=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=Conflict Management Support in Electronic Negotiations
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-684/paper3.pdf
|volume=Vol-684
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/odr/DannenmannS10
}}
==Conflict Management Support in Electronic Negotiations==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-684/paper3.pdf
Conflict Management Support in
Electronic Negotiations
Alexander Dannenmann and Mareike Schoop
Information Systems I, University of Hohenheim, Germany
{Alexander.Dannenmann, M.Schoop}@uni-hohenheim.de
Abstract. Negotiation Support Systems (NSSs) offer a multidimensional
support of negotiations through the internet. Different kind of conflicts – apart
from the initial conflict – can occur during this process. This paper will give an
overview of the current state-of-the-art in managing electronic negotiations with
the help of NSSs and it introduces an advanced conflict management concept to
resolve escalated conflicts during the negotiation.
Keywords: Conflict management, mediation, consultation, moderation,
electronic negotiation, negotiation support systems.
1 Introduction
Through the fast developing information and communication technologies the
software for supporting and automating electronic business negotiations has reached a
point where a multidimensional support of negotiators is provided [1]. These so-
called electronic negotiation systems allow parties to use internet-based systems to
carry out their transactions. Negotiation Support Systems (NSSs) aim to support the
users in their decisions and arguments and do not automate the negotiation process.
Especially in the B2B field, parties negotiate in an iterative communication and
decision making process. They want to reach a goal that they cannot achieve alone
[2]. As a consequence, a certain initial conflict is the basis for every negotiation [3].
The negotiation process is complex: negotiators exchange messages with arguments
for their positions, formal offers or counteroffers and informal questions,
clarifications, greetings, etc. with the goals of creating a common background and of
building a relationship between them [4]. During this process, different types of
dynamic conflicts (apart from the initial conflict) can occur and escalate. In turn, this
can lead to a rejection of the negotiation and as a consequence to additional costs for
the parties [3, 5]. Therefore, the negotiators try to minimize conflict in order to reach
an agreement. The question is whether NSSs can offer conflict management support,
i.e. to help parties resolve their dynamic conflicts during the process.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential of NSSs for conflict
management. Section 2 will discuss the specifics of conflict in electronic negotiations.
Section 3 will introduce a conceptual framework of advanced conflict management
support in electronic negotiations.
27
2 Research Context
2.1 Electronic Negotiations and Conflicts
Electronic negotiations in the context of this paper are negotiations between two
parties, who “cannot achieve their objectives through unilateral actions, exchange
information compromising offers, counter-offers and arguments; deal with
interdependent tasks; and search for a consensus which is a compromise decision” [2].
Additionally, the negotiation process is restricted by at least one rule which “affects
the decision-making, the communication process or the document management” [4].
This rule has to be enforced by the electronic medium [6]. In such a process is it very
important, that negotiators can present arguments for their positions, objectives and/or
beliefs [7]. This process can help to identify critical issues and to find a solution.
There is an initial conflict (the reason for the negotiation) and with it a given conflict
intensity. Inherently, conflicts do not have to be destructive. Different authors
distinguish constructive and destructive conflicts [8] or functional and dysfunctional
conflicts [9]. Within a certain level, they can motivate parties to have a constructive
dispute and to argue with the other position. But conflicts can also develop
dynamically and a profitable outcome is no longer possible. This escalation can be
due to different interests, conflict attitude and abilities, norms and values of the
society/culture or just different objectives [10]. If we want to be able to decide
whether a conflict is constructive or destructive, we have to create a common
understanding of what conflicts in B2B negotiations are.
Conflicts are in the focus of several different research disciplines [11, 12]. Each
discipline focuses on different aspects, which is why no single definition or theory
exists. Glasl argues that conflicts can be caused by different actions, can be examined
systematically in different ways, and can be distinguished by the characteristics of the
parties, their positions and the affiliated mutual relations [3].To provide a frame of
reference for initial conflicts, we will focus on the characteristics of the parties
involved. Along this line, conflicts can be intrapersonal, interpersonal, intra-
organisational, inter-organisational and international [3, 13, 14]. As we focus on
electronic negotiations in a B2B context, we will only consider conflicts, which are
intra- or inter-organisational. Tries and Reinhardt define conflicts as a given
interdependence of actors who want to achieve a common goal through coordinated
activities. This goal cannot be reached due to one or more obstacles which prevent the
common activities (the so-called “target divergence”) and the actors do not have an
attractive alternative [15]. This definition applies to our understanding of an initial
conflict as a reason for a negotiation. But it also implies that the actors are aware of
their target divergence which might not always be the case. