ENGM 742: Engineering
Management and Labor Relations
• Conflict and Negotiation
• What comes to mind when you think about
“conflict”?
Introduction to Conflict
• Conflict:
– Natural and inevitable outcome of the close interaction of
people who may have
• Diverse opinions and values
• Pursue different objectives
• Have varying access to information and resources
within an organization.
– Conflict is not necessarily bad:
• Too much conflict can be a bad thing
• Conflict challenges the status quo
• Conflict encourages new ideas and approaches
• Conflict can lead to change
• Occurs in all relationships (individual-individual or
group-group)
• Sources of Intergroup Conflict:
– Goal Incompatibility:
• Greatest cause of intergroup conflict
• Diverse objectives within departments of organization
– Differentiation:
• Skill sets, personalities, and cultures may vary among
departments
– Task Interdependence:
• Departments depend on eachother for materials, resources,
information… as we learned from communication, as
interdependence increases, potential for conflict increases.
– Limited Resources:
• Struggle between departments for organizational resources
such as budget, personnel, facilities, etc.
POWER and POLITICS are used to handle
differences and manage CONFLICT.
Two Perspective on Conflict
Traditional Approach
Pluralistic Approach
– Conflict is bad and should be
eliminated or resolved
– Conflict is good and should be
encouraged; however, conflict
must be managed
– Conflict need not occur
– Conflict is inevitable
– Conflict results from
breakdowns in communication
and lack of understanding,
trust, and openness between
groups
– Conflict results from a natural
struggle for limited rewards,
competition, and potential
frustration of goals
– People are essentially good;
trust, cooperation, and
goodness are givens in human
nature
– People are not essentially bad,
but are driven by self-seeking and
competitive interests that cause
conflict
Tactics for Enhancing
Collaboration
• Collaboration Tactics – an alternative to using
Politics when conflict exists:
– Create integration devices
• Bridging the gap, joint problem-solving teams
– Constructive Confrontation and Negotiation
• Bargaining to create a Win-Win vs. Win-Lose
– Schedule intergroup consultation
• Mediators, 3rd party consultants
– Practice member rotation
• Cross-functional learning (skills, values, culture)
– Create shared mission and superordinate
goals
• Common cause to rally around
Method of Conflict Resolution
•
‘Getting To Yes’ (Harvard Negotiation Project,
1980’s)
– Best selling book on negotiation
– Don’t bargain over positions. Instead, do the
following…
1. Separate people from problem
•
Ex: Negotiate on issues, not personalities
2. Focus on interests, not positions
•
Ex: Find common ground in interests, build from there
3. Invent options for mutual gain
•
Ex: Find way to increase the size of the pie
4. Insist on objective criteria
•
Ex: create objective metrics for evaluation: schedule, cost, etc.
Personal Conflict Management
Styles
•
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Assessment:
– Short personal evaluation of conflict management style
– Identifies five common conflict management modes
– Characterizes conflict management modes along two
dimensions:
1. Assertiveness – the extent to which the individual attempts to
satisfy his/her own concerns
2. Cooperativeness – the extent to which the individual attempts to
satisfy the other person’s concerns.
– Five conflict management modes:
•
Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, Accomodating
– Situation and time dependent, however, these are
tendencies.
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode
Graph
Avoiding
Assertive
Competing
Collaborating
- Unassertive
and Uncooperative
- Goal is to delay
- Does not immediately pursue their own
concerns or those of another
Satisfying
one-self
- Do not address the conflict
Unassertive
Compromising
Avoiding
- Avoiding can be considered as
diplomatically sidestepping an issue,
postponing an issue until a better time, or
simply withdrawing from threatening
Accommodating
situation.
Uncooperative
Cooperative
Satisfying others
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode
Graph
Competing
Competing
Collaborating
Assertive
- Assertive and uncooperative
- Goal is to win
- Use whatever power is appropriate to
win one’s own position
Satisfying
one-self
Unassertive
- StandCompromising
up for your rights to defend a
position you feel is correct.
