What is Conflict And Negotiation?
Conflict occurs when parties disagree over substantive issues or when emotional antagonisms create friction between them. The daily work of organizations revolves around people and the interpersonal dynamics involved in getting them engaged in goal accomplishment. Conflict occurs whenever disagreements exist in a social situation over issues of substance, or whenever emotional antagonisms create frictions between individuals or groups. Team leaders and members can spend considerable time dealing with conflicts; sometimes they are directly involved, and other times they act as mediators or neutral third parties to help resolve conflicts between other people.] Managers have to be comfortable with conflict dynamics in the workplace and know how to best deal with them. This includes being able to recognize situations that have the potential for conflict and address them in ways that will best serve the needs of both the organization and the people involved.
Types of Conflict
Conflicts in teams, at work, and in our personal lives occur in at least two basic forms—substantive and emotional. Both types are common, ever present, and challenging.
Substantive conflict involves fundamental disagreement over ends or goals to be pursued and the means for their accomplishment.
Emotional conflict involves interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, and the like.
Negotiation is the process of making joint decisions when the parties involved have different preferences
Picture yourself trying to make a decision in the following situation: You are about to order a new state-of-the-art notebook computer for a team member in your department. Then another team member submits a request for one of a different brand. Your boss says that only one brand can be ordered. Or consider this one: You have been offered a new job in another city and want to take it, but are disappointed with the salary. You've heard friends talk of how they "negotiated" better offers when taking jobs. You are concerned about the costs of relocating and would like a signing bonus as well as a guarantee of an early salary review.
Two important goals must be considered in any negotiation: substance goals and relationship goals. Substance goals deal with outcomes that relate to the "content" issues under negotiation. The dollar amount of a wage agreement in a collective-bargaining situation is one example. Relationship goals deal with outcomes that relate to how well people involved in the negotiation and any constituencies they may represent are able to work with one another once the process is concluded. An example is the ability of union members and management representatives to work together effectively after a contract dispute has been settled.
Effective negotiation occurs when substance issues are resolved and working relationships are maintained or improved. Unfortunately, many negotiations result in damaged relationships because the negotiating parties become preoccupied with substance goals and self-interests. In contrast, effective negotiation occurs when substance issues are resolved and working relationships are maintained or even improved. Three criteria for effective negotiation are:
· Quality: The negotiation results offer a "quality" agreement that is wise and satisfactory to all sides.
· Harmony :The negotiation is "harmonious" and fosters rather than inhibits good interpersonal relations.
· Efficiency: The negotiation is "efficient" and no more time consuming or costly than absolutely necessary.
Ethical Aspects of Negotiation
Managers and others involved in negotiations should strive for high ethical standards of conduct, but this goal can get sidetracked by an overemphasis on self-interests. The motivation to behave ethically in negotiations is put to the test by each party's desire to "get more" than the other from the negotiation and/or by a belief that there are insufficient resources to satisfy all parties. After the heat of negotiations dies down, the parties involved often try to rationalize or explain away questionable ethics as unavoidable, harmless, or justified. Such after-the-fact rationalizations may be offset by long-run negative consequences, such as not being able to achieve one's wishes again the next time. At the very least the unethical party may be the target of revenge tactics by those who were disadvantaged. Furthermore, once some people have behaved unethically in one situation, they may become entrapped by such behavior and prone to display it again in the future.
Transtutors.com is an effort on the part of expert tutors to give you maximum support by way of pooling their subject knowledge exclusively for your understanding and knowledge enhancement. It is a highly accessible source of gaining understanding in subject of Management and getting effective homework help and assignment support in topics like.