Conflict Negotiation

1. Conflict Negotiation

2. What is conflict negotiation • Communication designed to anticipate, contain, and resolve disputes so that the parties reach mutually acceptable solutions.

3. 5 key components • The parties involved • The interests involved • The relationship between the parties • The interactions throughout the process • The results achieved

4. Alternative dispute resolution • Negotiation: voluntary, parties control the process. • Mediation: neutral third party helps reach voluntary agreement. • Arbitration: Generally non voluntary, parties have least control of the process.

5. Understand the conflict & assess: • Your own beliefs, attitudes, and responses to conflict. • The nature of the conflict at hand. • Your personal investment in the ouctome.

6. Identify your negotiation style • Collaborative • Competitive • Compromising • Accommodating • Avoiding

7. Collaborative • Interest and relationship driven. • Appropriate when the concerns of both sides are too important to be compromised. • Requires much time and energy.

8. Competitive • Interest driven. • Most appropriate when quick decisive action is vital, unpopular course of action is needed, and more collaborative approaches have show your opponents are likely to take advantage of your noncompetitive behavior.

9. Compromising • Both interest and relationship driven. • Attempt at trying to find mutually acceptable solution. • Most appropriate when you are on equal footing with your opponents and strongly committed to mutually exclusive objectives.

10. Accommodating • Relationship driven. • Most appropriate when the issue at hand is of low importance and goodwill is more desirable.

11. Avoidance • You neither address the interests of yourself or the other party. • Most appropriate when there are trivial issues; • Potential harm in facing the issue outweighs the benefits; and/or • You have little or no power to attain desired results.

12. Distributive negotiation • Parties view the potential outcome as limited to a fixed pie with only so many slices that may distributed. A win for one party is a loss for the other.

13. Integrative negotiation • Parties educate each other about their needs and engage in problem solving to reach a resolution that will integrate their needs.

14. BATNA • Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement • To what do you aspire? • What would make you content? • What could you live with?

15. Interests v. Demands • Stated – usually in the form of a demand. • Patent – not necessarily stated as a demand but discernable from the circumstances. • Latent – hidden and must be flushed out.

16. Transaction costs • Money • Time • Reputation • Loss of productivity • Stress • Loss of free time • Loss of good will • Damage to relationships

17. Transaction costs • What I achieve (settlement or judgment) minus transaction costs equal outcome. • As each side’s transaction cost increase, their interests start to move toward each other. • Find a way to move your interests toward each other without raising the transaction costs.

18. Conflict resolution through supportive confrontation • Identify problem ownership. • Research and reflect. • Select alternative. • Rehearse. • Meet to resolve conflict. • Follow-up and follow through.

19. Identify problem ownership Measure actual behaviors against acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. • Personal standards. • Policy and procedures. • Rights. • Norms. • Laws.

20. Research and reflect • Is the problem real or imagined? • Underlying reason for behavior? • Behavior causing the problem? • Motivations for behavior?

21. Select alternative • Three alternatives rule: • Change your attitude – move the behavior from your unacceptable window into the acceptable arena. • Change your environment – remove yourself from offending behavior. • Confront the person about the offending behavior – awareness and persuasion.

22. Rehearse • Before confronting the person, rehearse. • Practice talking and listening skills. • Experience possible emotional reactions.

23. Meet to resolve the conflict • Schedule mutually convenient time. • Awareness of the problem in a supportive atmosphere. • Resolve the problem.

24. Follow through and follow-up • Turn short term into long term solutions.