Chapter 11 - Conflict Negotiation in the Workpalce

Question 1

What is the definition of conflict?

Answer 1

The process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party

Question 2

What are the negative consequences of workplace conflict?

Answer 2

• Lower performance
• Higher Stress, Turnover
• Less information sharing and coordination
• Increased organizational politics
• Wasted resources
• Weakened team cohesion

Question 3

What are the positive consequences of workplace conflict?

Answer 3

• Better decisions making
• More responsive to change
• Stronger team cohesion when conflict is external

Question 4

What are the two dominant types of conflict?

Answer 4

Task Conflict and Relationship Conflict

Question 5

What are task conflicts? (constructive conflict)

Answer 5

Conflict in which people focus their discussions on the issue whilst showing respect for the people involved in that disagreement

*Associated with most of the positive benefits that come from workplace conflict

Question 6

What are relationship conflicts?

Answer 6

Conflict in which people focus their discussion on the qualities of the people in the dispute rather than the qualities of the ideas presented

*Usually just leads to fighting and people getting pissed off

Question 7

What three conditions potentially minimize the level of relationship conflict that occurs?

Answer 7

• Emotional Intelligence
• Team Development and Cohesion
• Norms supporting psychological safety

Question 8

What is Psychological safety?

Answer 8

A shared belief that it is safe to engage in interpersonal risk taking: specifically that presenting unusual ideas, constructively disagreeing with the majority and experimenting with new work behaviours will not result in co-workers posing a threat to one’s self concept

Question 9

What are some sources of conflict?

Answer 9

• Incompatible gains
• Differentiation
• Interdependence
• Scarce resources
• Ambiguous rules
• Poor communication

Question 10

What are some manifestations of conflict?

Answer 10

• Conflict handling style
• Decisions
• Overt Behaviours

Question 11

Why does a lack of communication in a conflict usually lead to worse results?

Answer 11

Since communication is key to letting each other know how we feel, by cutting off communication when both parties are upset at each other their brain can only reinforce the topic with negative stereotypes that came out of the last negative conversations/’

This is also true in romantic relationships to my knowledge

Question 12

When does goal incompatibility occur?

Answer 12

When the goals of one person or department seem to interfere with another person’s or department’s goals

Question 13

When does differentiation occur?

Answer 13

When the views on how to achieve certain goals differs between people or departments, they might have compatible goals however, they have different views when it comes to task completion which might arise from childhood socialization, gender, ethnicity, occupation, personal values and personal ability, etc.

Question 14

How does interdependence cause workplace conflict?

Answer 14

All workplace conflict is caused by some level of interdependence because if there wasn’t a need for two people to interact there would be no conflict

Going back to the interdependence models
Pooled interdependence relationship - Lowest conflict
Sequential relationship - Mid conflict
Reciprocal relationship - High conflict

Question 15

How do scarce resources cause workplace conflict?

Answer 15

People fighting over the same required resource

Question 16

How do ambiguous rules cause workplace conflict?

Answer 16

This occurs because uncertainty increases the risk that one party will interfere with the other party’s goals

Additionally when there are clean rules people know what to expect and are usually much more bounded in what they try to achieve and what actions they might take to achieve those goals

Question 17

How do communication problems cause workplace conflict?

Answer 17

Me no understand you, low EQ, we argue, we go apart, angry, stereotype, repeat

Lack of communication usually escalates any negative situation even further into the stratosphere

Question 18

What are the five Interpersonal Conflict Handling Styles? And What is their split in terms of (Assertiveness and cooperativeness)

Answer 18

Problem Solving (High, High) - belief that there is some mutually beneficial solution

Forcing (High, Low) - belief that there is a limited pool of benefit so whenever one party benefits the other must implicitly lose

Avoiding (Low, Low) - Just avoid the issue and the people associated, bury it through the memory wiping our brains go through

Yielding (Low, High) - Giving in completely to the other side’s wishes, or at least cooperating with little or no attention to one’s own interests

Compromising (Mid, Mid) - Actively seeking a middle ground between the interests of the two parties

Question 19

When is the Problem Solving style preferred?

