AgendaSPS 821, SEPTEMBER 14

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Agenda-SPS 821, SEPTEMBER 14

• Introduction and logistics
• The course
• Structure and format
• Teams ?
• Evaluation instruments
• The reality of no one right answer-building an
  argument
• Introduction to conflict management-an overview
• Your style

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Introduction and logistics

• Tom Williams
• SPS 313
• Tom.williams_at_queensu.ca
• http//post.queensu.ca/trwe/
• 533-6000 ext 74020

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The course

• Structure and format
• Lecture/ role plays/ media/ guests
• Readings- core plus posted
• Evaluation team and individual
• Cases-briefs 45
• Culture study and presentation 15
• Individual conflict case study 40
• Note the case study is the major single
  component of the course and hence a passing grade
  in that paper is a requirement to pass the course

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NO ONE WAY

• MANY ROADS LEAD TO ROME

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INTRODUCTION TO CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
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Write down the first 3 or 4 things that come to
your mind when you hear the word conflict
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WHAT IS CONFLICT?

• A conflict begins with something as simple as one
  person makes a claim and another rejects it
• There is an incompatibility of views or emotions
• There is a real or perceived interdependence

8
Approaches Negative Positive

• Contest
• Win or lose
• Control
• Problem
• Manipulate
• Tension
• Difficult

• Interaction
• Mutual gain
• Interdependence
• Opportunity
• Persuade
• Stimulating
• Challenging

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CONFLICT MANAGEMENTAn Introduction

• Who cares?

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There are huge costs to badly managed conflicts

• Dollars
• Productivity, lost contracts and opportunities
• Fractured or stunted relationships

The hidden costs of conflict http//www.lawmemo.
com/articles/measuring.htm
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Conflict Management

• IT IS EVERYWHERE AND NONE OF US DEALS WITH IT AS
  WELL AS WE SHOULD
• Negotiation is one skill that helps us manage
  conflict but, it is only one of several processes
  to be learned.

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Conflict Management (continued)

• Conflict management is an interactive and dynamic
  process
• No one approach (including negotiation) is always
  appropriate or effective, and no one theory has a
  lock on how to understand conflict

Source Bernard Mayer, The Dynamics of Conflict
Resolution, page xii
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A range of conflict management skills (including
negotiation) should be integral to the skill set
of any professional manager
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"The queen had only one way of settling all
difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his
head!' she said without even looking
around."Lewis Carroll,Alice in Wonderland

• Managers Cannot Afford to be So Limited

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Conflict and Leadership

• "An essential aspect of leadership is the
  capacity to directly engage an adversary without
  seeking to defeat him/her."

Muldoon
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"Something can almost always be done about
conflict. This does not mean that it can always
be resolved, but a productive response can
usually be made to move conflict along a
constructive path."
Bernard Mayer
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CONFLICT ITSELF IS NOT THE PROBLEMUNRESOLVED
CONFLICT ISWHY???
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Conflict Management

• Is best conceived of as a process for handling a
  flow of problems
• Conflict per se, is never solved. Each solution
  creates a new plateau or synthesis against which
  the next conflict scenario is played. This is
  particularly true with negotiations

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Conflict management-a core management competency

• Individual mobility
• Flattening and opening up of hierarchical
  organizations
• Interdependence both laterally and hierarchically
• Increased competitiveness for resources in the
  operating environment

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Conceptual frameworks

• Fishnets that one drags through data.
• They represent your implicit theories or models
  of reality

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Good practitioners need models or conflict maps.

• To work effectively on conflicts, the
  intervener you needs a conceptual road map or
  conflict map that details
• 1.) why a conflict is occurring,
• 2.) identifies barriers to settlement, and
• 3.) indicates procedures to manage or resolve the
  dispute.

Christopher Moore, The Mediation Process, pg. 58.
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Two essential steps founded on analysis

• How good we are at managing conflict is
  dependent on how good we are at 2 absolutely
  critical steps
• Creatively and insightfully diagnosing the cause
  of a conflict and,
• Effectively and skillfully taking action to
  resolve the conflict

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There is no magic formula for all disputes

• Because conflict situations can be so diverse
  there is no single model that fits every conflict
• WHAT VARIES??

