Communication and Conflict Resolution Skills

Communication and Leadership
 Effective leaders are also effective communicators
To be effective, the leader must synchronize verbal and nonverbal behavior
Technology has had a meaningful impact on leaders’ communication and coordination

Inspirational Speaking and Writing
Be credible
Use the persuade package of influence tactics
Gear your message to the listener
Sell group members on the benefits of your suggestions
Use heavy-impact and emotion-provoking words
Use anecdotes to communicate meaning
Back up conclusions with data (to a point)
Minimize language errors, junk words, and vocalized pauses
Write crisp, clear memos, letters, and reports, including a front-loaded message
Use a power-oriented linguistic style

Principles of Persuasion
Liking: People like those who like them
Reciprocity: People repay in kind
Social proof: People follow the lead of similar others
Consistency: People align with their clear commitments
Authority: People defer to experts
Scarcity: People want more of what they can have less of

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hillaryclintonbeijingspeech.htm

Principles of Supportive Communication
Problem oriented, not person orientedEffective leaders must overcome communication barriers created by dealing with people from different cultures.
A major underlying factor in overcoming cross-cultural communication barriers is to understand attributions

Attributions
*The judgments we make about the behavior and attitudes of others
*Three factors affecting attributions include:
*Perception
*Stereotyping
*Ethnocentrism

Overcoming and Preventing Communication Barriers
-Be sensitive to the fact that cross-cultural communication barriers exist
-Challenge your cultural assumptions
-Show respect for all workers
-Use straightforward language, and speak slowly and clearly
-When the situation is appropriate, speak in the language of the people from another culture
-Observe cross-cultural differences in etiquette
-Do not be diverted by style, accent, grammar, or personal appearance
-Avoid racial or ethnic identification except when it is essential to communication
-Be sensitive to differences in nonverbal communication
-Be attentive to individual differences in appearance

FIGURE: Conflict-Handling Styles According to the Degree of Cooperation and Assertiveness

Conflict Management Styles

The competitive style is a desire to win one’s own concerns at the expense of the other party, or to dominate

The accommodative style favors appeasement, or satisfying the other’s concerns without taking care of one’s own
The sharing style is halfway between domination and appeasement
The collaborative style reflects a desire to fully satisfy the desires of both parties
The avoidant style combines unassertiveness and a lack of cooperation

Negotiating and Bargaining
-Conflicts can be considered situations calling for negotiating and bargaining, or conferring with another  person in order to resolve a problem
-Two approaches to negotiation:
-Distributive bargaining
-Integrative bargaining

Negotiation Techniques
-Begin with a plausible demand or offer
-Focus on interests, not positions
-Search for the value in differences between the two sides
-Be sensitive to international differences in negotiating style
-Descriptive, not evaluative
-Based on congruence, not incongruence
-Focused on validating, rather than invalidating, people
-Specific, not global
-Conjunctive, not disjunctive
-Owned, not disowned
-Requires listening as well as sending messages