Conflict resolution strategies and approaches

¶ … valuable and how it will be applied in the future.

What was Covered

The importance of knowing how to negotiate correctly was emphasized in this block of instruction. Within the negotiation process, there are many components and strategies that must be followed for successful outcomes. The various facets of negotiations, including who does the important work in stabilizing the position and who destabilizes the situation, and who closes.

Also covered was: a) how to respond to conflict; b) what collaborative and competitive negotiations are all about; c) the two most important kinds of bargaining (distributive and integrative); d) the best alternative to an agreement that can't be negotiated; e) how negotiation isn't just a confrontation or a dialogue, rather it is a "sequence of events"; and f) there are important strategies to follow to engage in negotiations with any chance of coming out positive.

What was Learned

There are basic rules to negotiation but there are also misconceptions about how to negotiation. First of all, negotiations do not have to be bitter or confrontational, Understanding the horizontal dimension, the internal dimension, and the way in which negotiating teams square off against each other is critical to success. There are stabilizers (those who calmly seek solutions) and destabalizers (these are the people that do their best to ruin the negotiation process by driving hard bargains and ignoring the views of others). The quasi-mediator is usually the lead negotiator and the closers know how to cut a deal and get signatures on the new documents. There is the salesman as part of negotiations, he or she is the person that is a buffer, or go-between. The ratification negotiation is usually between your team and the closers on your team.

It's a dynamic where you haggle about what your side will or won't accept from the other side. Questions get asked, like "How far are we willing to go to reach a compromise with these people?" And "How much of a change are we willing to accept?" What we also learned in this unit is that negotiations aren't necessarily a framework where one side (maybe a leader and his attorney) sits across from the other side (one person plus legal representative). In fact horizontal negotiation usually involves sitting across the table from learning because both sides have a chance to express their goals and issues. Internal negotiations are those discussions between the closer, the stabilizers and destabilizers and other on your team.

Professor Wertheim presents five modes that are part of the response to conflict. First of all, the dimensions that are in play include: is it important or unimportant to "satisfy our needs"; and is it important or unimportant to see to it the other side's needs are satisfied? The five modes of dealing with conflict resolution -- none of which are absolutely right or wrong -- include: collaborating, compromising, competing, avoiding, and yield. The idea is to shoot for a "win-win" completion to the negotiations (integrative), and "most good negotiators" try for the win-win. When the approach is win-lose (distributive), it's a matter of maximizing one group's interest over another's. Part of successful negotiation involves some collaborative behaviors. If the relationship between the two lead negotiators is hostile, there will be negative consequences.