chapter 14: conflict and negotiation

Question 1

conflict

Answer 1

Conflict is a perception of differences of opposition. We define conflict broadly as a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect something the first party cares about..

Incompatibility of goals
Differences in interpretations of facts
Disagreements over behavioral expectations

Question 2

functional conflict

Answer 2

Functional conflict supports the goals of the group, improves its performance, and is thus a constructive form of conflict.

• Members of a corporate board discuss most effective way to improve production
• Antidote for groupthink
• Challenges status quo. Furthers the creation of new ideas, promotes reassessment of group goals and activities and increases the probability that the group will respond to change

Question 3

dysfunctional conflict

Answer 3

Conflict that hinders group performance is destructive or dysfunctional conflict: a highly personal struggle for control in a team that distracts from the task at hand is dysfunctional.

• Clear detrimental effects on interpersonal dynamics
• Fosters negative emotions
• Seeks to divide rather than unite towards a common goal

Question 4

(3 types of conflict) relationship conflict

Answer 4

Relationship conflict focuses on interpersonal relationships.

• Almost always dysfunctional because of interpersonal clashes which decrease mutual understanding
• Depletes trust, cohesion, satisfaction, job attitudes and positive affect and increases deviant behavior
• Affects people psychologically and reduces OCBs and increase deviance
• Most psychologically exhausting of the three conflicts

Question 5

(3 types of conflict) task conflict

Answer 5

Task conflict relates to the content and goals of the work.

• Disagreement over whether task and process conflict is functional
• Unrelated to group performance
• Correlated to lower group performance in non-management positions and higher group performance in decision-making teams
• Slightly reduces the extent to which people collaborate and moderately increases the degree to which they compete with one another
• Has a strong negative effect on their trust and job attitudes
• Leads to reduction in OCBs and increase in deviant behavior

Question 6

(3 types of conflict) process conflict

Answer 6

Process conflict is about how the work gets done.

• Delegation and roles
• Delegation: perception of some members as shrinking
• Roles: members feel marginalized
• Highly personalized
• Negative effect on team member trust and attitudes and performance

Question 7

three loci of conflict and define locus

Answer 7

Another way to understand conflict is to consider its locus, or where the conflict occurs among people

Dyadic conflict is conflict between two people.
Intragroup conflict occurs within a group or team.
Intergroup conflict is conflict between groups or teams

Question 8

conflict process’ five stages

Answer 8

1.potential opposition or incompatibility
2. cognition and personalization
3. intentions
4. behavior
5. outcomes

theres an image that goes with this

Question 9

conflict process’ five stages: stage 1 - potential opposition or incompatibility

Answer 9

the appearance of conditions—causes or sources—that create opportunities for it to arise.These conditions need not lead directly to conflict, but one of them is necessary if it is to surface. apart from the obvious, which would be behaviors directly intended to provoke conflict

we group the conditions into three general categories:
- communication
- structure
- personal variables

Question 10

conflict process’ five stages: stage 2 - cognition and personalization

Answer 10

As we noted in our introduction to the chapter, conflict is a perception. However, just because a disagreement is a perceived conflict does not mean it is personalized. Instead, it can become felt conflict, where individuals become emotionally involved, potentially experiencing anxiety, tension, frustration, or hostility

Stage II is important because it is where conflict issues tend to be defined, where the parties decide what the conflict is about

Moreover, emotions play a major role in shaping perceptions. Negative emotions lead us to oversimplify issues, lose trust, and put negative interpretations on the other party’s behavior

Question 11

conflict process’ five stages: stage 3 - intentions

Answer 11

Intentions intervene between people’s perceptions and emotions, and their overt behavior. They are decisions to act in a particular way.54 Although we may decide to act in a certain way, our intentions do not always line up with what we actually do. Furthermore, intentions are not always fixed. During a conflict, intentions might change if a party is able to see the other’s point of view or to respond emotionally to the other’s behavior

Five conflict-handling intentions can be identified: competing, collaborating,
avoiding, accommodating, and compromising.
EX: Avoiding occurs when a person recognizes that a conflict exists and wants to
withdraw from or suppress it.

