Conflict occurs whenever disagreements exist in a social situation over issues of substance or whenever emotional antagonisms create frictions

between individuals or groups.

KINDS OF CONFLICT

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.

Intrapersonal conflict: occurs within the individual because of actual or perceived pressures from incompatible goals or expectations Interpersonal conflict: occurs between two or more individuals in opposition to each other. Inter-group conflict occurs among groups in an organization. Inter-organizational conflict occurs between organizations

Functional conflict, alternatively called constructive conflict, results in positive benefits to individuals, the group, or the organization. On the positive side, conflict can bring important problems to the surface so that they can be addressed. It can cause decisions to be considered carefully and perhaps reconsidered to ensure that the right path of action is being followed. Dysfunctional conflict, or destructive conflict, works to the individuals groups, or organizations disadvantage. It diverts energies, hurts group cohesion, promotes interpersonal hostilities, and overall creates a negative environment for workers.

Managers should recognize that unresolved prior conflicts help set the stage for future conflicts of the same or related sort. Perceived conflict : Conflict antecedents establish the conditions from which conflicts are likely to develop. When the antecedent conditions become the basis for substantive or emotional differences between people or groups, the stage of perceived conflict exists. Felt conflict: When conflict is felt, it is experienced as tension that motivates the person to take action to reduce feelings of discomfort. For conflict to be resolved, all parties should both perceive it and feel the need to do something about it.

Manifest conflict: When conflict is expressed openly in behavior, it is said to be manifest. It may be resolved by removing or correcting its antecedents. It can also be suppressed. But, Suppression is a superficial and often temporary form of conflict resolution. Unresolved conflicts can result in sustained emotional discomfort and escalate into dysfunctional emotional conflict between individuals. In contrast, truly resolved conflicts may establish conditions that reduce the potential for future conflicts or make it easier to deal with them. Thus, any manager should be sensitive to the influence of conflict aftermath on future conflict episodes.

Vertical conflict occurs between hierarchical levels. It commonly involves supervisorsubordinate disagreements over resources, goals, deadlines, or performance results. Horizontal conflict occurs between persons or groups at the same hierarchical level. These disputes commonly involve goal incompatibilities, resource scarcities, or purely interpersonal factors. A common variation of horizontal conflict is Linestaff conflict. It often involves disagreements over who has authority and control over certain matters such as personnel selection and termination practices. Also common to work situations are Role conflicts that occur when there is unclear communication of work expectations, excessive expectations in the form of job overloads, insufficient expectations in the form of job under loads, and incompatibilities among expectations from different sources.

Work-flow interdependencies are breeding grounds for conflicts. Disputes and open disagreements may erupt among people and units who are required to cooperate to meet challenging goals. When interdependence isconflicts often occur. Domain ambiguities involve mis-understandings over domain issues. Conflict is likely when individuals or groups are placed in ambiguous situations where it is difficult for them to understand just who is responsible for what. Actual or perceived Resource scarcity can foster destructive competition. When resources are scarce, working relationships are likely to suffer.

Reduced Interdependence When work-flow conflicts exist, managers can adjust the level of interdependency among units or individuals. One simple option is decoupling, or taking action to eliminate or reduce the required contact between conflict parties. Buffering is another approach that can be used when the inputs of one group are the outputs of another group. Conflict management can be facilitated by assigning people to serve as formal linking pins between groups that are prone to conflict. Persons in linking-pin roles, such as project liaison, are expected to understand the operations, members needs, and norms etc.

to Common Goals: An appeal to common goals can focus the attention of potentially conflicting parties on one mutually desirable conclusion. Hierarchical Referral Hierarchical referral makes use of the chain of command for conflict resolution. Here, problems are simply referred up the hierarchy for more senior managers to reconcile.
Appeals

LoseLose Conflict Loselose conflict occurs when nobody really gets what he or she wants. The underlying reasons for the conflict remain unaffected and a similar conflict is likely to occur in the future. Lose lose conflicts often result when there is little or no assertiveness and conflict management takes these forms:

Avoidance is an extreme form of inattention; everyone simply pretends that the conflict does not really exist and hopes that it will go away. Accommodation, or smoothing as it is sometimes called, involves playing down differences among the conflicting parties and highlighting similarities and areas of agreement. This peaceful coexistence ignores the real essence of a given conflict and often creates frustration and resentment. Compromise occurs when each party gives up something of value to the other. As a result of no one getting its full desires, the antecedent conditions for future conflicts are established.

