Раздел 3. Введение в профессиональную коммуникацию

Тема 18. Conflict

Цель темы - ознакомить обучаемых с одним из разделов бизнес-курса “конфликт’’ как неотъемлемой части отношений между бизнес-партнерами, коллегами и работодателями - служащими.

В результате успешного изучения данной темы обучаемые должны:

Знать что такое конфликт с точки зрения бизнеса, его разнообразие, какие могут быть результаты разрешения конфликта, разнообразие форм поведения в конфликтных ситуациях на переговорах с бизнес-партнером, грамматические структуры, полезные для ведения переговоров.

Уметь правильно анализировать причину конфликта и находить способы разумного его разрешения, пользоваться правилами поведения в конфликтной ситуации и использовать грамматические структуры, изучаемые в данной теме, в выборе компромиссов в конфликтной ситуации.

Ознакомлены с краткой информацией об особенностях поведения в конфликтной ситуации представителей различных стран, с правилами межнациональной культуры общения.

Оглавление

Conflicts. 1

Test yourself 5

Библиография. 5

Рассмотрению подлежат следующие вопросы:

·  понятие конфликта

·  продуктивный конфликт

·  непродуктивный конфликт

·  конфликт, связанный с защитой нанимаемого рабочего или служащего (трудящегося)

·  конфликт между руководством и трудящимися

·  конфликт между компаниями

·  разнообразие результатов конфликта

·  отличие поведения представителей различных стран и культур в конфликтных ситуациях

НЕ нашли? Не то? Что вы ищете?

·  анализ допустимых норм поведения в конфликтных ситуациях.

Conflicts

Conflict is a state of disagreement or argument between people, groups, countries; it’s a situation in which people have to choose between two or more opposite needs or influences. Conflicts happen because of different reasons and problems. Different people may be involved in it, and they can take different actions. Accordingly the result may be different. If two people argue with each other, they have an argument. If there was a fight between two people, it doesn’t always mean that they hit each other, just that they had a bad argument.

It appears strange, but conflicts may be not only negative but positive and even productive in some cases. In any business situations there are almost always a number of different options but only one option must be chosen. The process of analysing the options may lead to conflicts, but as a result these discussions finish with choosing the best, most effective option.

From the point of view of conflictologists conflicts may be employee protection, labour management, conflicts between colleagues, departments, companies.

·  Employee protection conflicts: in countries with high levels of employee protection, dismissing troublesome employees can lead to a long process of consultation with the authorities and even litigation for example where an employee sues their company for unfair dismissal.

·  Labour-management conflict in the form of tactics such as strikes and go - slows can also be very expensive and time-consuming. The goodwill of a company’s customers, built up over years, can be lost very quickly when they are hurt by such a dispute. But there are sometimes cases where the public sympathise with the employees and don’t mind the disruption. Many countries have legislation with compulsory cooling-off periods before strikes can begin, official procedures for arbitration between the two sides.

·  Conflicts between colleagues include disputes between colleagues or between managers and subordinates that go beyond ideas and become panies can spend a lot of time and energy resolving these disputes.

·  Conflict between companies: in dealings between companies, supplier-customer relationships can degenerate into conflict, for example construction, where contractors are often in dispute about whether the work has been performed properly or whose responsibility a particular problem is. This can lead to protracted legal proceeding.

Nowadays more and more companies (for example in the USA) are specifying in contracts that any disputes should be settled using alternative dispute resolution (ADR), avoiding expensive legal wrangling.

Conflicts can arise when the representatives of different nationalities negotiate a deal. Due to the norms accepted in their countries, they behave in differently during the negotiations. Russian negotiators show strong emotions, plan their tactics carefully. They don’t like to make concessions. Negotiators from the USA usually start a meeting with general conversation, focus on results rather than developing relationships; they are relaxed and friendly, as a rule. The Spanish representatives have several conversations at the same time during a negotiation. They prefer to think of ideas during a negotiation rather than before it starts. People from Germany like to talk about business immediately. Considering the differences of the nations there may often appear the conflict during the negotiations.

To avoid any conflict in negotiations, people should be sensitive towards the representatives of different cultures:

·  Don’t overuse eye contact. In some cultures eye contact is more accepted than in others. In the majority of cultures it is usual to keep eye contact but staring at one’s counterpart across the table wouldn’t be helpful either.

