Conflict and Negotiation in the Workplace - Term Paper Example

Conflict and Negotiation in the Workplace Faculty Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Conflict i. Sources of Conflict ii. Reasons of Conflict iii. Impact of Conflict in Workplace Environment III. Conflict Management and Negotiation IV. Conclusion V. Reference I. Introduction There are various factors in any organization or group of people that have impact on their development and growths. One of such factors is conflict. This paper discusses various aspects of conflict management and negotiation at workplace. Conflict can be dues to various factors. These factors can be individual factors like attitude, perception, cultural and gender differences and it can be organizational factors like inappropriate allocation of resources, management styles, leadership and type of communication. The first part of the paper deals with various reasons and causes of conflict. It is followed by conflict management and negotiation. Various aspects of the conflict management process have been discussed in this section. II. Conflict Conflict has been identified as an important factor influencing various processes within any organization or group of people. Conflict has been defined differently by different authors and academicians but almost in all definitions the common thing is disagreement. Conflict implies some or other form of disagreement. Websters Dictionary (1983) defines conflict as sharp disagreement or opposition of interests or ideas. In other words, what I want does not match what you want. When conflict occurs in the workplace, it can reduce morale, lower work productivity, increase absenteeism, and cause large-scale confrontations that can lead to serious and violent crimes.1 The above definition depicts the negative consequences of conflict while conflict has positive aspects too. If conflicts are handled carefully, it can be utilized positively for the growth of organization. As per one study by Reynolds and Kalish (2002) managers spend 25 % of their time in resolving conflict within the organization in mediation, collaboration and conflict resolution. The time spent on conflict resolutions is considerable and it has significant impact on the productivity and growth of organization. This also have a far-reaching impact on organizational performance.2 There are various causes and reasons of conflict. These can be individual factors like perception, attitude, gender and others of any individual which makes the individual may feel uncomfortable in the same situation. Sometimes people at the same level feel ignored. This can be due to their unrecognized work and lack of appreciation on the hard work. It can also be due to lack of leadership quality of manager or supervisor who has not been able to take care of the interest of each individual or communicate properly. Sometimes individuals are given responsibilities without adequate resources and authority. The reasons can be lack of resources and authority and various other reasons. Based on the reasons of conflict and impact of conflict has been identified as various types. There are various signs of conflict. Conflicts have impact on the workplace environment. It distorts the environment because people sometimes tend to lack motivation and enthusiasm to work and have negative approach. If handled properly it can contribute to the productivity and efficiency of the organization. i. Causes of Conflict The causes of conflict within a member, between members of any group or among various groups can range from simple issues to the complex one. It can be due to scarcity of various resources like finance, equipment, facilities, transportation etc. Organization provides facilities to its employees based on their job profile and rank within the organization. Sometimes people at similar hierarchy develop conflict among themselves on the use of various resources and facilities. Conflict can be due to some personal traits of people like difference in attitudes, values, culture, perceptions or poor communication whether written or verbal causes another problem. In today’s scenario organizations has multicultural environment. People come from different backgrounds and cultures. In such a situation problems can also be due to disagreements on various issues like needs, goals, priorities and interest among various members. In some cases organization structure and environment becomes the reason of conflict. Art Bell (2002) suggests six reasons for conflict in the workplace: conflicting needs, conflicting styles, conflicting perceptions, conflicting goals, conflicting pressures, and conflicting roles.3 When the job description and profile are not appropriate and lacks clarity in roles and responsibilities of individuals or people either get more responsibility or less responsibility with appropriate authority again causes conflict among various members. People get confused about their roles and responsibilities. Sometimes employees or group members are not involved in decision making processes. This also led to a situation of conflict. Conflict can also arise due to lack of leadership or change in leadership. ii. Types of Conflict Conflicts are divided on the basis of the sources of conflict or the results of conflict. On the basis of the source of conflict it is of following two types: Disputes of right Dispute of right has been described as follows: "Disputes of right" is where people or groups are entitled by law, by contract, by previous agreement or by established practice to certain rights. Disputes of right will focus on conflict issues such as employment contracts, legally enforceable matters or unilateral changes in accepted or customary practices. A dispute of rights is, therefore, usually settled by legal decision or arbitration and not by negotiation.4 The rights given to people in any organization on papers and the rights they enjoy in real differs at times. People have appropriate authorities but due to pressures from various sources they practically can not enjoy their rights and sometimes people enjoy more rights than they have been given. All these things lead to a situation of dispute. Disputes of interest Dispute of interest has been described as follows: "Disputes of interest", where the conflict may be a matter of opinion, such as where a person or group is entitled to some resources or privileges (such as access to property, better working conditions, etc). Because there is no established law or right, a dispute of interest will usually be solved through collective bargaining or negotiation. 