Ch. 14 Conflict and Negotiation
Your ________ determines the lowest value acceptable to you for a negotiated agreement.
BATNA
What is BATNA? Discuss the significance of BATNA.
BATNA stands for best alternative to a negotiated agreement. During a negotiation process, each of the parties involved should develop their BATNA during the first stage of preparation and planning. Your BATNA determines the lowest value acceptable to you for a negotiated agreement. Any offer you receive that is higher than your BATNA is better than an impasse. Conversely, you shouldn't expect success in your negotiation effort unless you're able to make the other side an offer it finds more attractive than its BATNA. If you go into your negotiation having a good idea of what the other party's BATNA is, even if you're not able to meet it, you might be able to elicit a change.
________ is a conflict-handling technique in which the parties in a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties.
Collaborating
Explain the conflict resolution strategies used by collectivist cultures.
Collectivist cultures see people as deeply embedded in social situations. As a result, collectivists are more likely to seek to preserve relationships and promote the good of the group as a whole than individualists. To preserve peaceful relationships, collectivists will avoid direct expression of conflicts, preferring to use more indirect methods for resolving differences of opinion. Compromising and avoiding are the most preferred methods of conflict management in China. Smoothing, or playing down differences while emphasizing common interests between the conflicting parties, is also a good technique to maintain relationships. Collectivists such as the Chinese may also be more interested in demonstrations of concern and working through third parties to resolve disputes.
Which of the following statements is true regarding negotiation that takes place in a collectivist culture?
Compared to individualists, collectivists are less likely to see offers from their counterparts as unfair and to reject them.
________ is defined as a process that begins when one party perceives another party has or is about to negatively affect something the first party cares about.
Conflict
________ bargaining is negotiation that seeks to divide a fixed amount of goods or services.
Distributive
Which of the following statements is true regarding conflict?
Diversity of goals among groups is a major source of conflict.
The division manager at Xperience Inc. wants to replace the SAP ERP currently used in his division with Epicor ERP as it costs 30 percent less to train new staff in Epicor ERP. But this leads to a conflict with the general manager, who insists that they can simply hire only people who already know how to use SAP ERP. Which of the following, if true, weakens the general manager's objection to the replacement of SAP ERP with Epicor ERP?
Experienced users of SAP ERP command much higher salaries than do prospective employees who have no experience in the use of any ERP.
Conflict is uniformly good or bad.
FALSE
Cross-cultural negotiations have no issues of trust.
FALSE
Distributive bargaining attempts to create a win-win solution for both the parties.
FALSE
During the behavior stage of the conflict process, the parties decide what the conflict is about.
FALSE
In nearly all cases, the party with superior alternatives will not do better in a negotiation.
FALSE
Negotiation is 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.
FALSE
A conflict-intensity continuum has "annihilatory conflict" at the upper end and "no conflict" at the lower end. In the context of this conflict-intensity continuum, which of the following statements is true of conflict intensities?
Functional conflicts are typically confined to the lower range of the conflict-intensity continuum.
In terms of intraorganizational behavior, all things being equal, why is integrative bargaining preferable to distributive bargaining?
In terms of intraorganizational behavior, all things being equal, integrative bargaining is preferable to distributive bargaining because the former builds long-term relationships. Integrative bargaining bonds negotiators and allows them to leave the bargaining table feeling they have achieved a victory. Distributive bargaining, however, leaves one party a loser. It tends to build animosities and deepen divisions when people have to work together on an ongoing basis. Research shows that over repeated bargaining episodes, when the "losing" party feels positive about the negotiation outcome, he or she is much more likely to bargain cooperatively in subsequent negotiations. This points to an important advantage of integrative negotiations, even when you "win," you want your opponent to feel good about the negotiation.
Which of the following statements is true regarding integrative bargaining?
Integrative bargaining focuses on long-term relationships.
________ is the third stage in the conflict process and it intervenes between people's perceptions and their overt behavior.
Intention
What is the difference between intergroup conflict and intragroup conflict? Provide an example of each type of conflict.
