Conflict & Negotiation 2nd module

Question 1

Meaning of conflict

Answer 1

A process that begins when one party perceives that another has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect something that the first party cares about.

Conflict at Intrapersonal level: a process when one’s goal starts to be incompatible with/in disharmony with another goal.

Conflict at Interpersonal level: a process that begins when one person perceives that another has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect something that she desires

Question 2

Changes in perspective regarding conflict

Answer 2

1. The Traditional Viewpoint: Conflicts are bad, negative and harmful. Associated with violence, destruction, irrationality, disrupts peaceful co-existence between people Dysfunctional outcome caused by: Poor communication between individuals, lack of trust and openness between individuals ,failure of one person to fulfill the demands and expectations of the other person & Unresolved issues within an individual.
2. Interactionist viewpoint- Conflicts must be accepted and encouraged. Positive force, necessary for people to improve and grow. Keeps individuals introspective, creative, self-critical and energetic. Too much cohesiveness & harmony make people non-evaluative, lethargic and nonresponsive. Categorized further as a) Functional Conflicts: helps individuals to improve, experience personal growth. b) Dysfunctional Conflicts: destructive in nature, causes harm to individuals, builds up mistrust & disrespect among people
3. Resolution focused viewpoint- Conflicts are inevitable, focus on resolving all kinds of conflicts productively & minimize its negative and disruptive effects by developing an understanding among people about nature of conflicts and causes of conflicts & develop problem solving strategy & greater sensitivity among people for each other.

Question 3

Types of interactionist viewpoint conflicts

Answer 3

Task Conflict: arises out of the type of work which people are doing, must be kept between low to moderate levels

Relationship Conflict: deals with interpersonal relationships, should be maintained at lowest level. Usually dysfunctional as there are personality clashes & hostilities.

Process Conflict: deals with how people should divide tasks and do their respective work, low level to be maintained

Question 4

Conflict Process (PCIBO) Potential opposition

Answer 4

1. Potential opposition- arise due to
   a) communication- semantic barriers, misunderstanding & mistrust between sender & receiver. Too much or too little communication between people & inadequate info.

b) Structural & size issue- Increase in no. of people working in interdependent tasks. Conflicts are more among young people who have spent less time at work with each other. When there’s ambiguities relating to people’s roles, duties and responsibilities. When benefits and resources can be given to limited number of individuals.
c) Personality Characteristics- Higher conflicts are experienced by people who exhibit the traits of: Disagreeableness, Authoritarianism, Irritation, Anger

Question 5

Conflict process- Cognition & Personalization (PCIBO)

Answer 5

It involves perception of conflicts whereby people become aware that there are opposing interests/motives/goals.

People start personalizing the conflict i.e. reach the stage of ‘felt conflict’ where they start experiencing mistrust, anxiety, tension, frustration and hostility.

Question 6

Conflict process- Intentions (PCIBO)

Answer 6

People differ in five ways in which they resolve conflicts- differ along dimensions of Cooperativeness & Assertiveness-

Compromising: it involves moderate levels of Cooperativeness and Assertiveness

Competing: it involves Assertive and Uncooperative approach

Avoiding: it involves Unassertive and Uncooperative approach

Accommodating: it involves Cooperative and Unassertive approach

Collaborating: it involves Assertive and Cooperative approach

Question 7

Conflict process- Behaviour (PCIBO)

Answer 7

Conflict situation becomes visible:
Actions become visible
statements
reactions of the conflicting persons

Question 8

Conflict process- Outcomes (PCIBO)

Answer 8

In this stage, the consequences of the conflict become evident. It could be Functional outcomes or Dysfunctional outcomes.

1) Functional outcomes are as follows: a) The conflicting individuals get an opportunity to rethink, self-evaluate, self-introspect, innovate, project their ideas, thoughts and problems
b) It offers platform for sharing of information, understanding about others viewpoint, become flexible and improve on the quality of decisions.

Dysfunctional outcomes are as follows: a) Creates barriers in communication, builds discontent, misunderstanding and mistrust

b) Reduces cohesiveness and cooperativeness
c) Time, effort, energy and resources are diverted away from productive goals and directed towards conflict situation

Question 9

Informal conflict management techniques

Answer 9

1) Develop Problem Solving strategies: Interpersonal conflict: face-to-face meetings, open discussions. Intrapersonal conflict: individual carries out self-introspection, self-evaluation, learns conflict resolving strategies
2) Avoidance: individuals take conscious decision to withdraw from the conflict situation, used more by individuals in Cooperative cultures
3) Smoothing: involves highlighting common interests between conflicting people and downplaying their differences
4) Compromise: each person gives up something that is important and of value to the other person
5) People at position of authority: take control of the situation & try to resolve conflicts
6) Introduce an neutral outsider: is able to objectively assess the situation and conflicting parties

Question 10

Formal conflict resolving process

Answer 10

Distributive Bargaining:

• Negotiation divides fixed amt. of resources in a way it creates a win/lose situation
• The two parties have opposing interests, share little information with each other
• Their relationship is short-term
• Each party sets their:
  - Target point- they want to achieve & Resistance Point-lowest point they will accept

Integrative Bargaining:

• Negotiation process assumes that there is more than one solution to a problem
• Resolve by creating a win/win situation
• Focus on each other’s interests
• High amount of information is shared
• Relationship is long-term
• Both parties are flexible
• Sensitive towards each other
• Honest in their dealings