Conflict and Negotiation in Workplace - Research Paper Example

This report is related to the conflict and negotiation in the workplace. It critically analyzes the term conflict, its different views, management styles and functions. Conflict is very common in many organizations. Many view it to be healthy while others consider its affects to be negative. This has been critically analyzed in the report. Whether positive or negative, the importance for effective conflict management is crucial. Different managers and individuals involved in the conflicts have their own way of managing it. Textbooks recommend some most commonly used conflict management techniques. These techniques even though in many cases prove useful; it fails in majority of the situations. This causes the conflict to rise which in turn leads to negotiations. Some of these negotiations are arbitrated by third parties while others are handled by managers themselves. There are critical aspects of negotiations as well which are discussed in later. Overall, whether conflict is positive or negative for the company depends on the outcome. Sometimes a conflict can have a positive outcome in the short-term but the results can be devastating in the long-run and vice versa. Introduction According to De Dreu and Gelfand (2007) conflict in workplace occurs mostly on two occasions: Disagreements over workplace issues or work issues with another employee or team Emotional antagonisms that cause frictions between employees or teams In the 21st century, workforce and workplace etiquettes are both going through rapid changes because of cut-throat competition. Such changes are placing stress not just on the management but also the workforce which is increasing the chances for workplace conflict and deviant behaviors at workplace (De Dreu, 2008). Thus, highlighting the importance for effective conflict management is crucial. Unfortunately, no literature has yet been linked to conflict management and worker issues that may cause conflicts (De Dreu, 2008). For many years now, scholars and academics in organizational behavior and psychology have conducted vast researches on the workplace conflict. While some have conducted studies on the negative side of it, others have examined the positive effects. According to De Dreu (2006), positive functions of conflict are linked with learning, improved quality of decisions, creativity, innovation and overall enhancement in productivity and team effectiveness. On the contrary, De Dreu and Gelfand (2007) has noted the negative functions of conflict such as increased stressed, low job satisfaction and vice versa of positive functions. Many scholars would argue mostly on the positive functions that arise from the conflict issues such as those related to tasks (e.g. designing best strategy) rather than personal issues (e.g. disagreements on different topics, bad chemistry) (De Dreu, 2008). Other scholars such as George and Jones (2005), Tjosvold (2007) and De Dreu (2008), locate the positive and negative functions in the perception and management of the conflict that lead to goal interdependence and controversy. However, in recent publication by De Dreu (2008), he suggested that in order to analyze a conflict’s positive and negative influence so that the system may benefit from it, critical assessment of conflict definitions, perspectives and aspects need to be conducted. This report will critically assess conflict as part of workplace environment along with its views and management and how negotiations fit in a workplace conflict. Views of Conflicts According to Druckman (1994), three views of conflict are present in the organizational behavior academia. These views are related to the impact of conflict on the individual performance and workplace environment (Druckman, 1994). These are the traditional view, contemporary view and interactionist view. The following table summarizes these three views and their effects on the performance. (Source: Beersma and De Dreu, 2005) As can be seen, the traditional view, prevalent till the late nineteenth century, considers conflict to be bad having a negative impact on the performance. As such, Penny and Spector (2005) under this view states that conflict must be avoided at all costs. The contemporary view, in comparison, is known as a human relations view which argues that conflict in a workplace is natural and cannot be avoided (Tjosvold, 2007). It can have both a negative and a positive effect depending on the management of conflict (Penny and Spector, 2005). As a result, conflict needs to be managed or handled very well in order for the outcome to be positive. The interactionist view is considered to be the newest view in the academia of organizational behavior. According to Beersma and De Dreu (2005), it encourages conflict to occur because it believes that without a peaceful or tranquil conflict, the workplace can become static, stagnant and unresponsive to change. Therefore, the outcomes of the conflict can be positive for the overall workplace (Tjosvold, 2007). Conflict Issues According to De Dreu (2008), workplace conflicts occur when one party whether it’s an individual or a group, perceives that its opinions or goals are being spoilt by other party. Such conflicts can arise on all levels of organizations. Conflicts in a workplace setting may be related to scarce resources such as status, budgets, responsibilities and time, or personal values such as religion, politics, morality, facts and any possible combinations of issues (Deutsch, 1973). The most obvious issues in a workplace relate to tasks or relationships. Deutsch (1973) in his Theory of Cooperation and Competition proposed that employees or employers view their relationship as interdependent i.e. they will swim together or sink together. In such relation, every individual values their own as well as others’ interests. When they come across a conflict, they will engage in open-minded debates