Intragroup conflict is conflict within a group or work team, whereas intergroup conflict is conflict between groups or teams. Intragroup conflict is the focus of much of the research on conflict in the workplace and the groups and teams that exist to perform a particular task. In this type of group it is important that a supportive climate exists if conflict is to have a positive influence. Within an NFL team, for example, team members may be motivated to improve when team members are supportive. The intergroup conflict that exists between members of one team and those of another is a very different type of conflict, however, and one that may have little bearing on conflict within a group.
Which of the following statements is true regarding distributive bargaining?
It operates under zero-sum conditions.
Xanadu Industries manufactures and sells the same calipers as Utopia Industries. Employee wages account for 35 percent of the cost of manufacturing calipers at both Xanadu Industries and Utopia Industries. Xanadu Industries is seeking a competitive advantage over Utopia Industries. Richard, the manager put in charge of devising a strategy to meet this end, suggests lowering employee wages. This leads to a grave conflict between Richard and the labor union. Which of the following, if true, would suggest that the labor union will accept Richard's suggestion to lower the wages?
Many people who work for manufacturing plants live in areas in which the manufacturing plant is the only source of employment.
Explain how gender affects negotiating, and describe what this means to the outcomes of the negotiation process.
Men and women negotiate differently, and these differences affect outcomes. Men tend to place a higher value on status, power, and recognition, whereas women tend to place a higher value on compassion and altruism. Men tend to value economic outcomes more than women, while women value relationship outcomes more than men. In negotiations, women tend to behave in a less assertive, less self-interested, and more accommodating manner. Because of this, other negotiators seek to exploit female negotiators, often leaving women with poorer outcomes. However, when women behave assertively, their behavior is viewed more negatively than if the same behavior were demonstrated by men.
Which of the following is true regarding negotiation outcomes?
Overall agreeableness is weakly related to negotiation outcomes.
Stratford Inc. is a company that hires culturally diverse people to perform Shakespearean plays for high school students. The company employs actors and actresses from all over the world. The actors and actresses have joined together to ask the company for higher salaries. The employees are struggling over deciding who will negotiate for them. Which of the following statements is true pertaining to the effect of individual differences on negotiations?
People who are highly interested in having positive relationships with other people are poor negotiators.
Discuss the effects of agreeableness on the effectiveness of negotiations.
Research shows that overall agreeableness is weakly related to negotiation outcomes and that the degree to which agreeableness affects negotiations depends on the situation. The importance of being extraverted in negotiations, for example, will very much depend on how the other party reacts to someone who is assertive and enthusiastic. A recent study also suggests that the type of negotiations matter as well. This study showed that agreeable individuals reacted more positively and felt less stress in integrative negotiations than in distributive ones.
Explain how self-efficacy impacts negotiation outcomes.
Self-efficacy is one individual-difference variable that does seem consistently to relate to negotiation outcomes. This is a fairly intuitive finding—it isn't too surprising to hear that those who believe they will be more successful in negotiation situations tend to perform more effectively. It may be that individuals who are more confident stake out stronger claims, are less likely to back down from their positions, and exhibit confidence that intimidates others.
Describe a functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict that could exist because of structure.
Some conflicts support the goals of the group and improve its performance; these are functional, constructive forms of conflict. Additionally, there are conflicts that hinder group performance; these are dysfunctional or destructive forms of conflict. Structural conflict includes variables such as size, 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. A functional-structural conflict that could exist in a long-term situation would be that of a salesperson and a credit manager who are in constant conflict because they have differing goals; the salesperson wishing to make the highest number of sales, and the credit manager needing to insure that all the sales will be paid. Although there is conflict, it is functional because it is supportive of the overall group performance. A dysfunctional-structural conflict could exist, for example, because tasks are not adequately defined in a work group. The group would always be at odds and would not be advancing the goals set and the tasks would be hindered.
A review that examined the effects of the four sets of behaviors across multiple studies found that openness and collaborating were both associated with superior group performance, whereas avoiding and competing strategies were associated with significantly worse group performance.
TRUE
A review that examined the effects of the four sets of behaviors across multiple studies found that openness and collaborating were both associated with superior group performance.
TRUE
Collectivists are more interested in demonstrations of concern and working through third parties to resolve disputes, whereas individualists are more likely to confront differences of opinion directly and openly.
TRUE
In terms of intraorganizational behavior, all things being equal, integrative bargaining is preferable to distributive bargaining.
