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Conflict Triangles identifies responses to conflict triangles that can
promote either functional or dysfunctional conflicts. See Slide
13–34
(i) The preferred options are options 1 and 2, which are referred to as
detriangling approaches.
(ii) Options 3 through 8 can be a slippery slope toward further
counterproductive triangling.
(2) Alternative Dispute Resolution
(a) Alternative dispute resolution (ADR): avoiding costly lawsuits by
resolving conflicts informally or through mediation or arbitration.
See Slide 13-35
(b) Alternative dispute resolution has enjoyed enthusiastic growth in recent
years due to lower costs and more user-friendly methods.
(c) Alternative dispute resolution techniques include: See Slide 13–
36
(i) Facilitation: third party informally urges disputing parties to deal
directly with each other in a positive and constructive manner.
(ii) Conciliation: a neutral third party informally acts as a
communication conduit between disputing parties.
(iii)Peer review: a panel of trustworthy co-workers hears both sides of
a dispute in an informal and confidential meeting and may make
binding decisions depending on the company.
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(iv)Ombudsman: someone who works for the organization and is
widely respected and trusted by his or her co-workers hears
grievances on a confidential basis and attempts to arrange a
solution.
(v) Mediation: a trained, third-party neutral actively guides the
disputing parties in exploring innovative solutions to the conflict to
help the disputants to reach a mutually acceptable decision.
(vi)Arbitration: a third-party neutral makes final and binding decisions
based on legal merits.
iv) Practical Lessons from Conflict Research
(1) Laboratory studies uncovered the following insights about organizational
conflict:
(a) Personality traits affect how people handle conflict.
(b) The way in which disagreements are expressed is very important.
(c) Aggression breeds aggression.
(d) As conflict increases, group satisfaction decreases.
(e) It is better to use a proactive rather than a reactive approach to conflict
resolution.
(f) Companies with mandatory or binding arbitration policies were viewed
less favorably than companies without such policies.
(2) Field studies have given us the following insights:
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(a) Challenging and clear goals can defuse conflict.
(b) Higher levels of conflict erode job satisfaction and internal work
motivation.
(c) There is no evidence of gender differences in the way people handle
conflict.
(d) Conflict may spread within the organization.
(e) Different cultures prefer different conflict resolution techniques.
IV. Negotiating
i) Negotiation Overview
(1) Negotiation: a give-and-take decision-making process involving
interdependent parties with different preferences. See Slide 13-38
(2) Negotiating skills are more important than ever today.
(3) The Real World/Real People: Sallie Credille Believes Everything Is
Negotiable profiles the importance of negotiation skills.
ii) Two Basic Types of Negotiation See Slide 13-38
(1) Distributive
(a) A person gains at the expense of the other.
(b) The “fixed–pie” or win-lose view of negotiation.
(2) Integrative
(a) When an agreement is found that is better for both parties.
(b) The win-win view of negotiation.
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(c) Integrative negotiation is possible when there are many issues at stake
at once.
(d) The “mythical fixed-pie” mentality may keep people from realizing the
advantages of integrative negotiation.
(e) Figure 13-6: An Integrative Approach: Added-Value Negotiation
illustrates the steps in added-value negotiations. See Slide 13–
39
iii) Ethical Pitfalls in Negotiation
(1) Successful integrative negotiation depends on the quality of information
exchanged.
(2) Table 13-3: Questionable/Unethical Tactics in Negotiation profiles
negotiation tactics which can erode trust.
(3) An awareness of dirty tricks used in negotiations can keep good faith
bargainers from being unfairly exploited.
iv) Practical Lessons from Negotiation Research
(1) Negotiators with fixed-pie expectations produced poor outcomes.
(2) There is a slight tendency for women to negotiate more cooperatively than
men, but if faced with an “apples-for-apples” bargaining strategy, women
are significantly more competitive than men.
(3) Personality characteristics affect negotiating success.
(4) Moods can affect plans and outcomes.
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(5) Individuals trained in goal setting and problem solving have better
dialogues when discussing controversial subjects.
(6) Lack of cultural understanding makes cross-cultural negotiation more
difficult than negotiations at home.
V. Conflict Management and Negotiation: A Contingency Approach
i) Three realities dictate how organizational conflict should be managed:
(1) Conflict is inevitable because it is triggered by many antecedents.
(2) Too little conflict may be as counterproductive as too much.
(3) There is no single best way of avoiding or resolving conflict.
ii) Conflict specialists recommend a contingency approach to managing conflict.
(1) If signs of too little conflict such as apathy or lack of creativity appear, then
functional conflict needs to be stimulated.
(2) When conflict becomes dysfunctional, the appropriate conflict-handling
style needs to be used.
iii) Managers can keep from getting too deeply embroiled in conflict by:
(1) Establishing challenging and clear goals.
(2) Disagreeing in a constructive and reasonable manner.
(3) Not getting caught up in conflict triangles.
(4) Refusing to get caught in the aggression-breeds-aggression spiral.
iv) Third-party interventions are necessary when conflicting parties are unwilling
or unable to engage in conflict resolution or integrative negotiation.
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v) The following core emotional elements of negotiation need to be addressed:
(1) Appreciation: acknowledge that each other’s thoughts, feelings, and
actions have merit.
(2) Affiliation: treat each other as colleagues rather than as adversaries to be
kept at a distance.
(3) Autonomy: respect each other’s freedom to make important decisions.
(4) Status: recognize each other’s standing instead of viewing the other
person as inferior.
(5) Role: define your roles and activities in a fulfilling way.
BACK TO THE CHAPTER-OPENING CASE
1. Are you a conflict avoider like Lowrie Beacham? If yes, what problems does it
cause, and what can you do to improve?
a. Conflict avoiders create many problems for organizations. Allowing
conflict to fester is likely to erode organizational performance because of
2. Which antecedents of conflict are primarily responsible for the problems in the
opening case? What are the cause-and-effect relationships?
a. There are 13 antecedents of conflict described in the chapter. The
primary factor in this case was unresolved or suppressed conflicts. Lowrie
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3. How could Lowrie Beacham have used programmed conflict to turn his
employees’ resistance to critical feedback into functional conflict?
a. Programmed conflict raises different opinions regardless of the personal
feelings of the managers. Programmed conflict is designed to get
OB IN ACTION CASE STUDY: Whitney Johnson: “I Lost the Friendship, Along
with a Painful Amount of Money”
1. Is this a case of too much dysfunctional conflict and not enough functional
conflict? Explain.
a. In forming the business plan, this was an example of not enough
functional conflict. Greater discussion and debate to provide clarity about
2. Which antecedents of conflict are evident in this case? Which one likely caused
the most problems? Explain.
a. Thirteen antecedents of conflict are described in the chapter. Unclear
policies, standards, or rules clearly contributed to the firm’s problems.
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3. What lessons about minimizing intergroup conflict (in Figure 13-2) could Whitney
Johnson have applied to improve the situation?
a. To minimize intergroup conflict, managers should: work to eliminate
specific negative interactions between groups (and members); conduct
4. Which conflict-handling style probably would have worked best for Whitney
Johnson? Explain.
a. There are five conflict-handling styles: integrating, obliging, dominating,
avoiding, and compromising. The integrating style would have been
5. Would either mediation or arbitration have been appropriate in this case? Explain
the process and implications.
a. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) can be effective in dealing with