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Exhibit 7-10Conflict Intensity Continuum
Annihilatory conflict
Overt efforts to destroy the other party
Aggressive action-violent/non violent
Threats and ultimatums
Assertive verbal attacks
Overt questioning or challenging of others
No conflict
Minor disagreements or misunderstandings
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One approach to conflict management really
focuses on processes or structures, as such it is
a macro view. As it is very common in some
literature and terminology, you need to be
familiar with it. We will review it here but,
please, do not use it intensively in your analyses
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Interests, Rights, Power

• This model does not assess the root causes of
  conflict, rather it focuses on the processes
  people or groups use to deal with conflict. It
  categorizes all approaches as being one of three
  types
• Interest based
• Rights based or,
• Power based.

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Interests, Rights and Power in conflict management

• Conflict managers focus on interests when they
  strive to learn about each others interests and
  priorities as a way to work toward a mutually
  satisfying agreement that creates value.

Ury, Brett and Goldberg (1993)
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Interests, Rights and Power in conflict management

• 2. Conflict managers focus on rights when they
  seek to resolve a dispute by drawing on decision
  rules or standards grounded in principles of law,
  fairness or perhaps an existing contract.

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Interests, Rights and Power in conflict management

• 3. Parties to a conflict focus on power when
  they use threats or other means to try to coerce
  the other party into making concessions

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From a distressed to effective dispute resolution
system-Ury/Brett Goldberg
POWER
RIGHTS
INTERESTS
Effective system
Distressed system
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Research by Anne Lytle, Jeanne Brett and Debra
Shapiro

• A simulated contract dispute between 2 companies
  involving 50 negotiators all with 5 years or more
  of business experience
• In many conflicts, the parties cycle through all
  three strategies during the same encounter
• They found the parties tended to reciprocate
  these strategies for example, a coercive strategy
  may be met by a power strategy in return yielding
  a conflict spiral.

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Some implications for the use of power

• Research by Anne Lytle, Jeanne Brett and Debra
  Shapiro
• Starting to resolve conflict by using your power
  to coerce the opposition may work if your threat
  is credible. If the other party calls your bluff,
  you need to carry it out or lose face.
• To avert a conflict spiral and move towards an
  interest based resolution avoid reciprocating
  messages involving rights or power. Shift the
  conversation by asking an interest based
  question.
• If you cant avoid reciprocating negative
  behaviour, try a combined statement that mixes a
  threat with an interests oriented refocusing
  statement. We could sue you as well but that
  wont solve our problem so lets try to reach an
  outcome that helps us both.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF YOU

• In any conflict situation in which you are
  involved, YOU always bear a significant
  responsibility for its constructive resolution.

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Costs and benefits of different resolution
processes

• Transaction costs, time, money,emotions,
  goodwill, opportunity
• Satisfaction with the outcome. This is dependent
  on
• Perceived fairness of the outcome and
• Perceived fairness of the process
• Effect on the relationship
• Is the resolution implementable.

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Continuum of Conflict Management
Conflict avoidance
Informal discussion and problem solving
C
Private decision making
O
Negotiation
E
Mediation
Mediation
R
C
Administrative decision
Private, third-party decision-making
I
Arbitration
O
N
Judicial decision
Legal, authoritative third-party decision-making
Legislative decision
Nonviolent direct action
Extralegal, coerced decision- making
Violence
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CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLES
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YOUR STYLE-how do you approach conflict
management??
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• Each conflict management strategy has its
  advantages and disadvantages and is more or less
  appropriate given the type of conflict and
  situation in which the dispute occurs
• Lewicki et al, Negotiation, 4th edition, pg.24

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• It is important for YOU to understand that each
  approach will work in certain situations AND to
  understand that each approach has both strengths
  and weaknesses.
• THERE IS NO SINGLE RIGHT WAY

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The Dual Concerns Model
HI
PROBLEM- SOLVING (collaborating)
YIELDING (accommodating)
CONCERN ABOUT OTHERS' OUTCOMES
COMPROMISING
CONTENDING (competing)
INACTION (Avoiding)
HI
LO
CONCERN ABOUT YOUR OUTCOMES
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Avoiding or Yielding

• A person recognizes a conflict exists and wants
  to withdraw or suppress it
• Usually the issue is trivial or more important
  issues are pressing
• When disruption outweighs the benefits of
  resolution - You just do not want to 'rock the
  boat'!

