Instructor Wrap Up - Abigail Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Managing Win-Lose Conflicts through Negotiation

The type of conflict issue makes a difference because we should manage some conflicts differently than others.  Some conflicts are over tangible issues and other focus on intangible issues.  What is the difference between a tangible and an intangible conflict issue?  Intangible resources are emotional, mental and psychological assets, and are not limited by nature.  Consequently, issues relational to intangible resources are often resolved through interpersonal communication.  In contrast, tangible resources are physical and observable.  Because tangible resources are often scarce, conflicts involving such issues take more than basic interpersonal communication skills to resolve; the require more advanced conflict management skills, in particular, negotiation techniques.

When confronted with a conflict over an intangible resource, skilled conflict managers follow the minimax principle to minimize their losses and maximize their gains.  They start bargaining with an aspiration level but also have a resistance point in mind.  While negotiating, a skilled conflict manager considers her or his Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) as a standard by which to measure the value of offers from others.  One implication of this idea is that one should expect to make some concessions, so it pays to set a goal higher than one thinks possible to maintain.  Negotiators who make concessions are more likely to elicit cooperative behavior from the other party than are those who make no concessions at all.

Skilled conflict managers also strive for a win-win outcome.  Such outcomes are more likely to occur when the parties trust each other and the situation is one in which mutually satisfactory outcomes are possible, even though the parties may not know that at the outset.

Whether we approach a conflict from a minimax principle or a win-win orientation, it is important for the conflicting parties to expand the solutions to the problem by brainstorming, focusing on the interests of the people involved rather than on their articulated positions, cutting costs for the other party, compensating, logrolling, and trying to agree ahead of time on objective criteria.

How do effective conflict managers employ addition means to convert a potentially competitive conflict into a cooperative one?  They do this by separating people from the problem, making concessions, seeking commonalities, talking cooperation, consulting before acting, communicating frequently, controlling the process, thinking positively, and engaging in fractionation.

Chapter Objectives:

At the end of this chapter, students should be able to: 

1). Explain the difference between a tangible and an intangible conflict issue.

2). Explain the assumption behind negotiation in which people try to minimize their losses and maximize their gains.

3). Distinguish between competitive and cooperative negotiation and explain when each approach is most appropriate.

4). Describe six ways to generate more options.

5). List several additional ways that one can convert a potentially competitive negotiation into a cooperative one.

6). Define BATNA and fractionation.


-Abigail, R.A., & Cahn, D.D., (2011)