WinLose Conflict :In winlose conflict, one party achieves its desires at the expense and to the exclusion of the other partys desires. This is a high-assertiveness and low-cooperativeness situation. It may result from outright competition in which a victory is achieved through force, superior skill, or domination by one party. It may also occur as a result of authoritative command, whereby a formal authority simply dictates a solution and specifies what is gained and what is lost by whom. Winlose strategies fail to address the root causes of the conflict and tend to suppress the desires of at least one of the conflicting parties. As a result, future conflicts over the same issues are likely to occur.

WinWin Conflict Winwin conflict is achieved by a blend of both high cooperativeness and high assertiveness. Collaboration or problem solving involves a recognition by all conflicting parties that something is wrong and needs attention. It stresses gathering and evaluating information in solving disputes and making choices. Winwin conditions eliminate the reasons for continuing or resurrecting the conflict since nothing has been avoided or suppressed. All relevant issues are raised and openly discussed. The ultimate test for a winwin solution is whether or not the conflicting parties see that the solution achieves each others goals is acceptable to both parties, establishes a process whereby all parties involved see a responsibility to be open and honest about facts and feelings. When success is achieved, true conflict resolution has occurred.

Negotiation is the process of making joint decisions when the parties involved have different preferences. It can also be defined as a process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree on the exchange rate for them.

CRITERIA OF AN EFFECTIVE NEGOTIATION QualityThe negotiation results offer a quality agreement that is wise and satisfactory to all sides. HarmonyThe negotiation is harmonious and fosters rather than inhibits good interpersonal relations. EfficiencyThe negotiation is efficient and no more time consuming or costly than absolutely necessary.

Distributive bargaining: Negotiation that seeks to divide up fixed amount of resources- the essence is who gets what share of fixed pie e.g. buying a second hand vehicle, or negotiation for salary
The goal is to get as much of the pie as possible and creates a win-lose situation generally. In such cases the duration of relationship is generally short-term. As in the diagram below there are Target points that both A and B want to attain , also there are resistance points that are the lowest acceptable points. If there is some overlapping, there is a settlement range , where settlement is possible or the negotiation breaks. Party As aspiration Range Settlement Party Bs aspiration range
A Target point range B resistance points A B target point

Negotiation that seeks one or more settlements that can create a win win solution. It aims at expanding the pie so that all parties are satisfied.There is a long-term relationship in this case

HOW TO GAIN INTEGRATIVE AGREEMENTS

Attitudinal Foundations: First each party must approach the negotiation with a willingness to trust the other party. This is a reason why ethics and maintaining relationships are so important in negotiations. Second, each party must convey a willingness to share information with the other party. Without shared information, effective problem solving is unlikely to occur. Third, each party must show a willingness to ask concrete questions of the other party.This further facilitates information sharing.

During a negotiation, all behaviour is important for both its actual impact and the impressions it leaves behind. Information Foundations: The information foundations of integrative agreements are substantial. They involve each party becoming familiar with the BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. That is, each party must know what he or she will do if an agreement cant be reached. This requires that both negotiating parties identify and understand their personal interests in the situation.

Preparation and planning

Definition of Ground rules

Clarification and justification

Bargaining and problem-solving

Closure and implementation

 Understand

the nature and causes of

conflict Need to analyze also the most hopeful to minimum acceptable After gathering information develop a strategy Also, determine BATNA-best alternative to a negotiated agreement- for both sides

 Rules

and regulations need to be laid E.g who will do the negotiating? Where will it take place What time? What will be the issues of negotiation?

 Both

parties will explain, clarify and justify the original demand Inform and educate each other on various issues Also, provide other party with some documents if essential

 Give

and take is done Both parties need to make concessions 5. Closure and Implementation Formalizing the agreement that has been worked out Developing procedures that are necessary for implementation and monitoring

If individuals or group representatives reach a stalemate and are unable to resolve their differences through direct negotiation, the third party may help. MEDIATOR: A neutral third party who facilitates a negotiated solution by using reasoning, persuasion, and suggestions for alternatives ARBITRATOR: A third party to a negotiation who has the authority to dictate an agreement. Arbitration may be voluntary (as per parties) or compulsory (forced on the parties by law or contract). It always results in settlement

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CONCILIATOR: A trusted third party who provides an informal communication link between two parties. They engage in fact-finding, interpreting messages and persuading disputants to develop agreements. CONSULTANT: skilled and impartial third party who attempts to facilitate problem solving through communication and analysis, aided by knowledge of conflict management. They aim at improve relations in conflicting parties.

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