1. CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION SKILLS

2. Figure 1: Levels of conflict in organisation
Organisational
Intergroup
Interpersonal
Intra-
individual
Macro
Micro

3. Figure 2: Micro and Macro Dynamics of Organisational Behaviour
A model of frustration
Need
(deficiency)
Drive
(deficiency with direction)
Frustration
Defense mechanisms
1) Agressions
2) Withdrawal
3) Fixation
4) Compromise
Barrier
1) Overt
2) Covert
Goal/incentive (reduction of the
drives and fulfillment of
deficiencies

4. Intra individual conflict
Conflict due to frustration
e.g. thirsty person or minority person from a disadvantaged educational and economic background
-frustration may sometimes also result in a positive impact
Goal conflict
Approach-approach conflict (cognitive dissonance)
Approach-avoidance conflict (+ve and –ve characteristics)
Avoidance-avoidance conflict (married person experiences difficulties in relationship & wants to save (painful) and exit); dislike supervisor vs. too much pride to be unemployed
Role conflict and ambiguity
Person and the role, intra-role (psychologist faced with a case of suicide), inter-role; Role juggling

5. Interpersonal Conflict
Attribution Theory: fundamental attribution error.
Attribute others’ behaviour to personal factors such as intelligence, ability, attitudes, etc.
Sources of Interpersonal Conflict
Personal differences
Information deficiency
Role incompatibility
Environmental stress

6. Analyzing interpersonal conflict
The Johari Window
Open self
Little , if any interpersonal conflict
Hidden self
Potential interpersonal conflict
Blind self
Undiscovered self
Misunderstanding and interpersonal conflict almost sure to result

7. 1 OPEN SELF 2 HIDDEN SELF 3 BLIND SELF 4 UNDISCOVERED SELF
Figure 3: The Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham Johari window of interpersonal relationships. 1
OPEN SELF 2
HIDDEN SELF 3
BLIND SELF 4
UNDISCOVERED SELF
The person knows
about the other
The person does not know
about him-or herself
The person doesn’t know

8. Interpersonal conflict resolution strategies
3 basic strategies
Lose-lose (both parties lose, compromise or take the middle ground, use a mediator)
Win-lose (conflicts are personalized and judgmental, own point of view)
Win-win (desirable from a human and organizational standpoint, energies and creativity are aimed at solving the problems at hand)

9. Inter-group Behaviour and Conflict
‘Inter-group behaviour occurs whenever individuals belonging to one group interact, collectively or individually, with another group or its members in terms of their reference group identification’.
Realistic Group Conflict Theory (RGCT) by Social Psychologist Muzafer Sherif
The basis of RGCT is that inter-group hostility is produced by the existence of conflicting goals (competition) and reduced by the existence of mutually desired super-ordinate goals attainable only through inter-group cooperation.

10. Inter-group Behaviour and Conflict
Interacting and Overlapping Role
All organizational participants have certain expectations of others and of themselves concerning what is involved in their roles. The organization could be thought of as a set of such roles, and when these roles are in interaction with one another; this often results in conflict.
Robert L. Kahn views the organization as made up of overlapping and interlocking role sets.
Next figure shows the FOCAL persons. They are purchasing agent, executive vice president and design engineer.
Production manager member of 2 role sets

11. Figure 4: The organisation as overlapping role sets.
Supplier
Marketing
Manager
Purchasing
Agent
Production
Manager
Executive
vice president
Human Resource
Manager
Accountant
Design
Engineer
Statistician
Draftsperson
External
consultant

12. Antecedents to Inter group conflict
Competition for resources
Task interdependence
Jurisdictional ambiguity (turf problems). Taking credit for desirable activities and give up responsibility for undesirable ones.
Status struggles

13. Characteristics of groups in conflict, some findings from research
Clear distinction between ‘we’ and ‘they’
Cohesion in the group increases when it is in conflict
Positive feelings
Overestimation of own strength and underestimation of the other
Decrease of communication between conflicting groups
Members’ cohesion decreases when group is losing in a conflict. Increased tension. Look for a scapegoat to blame their failure on.

14. Strategies employed to reduce conflict
Avoidance (ignore the conflict or impose a solution)
Defusion (attempt to deactivate the conflict. Smooth things over by playing down the importance and magnitude. Establish super-ordinate goals)
Containment (some conflict is allowed to surface. Structured negotiation and bargaining)
Confrontation (issues are thrust into the open)

15. Strategies employed to reduce conflict
Setting a super-ordinate goal (a common goal that is appealing to conflicting groups)
Reducing inter-dependence between the groups
Expanding resources (competition minimized)
Creating a formal appeals system

16. Organization conflict
Hierarchical conflict
Functional conflict (between functional departments such as marketing and production)
Line managers/supervisors-staff conflict
Line managers often view staff advice (especially from younger and more qualified) as a threat
Formal-informal conflict

17. Negotiation skills
Negotiation can go beyond just resolving conflict and become a managerial skill for both personal and organizational success.

18. Traditional negotiation approaches
Negotiators tend to be overly affected by the frame of information
Negotiators tend to non-rationally escalate commitment to a previously selected course of action when it is no longer the most reasonable alternative
Negotiators tend to assume that their gain must come at the expense of the other party. Miss opportunities for mutually beneficial trade-offs.
Negotiators tend to fail to consider information that is available by focusing on the opponent’s perspective

19. Newly emerging Negotiation skills
Whetten and Cameron suggest an integrative approach that uses problem-solving techniques to find win-win outcomes.
Based on collaborating (rather than a compromising, forcing, accommodating, or avoiding) strategy, the integrative approach requires skills such as: establishing super-ordinate goals, separating the people from the problem, focusing on interests, not on positions, inventing options for mutual gain and using objective criteria.

20. Practical guidelines for effective negotiations
Low-risk techniques
Flattery (subtle flattery)
Addressing the easy points first (helps build trust and momentum for tougher issues)
Silence (to gain concessions)
Inflated opening position (may elicit a counteroffer revealing the opponent’s position)
High-risk techniques
Unexpected temper losses (deliberate and can break impasse)
High-balling (to gain trust by appearing to give in to the opponent’s position)
‘Boulwarism’(take it or leave it). Highly aggressive strategy.
Waiting until the last moment