3. Conflicts and how to arrange them

In the course of a week, we are all involved in numerous situations that need to be dealt with through negotiation. Such situation occur at work and at home, on vacation and on a trip. A conflict or negotiation situation is one in which there is a conflict of interests or what one wants is not necessarily what the other wants and where both sides prefer to search for solutions, rather than giving in or breaking-off contact.

Few of us enjoy dealing with with conflicts-either with bosses, peers, subordinates, friends, or strangers. This is particularly true when the conflict becomes hostile and when strong feelings become involved. Resolving conflict can be mentally exhausting and emotionally draining.

But it is important to realize that conflict that requires resolution is neither good nor bad. There can be positive and negative outcomes as seen in the box below. It can be destructive but can also play a productive role for you personally and for your relationships-both personal and professional. The important point is to manage the conflict, not to suppress conflict and not to let conflict escalate out of control. Many of us seek to avoid conflict when it arises but there are many times when we should use conflict as a critical aspect of creativity and motivation.

Table 6.2

Potential outcomes of conflict

Potential positive outcomes of conflict

Potential negative outcomes of conflict

motivates to try and work harder increases commitment, enhance group loyalty increases clarity about the problem leads to innovative breakthroughs and new approaches clarifies underlying problems, facilitate change focuses attention on main issues and lead to solution increase energy level; making visible key values involvement in conflict can sharpen our approaches to bargaining, influencing, competing

leads to anger, avoidance, sniping, shouting, frustration, fear of failure, sense of personal inadequacy withholding of critical information lowers productivity if wasteful conflict careers can be sidetracked; ruins relationships disrupts patterns of work consumes huge amount of time-loss of productivity

People constantly negotiate and resolve conflict throughout all of their professional and personal life. Given that organizations are becoming less hierarchical, less based on positional authority, less based on clear boundaries of responsibility and authority, it is likely that conflict will be an even greater component of organizations in the future. Studies have shown that negotiation skills are among the most significant determinants of career success. While negotiation is an art form to some degree, there are specific techniques that anyone can learn. Understanding these techniques and developing your skills will be a critical component of your career success and personal success.

Major Causes of Conflict

Opposing interests (or what we think are opposing interests) are at the core of most conflicts. In a modern complex society, we confront these situations many times a day. The modern organization adds a whole new group of potential causes of conflict that are already present:

• competition over scarce resources, time

• ambiguity over responsibility and authority:

• differences in perceptions, work styles, attitudes, communication problems, individual differences

• increasing interdependence as boundaries between individuals and groups become increasingly blurred

• reward systems: we work in situations with complex and often contradictory incentive systems

• differentiation: division of labor which is the basis for any organization causes people and groups to see situations differently and have different goals

• equity vs. equality: continuous tension exists between equity (the belief that we should be rewarded relative to our relative contributions) and equality (belief that everyone should receive the same or similar outcomes).

The Five Modes of Responding to Conflict

It is useful to categorize the various responses we have to conflict in terms of two dimensions:

1. how important or unimportant it is to satisfy our needs and

2. how important or unimportant it is to satisfy the other person's needs.

Answering this questions results in the following five modes of conflict resolution. None is these is "right" or "wrong". There are situations where any would be appropriate. For example, if we are cut off driving to work, we may decide "avoidance" is the best option. Other times "avoidance" may be a poor alternative. Similarly, collaboration may be appropriate sometimes but not at other times.

Reducing conflict that already exists

Organizations also take steps to reduce conflict. The following list suggests some of these ways:

• physical separation

• hierarchy (the boss decides)

• bureaucratic approaches (rules, procedures)

• integrators and third-party intervention

• negotiation

• rotating members

• interdependent tasks and superordinate goals ("We are all in this together...")

• intergroup and interpersonal training

Methods to resolve conflicts

People and organizations involved in a dispute have a variety of choices concerning means of resolving their differences, including discussions, quarrel, war, and the four methods given below.

Negotiation

Negotiation is a bargaining relationship between parties who have a perceived or actual conflict of interest. The participants voluntarily join in a temporary relationship designed to educate each other about their needs and interests, to exchange specific resources, or to resolve one or more intangible issues such as the form their relationship will take in the future or the procedure by which problems are to be solved. Negotiation is a more intentional and structured dispute resolution process than informal discussions.

Mediation

Mediation is an extension and elaboration of the negotiation process. Mediation involves the intervention of an acceptable, impartial, and neutral third party who has no authoritative decision-making power to assist contending parties in voluntarily reaching their own mutually acceptable settlement of issues in dispute. As with negotiation, mediation leaves the decision-making power in the hands of the people in the conflict.

Mediation is a voluntary process in that the participants must be willing to accept the assistance of the intervenor if the dispute is to be resolved. Mediation is usually initiated when the parties no longer believe that they can handle the conflict on their own and when the only means of resolution appears to involve impartial third-party assistance.

Arbitration

Arbitration is a generic term for a voluntary process in which people in conflict request the assistance of an impartial and neutral third party to make a decision for them regarding contested issues. The outcome of the decision may be either advisory or binding. Arbitration may be conducted by one person or a panel of third parties. The critical factor is that they are outside of the conflict relationship.

Arbitration is also a private process in that the proceedings and often the outcome are not open to public scrutiny. People often select arbitration because it is more informal than a judicial proceeding and frequently faster, less expensive, and private. In arbitration the parties often are able to select their own arbiter or panel, and thus have more control over the decision than if the third party were appointed by an outside authority or agency.

Legislative approach

A judicial approach involves the intervention of an institutionalized and socially recognized authority into private dispute resolution. The approach shifts from a private process to a public one. In a judicial approach, the disputants usually hire lawyers to act as surrogate disputants to argue their respective