OTB Chapter 13

Organisational
communication

Communication can achieve four functions: coordinated action, developing information, expressing feelings and emotions and communicating roles.

Conflict -disagreements
over issues of substance,
or emotional antagonisms

Substantive conflict occurs in the form of a fundamental disagreement over ends or goals to be pursued and the means of their accomplishment.

Emotional conflict involves interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear resentment and the like.

intrapersonal (approach, avoidance and approach-avoidance types)

interpersonal

intergroup

interorganisational conflict

vertical (between hierarchical levels)

horizontal (at the same hierarchical level),

between line and staff representatives

role conflict.

Constructive conflict results in benefits to the group or organisation

Destructive conflict works to the group’s or organisation’s disadvantage

dealing with conflict

Hierarchical
referral

chain of command for conflict resolution with problems being referred up the hierarchy to more senior managers to reconcile.

Doing this too often can result in employees learning that it is best not to refer any conflict upwards

Future conflicts may be kept from view until they finally erupt into major problems.

decoupling

separating or reducing the contact between two conflicting groups.

may reduce the conflict, it may also result in duplication and a poor allocation of valued resources

Buffering

building an inventory between the two groups so any output slowdown or excess is absorbed by the inventory and does not directly pressure the target group

when the inputs of one group are the outputs of another group

Linking pins

are people who are assigned to manage conflict between groups

liaison group- coordinates the activities of certain units to prevent destructive conflicts between them.

negotiation

process of making joint decisions when the parties involved have different preferences

process by which members exchange information and establish a common understanding

between two-party, group, intergroup or constituency (each individual party represents a broad constituency e.g. “management” and “labour”).

pertain substance goals and relationship goals

distributive negotiation

focus is on “positions” that conflicting parties stake out or declare, each party trying to claim a certain portion of the available “pie".

It usually results in a compromise or accommodating the other party.

Dissatisfaction may exist as employees do not get what they originally wanted in the beginning.

Integrative negotiation

merits of the issues and the parties involved try to enlarge the available “pie”

win-win situation, satisfying the needs of both parties

three attitudinal foundations

three attitudinal foundations of integrative agreements:

  1. Each party must approach the negotiation with a willingness to trust the other party.

  1. Each party must be willing to share information with the other party.

  1. Each party must be willing to ask concrete questions of the other party.

Parties to negotiations often begin by stating extreme demands, so the possibility of escalating commitment is high. That is, once demands have been stated, people become committed to them and are reluctant to back down.

It is also common for negotiators to develop the belief that their positions are the only “correct” ones, and fail to see merit in the other party’s position.

The bargaining zone is the zone between one party’s minimum reservation point and the other party’s maximum reservation point in a negotiating situation. When there is a positive zone, bargaining has room to unfold.