2014
Chapter
Handbook of Conflict Management Research

Negotiation Processes as Sources of (and Solutions to) Interorganizational Conflict

By: Elizabeth Long Lingo, Colin Fisher and Kathleen L. McGinn

Format:Print

Abstract

We investigate how structural features of negotiations can affect interaction processes and how negotiations can be not only a solution to, but also a source of, inter-organizational conflict. Principals, agents, and teams face different sets of constraints and opportunities in negotiations. We develop grounded theory detailing how the micro-interactions comprising a negotiation are shaped by the representation structure (principals, agents, or teams) of the parties. In qualitative and quantitative analyses of negotiations carried out by principals, agents, and teams in a laboratory experiment, we find that negotiators' efforts to manage the constraints and opportunities of their representation structure are reflected in the micro-interactions, the broad improvisations, and the resulting substantive and relational outcomes.

Keywords

Negotiation; Conflict; Organizational Management; Organizations; Conflict Management; Negotiation Process; Theory

Citation

Lingo, Elizabeth Long, Colin Fisher, and Kathleen L. McGinn. "Negotiation Processes as Sources of (and Solutions to) Interorganizational Conflict." In Handbook of Conflict Management Research, edited by Oluremi B. Ayoko, Neal M. Ashkansy, and Karen Jehn. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014.