Answer 19

• Interests are not perfectly opposing
• Parties have trust, openness, and time to share information
• The issues are complex

Question 20

When is the Forcing style preferred?

Answer 20

• Dispute requires a quick solution
• Your position objectively has a much stronger logical or moral foundation
• The other party would take advantage of more cooperative strategies

Question 21

When is the Avoiding style preferred?

Answer 21

• Conflict has become too emotionally charged
• Parties want to maintain a harmonious relationship
• Cost of trying to resolve the conflict outweighs the benefits

Question 22

When is the Yielding style preferred?

Answer 22

• Issue is much less important to you than the other party
• The value and logic of your position isn’t clear
• Parties want to maintain a harmonious relationship
• The other party has substantially more power

Question 23

What are the six structural approaches to minimize dysfunctional conflict?

Answer 23

• Emphasize superordinate goals (goals that the conflicting parties value and whose attainment requires the joint efforts of both parties)
• Reduce differentiation
• Improve Communication
• Reduce interdependence
• Increase resources
• Clarify rules and procedures

Question 23

When is the Compromising style preferred?

Answer 23

• Single issue conflict with opposing interests
• Parties lack time or trust for problem-solving
• Parties want to maintain a harmonious relationship
• Parties have equal power

Question 24

What are some ways to reduce interdependence?

Answer 24

• Creature buffers
• Use integrators (people who coordinate activities so fights don’t happen directly between the people doing the activities)
• Combine jobs

Question 25

What is Third-Party conflict resolution?

Answer 25

Any attempt by a relatively neutral person to help conflicting parties resolve their differences

Consists of:
Arbitration - high control over the final decision by an arbitrator

Inquisition - control all discussion about the conflict. They choose what information to evaluate and how to evaluate it

Mediation - high control over the intervention process, main purpose is to manage the process and context of interaction. The conflicting parties make the final decision

Question 26

Which third-party conflict resolution is the most likely to be selected by management? And why is it the least effective?

Answer 26

Inquisition - because they have to gather limited information about work/relationships they don’t know much about then make an enforceable decision

Question 27

What is Negotiation?

Answer 27

The process in which interdependent parties with divergent beliefs or goals attempt to reach an agreement on issues that mutually affect them.

Question 28

What is another term for a win-loss scenario?

Answer 28

Distributive

Question 29

What is another term for a win-win scenario?

Answer 29

Integrative / Mutual gains

Question 30

What are two things that successful negotiators do?

Answer 30

Develop goals and understand Needs

Additionally when it comes to understanding employees. What an Employee’s state goals are versus what their needs might actually be.

*Negotiators who set high specific target points usually obtain better outcomes than those with lor or vague target points.

Question 31

What is the resistance point?

Answer 31

The point beyond which you will make no further concessions and walk away from the negotiations

Question 32

What is the BATNA score?

Answer 32

The best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA). Estimates your power in the negotiation because it represents the estimated cost to you of walking away from the relationship.

Question 33

Why do skilled negotiators spend most of their time listening?

Answer 33

To draw out information from other members and gain leverage

Summarize the information presented as well and double-check with the person for clarification, usually, the other person will bite and keep talking

Question 33

What are the most important specific negotiation practices?

Answer 33

• Gather information
• Manage concessions
• Manage time
• Build the relationship

Question 33

What are the three key factors of a negotiation setting?

Answer 33

Location, physical setting, audience

Question 34

Why is location important in negotiation?

Answer 34

It is easier to negotiate on your own turf

Additionally media-rich environments with a high social presence

Question 34

Why is the physical setting important in negotiation?

Answer 34

People who sit face-to-face are more likely to develop a win-lose orientation toward the conflict situation

Question 35

Why is the audience important in negotiation?

Answer 35

Negotiators tend to act differently when people with vested interests are present

Usually tend to become more assertive and hard lined