seeking solutions that will be beneficial for all – win-win situation (Simons and Peterson, 2000). Thus, such relationship and conflict can be healthy for a workplace and provide positive outcomes in accordance with interactionist view (Thomas, 1992). In contrast, Deutsch (1973) also proposed that competitive relationship which can be viewed as opposing goals i.e. if one swims, other will sink and vice versa. When such individuals or team get involved in a conflict, they are likely to value their own interests, opinions and advantages (Simons and Peterson, 2000). To achieve this, they may engage in bolstering, bargaining, ridiculing of others’ values and so on. Thus, such relationship and conflict can cause deterioration in a workplace performance and environment which advocates the traditional view of conflict (Thomas, 1992). Although conflicts are an inherent part of workplace, they are unintended. These emerge because of interdependency of tasks and coordination of activities. Under such notions, Carnevale and Probst (1998) stated that workplace conflict is hurdle in performance which can cause collateral damage of joint tasks, coordination and so on. Such damage requires time as well as money to be repaired which can be an organizational burden (Druckman, 1994). Carnevale and Probst (1998) suggests the most straightforward cost of workplace conflict is in terms of well-being and health of individual or a group – from low job satisfaction to psychosomatic feelings. Such costs are negligible only when conflicts end in constructive controversy i.e. managing a conflict in a way that produces an acceptable solution or negotiated agreements. Druckman (1994) stated that understanding the effects of conflicts is such as those mentioned above may not be adequate. This is because the effects of workplace conflict can be consuming and wide-reaching. Furthermore, the results can either be damaging and destructive, which is commonly perceived, or can be beneficial and useful (De Dreu, 2006). This depends on how conflicts are handled. For instance, it is the responsibility of the conflict handler or manager to differentiate whether the conflict will increase the productivity of the individual and build strong teams or that the conflict will decrease the productivity and hinder teamwork (Tjosvold, 2007). One of the most harmful effect of conflict in workplace according to Carnevale and Pruitt (1992), is the personal toll it has on workers. Research conducted by De Dreu (2008), clearly showed that workers tend to take their routine work home whether they intend to or not. A poll at Williams Energy asked approximately 75 employees as how often they bring their work home (Janssen, 2003). The poll said revealed that 58% of the respondents said they brought their work home weekly, while 11% said they brought it monthly and 10% reported to bring work home daily. The remaining respondents reported that they never took work home (Janssen, 2003). The same respondents were then asked another question as to how often workplace conflict and stress causes them to lose their sleep or feel anxious (Janssen, 2003). Surprisingly, 91% voted that this occurs at least once a week. Thus, taking work home can cause damaging effect on employees which may be in one aspect, according to De Dreu (2008), be a result of unmanaged conflict. Other personal problems that can arise because of conflict at workplace include: Low morale Decreased level of job satisfaction Anxiety This highlights the importance of managing conflict effectively. Reducing the negative effects and increasing the positive ones can create a balanced workplace. This rests on the shoulders on the management or conflict management leaders to reduce conflict and allow conflict that can foster good results (Druckman, 1997). Conflict Management Style De Dreu (2006) stated that in any conflict issue arising in a workplace, six common management styles can be opted to battle the conflict. These are presented below: (Source: De Dreu, 2006) The above table provides a description of each conflict management styles along with its effect. According to Tjosvold (2007), it is important to remember that each conflict management style can be used in conflict issues. The choice, however, as stated by De Dreu (2008), depends on the issue. There are few variables that can help analyze conflict situations which can help in picking out a style of conflict management. These are (Tjosvold, 2007): Time constraint Importance of the issue under debate Importance of the relationship between the two parties Relative power De Dreu (2006) argues that even though people involved in the conflicts have a good idea about how conflicts can be managed, and what sort of effect it may have on the outcome, they tend to forget it given their behavioral and personal instincts which combine two views of conflict – behavioral and interactionist. Therefore, Tjosvold (2007) argue whether the three views of conflict can necessary dictate the positive and negative outcome of the conflict issues. Although this phenomenon is occasionally witnessed in workplace setting, it does present a thought whether the conflict management styles are adequate to end conflict issues. This is where, according to De Dreu (2008), conflict management styles fail and negotiations take place. Positive and Negative Functions of Conflict Management When one criticizes conflict, much discussion is about the negativity that conflicts create and ineffective conflict management. The negative functions although one may find in abundance, few academics and practitioners discuss the positive functions. When positive functions of conflict are discussed, it is important to incorporate a multi-level perspective analysis as well as the time horizons in which workplace operate i.e. short-term and long-term. Firstly, conflict if occurs within a team i.e. the group level, it may affect the outcomes and processes of that group at group