Exam 11: Conflict and Negotiation in the Workplace

Third-party interventions are defined in terms of their:

Which third-party conflict resolution strategy manages the process and context of interaction between the disputing parties but does not impose a solution on the parties?

Communication and understanding interventions should be applied only after differentiation between the parties has been reduced.

In the conflict process,what immediately precedes conflict outcomes?

The problem-solving interpersonal style of conflict has:

According to your text,compared to those with individualist cultures,employees in collectivist and high power distance cultures tend to be:

According to one Canadian survey,most voluntary and involuntary employee turnover is triggered by workplace conflict.

A Director tells his subordinate,"I don't care what the collective agreement states about negotiating a workload,I'm the director,and I make the decisions about who is assigned the work." According to your text,this is an example of which approach for resolving conflict?

Two business units operate out of different buildings in a large city.They offer distinct products to customers and have their own budgets.However,they must share training facilities located at headquarters,also located in the city.This often creates conflict because both business units tend to want the training facilities at the same time.Describe the source(s)of conflict that are apparent in this situation and describe two potential solutions that would minimize this conflict.

An important rule in negotiations is to make several major concessions early in the proceedings to communicate your willingness to resolve the conflict.

Conflict is more likely to occur when two people or departments share a resource that is strictly dictated by programmed decision rules.

The yielding conflict management style can produce more conflict rather than resolve it.

Buffers tend to resolve conflict by reducing the level of interdependence between the conflicting parties.

Conflict occurs when one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.

What effect does making concessions have on negotiations?

Managers should arbitrate decisions when employees cannot resolve their differences alone.

Employees at a specialty steel company are divided into the 'hot end' and the 'cold end' of the production process.The hot end forms the steel rods that make their way down the line to the cold end,where they are packed for shipment to clients.Employees at the cold end are primarily responsible for quality control because they are the last ones to see the product before it leaves the plant.Their performance is measured by an index of customer complaints and returns,so they are motivated to reject any rods that don't meet quality standards.But employees at the hot end of the production line earn bonuses based on their output and rejection rate.The fewer rods rejected by employees at the cold end,the fatter the bonuses of employees at the hot end.This creates conflict between the hot-end and cold-end employees.Hot-end employees complain that their cold-end colleagues are too fussy about product quality.Cold-end employees don't like the hot-end employees questioning their quality control decisions.Discuss the source(s)of conflict in this situation and recommend a solution to this conflict.

The president of Creative Toys,Inc.read about cooperation in Japanese companies and has vowed to bring this same philosophy to the company.The goal is to avoid all conflict,so that employees would work cooperatively and be happier at Creative Toys.Discuss the merits and limitations of the president's policy.

Constructive conflict is less likely to turn into relationship conflict when team members:

If the parties cannot resolve their differences through direct dialogue and negotiation,the process that seems to work best is to: