Organizational Conflict and Negotiation

Organizational Conflict and Negotiation
Learning Outcomes
• Differentiate among the traditional, interactionist and

managed-conflict views of conflict.
• Task, Process and Relationship conflict
• Outline the conflict process.
• Define negotiation.
• Contrast distributive and integrative bargaining.
“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us
never fear to negotiate.”
—John F. Kennedy
Terminology
• Conflict : A process that begins when one party
perceives that another party has negatively affected, or
is about to negatively affect, something that the first
party cares about.
• Dysfunctional Conflict : A conflict that hinders group
performance is a destructive or dysfunctional conflict
• Functional Conflict : supports the goals of the group
and improves its performance
• Negotiation : a process that occurs when two or more
parties decide how to allocate scarce resources.
• The Traditional View of Conflict
– assumed all conflict was bad and to be avoided.
– a dysfunctional outcome resulting from poor communication, a
lack of openness and trust between people, and the failure of
managers to be responsive to the needs and aspirations of their
employees.
• The Interactionist View of Conflict
– The belief that conflict is not only a positive force in a group but
also an absolute necessity for a group to perform effectively.
– The interactionist view does not propose that all conflicts are
good, but encourages functional conflict.
Resolution-Focused View of Conflict
• Researchers, including those who had strongly
advocated the interactionist view, have begun to
recognize some problems with encouraging conflict.
• In light of these findings, researchers have started to

focus more on managing the whole context in which
conflicts occur, both before and after the behavioral
stage of conflict occurs.
• A growing body of research, suggests we can minimize

the negative effects of conflict by focusing on preparing
people for conflicts, developing resolution strategies,
and facilitating open discussion.
Sources of Conflict
• Task conflict relates to the content and goals of the

work.
• Process conflict relates to how the work gets done.
• Relationship conflict focuses on interpersonal

relationships.
• People can seldom wall off their feelings into neat
categories of “task” or “relationship” disagreements, so
task conflicts sometimes escalate into relationship
conflicts.
Functional vs. Dysfunctional conflict
• Studies demonstrate that relationship conflicts are

almost always dysfunctional.
• It appears that the friction and interpersonal hostilities

inherent in relationship conflicts increase personality
clashes and decrease mutual understanding, which
hinders the completion of organizational tasks.
Mukesh Ambani vs Anil Ambani: India’s biggest sibling
rivalry, ever?
• While there may be just two years between them,
Mukesh Ambani’s fortune massively outweighs that of
his brother Anil. Older Mukesh, 62, is the richest man in
Asia with roughly US$50 billion, according to Forbes’
real-time assessment.
• Meanwhile the younger Anil – who was the world’s sixth
richest person in 2008, with a reported net worth of
US$42 billion – may not even be a billionaire any more,
according to recent reports.
• During their younger years, the brothers worked together
at Reliance Industries under their father, Dhirubhai
Ambani.
• During this time, it was reported that the brothers
displayed remarkable interpersonal chemistry,
sometimes even finishing each other’s sentences.
• It was a widely held belief that the two would eventually
both take over Reliance Industries and run the business
empire side by side.
• In 2002, their self-made father, the founder of Reliance
Industries, died of a stroke.
• The complicated part? He hadn’t written up a will.
• Naturally, the two brothers fought over their father’s
sizeable fortune and massive corporate holdings.
• Finally, Mukesh and Anil’s mother Kokilaben brokered an
agreement for the brothers, demerging Reliance
Industries.
• Mukesh took over the oil and chemical portion of the
company and Anil took over the electricity and telecom
arm of things.
• While Mukesh and Anil both had sizeable portions of Reliance
under their control, they still disagreed time and time again.
• In 2008 Anil sued Mukesh for defamation after he criticised
Anil in The New York Times.
• Anil also repeatedly blamed Mukesh for Reliance’s unpopular
decisions, going so far as to take out an ad in The Times of
India that criticised his brother for raising gas prices.
• This culminated in a 2010 case between the brothers that
went to the Supreme Court of India.
• Once again, Mum came to the rescue and brokered a non-
compete clause between the siblings so their business
disagreements could cool down.
• Almost a decade-and-a-half after a bitter
separation, Mukesh Ambani on Monday stepped in to
save younger brother Anil from prison by helping him
clear the Rs 453 crore Reliance Communications owed
Ericsson.
Process of Conflict / Stages

Organizational Conflict and Negotiation

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Organizational Conflict and Negotiation

• Differentiate among the traditional, interactionist and

• In light of these findings, researchers have started to

• A growing body of research, suggests we can minimize

• Task conflict relates to the content and goals of the

• Process conflict relates to how the work gets done.

• Relationship conflict focuses on interpersonal

• Studies demonstrate that relationship conflicts are

• It appears that the friction and interpersonal hostilities

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