level (De Dreu, 2006), while at individual level it can affect level of job satisfaction, turnover rate, and general health of any individual (De Dreu, 2006), and finally at organizational level, it can affect the profitability, stability and reputation of the organization (De Dreu, 2006). George and Jones (2005) stated that positive outcomes at one level for instance group-level innovations may co-occur with negative outcomes at any other level for instance at individual level with stress and low job satisfaction. From this perspective, it is difficult to analyze whether conflict and conflict management has positive or negative effects which leads an individual to compare apples and oranges. A similar problem occurs when time horizons are taken into account (Janssen, 2003). It is a fact that according to Penny and Spector (2005), organizations and groups tend to exist over a longer period of time and cycle and undergo multiple conflicts throughout its time cycle. This makes an important consideration for the outcome of conflict can have for instance in short-term it can lead to low job satisfaction or enhancement in creative ideas and in the long term it can either increase the turnover rate or increase the market share (Janssen, 2003). However, immediate and distal outcomes may not necessary be aligned (Penny and Spector, 2005). For instance, Beersma and De Dreu (2005) analyzed that groups who perform constructively well and work on negotiated agreements of high joint value tend to have a poor performance rating on tasks that require them to be creative and have a good performance rating on tasks that require them to plan and coordinate. Beersma and De Dreu (2005) also revealed that conflict management functions whether negative or positive can be directed towards cooperative approach and harmony using negotiation skills that can foster independent thinking which can increase the performance of individuals and teams to work creatively and towards a common goal. Negotiation in Conflict Management It is necessary in today’s workplace, according to Simons and Peterson (2000), to maintain necessary skills in resolving conflicts. These skills are referred to as negotiations (Simons and Peterson, 2000). There is much literature available on negotiation that can be used to understand why and when workers use negotiating skills and methods in workplace. Research on negotiation in conflict management showed that many workers tend to give silent treatment or bully the counterpart into giving in on the matter while others communicate their opposed interests and seek out agreements on which they decide give and take (De Dreu, Weingart and Kwon, 2000). According to De Dreu, Beersma, Steinel and Van Kleef (2007), when negotiation is seen this way, it refers to as a problem solver or collaborator that individuals can use to negotiate integrative agreements through pro-social behavior instead of selfish motivations (cf., meaning cooperative goals versus competitive goal dependence), and also invest their time and skills in deliberate and careful information processing. Many researchers such as De Dreu, Weingart and Kwon (2000), Janssen (2003), and Tjsovold (2007) have suggested that integrative negotiations benefit both the involved parties individually as well as collectively. It is a win-win situation which can increase self-efficacy, satisfaction, economic value, harmony, social stability and reduce future conflict possibilities. This type of negotiation has proved useful and effective in only few situations therefore as De Dreu, Beersma, Steinel and Van Kleef (2007), says that to generalize to managing all workplace conflicts in this manner is questionable. Whereas, it is known that such negotiations are preferred compared to impasse or win-lose negotiations but it still remains to be seen whether individuals, groups or organization as a whole are better off when they manage their conflicts through win-win negotiations (De Dreu, Beersma, Steinel and Van Kleef, 2007). Although it is known that win-win negotiations can reduce the negative outcomes that workplace conflicts may arise when compared to the use of non-constructive conflict management methods (Wall and Callister, 1995). Choosing how to handle a conflict depends entirely upon the situation of the conflict and the management of the conflict. Conclusion To summarize the topic, conflict and workplace fit together as conflict can have valuable as well as dysfunctional consequences of both the workplace and individuals whether the consequence is observed immediately or in future. Even if it is accepted that conflict is bad for a workplace, the question arises about the positive aspects of conflict that cannot be achieved through any other means such as performance. In any conflict, negotiations play a vital role to shape its result. If handled with positivism, the result will be positive and vice versa. Therefore, in any conflict issue, the management style of conflict and negotiation can swing the outcome in either the favor of positivism or negativism. REFERENCES Beersma, B., & De Dreu, C. K. W. (2005). Conflict’s consequences: Effects of social motives on post-negotiation creative and convergent group functioning and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, (358–374). Carnevale, P. J. D., & Pruitt, D. G. (1992). Negotiation and mediation. Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 43, 531–582. Carnevale, P. J., & Probst, T. M. (1998). Social values and social conflict in creative problem solving and categorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 74, (1300–1309). De Dreu, C. (2008). The virtue and vice of workplace conflict: food for (pessimistic) thought. Journal of Organizational Behavior Vol.29 (5-18). De Dreu, C. K. W., & Gelfand, M. J. (2007). Conflict in the workplace: Sources, dynamics, and functions across multiple levels of analysis. In C. 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