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We tested hypotheses concerning the effectiveness of three strategies for breaking conflict spirals in negotiations. We also investigated the relationship between outcomes and the relative frequency of reciprocated contentious communications. Results confirmed the hypotheses, showing that extreme distributive outcomes are related to the relative frequency of reciprocated contentious communications and that conflict spirals can be stopped by various communication strategies. Theoretical and practical implications for managing contentious negotiations are discussed.
Escalated conflicts are common within and between organizations, costing significant time, energy, frustration, and money. For example, the escalation of conflict about the dismissal of three employees of Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airline culminated in a 17-day strike, costing upward of $15 million and causing major disruption of holiday flights during the busiest season of the year (Tyrrell, 1993). The dispute between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers union, which escalated to a month-long strike before being resolved, cost employees jobs and cost Chrysler "the production of 71,000 vehicles, worth about $300 million in profit" (Maynard, 1997: 3). New organizational structures, such as joint ventures, alliances, and networks, release conflicts that old structures contained with hierarchies or resolved by rules. These conflicts may result in the dissolution or failure of the ventures or partnerships. For example, conflict between corporate leaders at Blockbuster and its parent company, Viacom, over Blockbuster's strategic direction cost the company its CEO (who resigned) and caused its sales to dwindle to $4.2 billion. These facts have led observers to question whether Viacom's purchase of Blockbuster for twice its current market value was "one of the more ill-advised acquisitions in recent history" (Woodyard, 1997: B1). Providing further examples of the effects of escalated conflicts are cases in which shareholders in disagreement with investment firms' advice regarding mergers have sued for, and collected, millions of dollars; RJR Nabisco's lawsuit against Lazard-Freres & Co. and Rawson Food Services' lawsuit against Prudential-Bache (cf. Kosnik & Shapiro, 1997) are representative.
Conflicts of this magnitude are damaging to organizations. Parties on both sides of the table are aware of the cost of conflict, yet they appear to be unable to avoid the spiraling escalation that results in these costly outcomes and unable to stop escalation once it has begun. Conflict spirals (cf. Schelling, 1960), or exchanges...