Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Lecture Notes
Chapter 11: Managing Conflict and Negotiation
Learning Objectives
11.1: Describe the causes of conflict in organizations and devise solutions for them.
11.2: Compare and contrast the five conflict resolution styles.
11.3: Explain how team conflict affects team performance.
Chapter Summary
Chapter summary here.
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. The Costs of Workplace Conflict
A. Average U.S. employee spends 2.1 hours a week in conflict.
i. Annual cost of $359 billion in paid hours
B. Conflict is pervasive in the workplace, and brings a host of negative outcomes:
i. Strained working relationships
ii. Distractions/loss of focus
iii. Voluntary turnover and firings
II. What is Conflict?
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
A. Conflict is the process that begins when one party perceives that the other has
negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that he or she cares
about.
i. Conflict management is central to OB and all management at every level of
an organization.
B. Causes of Organizational Conflict
i. Substantive conflict
ii. Affective conflict
a. Engenders strong emotions such as anger or disgust
b. May be attributed to personality differences or arguments
c. Highly disruptive and may be stressful to other members of the
group
iii. Process conflict
iv. Endress’s sources of conflict:
a. Personalities. One solution is exploring personality differences as a
group.
b. Sensitivity/hurt. Helps to actively listen, maintaining the belief that
even negative behaviors may have a positive intention
c. Differences in perception and values. Leaders must set and
communicate organizational values.
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
j. Unfulfilled expectations. Use active listening and questioning to
ensure expectations are understood
C. Is Conflict Always Bad?
i. Conflict may occasionally have a positive effect on performance.
D. Task Versus Relationship Conflict
i. Task conflict: Disagreements about resource allocation, policies, or even
ii. Relationship conflict: Involves personality clashes or differences in
values.
a. May be particularly detrimental to new employees attempting to
learn in a tempestuous environment
b. Some degree of relationship conflict may increase persistence.
c. Relationship conflict less common when followers have tenacity and
passion for their work
E. Workplace Incivility and Aggression
i. Workplace incivility: Low intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous
intent to harm the target, in violation of workplace norms for mutual
respect
a. Uncivil behaviors are characteristically rude and discourteous,
displaying a lack of regard for others.
ii. Infrequent incivility, as long as it is not continuous, may not have a lasting
impact on organizational members, who adapt to it as an inevitable part of
the work situation.
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
b. Leaders should protect employees from repeated incivility, which
appears to be on the rise and may escalate to aggression or
violence.
iii. Workplace aggression: Overt physical or nonphysical behavior that
harms others at work
F. Abusive Supervision
i. Workplace bullying: Harassment by coworkers
ii. Abusive supervision: Hostile behavior by supervisors, which may include
ridicule, spreading rumors, taking credit for others’ work, giving the “silent
treatment,” or withholding information
iii. Poor supervision a root cause of workplace stress because:
a. Abusive supervisors have greater demands and provide little
support.
b. Results in increased medical costs, lower productivity, and turnover.
iv. Organizations encouraged to set up confidential/anonymous reporting
systems for supervisory abuse
v. Deviant behavior: Behavior that violates organizational norms and may
include aggression, bullying, harassment, incivility and social undermining
vi. Effects of deviant behavior:
G. Toxic Workplaces
i. Toxic workplaces: Hostile working environments created by collective
deviant behaviors and their ambient impacts over time
ii. Employees lower in the hierarchy experience more frustration and anger
compared to management:
a. Greater feelings of powerlessness
b. Less control over work
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c. More emotional distress, medication use, and
cardiovascular/gastrointestinal/respiratory disturbances
iii. Political behavior exacerbates toxic workplaces.
H. Workplace Violence
i. Nonfatal incidents of workplace violence likely exceed the reported 20,790
incidents in the United States in 2018.
ii. Includes a broad category of situations:
iii. The term going postal denotes the situation in which organizational
members suddenly become extremely violent.
a. It was derived from several incidents in the U.S. Postal Service in
the late 1980s involving workplace homicides.
III. Conflict Resolution Styles
A. See Figure 11.3 Two-Dimensional Model of the Styles of Handling Interpersonal
Conflict.
B. Integrating
C. Obliging
i. Indicates low self-concern and high concern for others, which results in
“giving in” to demands of others.
ii. If used, consider requesting a reciprocated exchange in the future because
they gave in the first time.
D. Dominating
i. Indicates high self-concern and low concern for others, which results in a
win-lose attitude that seeks to win at others’ expense.
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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
ii. The person using this approach may use their formal position to force
others to comply.
E. Avoiding
i. Indicates low self-concern and low concern for others, reflecting an
inability to deal with conflict and a tendency to withdraw
ii. Drawbacks: Conflict is rarely resolved by ignoring it, may be a temporary
fix.
iii. Most appropriate for: Trivial decisions, situations when the possibility of
unproductive conflict is so high that it is better to avoid discussion rather
than hinder job performance
F. Compromising
i. Moderate level of self-concern and concern for others, resulting in a give-
and-take approach to conflict
G. Correct conflict resolution style?
i. Early research suggested integrative style.
ii. Later research suggests it is dependent on the situation.
IV. Team Conflict and Performance
A. Conflict within teams produces stress and arguments that distract the team from
working on the task and thus harms performance.
i. All types of conflict (task, relationship, and process) are detrimental to
team member satisfaction.