These two dimensions—assertiveness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy their own concerns) and cooperativeness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the other party’s concerns)**—can help us identify five conflict-handling intentions (also known as the Thomas Kilmann conflict modes:
- competing (assertive and uncooperative)
- collaborating (assertive and cooperative)
- avoiding (unassertive and uncooperative)
- accommodating (unassertive and cooperative)
- compromising (midrange on both assertiveness and cooperativeness)

Question 12

Thomas Kilmann conflict modes

Answer 12

Thomas Kilmann conflict modes:
competing (assertive and uncooperative)
collaborating (assertive and cooperative)
avoiding (unassertive and uncooperative)
accommodating (unassertive and cooperative)
compromising (midrange on both assertiveness and cooperativeness)

These two dimensions—assertiveness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy their own concerns) and cooperativeness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the other party’s concerns)—can help us identify five conflict-handling intentions (also known as the Thomas Kilmann conflict modes)

Question 13

conflict process’ five stages: stage 4 - behavior

Answer 13

The behavior stage includes statements, actions, and reactions made by conflicting parties, usually as overt attempts to implement their own intentions. As a result of miscalculations or unskilled enactments, overt behaviors sometimes deviate from original intentions.

“Stage IV is a dynamic process of interaction”

EX: “Competing brings out active attempts to contend with team members and more individual effort to achieve ends without working together. Collaborating creates investigation of multiple solutions with other members of the team and trying to find a solution that satisfies all parties as much as possible.

Conflict-intensity continuum:
from minor disagreements to efforts to destroy the other party

Question 14

conflict process’ five stages: stage 5 - outcomes

Answer 14

“The action–reaction interplay between conflicting parties creates consequences.”
“These outcomes may be functional if the conflict improves the group’s performance, or dysfunctional if it hinders performance. Realistically, however, many researchers suggest that although workplace conflict can be beneficial, it is usually under special circumstances, and most of the time the dysfunctional outcomes outweigh the functional outcomes in severity”
“managers will likely spend most of their time reducing dysfunctional conflict rather than stimulating functional conflict.”

Functional outcomes
“Conflict is constructive when it improves the quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages interest and curiosity among group members, provides the medium for problems to be aired and tensions released, and fosters self-evaluation and change”

Dysfunctional outcomes
“Among the undesirable consequences are poor communication, reductions in group cohesiveness, and subordination of group goals to the primacy of infighting among members. All forms of conflict—even the functional varieties—appear to reduce group member satisfaction and trust”

Question 15

negotiation

Answer 15

We can define negotiation as a process that occurs when two or more parties communicate and confer with one another to come to a mutual agreement on the exchange of goods or services

There are two general approaches to negotiation—distributive bargaining and integrative bargaining

Question 16

distributive bargaining

Answer 16

The negotiating strategy you are engaging in is called distributive bargaining. Its identifying feature is that it operates under zero-sum conditions (see the chapter on power and politics)—that is, any gain I make is at your expense, and vice versa. The essence of distributive bargaining is negotiating over who gets what share of a fixed pie.

By fixed pie, we mean a set amount of goods or services to be divvied up. When the pie is fixed, or the parties believe it is, they tend to engage in distributive bargaining.”
“Parties A and B represent two negotiators. Each has a target point that defines what they would like to achieve.

Each also has a resistance point, which marks the lowest acceptable outcome—the point beyond which the party would break off negotiations rather than accept a less favorable settlement. The area between these two points makes up each party’s aspiration range. As long as there is some overlap between A’s and B’s aspiration ranges, there exists a settlement range in which each one’s aspirations can be met.

• first offer anchoring
• distributive bargaining strategy
• integrative bargaining

Question 17

simplified model of the negotiation process and the five steps:

Answer 17

(1) preparation and planning,
(2) definition of ground rules,
(3) clarification and justification,
(4) bargaining and problem solving, and
(5) closure and implementation

Question 18

integrative bargaining

Answer 18

integrative bargaining operates under the
assumption that one or more of the possible settlements can create a win-win
solution.

Question 19

first offer anchoring when negotiating

Answer 19

When engaged in distributive bargaining, one of the best things you can do is
make the first offer.
i. Making the first offer can put you at an advantage because of the anchoring
bias.
b. Framing matters. If you frame the first proposal as a request instead of an offer, it
can be detrimental to your negotiation success.