Negotiation & Conflict Flashcards

Negotiation & Conflict

Conflict Definition

  • Conflict arises when a party perceives their interests are opposed or negatively affected by another.
  • Conflict is rooted in perceptions.

Traditional View of Conflict

  • All conflict is harmful and must be avoided.

Interactionist View of Conflict

  • Conflict encourages progress and prevents stagnation.
  • Functional conflict improves group performance.
  • Dysfunctional conflict hinders group performance.

Types of Conflict

  • Task Conflict:
    • Focuses on work content and goals.
    • Benefits from leader intervention.
  • Relationship Conflict:
    • Focuses on interpersonal relationships.
    • Benefits from finding common ground.
  • Process Conflict:
    • Focuses on how work is done.
    • Benefits from clarifying roles and unique value.

Loci of Conflict

  • Dyadic Conflict: Between two people.
  • Intragroup Conflict: Within a group or team.
  • Intergroup Conflict: Between groups or teams.

The Conflict Process - Stages

  • Stage I: Potential Opposition or Incompatibility
    • Antecedent conditions create opportunities for conflict to arise.
    • These conditions can be categorized into:
      • Communication: Barriers, too much or too little information.
      • Structure: Group size, age, diversity, organizational rewards, goals.
      • Personal Variables: Personality, emotionality.
  • Stage II: Cognition and Personalization
    • Potential conflict becomes actualized.
    • Parties define the conflict and potential solutions.
    • Emotions significantly influence perceptions.
    • Perceived Conflict: Awareness of conflict is necessary for actualization.
    • Felt Conflict: Emotional involvement leading to anxiety, tension, frustration, or hostility.
  • Stage III: Intentions
    • Decisions to act in a specific way.
    • Inference of the other party's intentions.
    • Five conflict-handling intentions:
      • Competing
      • Collaborating
      • Avoiding
      • Accommodating
      • Compromising
  • Stage IV: Behavior
    • Overt actions and reactions based on intentions and perceptions.
    • Conflict intensity can range from minor disagreements to annihilatory conflict.
  • Stage V: Outcomes
    • Functional Outcomes:
      • Improved decision quality.
      • Stimulated creativity and innovation.
      • Encouraged interest and curiosity.
      • Problems are aired.
      • Acceptance of change and self-evaluation.
    • Dysfunctional Outcomes:
      • Reduced group effectiveness.
      • Decreased cohesiveness and communication.
      • Potential group destruction.

Conflict-Handling Strategies

  • Collaborating: Finding a mutually beneficial solution (win-win).
    • Assertive and Cooperative.
    • Win-win orientation: Belief that resources can be expanded.
  • Competing: Winning at the other's expense (win-lose).
    • Assertive and Uncooperative.
    • Win-lose orientation: Belief in a fixed pie.
  • Avoiding: Smoothing over or avoiding conflict.
    • Unassertive and Uncooperative.
  • Accommodating: Giving in to the other side.
    • Unassertive and Cooperative.
  • Compromising: Seeking a position with offsetting gains and losses.
    • Somewhat Assertive, Somewhat Cooperative.

Conflict-Handling Intentions

CompetingCollaboratingAvoidingAccommodatingCompromising
AssertivenessHighHighLowLowMedium
CooperativenessLowHighLowHighMedium
OutcomeWin-LoseWin-WinLose-LoseLose-Win

Conflict Intensity Levels

  • Annihilatory conflict: Overt efforts to destroy the other party
  • Aggressive physical attacks
  • Threats and ultimatums
  • Assertive verbal attacks
  • Overt questioning or challenging of others.
  • Minor disagreements or misunderstandings
  • No conflict

Resolving Conflict Through Negotiation

  • Negotiation: Resolving divergent goals by redefining interdependence.

Bargaining Strategies

  • Distributive: Dividing a fixed amount of resources (win-lose).
  • Integrative: Seeking win-win solutions.

Skills for Claiming Value (Distributive)

  • Prepare and set goals.
  • Know your bargaining value.
  • Know your BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement).
  • Make Concessions carefully.
  • Manage Time effectively.

Strategies for Creating Value (Integrative)

  • Gather information.
  • Discover other parties' priorities.
  • Build relationships.

Distributive Bargaining

Concessions

  • Enable movement toward agreement.
  • Signal motivation to bargain in good faith.
  • Indicate the importance of negotiating items.

Manage Time

  • Concessions increase as deadlines approach.
  • Time pressure can be a liability or an advantage.
  • Sunk cost affects negotiation dynamics.

Prepare & Set Goals

  • Goals are in direct conflict.
  • One party's gain is the other's loss.
  • Maximizing one's own share is the objective.

Bargaining Value

  • Resistance Point: Limit beyond which no further concessions are made.
  • Target Point: Realistic goal for the final agreement.
  • Initial Offer Point: Opening offer presented to the other party.

Make the First Offer

  • Anchors subsequent negotiation.
  • Extreme first offers can push the other party towards their resistance point.

Anchoring Effect

  • Over-reliance on the initial number presented.
  • Cognitive bias that impacts negotiations.

Define Target

  • Your goal in the negotiation.
  • Realistic based on available information.

Resistance/Reservation Point

  • Indifference between agreement or walking away.
  • Prefer no agreement beyond this point.
  • Never reveal your resistance point.

Bargaining Zone (Zone of Potential Agreement)

  • Area between the parties' resistance points where agreement is possible.

Know Your BATNA

  • Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement.
  • Estimates your power in the negotiation.
  • Represents the cost of walking away.
  • A low cost to walk away equates to a high BATNA.
  • Don't overestimate your BATNA.

The Bottom Line

  • BATNA helps set the resistance point.
  • Resistance point is used in bargaining.
  • BATNA protects your resistance point.

Integrative Negotiation

  • Focus on commonalities rather than differences.
  • Address needs/interests, not positions/issues.
  • Commit to meeting all parties' needs.
  • Exchange information and ideas.
  • Invent options for mutual gain.

Claiming and Creating Value

  • Skills for claiming value
    • Prepare and set goals
    • Know your bargaining value
    • Know your BATNA
    • Concessions
    • Manage time
  • Strategies for creating value
    • Gather information
    • Discover other parties' priorities
    • Build relationships

Gather Information

  • Cornerstone of value creation.
  • Listen closely, ask for details, and look beyond justifications.

Priorities

  • Discover and signal issue importance.
  • Use multi-issue offers.

Relationship Building

  • Trust is critical.
  • Be sensitive to nonverbal cues, appearance, and initial statements.

Recognizing Integrative Potential

  • Multiple issues involved.
  • Possibility of adding issues.
  • Varying preferences across issues.
  • Likelihood of recurring negotiations.

Reaching Integrative Potential

  • Fully understand the problem (ask "why," not "what").
  • Generate alternative solutions.
  • Never quit negotiating.

Splitting the Pie

  • Focus on value creation by working together.

Hallmarks of a Good Negotiation

  • Value is created.
  • Value is claimed.
  • Other party feels good.
  • Negotiation relationship is protected or enhanced.

Summary

  • Types of conflict
  • Conflict handling styles
  • Types of negotiations
  • Know your BATNA