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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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b. Task conflict and differences of opinion may improve decision
quality by forcing members to see other viewpoints and think
creatively.
ii. Effective teamwork results in higher performance in the existence of task
conflict.
a. Especially true when team members trust one another
iii. Conflict resolution strategies used by the most effective self-managed
work teams:
B. Both task and relationship conflict can occur simultaneously.
i. Relationship conflict is a hindrance that should always be avoided.
ii. Building a positive environment for team performance can be done with:
a. Communication training
C. Relationship of team conflict to performance appears to hold in other cultures as
well.
V. Resolving Conflict Across Cultures
A. Culturally sensitive conflict resolution requires knowledge of cultural differences.
i. Style may vary by culture.
B. Most important guidelines for resolving cross-cultural conflict:
i. Be a good listener
ii. Be sensitive to the needs of others/Be cooperative rather than overly
competitive
iii. Advocate inclusive (participative) leadership
iv. Compromise rather than dominate
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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C. Key takeaway: the leader needs to consider the impact that national culture values
may have on a person’s perception of conflict and how to resolve it.
VI. Third-Party Interventions
A. Facilitation: When a leader intervenes to resolve a conflict
i. Leader acts as an impartial mediator who engages in these behaviors:
a. Taking the time to understand the employees’ point of view
b. Recognizing the employees’ needs
c. Taking the time to gain information on the conflict’s context
d. Giving employees a chance to express their emotions
B. Questions for leaders who are attempting to resolve a conflict:
i. Is intervention necessary/appropriate?
ii. What type of intervention is most appropriate?
iii. Is the leader the most appropriate person to intervene?
a. If not, should a leader make use of an independent resource person?
How?
C. Alternative dispute resolution: Methods to resolve conflict that both parties
agree to without involving litigation
i. Ombudsperson: An individual working for an organization that hears and
attempts to resolve grievances or complaints
iv. Mediation: When a neutral third party from outside the organization is
called in to resolve a conflict; the most common form of alternative dispute
resolution
a. Most common form of alternative dispute resolution due to its
fairness
D. Positive outcomes of mediation:
i. Improved workplace relationships
E. Mediators do not make a decision; they aid the two parties in making a decision.
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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F. Sometimes conflicts are so complex that a more formalized dispute resolution
method is needed.
G. Steps of mediation:
i. Participation
ii. Representation/reparation
iii. Validation/reintegration
H. Arbitration: Conflict resolution in which a neutral arbitrator has the authority to
make a decision about the dispute
VII. Negotiation
A. Negotiation: A type of conflict-laden situation in which leaders participate in a
bargaining situation with a negotiating partner
i. See Figure 11.5 Steps in the Negotiation Process
ii. Background research: leader must gather all of the facts and possible
v. Ask questions: further builds rapport and trust during negotiation
vi. Offers and counteroffers: extended until a mutually acceptable solution is
reached
vii. Impasse: the chance a negotiation will end without closing a deal
B. Distributive Bargaining
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
i. Fixed pie: View of a bargaining outcome emphasizing that there is a
limited amount of goods to be divided up, and the goal is to get the largest
share
ii. Best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA): An alternative
that negotiators will accept if the negotiation reaches an impasse and they
cannot get their ideal outcome
a. If neither the preferred alternative nor the BATNA is accepted, then
there is no deal.
iii. Strategies of distributive bargaining:
iv. Guidelines for a first offer:
a. Be confident
b. Be precise, but not excessively so
c. Avoid ranges
d. Be aggressive but realistic
C. Integrative Bargaining
i. Expanding pie: View of a bargaining outcome emphasizing that a win-win
solution can be reached
ii. Generally preferable to distributive bargaining
a. Especially when parties value having a long-term relationship
iii. Strategies of integrative bargaining:
a. Willingness to share information, which can be difficult
d. Creativity and the ability to think of novel solutions
iv. Four pillars of interest-based negotiations:
a. Focus on interests, not positions
b. Imagine a wide range of mutually beneficial solutions
D. Emotions at the Bargaining Table
i. Negotiations may not always go smoothly since emotions can become
heightened during the bidding process.
a. Keep negative emotions in check because they increase
dysfunctional competition.
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
ii. Displays of anger result in more impasses and less attractive outcomes
during negotiations.
iii. During a negotiation, emotions reveal useful information about the
counterparty’s motivations and interests and may influence the outcome.
a. Positive emotions increase cooperation and problem-solving while
reducing deception and hostility.
E. Cross-Cultural Negotiation
i. Cultural differences may affect whether negotiators are competitive or
ii. Cultural differences in relationship-building:
a. Middle-Eastern negotiators may be more relationship-oriented.
b. Costa Ricans more likely to build relationships by expressing
emotions.
iii. Comparison between negotiators in the United States, China, and Qatar:
a. United States: negotiators based their negotiation behavior on
dignity, which is deriving self-worth based on the individual
achievements in pursuit of individual goals and values.
F. Union-Management Negotiations
i. Labor relations: Activities that labor unions and managers engage in to
resolve conflicts between employers and employees represented by a union
that they have elected
a. Historically created to give employees greater voice
b. Past negotiations treated distributive bargaining as the norm for
ii. 1990s brought a decrease in labor disputes:
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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a. In part due to thriving economy
b. High rates of organizational change
costly work stoppages and bad press.
VIII. Leadership Implications: Perspective Taking
A. Perspective taking: A cognitive process in which an individual adopts another
person’s views to better understand their preferences, values, and needs
i. Critical in conflict resolution and negotiation
ii. Reflects a human tendency to tailor interactions with others based on our
understandings of their knowledge base
iii. Requires good memory and imagination
B. Why perspective taking helps resolve conflict:
i. Increased social bonding with other individual
C. Fostering perspective-taking:
i. Humble team leaders have followers more likely to engage in perspective-
taking.