Conflict Management and Negotiations

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Conflict situation
Problem-solving
Compromising
Yielding
A negotiation situation involving distributive bargaining
Distributive bargaining strategy and its effectiveness
Tactical tasks
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction

The world of business is hostile and unpredictable and people often appear in situations of the contest, when the agreement should be achieved. The tendency now is to smoothing conflicts and reaching an agreement as soon as possible. Different strategies and tactics are used with the combination of some approaches, such as problem-solving, compromising, and yielding, which give better results in combination. Negotiations are one of the main techniques, according to which the agreement may be achieved.

Conflict situation

A branch manager and a staff member are in conflict over work hours. The branch manager expects all staff to work standard hours, beginning at 8:00 am so that the public will receive service starting first thing in the morning.

Problem-solving

Searching faults and affixing blaming is the technique, which businessmen used to provide recently, but the change of situation led to some shifts in problem-solving. Blaming one person is not the way out, and conflicts began to be considered from the other side: not who is the fault, but what to do to change that. The problem-solving technique has found its support and is used now as one of the main strategies of conflict decision (Collins & O’Rourke, 2008, p.25). From the above conflict situation, the problem-solving approach would seek to help the manager and the worker to cooperate for the greater good of everyone. Cooperation in this situation would allow the two parties to understand each other, to find an amicable solution to this situation. In this case, the manager would be called upon to appreciate the fact that the staff is indeed held up with the child responsibilities and thus allow the said staff to come at 9.00 a.m. The staff on the other hand shall be expected to work hard and make sure that the one hour lost is compensated. This can be done by reducing the lunch break period by half to be used for work.

Compromising

Providing the compromising strategy, the participants of the conflict by this action agree that they are unable to get maximum profit from the situation and they try to find the middle ground. The reason is that every participant gives a little and, as a result, gets a little. Compromising is one of the most common strategies, which is used in the business world, and it is often called “adequate for most occasions” (Lewicki & Hiam, 2006, p.160). In the event that compromising is used as the approach in this conflict situation, the manager shall be talked to by a colleague into accepting the fact that has to have the one-hour extension in the morning. By so doing, the manager shall accept the idea that having the staff at work as from 9.00 am is better than failing to come to work at all.

Yielding

Concession is one of the characteristic features of yielding. With particular reference to the above situation, yielding shall imply that the staffs agree to come to work at the stipulated time. In this case, the staff shall have to put the child’s interests second to the job and shall have to opt to enlist the services of a nanny to take care of the child as from 8.00 am.

The most effective strategy is problem-solving one of handling this situation, as it shall provide for a mechanism for both parties to win with the overall result being efficiency in the delivery of services to the clients.

A negotiation situation involving distributive bargaining

Example of distributive bargaining situation: negotiating for a 45 percent stake in a foreign consortium that is seeking to venture into my domestic telecommunication industry on a partnership basis, in which my firm is one of the major players of the said industry. The consortium on the other hand is of the view of operating under 65:35 percent joint partnership with the local company. In this case, my firm’s interest in the joint partnership is 25 percent.

Distributive bargaining strategy and its effectiveness

Competitive negotiating strategy is the strategy, which is considered to be the most effective in the current situation as the consortium is very much in need of having a stake in the local telecommunication industry. In this way, the pressure would be on them to operate as the leading player in the domestic market.

Tactical tasks

Leading negotiations, the tactical tasks which are going to be used are as follows: To assess the outcome values as well as the costs of termination by the consortium, to manage the other party’s impression during the negotiations, to modify the consortium’s perceptions, and to manipulate the actual cost of this partnership (Russell, 2007). These actions would facilitate successful negotiations owing to the fact that the consortium is actually an outsider and the success of this joint venture depends on working with an established local firm.

Conclusion

In conclusion, conflicts are solved by means of different tactics and strategies, and the most effective one is problem-solving, as it was discussed. During negotiations, different tasks are provided with the aim to use the effective strategy and to get the successful result.

Reference

Collins, S. D. & O’Rourke, J. S. (2008). Managing Conflict and Workplace Relationships, Cengage Learning, London.

Lewicki, R. J. & Hiam, A. (2006). Mastering business negotiation: a working guide to making deals and resolving conflict. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

Russell, L. (2007). 10 Steps to Successful Project Management. American Society for Training and Development, New York.

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