opinions despite your reservation about it.

Traditional view of conflict

All conflict is bad and should be avoided. Conflict was viewed negatively and discussed with such terms as violence, destruction, and irrationality to reinforce its negative connotation. It was shortsighted in assuming that all conflict should be eliminated.

Is relationship conflict functional or dysfunctional? Why?

Almost always dysfunctional! Because the friction and interpersonal hostiles inherent in relationship conflicts increase personality clashes and decrease mutual understanding, which hinders the completion or organizational tasks.

1. Preparation and planning - assess the other party's goals

Assess the other party's goals. What are they likely to ask? How entrenched is their position likely to be? What intangible or hidden interests may be important to them? On what might they be willing to settle? When you can anticipate your opponent's position, you are better equipped to counter arguments with the facts and figures that support your position.

What conflict handling style is for low assertiveness and low cooperativeness?

Avoiding.

Conflict Handling Intention: Avoiding

Avoiding. A person may recognize a conflict exists and want to withdraw from or suppress it. Example, trying to ignore a conflict and avoiding others with whom you disagree.

Stage of conflict... stage 2: Cognition and Personalization.

Cognition and personalization. Where the conflict is defined and the parties decide what the conflict is about. It delineates a set of possible settlements. Positive emotions increase our tendency to see potential relationships among the elements of the problem, to take a broader view of the situation, and to develop more innovative solutions.

What conflict handling style is for high assertiveness and high cooperativeness?

Collaborating.

Conflict Handling Intention: Collaborating

Collaborating. When parties in conflict each desire to satisfy the concerns of all parties, there is cooperation and a search for a mutually beneficial outcome. Parties intend to solve a problem by clarifying differences rather than by accommodating various points of view.

Differences in conflict resolution styles amongst cultures.

Collectivist cultures see people as deeply embedded in social situations, so they are more likely to seek to preserve relationships, promote the good of the group as a whole, avoid direct expressions of conflicts, and prefer indirect methods for resolving differences of opinion. Individualist cultures see people as autonomous and will be more likely to confront differenced of opinion directly and openly.

Stage of conflict... stage 1: potential opposition or incompatibility: conditions: communication.

Communication. Can lead to conflict arising from semantic difficulties, differing word connotations, jargon, insufficient exchange of information, misunderstandings, and noise in the communication channels. Potential for conflict increases when there is too little or too much communication.

What conflict handling style is for high assertiveness and low cooperativeness?

Competing.

Conflict Handling Intention: Competing

Competing. When one person seeks to satisfy her own interests regardless of the impact on the other parties in the conflict.

What conflict handling style is for medium assertiveness and medium cooperativeness?

Compromising.

Conflict Handling Intention: Compromising

Compromising. There is a willingness to ration the object of the conflict and accept a solution that provides incomplete satisfaction of both parties concerns. Each party intends to give up something.

Stage of conflict... stage 4: Behavior.

Conflict becomes visible through statements, actions, and reactions made by the conflicting parties, usually as overt attempts to implement their own intentions. Overt conflict and the other's reaction.

Functional Outcomes: Part 2

Conflict challenges the status quo and therefore furthers the creation of new ideas, promotes reassessment of group goals and activities, and increases the probability that the group will respond to change. An open discussion focused on higher-order goals can make these functional outcomes more likely. Groups whose members have different interests tend to produce higher-quality solutions to a variety of problems than do homogeneous groups. Team members with greater differences in work styles and experience also tend to share more information with one another.

Functional Outcomes

Conflict is constructive when it improves the quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages interest and curiosity among group members, provides the medium through which problems can be aired and tensions released, and fosters an environment of self-evaluation and change. It can allow all points to be weighed, especially unusual ones or those held by the minority; serving as an antidote for groupthink.

If you are the victim of bullying what can you do?

Contact the Workplace Bullying Institute. 1. Take time off - getting out of the situation helps you to think clearly. 2. Name it "bulling" to get the attention of the organization. 3. Recruit allies - go as a group so the whole division has a problem with the bully and are all in agreement.

As the purchaser, what are your interests in bargaining?

Cost, reliability, quality of product, color, design, material, shipping cost.