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There Are Lots of Waysto Avoid Conflict

• Aggressive avoidance - "Don't start with me or
  you'll regret it!" - Intimidation
• Passive avoidance - "I refuse to dance!" - People
  withdraw, remain silent, sulk, change the
  subject, disappear
• Passive aggressive avoidance - "If you are angry
  at me, that's your problem!" - These are people
  who are masters at provoking others without
  owning up to their own actions. Sometimes these
  people raise complaints but refuse to take part
  in the solution of the problem

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There Are Lots of Waysto Avoid Conflict
(continued)

• Avoidance through hopelessness - "What's the
  use?" - Viewing the situation as beyond repair
• Avoidance through surrogates - "Let's you and
  them fight"
• Avoidance through denial - "If I close my eyes,
  it will go away!"
• Avoidance through premature problem solving
  -"There is no conflict I have fixed everything!"
  May be very superficial or partial
• Avoidance by just quitting - "OK, we'll do it
  your way, now can we talk about something else?"

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Avoiding may be appropriate when,

• Issue is trivial
• Potential negative impact of confronting the
  other person outweighs benefits or resolution
• Cooling off period is needed

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Avoiding is not appropriate when,

• The issue is important to you
• It is your responsibility to make a decision
• Parties are unwilling to defer and the issue must
  be addressed

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Accommodating - Yielding

• Appeasement. One party places the opponent's
  interests above their own
• You may learn in the course of events that you
  are wrong! You appear 'reasonable'
• Often used when harmony and stability are
  important

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(No Transcript)
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Obliging or yielding may be appropriate when,

• You may believe or learn you are wrong!!
• The issue is far more important to the other
  party
• You are willing to give up something in exchange
  for future considerations from the other party
  in the future
• You are dealing from a position of extreme
  weakness
• Preserving the relationship is very important to
  you

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Obliging or yielding is not appropriate when,

• The issue is important to you
• You believe you are right or it is a matter of
  principle
• The other party is unethical

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Competing

• One party tries to satisfy his/her interests
  regardless of the impact on the other.
• This is classic "I win - you lose"
• Use when you KNOW that you are right and/or
  against people who take advantage of
  uncompetitive behaviour
• Threats, punishment, intimidation and unilateral
  action are consistent with a competing or
  contending approach.

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Competing or contending may be appropriate when,

• The issue is trivial
• Speedy decision is needed
• May be necessary to overcome assertive
  subordinates!
• Unfavourable decision by the other party may be
  too costly to you
• You may hold most of the technical expertise
• The issue is very important to you

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Competing or contending may not be appropriate
when,

• You are dealing with a complex issue
• Both parties are equally powerful the
  tendency is to over-estimate your power and to
  underestimate the oppositions!
• Decision does not need to be made quickly
• The other party possesses a high degree of
  expertise and competence

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Compromise

• Generally, no clear winner or loser. Each side
  gives up something
• It represents a moderate effort to achieve your
  own goals while helping the other achieve hers
• Goals are important but not worth the effort of
  potential disruption of more assertive approaches
• Often people do not engage because of personal
  conditioning

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Compromise may be appropriate when,

• The goals of the parties are mutually exclusive
• The parties are relatively equal in power
• Consensus cannot be reached
• You have tried integrating and/or dominating
  styles unsuccessfully
• A temporary solution to a complex problem is
  needed.

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Compromise may not be appropriate when,

• One party is significantly more powerful than the
  other
• The issue is sufficiently complex that a problem
  solving approach is needed
• From Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventories
  Professional Manual by M. A. Rahim, 1990

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Collaboration - Problem-Solving

• Look for win-win solutions
• Problem-solving approach

ACTUALLY REPRESENTS THE HIGHEST POTENTIAL FOR
ADDING VALUE
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Consider an integrative problem solving approach
when,

• The issues are complex,
• Synthesis of ideas is needed to come up with a
  better solution,
• Commitment is needed from all parties for
  successful implementation,
• Time is available,One party alone cannot solve
  the problem or,
• Resources possessed by different parties are
  needed to solve a common problem

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Re-Consider an integrative problem solving
approach when,

• The task or problem is simple
• Immediate decision is needed-time is tight
• Other parties are not concerned about the outcome
• Other parties-or YOU- do not have problem solving
  skills and experience

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'To Choose the Right Game'

• You ALWAYS need to decide how important two
  factors are
• THE OUTCOME - How much do you need to win? Can
  you afford to lose?
• THE RELATIONSHIP - How important is a continuing
  relationship with the other party?