TRUE
Jeff has a reputation for shouting angrily while negotiating. In contrast, Anita is known for her soft-spoken agreeable approach to negotiations. Jeff is more likely to get the concessions he wants than Anita.
TRUE
Making sure negotiations are designed to focus on well-defined and work-related terms also has promise for reducing gender differences by minimizing the ambiguous space for stereotypes to operate.
TRUE
Open and emotionally stable teams can put task conflict in perspective and focus on how the variance in ideas can help solve the problem rather than letting it degenerate into relationship conflicts.
TRUE
Relationship conflicts are almost always dysfunctional.
TRUE
Spotify needs to demonstrate to recording companies that cooperating with streaming services creates better value for them than different music distribution methods, even as prices change.
TRUE
The potential for conflict increases when too much communication takes place.
TRUE
Conservationists have had a perpetual conflict with the government of the United States over the fast and rampant depletion of Earth's natural resources. They argue that the United States must reduce its consumption level significantly to rectify this problem. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conservationists' argument?
The United States accounts for one-third of the total world resource consumption.
Matt works as a sales representative at Tandem Industries, which manufactures and sells bicycles. He's the best salesman on the floor, but he also receives the highest number of customer complaints for late deliveries. Which of the following, if true, best explains this situation?
The company keeps inventory levels low in order to reduce costs.
In which of the following situations is mediation most likely to be effective?
The conflict between the parties involved in mediation is at a moderate level.
Outline and discuss the conflict process.
The conflict process can be seen as comprising five stages: potential opposition or incompatibility, cognition and personalization, intentions, behavior, and outcomes. a) The first step in the conflict process is the presence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise. They need not lead directly to conflict, but one of these conditions is necessary if conflict is to surface. These conditions are communication, structure, and personal variables. If the conditions related to these variables negatively affect something that one party cares about, then the potential for opposition or incompatibility becomes actualized in the second stage. The antecedent conditions can only lead to conflict when one or more of the parties are affected by, and aware of, the conflict. b) "Stage II" is cognition and personalization. This is where conflict issues tend to be defined. c) In "Stage III," intentions intervene between people's perceptions and emotions and their overt behavior. These intentions are decisions to act in a certain way. This is "Stage III" of the conflict process. d) When most people think of conflict situations, they tend to focus on "behavior" because this is where conflicts become visible. The behavior stage includes statements, actions, and reactions made by the conflicting parties. This is "Stage IV" of the conflict process. e) The action-reaction interplay between the conflicting parties results in consequences. These outcomes in "Stage V" may be functional in that the conflict results in an improvement in the group's performance, or dysfunctional in that it hinders group performance.
Describe the first step of the negotiation process. How does this step affect negotiating parties' relationship? How does the negotiating parties' relationship help determine the kind of bargaining that will be done (integrative or distributive)?
The first step of the negotiating process is planning and preparation. Before negotiating it's important to prepare by considering the nature of the conflict, the history leading up to the negotiation, who's involved and what their perceptions of the conflict are, what is desired from the negotiation, and what you hope to achieve. Relationships can change as a result of a negotiation, so that's another outcome to take into consideration in the planning and preparation phase. If one side completely "wins" a negotiation, it can push the other side into resentment or animosity. It might be wiser to pursue a more compromising style. If preserving the relationship will make you seem weak and easily exploited, you may want to consider a more aggressive style. In terms of intraorganizational behavior, all things being equal, integrative bargaining is preferable to distributive bargaining because the former builds long-term relationships. Integrative bargaining bonds negotiators and allows them to leave the bargaining table feeling they have achieved a victory. Distributive bargaining, however, leaves one party a loser.
Describe the five conflict-handling intentions that are based on the dimensions of cooperativeness and assertiveness.
The five conflict-handling intentions that are based on the dimensions of cooperativeness and assertiveness are: a) Competing: When one person seeks to satisfy his or her own interests, regardless of the impact on the other parties to the conflict, that person is competing. b) Collaborating: In collaborating, the intention of the parties is to solve the problem by clarifying differences rather than by accommodating various points of view. c) Avoiding: In avoiding, a person may recognize that a conflict exists and want to withdraw from it or suppress it. d) Accommodating: A party who seeks to appease an opponent may be willing to place the opponent's interests above his or her own, sacrificing to maintain the relationship. We refer to this conflict-handling intention as accommodating. e) Compromising: In compromising, there is no clear winner or loser. Rather, there is a willingness to ration the object of the conflict and accept a solution that provides incomplete satisfaction of both parties' concerns.