2. Definition of ground rules

Define the ground rules and the procedures of the negotiations itself with the other party. Exchange your initial proposals or demands. Who will do the negotiating? Where will it take place? What time constraints, if any, will apply? To what issues will negotiation be limited? Will you follow a specific procedure if an impasse is reached?

Target point

Defines what each negotiator would like to achieve.

What is the goal, motivation, focus, informations haring, and duration of relationships for distributive bargaining?

Distributive bargaining. Goal: Get as much of the pie as possible. Motivation: Win-Lose. Focus: Positions: "I can't go beyond this point on this issue". Interests: Opposed. Information sharing: Low: sharing information will only allow the other party to take advantage of it. Duration of relationships: Short term.

Interactionist view of conflict: Dysfunctional conflict

Dysfunctional conflict. Conflict that hinders group performance and is destructive. It can destroy work relationships, is personally upsetting, and can disrupt work performance.

Interactionist view of conflict

Encourages conflict on the grounds that a harmonious, peaceful, tranquil, and cooperative group is prone to becoming static, apathetic, and unresponsive to needs for change and innovation. A minimal level of conflict can help keep a group viable, self-critical, and creative. Shortsighted by not recognizing that conflict is inevitable in most organizations.

Personality traits in negotiation

Extraverts are outgoing and friendly and tend to share more information than they should. Agreeable people are more interested in finding ways to cooperate rather than to butt heads. Although these traits are slightly helpful in integrative bargaining, they are liabilities when there are opposing interests. The best distributive bargainer is a disagreeable introvert - someone more interested in his or her own outcomes than in pleasing the other party and having a pleasant social exchange. People who are highly interested in having positive relationships with other people and are not very concerned about their own outcomes are especially poor negotiators because they tend to be anxious about disagreements and give in quickly to avoid unpleasant conflicts.

Which two styles should you try first and which two should you try second?

First, try collaborating and accommodating. If you must, try avoiding and compromising. Competing is a last resort.

5. Closure and Implementation

Formalizing the agreement you have worked out and developing any procedures necessary for implementing and monitoring it. Example, a handshake or hammering out the specifics in a formal contract.

Interactionist view of conflict: Functional conflict

Functional conflict. Conflict that supports the goals of the group and improves its performance and is, thus, a constructive form of conflict. It can enhance motivation and spur innovation and creativity.

Culture in negotiations

High power distance countries, those in positions of power might exercise more restraint. Indian low levels of trust were associated with lower discovery of common interests between parties, which occurred because Indian negotiators were less willing to disclose and solicit information. Question and answer methods of negotiation were associated with superior negotiation outcomes in both Indian and US cultures.

What leads to demeaning behavior?

High power paired with low status roles. For example, "bark like a dog"

When is conflict management used?

If a conflict is dysfunctional, parties can de-escalate it. Or if conflict is too low, it can be increased.

1. Preparation and planning - keep in mind the relationship

If it will push the other side into resentment, consider compromising, if you would seem weak, consider being aggressive. But keep in mind that people who feel good about the process of a job offer negotiation are more satisfied with their jobs and less likely to turn over a year later regardless of their actual outcomes from these negotiations.

Why does compromising reduce the pressure to bargain integratively?

If you or your opponent caves in easily, it doesn't require anyone to be creative to reach a settlement. Thus, people end up settling for less than they could have obtained if they had been forced to consider the other party's interests, trade off issues, and be creative.

Moods and emotions in negotiation: anger in distributive negotiations

In distributive negotiations, negotiators in a position of power or equal status who show anger negotiate better outcomes because their anger induces concessions from their opponents. For those who are powerless, displaying anger leads to worse outcomes. Evidence suggests that being angry has a spillover effect, such that angry negotiators are perceived as "tough" when the parties meet a second time, which leads negotiation partners to give up more concessions again.

Moods and emotions in negotiation:

In integrative negotiations, positive moods and emotions appear to lead to more integrative agreements and higher levels of joint gain because positive mood is related to creativity.

What are some ranges of conflicts people experience in organizations?

Incompatibility of goals, differences over interpretations of facts, disagreements based on behavioral expectations.