5 Employees have various interests within the organization. These can range from organizational environment to the promotion and appreciation of work. This kind of dispute arises when the interest of people are neglected. This have impact on their behavior and finally on productivity. Once identified the reasons of conflict it can be resolved easily. On the basis of result conflict can be divided into destructive and constructive. Conflicts are destructive when it diverts people from their goals and important activities. This reduces cooperation among the people within the organization. The communication process gets disturbed. The morale of people and their self concept gets undermines or distorted. These lead to increase hiatus among people resulting in irresponsible and harmful behavior. People form groups according to their interests rather than based on goals and work. This leads to polarizations within the organization. The organizational environment gets adversely affected. This can result in low productivity to distorted brand name in the market. Conflicts are constructive when it leads to a positive discussion. This results in the clarification of various issues of disputes and problems. Employees try to solve the problems and at times results better situation than before. In the constructive conflict the most important factor is communication. People communicate with each other and clarify their doubts and misunderstandings. In this people communicate and release their emotional stress and anxiety. This leads to empathizing with each other resulting better cooperation and coordination among them. People come together to resolve the conflict. It enhances their learning and development process. People develop with each other. iii. Signs of Conflict There are various signs of conflict. First of all it affects the productivity of any individual or group experiencing conflict. Body language and behavior of people in conflict will change. People tend to involve in needless disagreements and arguments. They tend to withhold information and news. They make strong public statements and involve in open disagreement. People lack interest, clarity of goals and roles. Sometimes conflicts makes the situation worse and get involve in disagreement through various media. People desire for power and attention in the conflict. They want them to be heard and immediate action in that direction. In the case where leadership failure is one of the reasons of conflict people tend to lose respect and confidence in their leader or superiors. The management style also impacts the conflict situation. A small conflicting issue can rise due to lack of communication, appropriate management style and leadership. Sometimes the conflict resolution process does not consider participations of the people getting impacted most and the decisions are taken without their say. This can worsen the situation. The individual conflict like conflict within team members can be resolved by effective communication and listening skills of the manager. The superior can talk to subordinates clarify their doubts and roles. iv. Impact of Conflict in Workplace Environment Conflict can have positive or negative impact on the workplace environment. Conflicts, if communicated timely leads to discussion and efforts towards reaching to the most agreeable situation. But often conflicts remain with the individual or particular group. This increases dissatisfaction, low morale and unhealthy work environment. This leads to low productivity, poor quality of work and distorts the name of the organization. The factors that impacts most are communication, leadership and management style to resolve any conflict situation in the most appropriate. III. Conflict Management and Negotiation Conflict management is a process where the causes of conflicts are identified and people try to resolve conflict in their best ways. There are various ways to resolve conflict. Sometimes third parties are consulted to resolve conflict. The best way to mange conflict is communication and sharing of information. People should be identified and appreciated for their good works. They should encourage being positive and having positive attitude for each other. People should be provided with adequate resources and empowered to their work efficiently. The job profiling and division of labor should be appropriate. The potential conflicts should be resolved by discussion and bringing differences of opinion and ideas. People working in group or teams with similar calibers should be given reasons of division of work. Team members should be appreciated publicly for their achievements. Conflict can be managed as follows: Identify and analyze the Conflict: This is the start of conflict management process where manager or third party agent tries to identify reasons of the conflict. It involves communication, identification of resources utilized in any particular job, analysis of job profiles and various other issues. Once the reason of conflict is identified the conflict management strategy is developed based on the issues, time frame and available resources. The key to successful negotiation