According to a newly added office smoking regulation, only employees who have an enclosed office may smoke at their desks. This leads to a major conflict between various employees as virtually all employees with enclosed offices are higher-level managers and all other employees lack enclosed offices. Therefore, the lower-level employees who smoke argue that they should be offered enclosed offices. Which of the following, if true, strengthens the employees' argument?
The smoking regulations allow all employees who smoke an equal opportunity to do so, regardless of an employee's job level.
Identify the three basic types of conflict from the perspective of where the conflict occurs and discuss why it is important to understand the loci of conflict in order to address conflict in the workplace.
The three basic types of conflict are dyadic (conflict between two people), intragroup (conflict within a group or team), and intergroup (conflict between groups or teams). It is important to recognize the loci of conflict in an organization in order to better understand why the conflict is taking place and its impact on the organization.
What are the various causes of conflict?
The three general categories of conditions that may be the sources of conflict are communication, structure, and personal variables. a) Communication represents those opposing forces that arise from semantic difficulties, misunderstandings, and "noise" in the communication channels. Differing word connotations, jargon, insufficient exchange of information, and noise in the communication channel are all barriers to communication and potential antecedent conditions to conflict. The potential for conflict increases when either too little or too much communication takes place. b) Structure includes variables such as size, 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. c) Personal variables include individual value systems that each person has and the personality characteristics that account for individual idiosyncrasies and differences.
Define and describe the traditional view of conflict.
The traditional view of conflict argues that conflict must be avoided. The early approach to conflict assumed that all conflict was bad. Conflict was viewed negatively, and it was used synonymously with such terms as violence, destruction, and irrationality to reinforce its negative connotation. Conflict, by definition, was harmful and was to be avoided. The traditional view was consistent with the attitudes that prevailed about group behavior in the 1930s and 1940s. Conflict was seen as a dysfunctional outcome resulting 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.
Which of the following is not true regarding gender differences in negotiations?
Women place a lower value on relationship outcomes than men.
A party who seeks to appease an opponent may be willing to place the opponent's interests above his or her own, sacrificing to maintain the relationship. We refer to this conflict-handling intention as ________.
accommodating
Macy does not like a few of the standard operating procedures adapted for the new project. However, she discussed the items with the team and told them that she realized she was in the minority and that she would adapt the new procedures to maintain smooth operations within the team. This type of conflict-handling intention is called ________.
accommodating
During a negotiation, making an initial offer leads to the ________ bias.
anchoring
Which of the following conflict management techniques involves designating a critic to purposely argue against the majority positions held by the group?
appointing a devil's advocate
Which of the following methods of third-party negotiation always results in a settlement?
arbitration
The conflict-handling intention of collaborating is ________.
assertive and cooperative
A collectivist Chinese manager is most likely to use which of the following techniques for conflict management?
avoiding
Luke's cubicle neighbor Leia, though an understanding and great co-worker, talks loudly on the phone. Luke gets annoyed every time Leia's phone rings, but he has decided it's simply not worth the trouble to talk to her about it. Luke's conflict-handling intention is called _________.
avoiding
Which of the following conflict-handling intentions is unassertive and uncooperative?
avoiding
The terms negotiation and ________ are used interchangeably.
bargaining
During which phase of the negotiation process do the parties have the actual discussion to hash out an agreement?
bargaining and problem-solving
In a negotiation between a man and a woman, we would expect the woman to _______ than the man.
be more accommodating
In which stage of the conflict process does conflict become visible?
behavior
Which of the following is a conflict-stimulation technique?
bringing in outsiders
Bill is negotiating for the labor union. Today, he is presenting the evidence and papers that demonstrate the average wages in the area, the cost of healthcare for the average worker, and a pie graph demonstrating how these costs affect the new salary request. Which phase of the negotiation process is Bill currently in?
clarification and justification
The ________ stage of the conflict process is important because it's where conflict issues tend to be defined.
