POLI398Z Conflict Resolution November 9, 2004

POLI398Z
Conflict Resolution
November 9, 2004

Debriefing FG&T exercise

Multi-party negotiation

in many situation, people need to build alliances and coalition to achieve objectives
this creates mix-motives situation in which people seek different things

- know who are actors
- understand who they represents (constituencies, departement)
- manage the info, use system to brake down complexity

mutual strategy - coalitional strat - individual strat
issu of trust & interdependance in coalition for them to hold

key challenges
formulating trade-offs
voting and majority-rule: paradoxes
most organisation will try really hard to reach consensus to avoid leaving people behind
communication challenges
- private caucusing
- multiple audience problem
behavioral challenges
- competitively in-group
- competitiveness of reprenting someone, being accountable to someone

keep in mind
- not everyone wants an agreement
- create face-saving options
- create process of agreement
- stay at table
- "pay for fairness"
- strive for equal rep.

tactics for influencing group decisions
don't go into meaning w/o allies
pay attention to seating arrangements
influence of voting arrangements (private/public)
don't display own agenda, but highlight agenda of others

blocking coalitions
control the process (negotiation & voting procedure)
take away resources (buying out)
restrict communication (lots of small informal meetings instead of one large meeting of a board)
must determine personal & institutional interests of DM

collect info before, but dont assume you have enough/ all the knowledge
use multiple equivalent offers simultaneously

Group DM is a form of negotiation