Page 58 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Notes
the inequities placed upon women in our male-dominated society. A woman in Western
society is sexualized as an object; whereas, a man is rarely treated in such a way (Connell,
1987. p. 113). Hence, Laura was confronted with Tim's narcissistic assumption that she
would be happy to receive his attentions, along with the male ideology of claiming
women as objects of desire. This power imbalance was then carried into the sexual politics
of the workplace.
Connell states that "power may be a balance of advantage or an inequality of resources in
a workplace, a household, or a larger institution" (1987, p. 107). While Laura certainly felt
indignant at Tim's behavior, her main concern the next day was preserving her reputation
and keeping her job. Laura was worried about maintaining a neutralized sexuality in the
office environment, fearing a reputation of being sexually "easy". Such a label would
effectively overshadow any power that she could assert through knowledge or skill.
Consequently, Laura chose not to risk placing herself in a position to be unfairly labeled
by the office power structure even though Tim's offensive and boorish behavior invaded
her sense of security and confidence. She resisted reporting Tim's inappropriate behavior
because she didn't want to be perceived as complicitous.

In analyzing this scenario, Laura and Tim are subtly negotiating for power. Following the
cab incident, Laura and Tim were implicitly negotiating for maintaining their own
credibility in the workplace. Laura and Tim's interactions imply a testing of what each of
them value. Both value their reputation in the office. Otherwise, Tim wouldn't feel
compelled to apologize in an effort to "check" on Laura's feelings about him to gauge her
inclination to blab about him in the office. If Laura wasn't concerned about her reputation
and standing within the office, she may have told the director about the cab incident. Both
are testing the waters of their professional standing. Both wanted others to view them
with respect.
The predominant value claimer is Tim. Not only did he try to "claim" Laura in the cab, but
through his repeated apologies, claimed the value of a non-anxious work environment
and Laura's peace of mind. His apologies were a form of the power of persistence, which
caused Laura to question his motives. Furthermore, Tim's persistent apologies impinged
upon Laura's personal boundary and made her feel that he was asking for more than
forgiveness. Tim's apologies could be seen as a way to manipulate Laura into not informing
the director or other co-workers about the cab incident. Tim is playing on Laura's "niceness"
by doing the honorable thing of apologizing in hopes that she doesn't break this etiquette.

Laura was trying to maintain the value of their reputations at work by withholding the
information about the cab incident. She was willing to let the unfortunate incident go
without retaliation until Tim's persistence became annoying. Then she confided in a couple
of her friends at work. Tim sensed his loss of credibility through these employees' reactions
to him. In this respect, Laura claimed value by divulging Tim's sexual faux pas. She
claimed the power of knowledge, but at a cost of placing her co-workers in an awkward
position.
The ethical issues surrounding Tim and Laura's negotiation tactics are not clear cut. On the
surface, we may view Tim as well-meaning in his apologies yet socially inept in his
ability to gauge when to stop apologizing. Nevertheless, we can look upon Tim's apologies
as intrusive, which causes his apologies to lose their meaning of goodwill. It could be a
form of harassment wherein Laura cannot escape, for she is dependent upon her job to
support herself. Removing herself from the situation would cost Laura her income. Laura
did not possess the economic freedom to quit her job.

Contd...

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