Chapter Eleven

Managing Conflict and

Negotiating
“Getting Things Done” Sequence
 Managing Change
 Leadership
 Influence, Power, and Politics
 Managing Conflict
 Note: menu of options available to you
in an organizational setting
 Chapter Eleven Outline
A Modern View of Conflict
•A Conflict Continuum
•Functional versus Dysfunctional Conflict
•Antecedents of Conflict
•Desired Outcomes of Conflict

Major Sources of Conflict

•Personality Conflicts
•Inter-group Conflict
•Cross-Cultural Conflict
 Chapter Eleven Outline (continued)
Managing Conflict
•Programming Functional Conflict
•Alternative Styles for Handling Dysfunctional Conflict
•Third-Party Interventions: Alternative Dispute Resolution
Negotiating
•Two Basic Types of Negotiation
•Added-Value Negotiation
 Conflict

Conflict: “A process in which one party perceives that its

interests are being opposed or negatively affected by
another party.”

Functional conflict serves the

organization’s interests while

dysfunctional conflict threatens

the organization’s interests.
Exercise
 Distinguish between the Southwest
Airlines and Gateway stories.
 Are these comparable?
 Antecedents of Conflict
• Incompatible personalities or value systems.
• Overlapping or unclear job boundaries.
• Competition for limited resources.
• Interdepartment/intergroup competition.
• Inadequate communication.
• Interdependent tasks.
• Organizational complexity.
Antecedents of Conflict (continued)
• Unreasonable or unclear policies, standards, or
rules.
• Unreasonable deadlines or extreme time pressure.
• Collective decision making.
• Decision making by consensus.
• Unmet expectations.
• Unresolved or suppressed conflict.
 Desired Outcomes of Conflict

Agreement: Strive for equitable and fair agreements that

last.

Stronger relationships: Build bridges of goodwill and

trust for the future.

Learning: Greater self-awareness and creative problem

solving.
Personality Conflicts
 Interpersonal opposition driven by personal dislike or
disagreement
 Workplace incivility, e.g. sexually offensive remarks,
ridicule about sexual orientation, ethnic slurs, racial
slurs, age-related
 Examples:
 Milton’s radio
 Trash talk in the office
 Slurs
 Are you part of the problem? (see Hands-on Exercise
p 280)
Tips for Managers Whose Employees
Are Having a Personality Conflict

1. Follow company policies for diversity, anti-

discrimination, and sexual harassment.
2. Investigate and document conflict.
3. If appropriate, take corrective action (e.g.,
feedback or behavior modification).
4. If necessary, attempt informal dispute resolution.
5. Refer difficult conflicts to human resource
specialists or hired counselors for formal
resolution attempts and other interventions.
Intergroup conflict
 In-group thinking
 Other groups are “all alike”
 Positively and morally correct
 Outsiders as a threat
 Differences exaggerated.
11-6
Figure 11-1

Minimizing Inter-group Conflict: An

Updated Contact Model
Level of perceived
Recommended actions:
Inter-group conflict tends
to increase when:
• Work to eliminate specific negative
• Conflict within the interactions between groups (and
group is high members).
• There are negative • Conduct team building to reduce
interactions between intragroup conflict and prepare
groups (or between employees for cross-functional teamwork.
members of those • Encourage personal friendships and
groups) good working relationships across
• Influential third-party groups and departments.
gossip about other group • Foster positive attitudes toward
is negative members of other groups (empathy,
compassion, sympathy).
• Avoid or neutralize negative gossip
across groups or departments.
11-7

Skills and Best Practices: How to

Build Cross-Cultural Relationships
Behavior Rank
Be a good listener 1
Be sensitive to the needs of others 2
Tie
Be cooperative, rather than overly competitive 2
Advocate inclusive (participative) leadership 3
Compromise rather than dominate 4
Build rapport through conversations 5
Be compassionate and understanding 6
Avoid conflict by emphasizing harmony 7
Nurture others (develop and mentor) 8
Managing conflict
 Programmed conflict
 Defend or criticize ideas
 Based on relevant facts
 Avoid personal or political preferences
 Disciplined role playing
 Programmed conflict techniques (Fig 11-2)
 Devil’s advocacy
 Dialectic method
 Five Conflict-Handling Styles
Concern for Others

High Integrating Obliging

Compromising

Low Dominating Avoiding

High Low
Concern for Self
Source: MA Rahim, “A Strategy for Managing
Conflict in Complex Organizations, Human Relations,
January 1985, p 84. Used with author’s permission.
11-10

Alternative Dispute Resolution

(ADR) Techniques
Facilitation: Third party gets disputants to deal directly and
constructively with each other.
Conciliation: Neutral third party acts as communication link
between disputants.
Peer review: Impartial co-workers hear both sides and render
decision that may or may not be binding.
Ombudsman: Respected and trusted member of the
organization hears grievances confidentially.
Mediation: Trained third-party guides disputants toward their
own solution.
Arbitration: Neutral third-party hears both sides in a court-like
setting and renders a binding decision.
11-11

Negotiating

Negotiation: “A give-and-take decision-making process

involving interdependent parties with different preferences.”

Distributive negotiation: Single issue; fixed-pie; win-lose.

Integrative negotiation: More than one issue; win-win.

11-12

An Integrative Approach:
Added-Value Negotiation

 Clarify interests.
 Identify options.
 Design alternative deal packages.
 Select a deal.
 Perfect the deal.
Negotiating Zone
 Zone defined in monetary terms
 Add other “issues”
 Soft-money
 Non-monetary issues
 Package possible?
 How are min-max positions established
during actual negotiations?