Conflict management for community development intervention

1. Conflict Management
and Negotiation Skills
Ghanshyam Bhandari

2. Presentation Outline
 Introduction: Conflict and Negotiation
 Basic Concept of Conflict
 Strategies of Conflict Management
 Negotiation: An Art of Getting Others to ‘Yes’
 Styles and Approaches in Negotiation
 Negotiation Skills: How to Make a Great Deal?
 Beyond Substance: the ‘Formalistic’ Factors
 Conclusion: Managing Conflict Intricacies through Negotiation

3. Introduction: Conflict and
Negotiation
 Inevitability of conflict in today’s world
 Changing perception about conflict and role of negotiation
 Understanding of conflict: Shift from the narrow sense of conflict as a
harmful force to a much wider sense as a productive force in
organization/society
 Key ideals: Collaboration, cooperation, compromise
 Hard on issues, soft on people- main mantra solving conflict through
negotiation

4. Basic Concept of Conflict
 Conflict is a struggle or contest within a person or
between people vis-a-vis opposing needs, ideas,
beliefs, values, or goals;
 A disagreement between two or more people about
policies, process, activities or outcome;
 Conflict is neither be benevolent nor evil in itself;
 A natural phenomenon of personal/ organizational life;

5.  Traditional View
 The view of conflict as harmful (prevalent before WWII)
 Conflict resulted from poor communication, lack of
openness and failure to respond
 Current View
 Conflict as a natural and inevitable outcome
 Focuses on productive conflict resolution
 Conflict is not only a positive force but also an absolute
necessity for a group to perform effectively
5
Basic Concept….(Contd.)

6. Basic Concept…..(Contd.)
 Conflict Types
 Interpersonal
 Intragroup
 Intergroup
 Interorganizational
 Structured vs unstructured conflict (bound/not bound by
rules)
 Functional vs dysfunctional conflict

7. Basic Concept…(Contd.)
7
Dysfunctional
Conflict
(Hinders the goal
and leads to
damages)
Functional
Conflict
(supports the
goal and
improves
performance)

8. Strategies of Conflict
Management
8

9. Strategies of Conflict
Management
 Conflict process involves
 Antecedent conditions (personal variables)
 Cognition and personalization (felt differences)
 Behaviors (overt action, conflict)
 Outcomes (change in performance)
• Conflict management is about avoiding, delaying, or
containing the symptoms of conflict (at any stage of
the process above) rather than resolving the root
causes of conflict.

10. Strategies of Conflict
Management
 Win-Lose Model
 I win, you lose
 I lose, you win
 I win, you win (A great deal)
 I lose, you lose
 Rational Problem-Solving Model
(More applicable in structured conflicts, use of rule of law,
and well-defined processes)

11. Strategies of Conflict
Management

12. A Case Study On Organizational Conflict

13. Negotiation: An Art of Getting
Others to ‘Yes’
 Negotiation as a tool of conflict management
 Almost like an everyday phenomenon for public
servants
 Based on the general premise of ‘win-win’
 More relevant and popular as conflicts are getting
complex day by day

14. Negotiation: An Art….(Contd.)
 Elements of Negotiation
 Power
 Information
 Time
 Relationship
 Interest
 Substance
 Options
 Commitment

15. Negotiation: An
Art….(Contd.)
 Types of Negotiation
 Positional vs Interest-based
(bargaining about position vs principled negotiation)
 Hard vs soft
(based on the treatment of people)
 Distributive vs Integrative
(Sharing the outcome at the cost of other party vs reaching
mutually-satisfying result)

16. Negotiation: An
Art….(Contd.)
 Steps of Negotiation
 General Steps: Preparing, Opening, Bargaining, Closing
 RADPAC (Rapport, Analysis, Debate, Propose,
Agreement, Close)
 J.E. Osborne’s six steps: Preparing, Listening,
Reconciling, Specifying, Focusing, and Suggesting

17. Negotiation: An
Art…(Contd.)
 Negotiation: You must be fully prepared to lose a great
deal to make a great deal (Ancient proverb)
 ‘Getting to Yes without Giving in’ (Roger Fisher and
Willian Ury)
 Do not bargain over positions but interest
 Separate people from the problem (hard on problem, soft
on people)
 Focus on interests and principle
 Use objective criteria
 Develop BATNA (‘What if there is no agreement’ option)

18. Styles and Approaches in
Negotiation
 Game Theories: win-lose options (prisoner's dilemma)
 Approaches: avoiding, collaborating, competing,
compromising, accommodating
 Six useful tactics: sharing information, rank your
priorities, know your target outcomes, make the first
offer, don’t counter too low, flexibility-the key (Grant
and Galinsky)
 Nepali scenario: ‘one track’ syndrome, win-lose
syndrome, random walk syndrome, conflict avoidance
syndrome

19. Negotiation Skills: How to
Make a Great Deal?
 General Skills
 Understanding people
 Focusing on interests
 Insisting on objective criteria
 Communicating properly
 Know your priority but do not counter too low- do not
offend the interlocutors
 Be aware of the use of ‘dirty tricks’

20. Negotiation Skills….(Contd.)
 Situational Skills
 Be alert to cross-cultural sensitivities
 Need to be more alert, cope with distance/space/time
differences
 Know your BATNA
 Different situation skills: dealing with powerful opponents,
human side? more objective?
 ‘Disruptive’ technologies: to use or not to use, that is the
question,

21. Negotiation Skills…..(Contd.)
 Moving out of the box, the key
 Going into the balcony (For rest, self control and
calmness)
 Listening & Respect (The cheapest concession is to give
someone respect)
 Power of reframing (Move from positions to interest)
 Power of bridging (Make the other side easier to make
the decisions you want

22. Beyond Substance: the
‘Formalistic’ Factors
 Sitting position: upright position/alert, no crossed-legged in front of
VIPs/dignitaries, no leaning against the sofa
 Observing dress code
 No leg moving/crossing, nose pricking, excessive body movement
 Respect to others, their views and culture
 More of listening and understanding rather than speaking
 To know’ is absolutely good but to say ‘I know’ even when you are
not asked is equally bad

23. Beyond
Substance….(Contd.)
 Arrival-host/guests, punctuality
 Introduction : HOW (Hierarchy or Old to Young or
Woman first)
 Tea/drink serving/who drinks first?
 Table Manners (esp. during lunch and dinner)
 ‘Ladies -courtesy towards them, ladies first in queuing,
food stall lining etc.
 Calling/writing names, extra care in accuracy including
in designation of others

24. Beyond Substance….(Contd.)
An Example !
Handshake : The First Impression
 Introduce yourself
 Readiness to engage
 Eye contact
 Smile
 Physical closeness
 Touching?
 Namaskar, hugging, kissing,
handshakes, bowing down

25. Negotiation Intricacies
Conflict/issue/interest
Skills
‘Getting to others Yes’

26. Conclusion: Managing Conflict through
Negotiation
 Conflict: May be a short term hardship but will provide
an opportunity for growth and development
 Conflict management can very well be aided by
negotiation tactics
 The key is to focus on principles, not position/power
 Conflict is like a ‘strong wind’ (build walls to block it or
build windmills)

27. A Case Study on Negotiation Tactics

28. Thank you very much for
your attention