Moods and emotions in negotiation: anxiety in distributive negotiations

Individuals who experienced more anxiety about a negotiation used more deceptions in dealing with others. They expect lower outcomes from negotiations, respond to offers more quickly, and exit the bargaining process more quickly, which leads them to obtain worse outcomes.

What is the goal, motivation, focus, informations haring, and duration of relationships for integrative bargaining?

Integrative bargaining. Goal: Expand the pie so that both parties are satisfied. Motivation: Win-win. Focus: Interests: "Can you explain why this issue is so important to you?" Interests: Congruent Information sharing: High: Sharing information will allow each party to find ways to satisfy interests of each party. Duration of relationships: Long term.

Stage of conflict... stage 3: Intentions.

Intentions. Decisions to act in a given way. We have to infer the other's intent to know how to respond to his or her behavior. There is typically a great deal of slippage between intentions and behavior, they don't always accurately reflect each other. Can use cooperativeness and assertiveness to identify 5 conflict handling intentions. They aren't always fixed.

Distributive bargaining - definition.

It operates under zero-sum conditions - any gain I make is at your expense and vice versa. Negotiating over who gets what share of a fixed pie, or set amount of goods to be divided up. It leaves one party a loser, which can build animosities and deepen divisions when people have to work together on an ongoing basis.

What combination of win-lose-withdraw-lose-not-too-bad is this? When is it the most effective?

Lose-not-too-bad - Lose-not-too-bad. When goals are important but not worth the effort of potential disruption of more assertive approaches, when opponents with equal power are committed to mutually exclusive goals, when you seek temporary settlements to complex issues, when you need expedient solutions under time pressure, and as a backup when collaboration or competition is unsuccessful. No clear winner or loser. Most effective for team meetings or schedules, international teams, equal power or politics.

Is process conflict functional or dysfunctional? Why?

Low levels of this type are functional!

Is task conflict functional or dysfunctional? Why?

Low to moderate levels of this type are functional! In the early development stage, it could increase creativity and innovation in groups if it is moderate. It can stimulate discussion of ideas. It is positive when all members share the same goals and have high levels of trust. Task conflicts are related to increased performance only when all members believe the team is a safe place for taking risks and that members will not deliberately undermine or reject those that speak up.

Gender differences in negotiations: aggressive

Managerial women demonstrate less confidence than men in the anticipation of negotiating and are less satisfied with their performance afterword, even if it's similar to men. Women are also less likely than men to see an ambiguous situation as an opportunity for negotiation. Women are less aggressive in negotiations because they are worried about the backlash from others. Women are more likely to engage in assertive negotiations when they are bargaining on behalf of someone else than when they are bargaining on their own behalf

Resistance Point

Marks the lowest possible outcome - the point below which the party would break off negotiations rather than accept a less favorable settlement.

Gender differences in negotiations

Men negotiate better than women even though the difference is relatively small. Men and women could possibly place unequal values on outcomes - a few hundred dollars more in salary could be less important to women than forming and maintaining an interpersonal relationship.

What's an example of the bottom of the conflict-intensity continuum?

Minor disagreements or understandings. Typically functional. Subtle, indirect, and highly controlled forms of tension. For example, a student questioning in class a point the teacher just made.

Concentrate on why an employee wants a raise rather than focusing on the raise amount because...

Negotiations that occur when both parties are focused on learning and understanding the other side tend to also yield higher joint outcomes than those in which parties are more interested in their individual bottom-line outcomes.

Is negotiation just economic, like the price of a car?

No, every negotiation in organizations also affects the relationship between the negotiators and the way the negotiators feel about themselves. Sometimes maintaining the social relationship and behaving ethically will be just as important as achieving an immediate outcome of bargaining.

Are workplace conflicts productive?

No, they take time away from jobs or interacting with customers, and hurt feelings and anger often linger after conflicts appear to be over. Task conflicts can escalate to relationship conflicts if people can't put their feelings into neat "task" or "relationship" categories. They also produce stress which may lead people to become more close minded and adversarial. Longer-term studies show that all conflicts reduce trust, respect, and cohesion in groups.

Integrative bargaining

Operates under the assumption that one or more of the possible settlements can create a win-win situation. It bonds negotiators and allows them to leave the bargaining table feeling they have achieved a victory, it is preferable in terms or intraorganizational behavior and builds long term relationships.

