HOW TO RESOLVE CONFLICT

Capt. Ramrao Ranadive

CONFLICT RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES
CONFLICT RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES CONT’D
 EFFECTS OF FUNCTIONAL/DYSFUNCTIONAL CONFLICTS

Functional Conflict :
Dysfunctional Conflict
• Increased group performance
• Improved quality of decisions
• Stimulation of creativity and
innovation
• Encouragement of interest and
curiosity
• Provision of a medium for
problem-solving
• Creation of an environment for
self-evaluation and change
Intensity Impacts Org Performance
( Stimulation lacking or Inadequacy in
Cooperation)
• Development of discontent
• Reduced group effectiveness
• Retarded communication
• Reduced group cohesiveness
• Infighting among group members overcomes
group goals

Prescription for Functional Conflict

“Reward dissent and punish conflict avoiders”
NEGOTIATION
 Negotiation (Bargaining)

A process in which two or more parties exchange

goods or services and attempt to agree on the
exchange rate for them
 Two General Approaches:
 Distributive Bargaining
 Negotiation that seeks to divide up a fixed amount of
resources; a win-lose situation
 Integrative Bargaining
 Negotiation that seeks one or more settlements that can
create a win-win solution
DISTRIBUTIVE VERSUS INTEGRATIVE BARGAINING
 DISTRIBUTIVE VERSUS INTEGRATIVE BARGAINING
integrative bargaining Negotiation
fixed pie The belief that there is only that seeks one or more settlements
a set amount of goods or services to that can create a win–win solution.
be divided up between the parties.

Integrative

Yours
Mine
Y
M
Distributive o
i
u
n
distributive bargaining Negotiation r
e
that seeks to divide up a fixed amount
of resources; a win–lose situation. s
Source: Based on R. J. Lewicki and J. A. Litterer,
Negotiation (Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1985), p. 280.
BARGAINING TACTICS AND THE BARGAINING ZONE
 Distributive Tactics  Integrative Tactics
 Make an aggressive  Bargain in teams
first offer  Put more issues on the table
 Reveal a deadline  Don’t compromise
THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS
 BATNA
 TheBest Alternative
To a Negotiated
Agreement
 The lowest acceptable
value (outcome) to an
individual for a
negotiated agreement
 The “Bottom Line”
for negotiations
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN NEGOTIATION
EFFECTIVENESS
 Personality Traits
 Extroverts and agreeable people weaker at distributive negotiation –
disagreeable introvert is best
 Intelligence is a weak indicator of effectiveness
 Mood and Emotion
 Abilityto show anger helps in distributive bargaining
 Positive moods and emotions help integrative bargaining
 Gender
 Men and women negotiate the same way, but may experience
different outcomes
 Women and men take on gender stereotypes in negotiations: tender
and tough
 Women are less likely to negotiate

© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 15-10

THIRD-PARTY NEGOTIATIONS
 Four Basic Third-Party Roles
 Mediator
 A neutral third party who facilitates a negotiated solution by using reasoning,
persuasion, and suggestions for alternatives
 Arbitrator
 A third party to a negotiation who has the authority to dictate an agreement.
 Conciliator
 A trusted third party who provides an informal communication link between the
negotiator and the opponent
 Consultant
 An impartial third party, skilled in conflict management, who attempts to
facilitate creative problem solving through communication and analysis

© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 15-11

 GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS
 Conflict and Culture
 Japanese and U.S. managers view conflict differently
 U.S. managers more likely to use competing tactics while Japanese
managers are likely to use compromise and avoidance
 Cultural Differences in Negotiations
 Multiple cross-cultural studies on negotiation styles, for instance:
 American negotiators are more likely than Japanese bargainers to make a first
offer
 North Americans use facts to persuade, Arabs use emotion, and Russians used
asserted ideals
 Brazilians say “no” more often than Americans or Japanese

© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 15-12

SUMMARY AND MANAGERIAL
IMPLICATIONS
 Conflict can be constructive or
destructive
 Reduce excessive conflict by
using:
 Competition
 Collaboration
 Avoidance
 Accommodation
 Compromise
 Integrative negotiation is a
better long-term method

EEXXHHI IBBI ITT15-8

15-8

© 2009 Prentice-Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 15-13

1. The Heart of the Matter
First, get to the heart of the matter, and objectively define what the conflict is. In many
arguments, the co-workers are actually fighting about different issues. There is no way to
resolve a conflict without knowing what it truly is.
2. The Losing Side
See the conflict as the combatants fighting against the problem collaboratively, not
between each other. If the resolution involves one employee emerging victorious over
the other, the losing side will not consider the conflict over and will wait for an
opportune time in the future to start the rematch.
3. Shared Goals
Itemize the concerns and needs shared by the combatants and try to focus on those,
rather than on what is dividing them. In a workplace environment, employees have many
shared goals and concerns. Highlighting those will strengthen their relationship.
6. Asking Questions
Ask each combatant what he or she did instead of asking what happened. The latter will
merely open the floodgates of self-serving justification, but the former will be answered
with facts. This offers clarification instead of a prolonged argument.
5. Listening
Try hard to listen actively, rather than just hear passively. This is the only
way to discover each stance in the conflict. If the combatants are too busy
talking to listen, resting only to breathe and re-arm, the conflict will
escalate.
6. Neutral Territory
Resolve the conflict in a neutral place, not where the battle raged. For
instance, if the conflict occurred in a person’s office, take the resolution
to the break room.
7. Achievable Goals
Start the resolution process with what is achievable. In other words, don’t
overshoot your mark by trying to resolve a smorgasbord of issues. In many
cases, it was a small affront that set the adversarial stage.
8. Forgiveness
Learn how to forgive. Vengeance concentrates on the past, but forgiveness
focuses on the future.
9. Looking at Yourself
Put your own house in order before you start instructing other people how to
act or live their lives. Nothing creates conflict like hypocrisy or a holier-
than-thou attitude
Nine steps to resolve conflict the HBR way