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

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