Conflict is a perception. What is needed to begin the conflict process?

Opposition or incompatibility and some form of interaction.

What's an example of the annihilatory conflict at the top of the conflict-intensity continuum?

Overt efforts to destroy the other party. Almost always dysfunctional. Strikes, riots, and wars.

Stage of conflict... stage 1: potential opposition or incompatibility: conditions: structure: variables.

Structure. Variables such as the size of the group, degree of specialization in the tasks assigned to group members, jurisdictional clarity, member-goal compatibility, leadership styles, reward systems, and the degree of dependence between groups.

Distributive bargaining - what is the best thing you can do?

The best thing you can do is make the first offer, and make it aggressive, it will show power. Also, due to the anchoring bias - people tend to fixate on initial information. Once that anchoring bias is set, they fail to adequately adjust it based on subsequent information.

Cooperativeness

The degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the other party's concerns.

What is logrolling?

The more negotiable issues introduced into a negotiation, the more opportunity for logrolling, where issues are traded off because people have different preferences. This creates better outcomes for each side than if they negotiated each issue individually.

Managing Functional Conflict

To minimize counterproductive conflicts, recognize when there really is a disagreement. Many apparent conflicts are due to people using different language to discuss the same general course of action. Resolve differences by recognizing them and attempting to solve them by encouraging open, frank discussion focused on interests rather than issues. An open discussion makes it much easier to develop a shared perception of the problems at hand, it also allows groups to work toward a mutually acceptable solution. Or opposing groups can pick parts of the solution that are most important to them and then focus on how each side can get its top needs satisfied. Managers need to emphasize shared interests in resolving conflict. Groups with cooperative conflict styles and strong underlying identification to the overall group goals are more effective than those with a competitive style.

Human Relations view of conflict

We are all humans with different perspectives and we have to recognize and deal with it. We should find methods for resolving conflicts productively so their disruptive influence can be minimized.

What combo of win-lose-withdraw-lose-not-too-bad is it? When is it most effective?

Win - Lose. Use it when quick decisive action is needed in emergencies, when issues are important, when unpopular actions need to be implemented in cost cutting or enforcement of unpopular rules or discipline, when the issue is vital to the organization's welfare and you know you are right, and when others are taking advantage of noncompetitive behavior. Most effective for promotion, bankrupt, sales, fixed output or pie, important issues, or for gaining power.

What combination of win-lose-withdraw-lose-not-too-bad is it? When is it most effective?

Win - Win. Each parties goals are completely achieved. To find an integrative solution when both sets of concerns are too important to be compromised, when your objective is to learn, when you want to merge insights from people with different perspectives or gain commitment by incorporating concerns into a consensus, and when you need to work through feelings that have interfered with a relationship. Most effective for 2 departments with a shared goal, mergers, coop, startup or new project, partnerships, and equal power.

What combo of win-lose-withdraw-lose-not-too-bad is it? When is it the most effective?

Withdraw - Withdraw. When an issue is trivial or symptomatic of other issues, when more important issues are pressing, when you perceive no chance of satisfying your concerns, when potential disruption outweighs the benefits of resolution, when people need to cool down and regain perspective, when gathering information supersedes immediate decision, and when others can resolve the conflict more effectively. Most effective for deadline, personal conflict, something you cannot solve and have to move on from, irrelevant politics, and unimportant things.

Gender differences in negotiations: stereotype

Women act nice and men act tough stereotypes become a self-fulfilling prophecy and reinforce gender differences because women are damned if they do and damned if they don't, which favors men. Negotiate tough, and women are penalized for violating a gender stereotype. Negotiate nice and it only reinforces and lets others take advantage of the stereotype.

3. Clarification and Justification

You and the other party should explain, amplify, clarify, bolster, and justify their original demands. This should be an opportunity for educating and informing each other on issues, why they are important, and how you arrived at your initial demands - support your position.

Conditions for Integrative bargaining

You need opposing parties who are open with information and candid about their concerns, are sensitive to the other's needs and trust, and are willing to maintain flexibility. These conditions seldom exist in organizations. People who bargain in teams reach more integrative agreements than those who bargain individually because more ideas are generated when more people are at the bargaining table.