·  Smile when necessary. Some places may consider this conciliatory, others provocative. If in doubt, don’t smile too much.

·  Sit back and relax if it is not considered provocative. It is better to take the posture that is considered “neutral” in all cultures.

·  Stop the discussion and come back to it later. If possible, discuss some other issues and then return to the major one. Sometimes it is not feasible because if the conflict is about a major issue, there might be no point in discussing anything else until the major one is resolved.

·  Say nothing for a long time. In some cultures silence is a sign of respect, a sign that you are thinking carefully about what has been said. But there must always be a point at which it becomes uncomfortable.

·  Say “I see what you mean.” Some cultures might find this strange. If you understand what the other person meant, you wouldn’t be in conflict with them. It is useless to say this expression too often.

·  Find out why the other side is unhappy. Information gathering is always useful, but persistent questioning about points that have already been covered and that are perfectly clear will cause irritation and may cause further conflict.

·  Focus on the issues, not on personalities. This is a good tip, but ideas are often inextricably bound up with the person expressing them.

·  Say something humorous. Humour is appropriate in some cultures and not in others. It could help to defuse a situation of conflict in some places.

·  Speak calmly and slowly. It’s a good idea, but it shouldn’t be overdone. It could sound patronizing. It’s clear that it’s very useful and important to know the culture norms of your business partner and it must help you to avoid any conflict during the negotiations.

No discussion can be held without using Grammar which is typical for different situations of communication. In this topic Conditionals are very useful, because it’s necessary for any negotiations where conflicts can be resolved with some conditionals and concessions.

·  If you give us a 10 % discount, we would place our order today.

·  If you arrange for delivery at your risk and expense, we’ll agree to a price of 20.000 euros.

·  If we had more money to spend, we would be interested in your offer.

·  If I were you, I’d buy those shares now.

Below are some words and expressions which are used for describing this topic:

·  argument

·  productive

·  unproductive

·  to proceed

·  inevitable

·  apparent

·  to «lose face»

·  to cause

·  hierarchy

·  hostility

·  non-invented

·  disputes

·  subordinates

·  to resolve a conflict

·  sort out a conflict

·  anger

·  frustration

·  angry with someone

·  frustrated about something

·  to dismiss

·  litigation

·  to sue

·  unfair dismissal

·  labour -management conflict

·  strikes

·  go-slows (to go-slow - to put as little effort as possible into your work, as a form of strike)

·  to sympathize

·  disruption

·  legislation

·  compulsory

·  cooling-off period

·  arbitration

·  alternative dispute resolution

·  wrangling

·  to be handled well (badly)

·  to be aggressive and assertive

·  constructively

·  tactics

·  eye contract

·  to stare

·  conciliatory

·  provocative

·  neutral

·  to persist

·  irritation

·  focus on the issues

·  to defuse a situation

·  culture norms

Test yourself

1.  What is conflict?

2.  What is a productive conflict?

3.  What conflict is called labour-management?

4.  How is the conflict between employees and the company called?

5.  What can the conflict between the unfair dismissed employee and his company cause?

6.  How can the conflict between two companies be characterized?

7.  What is ADR?

8.  What should you know negotiating with the partner from another country?

9.  How are the Russian representatives characterized at the negotiations?

10.  What are there any rules/norms of behaviour at the negotiation to avoid any conflict?

Библиография

1.  Sue Robbins. First Insights into Business. Student’s Book. Pearson Education Limited, 2005.

2.  Kevin Manton. First Insights into Business. Workbook. Pearson Education Limited, 2005.

3.  David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent. Market Leader, Pre-intermediate Business English. Course Book. Pearson Education Limited, 2005.

4.  David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent. Market Leader, Intermediate Business English. Course Book. Pearson Education Limited, 2005.

5.  David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent. Market Leader, Intermediate Business English. Practice File. Pearson Education Limited, 2005.

6.  David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent. Market Leader, Pre-intermediate Business English. Practice File. Pearson Education Limited, 2005.

7.  Vicki Hollet. Business Opportunities. Oxford University press, 1995.

8.  Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Pearson Education Limited, 2004.

9.  Adrian Pilbeam. Market Leader. International Management. Pearson Education Limited, 2000.