cognition and personalization
When one person seeks to satisfy his or her own interests regardless of the impact on the other parties to the conflict, that person is using the conflict-handling intention of ________.
competing
Which of the following conflict-handling intentions is assertive and uncooperative?
competing
Which of the following conflict-handling intentions involves accepting a solution that provides incomplete satisfaction of both parties' concerns?
compromising
During which phase of the negotiation process do the parties exchange their initial proposals or demands?
definition of ground rules
In a negotiation process, which of the following activities is most likely to be included in the definition of ground rules step?
determining time constraints, if any, applicable to negotiation
In a negotiation process, which of the following activities is most likely to be included in the preparation and planning step?
determining your best alternative to a negotiated agreement
Karl is the labor union negotiator. Today, he is meeting with the top management to discuss the new five-year contract, including wages and benefits. This labor-management negotiation over wages is most likely to use ________ bargaining.
distributive
As both sides agree that they are competing over a fixed amount of resources, each side feels that what one side wins, the other loses. Based on this information, we can say that the two sides are engaged in ________.
distributive bargaining
The two general approaches to negotiation are ________ bargaining and ________ bargaining.
distributive; integrative
Conflict between two people is called ________ conflict.
dyadic
Mike and Keith are on the same team; they work well with other people in the same team but don't get along with each other. This type of conflict can best be described as ________.
dyadic
In a negotiation process, which of the following activities is included in the closure and implementation step?
formalizing the agreement that has been worked out
According to the interactionist view, ________ conflicts support the goals of the group and improve its performance.
functional
According to the traditional view of conflict, all conflict is ________.
harmful and must be avoided
All of the following are benefits of conflict in organizations except ________.
increased groupthink
The management has decided to try to find a win-win solution to help both parties resolve their differences. Management is attempting to engage in ________ bargaining.
integrative
According to the ________ view of conflict, conflict can be a positive force in a group and some conflict is absolutely necessary for a group to perform effectively.
interactionist
A(n) ________ is a neutral third party who facilitates a negotiated solution by using reasoning, persuasion, and suggestions for alternatives.
mediator
Which of the following terms best describes the process that occurs when two or more parties decide how to allocate scarce resources?
negotiation
Assertiveness indicates the degree to which ________.
one party attempts to satisfy his or her own concerns
The conflict-handling techniques are characterized by two dimensions, cooperativeness and assertiveness. Cooperativeness indicates the degree to which ________.
one party attempts to satisfy the other party's concerns
Stage II of the conflict process deals with the conflict being ________.
perceived and felt
Which of the following is the first step in the negotiation process?
preparation and planning
Conflicts related to how the work gets done are called ________ conflicts.
process
When your work group disagrees, the disagreements usually concern how the group's work should be accomplished. The type of conflict experienced by your group is known as a _______ conflict.
process
According to the interactionist's perspective, a group that functions without conflict is ________.
prone to becoming static and apathetic
Conflict is dysfunctional when it ________.
reduces group cohesiveness
In a case of distributive bargaining, the _______ point marks the lowest outcome that is acceptable....the point below which the party would break off negotiations rather than accept a less favorable settlement.
resistance
Conditions that can create conflicts can be classified into three categories. Which of the following is one of these three categories that includes variables such as jurisdictional clarity, member-goal compatibility, and leadership styles?
structure
In the case of a distributive bargaining, the ________ point indicates what a person would like to achieve out of the negotiation.
target
None of the parties involved in the dispute wants to reach a win-win agreement. They are each highly focused on their demands, which they would like to achieve, otherwise known as their ________ points.
target
Conflict that relates to the content and goals of work is called ________ conflict.
task
You decide to do more research on the view that conflict should be encouraged as a means to achieve change and innovation. This view is termed ________.
the interactionist view
It seems that your work group is in conflict much of the time. One colleague has suggested that you, as the supervisor, are responsible for eliminating the conflict so that your work group can function harmoniously. Another colleague has suggested that conflict is good for stimulating creativity and productivity within the work environment. You are unsure about whether you should try to eliminate the conflict within your group or learn to deal with it positively. If you support the idea that conflict should be eliminated, you are supporting which of the following views of conflict?
the traditional view
The conflict-handling intention of accommodating is ________.
unassertive and cooperative
