Use of Conflicts negotiation in an Organizational

Performance.

E.KushanStudent No: 1416026

E.Kushan, Master of Public AdministrationSchool of Postgraduate Studies

Sri Lanka Institute of Development AdministrationColombo-Sri Lanka

Why we Need Conflict Negotiation?

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Conflict is a process in which one party perceives that his or her interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.

Beginning of the Conflict(perceives that his interests were opposed by his wife.)

Source: “Gamperaliya” Mr. Martin Wickremasinghe Page No: 19

Organizational Conflict

• One of the facts of life is that people hold different points of view.

• They have unique values hierarchies, develop unique perceptions of reality, and establish different norms about how to act in social settings.

Without identical viewpoints, and with the need to frequently adjust to change, conflict is bound to occur.

Types of Conflict

Is Conflict Good or Bad?

• More than 80 years ago, social worker and political science scholar Mary Parker Follett proposed the then-radical notion that conflict can be beneficial.

• By the 1970s, however, the conflict-is-bad perspective had been replaced by the optimal-conflict perspective, which holds that organizations are most effective when employees experience some level of conflict in discussions but that organizations become less effective when they have high levels of conflict.

The conflict-is-bad perspective has prevailed for most of that time.

The downward line shows that as the level of conflict increases, it produces more adverse outcomes.

• Organizational Conflict– The discord that arises when goals,interests

or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and those people block or thwart each other’s efforts to achieve their objectives.

– Conflict is inevitable given the wide range of goals for the different stakeholder in the organization.

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How conflict evolve to the organization performance.

• One outcome is improved decision making.

• Conflict energizes people to debate issues and evaluate alternatives more thoroughly.

• Moderate levels of conflict are inevitable and necessary as employees try to keep the organization responsive to the needs of customers and other stakeholders.

• conflict with people outside the team potentially increases cohesion within the team.

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Sources of Conflict

Figure 17.3

Relationship Between Intergroup Conflict and Organizational Performance

Level of Intergroup Conflict

ProbableImpact onOrganization

Organization Characterized By

Level of Organizational Performance

Situation A

Low or none Dysfunctional Slow adaptation to environment Few changes Little stimulation of ideasApathyStagnation

Low

Situation B

Optimal Functional Positive movement toward goals.Innovation and change.Search for problem solutions.Creativity and quick adaptation to environmental changes.

High

SituationC High Dysfunctional Disruption Interference with activities Coordination difficultiesChaos

Low

What is Negotiation?

• Negotiation

• A Process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree on the exchange rate for them.

• -stephen P. Robbins judge, Organizational Behavior, • 13th Edition. Page no;495-

Negotiation in-between…who?

• In an organizational context, negotiation may take place:

1. between two people

2. within a group

3. between groups

Dimensions of Complicit handling intentions.

Negotiation Tactics

3. JointProblem-Solving

4. Power ofCompetition

5. Splitting theDifference

1. Good-guy /Bad-guy

Team2. The Nibble

Win-Lose Negotiating

• Classical view that negotiations are a form of a zero-sum game– i.e., to whatever extent one party wins

something, the other party loses

• Also known as distributive negotiating– i.e., the process of “distributing” scarce

resources

Win-Win Negotiating

• A positive-sum approach– i.e., situations where each party gains

without a corresponding loss for the other party

• Does not mean that everyone gets everything they wanted

• An agreement has been achieved which leaves all parties better off than they were prior to the agreement

Variables That Affect Negotiations

• There is no one best way to negotiate• The selection of specific negotiation

strategies and tactics depends on:1. The nature of the issues being negotiated

2. The environment in which the negotiations take place

3. The nature of the outcomes desired from the negotiations

Negotiations: Desired Outcomes

Substantive Outcomes• Have to do with how the

specific issue is settled

• To strive to end up with a bigger piece of the pie than the other party

Relationship Outcomes• To negotiate in a manner

designed primarily to maintain good relations between the parties

• Desired irrespective of the substantive result

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Third-party Negotiators

• Mediators – facilitates negotiations but no authority to

impose a solution• Arbitrator

– can impose what he thinks is a fair solution to a conflict that both parties are obligated to abide by

Using Third-Party Negotiations

1. Mediation 2. Arbitration

3. Conciliation 4. Consultation

An impartial individual with expertise in handling conflicts.Helps parties in conflict reach an acceptable solution.

Culture and negotiation

– Differences in negotiation approaches and practices are influenced by cultural differences in:• Time orientation.• Individualism-collectivism.• Power distance.

Conflict of Rizana’s Deth panelty.

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Distributive Negotiation

• Distributive negotiation– Parties perceive that they have a “fixed pie” of

resources that they need to divide– Take a competitive adversarial stance– See no need to interact in the future– Do not care if their interpersonal relationship is

damaged by their competitive negotiation.Ex: Used Car advertised for sale in the

newspaper. It appears to be just what you’ve been looking for.

Bargaining Characteristics

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Integrative Bargaining

• Integrative bargaining– Parties perceive that they might be able to

increase the resource pie by trying to come up with a creative solution to the conflict

– View the conflict as a win-win situation in which both parties can gain

– Handled through collaboration or compromise

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Strategies to Encourage Integrative Bargaining

• Emphasizing superordinate goals – goals that both parties agree to regardless

of the source of their conflict• Focusing on the problem, not the people• Focusing on interests, not demands• Creating new options for joint gain• Focusing on what is fair

Suggestions to Improve Negotiations

1. Begin the bargaining with a positive overture and then reciprocate the opponent’s concessions.

2. Concentrate on the negotiation issues and the situational factors, not on the opponent or his or her characteristics

3. Look below the surface of your opponent’s bargaining and try to determine his or her strategy

Suggestions to Improve Negotiations(2 of 2)

4. Do not allow accountability to your constituents or surveillance by them to spawn competitive bargaining.

5. If you have power in a negotiation, use it to guide the opponent toward an agreement.

6. Be open to accepting third-party assistance.7. In a negotiation, attend to the environment and

be aware that the opponent’s behavior and power are altered by it.

Power of the Conflict Negotiation

References

• stephen P. Robbins judge, Organizational Behavior, 13th Edition. Page no;495-

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