Foundations of Conflict Resolution Management
Cleavon Battie
FEB2018FT-NCM 401
Module 2 SLP Assignment
Dr. Mary Ray
25 Mar 2018
Part 1: Background and Settings
The conflict that took place was within the ABC Company which is the vendor company and the XYZ company who is a retailer. The nature of conflict between the two companies is quite common. The conflict between the two can arise over numerous issues which includes the pricing issue, quality issue, terms of payment, cost of transportation and advertisement and other costs. As the profitability of the retailers is highly dependent on the quality and the effectiveness of the conflict management. There are different means which can be adopted to resolve the conflict between the two which includes different institutional mechanisms that focuses on the structural changes between the two organizations. As per Schelling, (1960), Negotiation is a kind of conflict management where the participants of the conflict develops mutually shared rules and then these rules are incorporated to attain competitive edge over their opponent. The conflict is between ABC which is a retailer of different merchandise goods, it deals with different suppliers to get the merchandise to its warehouse from where the company sells the end product to the retailers by displaying the same in its store. The conflict has taken place between the retailer and one of its supplier, where the major issue of the supplier is related to the pricing and the delivery of the products. The conflict has taken place between the new supplier who has put forward his new products which can be marketed to the end users through the retail outlet. The parties of the conflict is the retailer and the distributor. I would consider myself from the retailer’s side.
Part 2: How was it negotiated?
    There are four different kinds of conflict which includes latent, perceived, felt and manifest (Pondy, 1967). Usually, the conflict starts with a latent state where there is incompatibility between the two parties i.e. the retailer and the distributor. This conflict that further progresses through the perceived and the affective stage and reaches the stage of manifest conflict which includes different kind of behaviors of the parties. The conflict that arouse between the parties that was related to the pricing and the delivery of the products.
    There are different negotiation strategies which the company can use to resolve the conflict and achieve to the desired position. There are five styles of negotiation which can be used to negotiate between the parties, these includes aggressive nature, collaborating or problem solving nature, compromising nature, avoiding strategy and accommodating strategy. (Thomas, 1976).
    The preparations made before the pre-negotiation was the detailed analysis of the contract and the terms and conditions on which the other contractors or distributors are working.
    The behavior of both the parties was normal at the negotiation table, as the main reason for the conflict was the pricing issue, the distributor has changed the pricing as well as the delivery arrangement without the prior notice which is affecting the sales of the product.
The best negotiation strategy that would work in this case is the problem solving strategy where the resolution can be done by integrating the requirements of both the parties. I would prefer on using logrolling to resolve the strategy where both the parties are required to list down all the lower priority issues. As the sales and the gross profit margin of the company is highly dependent on the pricing of the product and the margin which the retailer is getting on selling the product to the end user. Apart from the cost of product, there are many other overhead charges which the retailer has to undertake, so that it is able to achieve the desired profits.
    Being at the retailer side, my aim would be to have the best quality product on time with the minimal cost. As the pricing and the delivery of the supplier is not adequate, the retailer is missing on the sale of the product because of the high cost and non-availability of the product. The distribution company has taken a higher margin and is not delivering the goods on time, so it is important that the retailer should put forward his term and conditions when selecting the supplier.
    The negotiation was done between the two parties with a strong emphasis on increasing the overall sales of the product which will benefit both the parties.
Part 3: What would you have done?
My main aim was to improve on the pricing of the company and making the product readily available to the end consumers when required. I would have tried to sit and understand the reason for the sudden changes in the pricing and the distribution pattern of the products, I would have emphasized on the long term orientation and the longevity of the relationship. I would have tried to understand the aspect which has resulted in the increase in the pricing. I would first understand their concern about the change the pricing decision and would analyse if their situation is quite genuine and what are the parameters which has resulted in the sudden change. (Rahim, M. A. 2011).
I would have also tried to understand the reason why there was no communication for the pricing and the delivery changes which the company made without any prior notice. I would also help in making them understand the consumer’s aspect with the sudden price increase and the non-availability of the product. I would explain them that with the sudden increase in the price and non-availability of the product will lead to customer to switch on its competitor’s product.
I would explain them to lower the prices marginally, so that the customers are not able to consider a sudden price increase. Being a retailer, I have margin which I have to maintain, and with that I will have to list the sale pricing of the product.
The other option is to reduce the distributor’s margin, which can help the retailer to offer discount on the listed price of the product so that the customers do not find the difference in the pricing of the product. With the set pricing and the margin, I would convince them the reasons for a long relationship which is going to benefit both the parties.
Conflict Management Approaches & Human Behaviors 6
    
References
Rahim, M. A. (2011). Managing Conflict in Organizations (4th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Pondy, Louis R. (1967), "Organizational Conflict: Concepts and Models." Administrative Science Quarterly, 12 (September). 296-320
Scheiling, Thomas C. (I960), The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
Thomas, Kenneth J. (1976), "Conflict and Conflict Management," in Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, M. Dunnette, ed. Chicago: Rand McNally