Avoiding
Accommodating
Uncooperative
Cooperative
Satisfying others
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode
Graph
Accommodating
Assertive
Competing
- Unassertive
and cooperative
Collaborating
- Goal is to yield to others
- Neglects their own concerns to satisfy
the concerns of the other person
Satisfying
one-self
- Element of self-sacrifice
Compromising
Unassertive
- Might take the form of selfless generosity
or charity, obeying another person’s order
when one would prefer not to, or yielding
to another persons point of view
Avoiding
Accommodating
Uncooperative
Cooperative
Satisfying others
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Graph
Compromising
- Moderately assertive and Moderately Cooperative
Competing
Collaborating
Assertive
- Goal is to find a middle ground
- Gives up more than competing, but less than collaborating
- Might mean splitting differences, exchanging concessions, or seeking a
quick
middle-ground position
Satisfying
one-self
Unassertive
Compromising
Avoiding
Accommodating
Uncooperative
Cooperative
Satisfying others
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode
Graph
Collaborating
Competing
Collaborating
Assertive
- Assertive and cooperative
- Goal is to find a win-win solution
- Works with the other person to find some
solution
which fully satisfies the concerns
Satisfying
of both
persons
one-self
Compromising
Unassertive
- Means digging into an issue to identify
underlying concerns of the two individuals
- Might take the form of exploring a
disagreement to learn from each other’s
Avoiding
insights, concluding
to resolve some
Uncooperative
condition, which would
otherwise have
them competing for resources.
Accommodating
Satisfying others
Cooperative
Personal Conflict
Management
• Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Graph
Competing
Collaborating
Assertive
Integrative
Dimension
Satisfying
one-self
Compromising
Distributive
Dimension
Unassertive
Accommodating
Avoiding
Uncooperative
Cooperative
Satisfying others
What is Negotiation?
Negotiation a field of knowledge that
focuses on gaining the favor of people
from whom we want things.
Herb Cohen
We negotiate when
• We decide which movie to see with our
significant other
• We decide which city to live in with our
spouse
• We look to buy a car
• We try to get a raise
• We try to get into a class that is full
More formally defined, we negotiate when
• Two or more parties must make a decision
about their interdependent goals.
• Parties are committed to a peaceful
means of resolving a dispute.
• There is no clear or established method
for making a decision among multiple
alternatives.
MisPerceptions power in of
negotiation
• Extreme claims, followed by small, slow
concessions
• Bluffing and lying
• Threats or warnings
• Belittling the other party’s alternatives
• Good cop, bad cop
• Take-it-or-leave-it offers
• Personal insults or ruffling feathers
From Common hard-bargaining tactics by R. H. Mnookin
Negotiation Traps to Avoid
• Anchoring
– Works because people make insufficient adjustments
– a good first offer can serve as an anchor
• Framing
–
–
–
–
Time horizons
Aggregation is less painful
Fairness
Losses vs. gains
• Understood loss aversion
• Inflation vs. salary cut
When do you need a third
party?
• Deadlock or impasse
• Unproductive tension and hostility
• Anger and resentment overwhelm
negotiators
• Mistrust and suspicion are high
Third-Party Intervention
• The goal of third-party intervention is to
resolve a dispute.
– Mediators influence process
– Arbitrator determine outcome
What can a third-party do to assist?
•
•
•
•
•
Reduce of tension
Control the number of issues
Enhance communication
Establish common ground
Highlight the desirability of certain decision
criteria
• Determine the outcome of a dispute
Mediator vs. Arbitrators
• Mediators seek to have the parties
themselves develop and endorse the
agreement.
• Arbitrators are most interested in
outcomes and have the power to render a
binding decision.
5 Cures for Negotiation
Breakdowns
1. Reduce Tension
– Acknowledge Other’s feelings
– Separate Parties
– reciprocal de-escalation (a mutual good faith gesture)
2. Improve communication
– Role reversal
– Perspective Taking
3. Controlling Issues
–
–
–
–
reduce the number of parties and substantive issues
state principles
fractionate big issues (unbundle)
depersonalize
5 Cures for Negotiation
Breakdowns
4. Establish Commonalities
–
–
–
–
super ordinate goals
common enemies
agree on rules and procedures
provide integrative frameworks
5. Make preferred option more desirable
–
–
–
–
framing a “yes able” proposal
de-emphasize demands and threats
sweeten the offer
use objective criteria
(Thompson, L., 2001 & Lewicki, R.J., 1999 & 2001)