Conflict Management and Stakeholder Negotiations in the Technical Environment

By Minnesh Kaliprasad

In any team working towards a goal there is bound to be conflict. The traditional notion views conflict as being “bad”, meaning its presence is undesirable. But constructive conflict can provide opportunities for great new solutions and an engine of social learning. The difference between being bad and providing opportunities depends on the management of conflict. The importance of conflict management is to move a disagreement towards agreement.

Negotiation is unavoidable in the technical environment. By nature this type of environment deals with the utilisation of scarce resources, be it finance, skilled people, the environment or technology.
The process of negotiation will be addressed and ways explored to use the process to achieve agreement to the best advantage of all affected stakeholders and in an efficient manner.

If you have to deal directly with other people, you will, sooner or later, have to deal with conflict in some or other shape or form. Conflict simply stems from differing viewpoints. Since no two people view the world in exactly the same way, disagreement is to be expected in these situations. In fact, anyone who agrees with you all of the time is probably telling you what you want to hear, and not what he or she actually believes.

The reason conflict has generally received such bad press is because of the emotional aspects that come along with it. When there is conflict, it means that there is strong disagreement between two or more individuals. The conflict is usually in relation to interests or ideas that are personally meaningful to either one or both of the parties involved.

Unmanaged conflict can lead to violence and insubordination in the workplace. Notice the use of the word "unmanaged". The key to managing conflict effectively is to learn the skills necessary to become a good conflict manager.

In understanding conflict, one has to explicitly recognise the enormous complexities and difficulties involved. These conflicts often involve many people and organisations, different (often-clashing) identities and cultures, diverse issues, long histories, and past trauma, to name but a few. The complexities should be systematically and intelligently addressed based on psychological complexity, social/institutional complexity, and pathological interactions.

Dysfunctional conflict processes are largely responsible for society’s inability to deal with a broad range of social justice, environmental protection, economic development and human problems at various levels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Minnesh Kaliprasad
• Release date: Sep 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463045626

Minnesh Kaliprasad

Minnesh Kaliprasad is a qualified Chemical Engineer who has migrated towards the field of project management and project controls in particular for the larger part of his working career thus far. He has over 20 years working experience with various companies ranging from the petroleum, mining, and construction sectors, in varying roles. He is currently a Project Controls Manager for South Africa's public electricity utility, ESKOM. He also holds a qualification in the field of Project Management, and a post graduate degree in Technology Management. Furthermore, he has earned accreditation from the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) for the Certified Cost Professional (CCP) and Earned Value Professional (EVP) credentials. In addition, he is also a Project Management Professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute (PMI). He has held the positions of Technical Director and President of the Cost Engineering Association of South Africa (CEASA) which was later rebranded as the Southern African Project Controls Institute (SAPCI) under his leadership. He has had a total of 3 peer reviewed technical articles published in the Cost Engineering Journal, viz. Proactive Risk Management ( Cost Engineering Journal December 2006, Human Factor I and II, Cost Engineering Journal June 2006). The former article has since been featured in AACE International’s Professional Practice Guide to Cost Engineering in the Global Environment, while the latter two articles have been featured in AACE International’s Professional Practice Guide to Leadership and Management of People. When he is not working he is probably running, gardening, or reading.

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Conflict Management and Stakeholder Negotiations in the Technical Environment

Copyright 2018 Minnesh Kaliprasad

Published by Minnesh Kaliprasad at Smashwords

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Other books by Minnesh Kaliprasad

Project Controls Effectiveness on Successful Construction Projects

Risk Analysis: Facilitating and Analysis Guidelines for Capital Expenditure Projects

A Balanced Life - The Important Attributes and its Impact on Work Performance

Communication and the High Performance Workplace

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the Lord Almighty for granting me yet another opportunity of writing a book about a subject I am passionate about.

I would also like to thank my wife Salika and daughter Michala for supporting me yet again in everything related to this journey of writing a book. Your constant motivation and positive energy helped me get this one over