Paper Example on Conflict and Negotiation

Introduction

Conflicts and negotiations are common aspects of every business. Business owners often find themselves in conflicting situations with managers, clients, partners as well as employees. Negotiations, therefore, usually prove to be a viable solution for creating an amicable solution for the individuals or parties involved in conflicting business circumstances. Most of the home-based or small businesses frequently avoid internal conflicts and negotiations since the owners are wholly responsible for controlling all the operational processes. On the other hand, however big or small a business venture may look; external conflicts and negotiations are a common business phenomenon that every entrepreneur ought to encounter. Conflicts normally originate from an individual having different opinion or ideas on the business operational processes. Individual beliefs and theories may also differ in terms business operations. In some other cases, business owners may be engaged in conflicting situations during bargaining with other businesses and individuals. Negotiation is, therefore, the method or procedure of discussing different individual position about a given business philosophy as well as trying to reach consensus on the ideas that may benefit both parties involved in the negotiation process. Business conflicts and negotiation often take place in large business ventures because many individuals including stakeholders, employees, and clients are usually involved in the operation of these companies. Conflicts and negotiation processes in business often lead to the generation of various opinions in an attempt to resolve complex business situations. In the conflict resolution processes, business owners usually follow few steps in processing solutions and in discussing options. The steps include recognizing the problem, carrying out analysis of the issue, developing various approaches and strategies and reacting to the ideas raised or outcomes. The above steps often provide logical processes to pursue while resolving conflicts and negotiation issues. The paper discusses the conflict and negotiation that arose as a result of a merger between Synergon and Beauchamp companies which are both well managed and profitable organizations.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In the above case study, the conflict that Nick Cunningham faces is functional, the merger of the two companies aim at increasing profits through the establishment of the effective management system. Beauchamp, Becker, and Company have proper management and it is also highly profitable, this means that its management and the owners would be willing to retain the management for the purposes of increasing the profit of the merger. The retirement of Nick Cunningham will put the management of the merger of the two organizations into a better position to implement effective ideas capable of enhancing the business activities. Nick understands that the success of these two companies will wholly depend on the Beauchamp's management approaches with most of their leaders remaining in their position and carrying on with the business activities. Functional conflict in a business organization is a contractive and a healthy disagreement often experienced between different groups of individuals, it often leads to the success of business operation through the implementation of the consensus reached from diverse opinionated business philosophies (Bauer & Erdogan , 2011). Dysfunctional conflict, on the other hand, is unhealthy disagreement occurring between business partners, individuals or groups of people with common interests (Bauer & Erdogan, 2011). Dysfunctional conflicts usually interfere with the business operation; it often results in the reduction in the optimal performance leading to the loss of profits. It may also cause violence in the work environment in worst cases. According to Bauer and Erdogan (2011), optimal conflict in an organization can sometimes be healthy as it can lead to the formulation of diverse opinions which in the end can positively influence the progress of the business.

The conflict that Nick Cunningham faces originates from the tasks or the roles that are supposed to be played by the managers of the two companies, Synergon and Beauchamp that have merged to form one business organization. Nick Cunningham faces is intrapersonal, as the manager of Synergon, he is unsure of what is needed in the merger of the two organizations. When individuals in the workplace are uncertain on what is expected of them or on the other hand, if they develop a sense of inadequacy towards performing a given task, then they ought to be experiencing intrapersonal conflict (Bauer & Erdogan, ). Intrapersonal divergence often results from differences in roles played by different workers or management team in an organization. The general manager may wish to supervise subordinates. The employees, on the other hand, may perceive such actions as the evidence of lack of trust to the entire working team (Luthans et al). In the above case study, the management of Beauchamp have been more successful when compared to the management of Synergon, it is, therefore, apparent that the merger of the two organizations will have to depend on the approaches developed by Beauchamp company management to ensure the success of the merger between these two companies. Conflicts usually involve people disagreeing with each other to ensure the implementation of best opinions that are liable to different business models. Conflicts often arise from minor misunderstanding to workplace aggression, a situation that may result in the collapse of different business ventures. The conflict that Nick faces, therefore, results from the tight competition in the roles of the management. The Beauchamp Company management has come into the merger with tight conditions to ensure the continuity of their business interest while also collaborating with Synergon to further their common agenda.

According to Shearouse (2011), there are five different methods of conflict management in the workplace between the subordinates and between the management systems. The styles of conflict management include enhancing accommodating strategies, promoting avoidance approaches, encouraging collaboration and integrated ideas, compromising and competition. For the Nicks case, the competing conflict resolution style will be suitable for resolving the above conflicting situation. The competing conflict resolution n concept often functions as a zero-sum game where one competing side loses while the other one gains. Highly confident personalities usually fall back on the competition when it comes to conflict management approaches. The competitive conflict resolution approach often operates best in situations where there is a limited number of conflicts. For instance, when an organization is faced with management emergency, it may resort to competition resolution system. Generally, organizational management and some business owners often create benefits from holding competitive strategies during crisis situations as well as decisions that lead to ill-will such as layoffs and pay cuts. Additionally, the management or the business owners should promote communication conflict resolution through competition strategy. The merits of trust and respect in an organization depend on the communication strategies applied by different management. High level of trust in an organization promotes creativity, empowerment, conflict management, leadership, and teamwork during the time's change and uncertainty. The culture of trust is an essential asset for every organization that nurtures the development of the diverse characters. When workers or the employees respect the role of each individual, a culture of creativity often emerges, thereby allowing employees to come up with new ideas on how to solve technical issues from technology, finance, and cultural aspect of the organization. Trust empowers the stakeholders of an organization; it enables the people to develop a character of honesty and to develop new ways of accomplishing the different task within the work environment.

Conclusion

In the above case study, Nick should consider the interest of the merger of the two companies. The main reason for merging the two organizations is to enhance profits and promote effective management that would ensure the success of the two organizations. Effective managers often put the interest of the companies first before they consider their own interest. In this case, it is imperative for Nick Cunningham to retire in order to protect the interest of the two companies. However, before taking bold steps to retire, it is necessary for him to engage in conflict resolution through negotiations to ensure a smooth handover. In business conflict may originate from the diverse situation, it is a common phenomenon in every organization or workplace. Since conflict is unpleasant and inevitable in every business environment, Nick can deal with the above situation by considering that effective managers are employed based on merits and this should be the basis to which an individual can be trusted to handle diverse matters of the companies. Most organizations or business ventures suffer as a result of interpersonal divergence. Nick should, therefore, keep his conflicting views around ideas instead of creating individual differences to avoid conflict escalation.

References

Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2012). Chapter 10: Conflict and negotiations. Organizational Behavior. Lardbucket.org

Luthans, F., Luthans, K. W., & Luthans, B. C. (2015). Chapter 9: Stress and conflict. Organizational behavior: An evidence-based approach. Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, pp. 258-264.

Shearouse, S. H. (2011). Chapter 5: How we respond: Approaches to conflict. Conflict 101: A manager's guide to resolving problems so everyone can get back to work. New York: AMACOM. [eBook Business Collection]