is to shift the situation to a "win-win" even if it looks like a "win-lose" situation. Almost all negotiation has at least some elements of win-win. Successful negotiations often depend on finding the win-win aspects in any situation. Only shift to a win-lose mode if all else fails.6 Defining Conflict Management Strategies There are various strategies for conflict management. These strategies are used on the basis of particular managers and situations. The best strategy is collaboration which brings win-win situation for all the parties involved in the process. Collaboration satisfies needs of all the parties involved while avoidance is a strategy which parties adopt in the case where they do not find any solution. High Accommodation Collaboration Satisfying Others Need Compromise Avoidance Competition Low Satisfying self needs High Figure: Conflict Management Strategies Pre-negotiation This is a stage where the parties involved prioritize their interests and try to find out those factors where they would be willing to compromise. People try to decide their goals, positions and underlying interests before the negotiation process. Negotiation The negotiation process follows the bargaining zone model. When the terms and interests falls within the bargaining zone of both the parties the negotiation becomes successful while in the case where it falls outside the bargaining zone the negotiation is called off without reaching to any agreeable situation. There are various factors apart from the goals and interests which impact the negotiation process. Some of these are situational factors like location of negotiation, physical setting, Time Passage and Deadlines and Audience Characteristics. The location and physical setting may create psychological pressure on one group. The time and deadlines also create pressure among the participating members to call off the negotiation process. The audience characteristics are another factor influencing the negotiation process. The hostile audience and audience with rigid attitudes are difficult to handle. Success of negotiation based on how effectively and clearly the members communicate. It is also about making concessions of each party. The third party conflict intervention strategies are arbitration, inquisition and mediation. Apart from these Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) can be used to resolve conflict. Post Negotiation Post negotiation process is a process of control and feedback. In this process the authorized people within the organization and group keep track on the negotiation terms and actions through which these are being achieved. Recommendations and corrections are made to reach the goals, objectives and interest of various groups involved in negotiation process. IV. Conclusion People working in organization or living in different societies have difference in their way of working, their interests and objectives. It is whether organization or society the resources are limited and need to be managed. Each individual differ from the other in his/her attitude, perception and other things. These lead to difference in interests of various individuals and groups. Due to these differences a situation of conflict arises. Most of the time in the initial stages conflict is not very obvious and if it is not identified on time it may lead to bigger issues. Conflict is not necessarily destructive always. Sometimes it becomes constructive and brings different opinions and ideas covering the issues fully. The characteristics of constructive conflicts are that people involve in that would be communicating with each other effectively. The role of manager will be more effective. The leader will be able to bring people with differences together and try to sort out it in the most positive way. Conflict management starts with identification of conflict. There are various signs like low productivity, body language of individuals, lack of participation and interest in work and others which indicate conflict. Once conflict is identified it will be analyzed. The analysis will give the crucial factors to take care and help in the developing conflict management strategies. Based on this the pre-negotiation preparations are done. In the pre-negotiation each party involved in negotiation decides its goals, objectives and interests and builds a bargaining zone. Any agreement which falls within the bargaining zone is agreed by both the parties. People may resolve their conflicts by accommodation, compromise, competition, collaboration or avoidance. Each of them is based on interest of the parties involved in negotiation. Collaboration is the strategy which brings win-win situation to all. V. Reference Julie Gatlin, Allen Wysocki, and Karl Kepner2, Understanding Conflict in the Workplace1 retrieved on 21 June 2006 from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/HR024 Conflict Management retrieved on 21 June 2006 from http://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/building/conflict.html Wertheim, Negotiations and Resolving Conflicts: An Overview retrieved on 21 June 2006 from http://web.cba.neu.edu/~ewertheim/interper/negot3.htm http://www.managementhelp.org/intrpsnl/basics.htm accessed on 21 June 2006 http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/Conflict.html accessed on 21 June 2006 Julie Gatlin, Allen Wysocki, and Karl Kepner2, Understanding Conflict in the Workplace1 retrieved on 21 June 2006 from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/HR024 Managing Conflict retrieved on 21 June 2006 http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/Brochures/ManageConflict.html Dealing with Conflict retrieved on 21 June 2006 http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/Conflict.html McNamara, Basics of Conflict Management retrieved on 21 June 2006 http://www.managementhelp.org/intrpsnl/basics.htm Read More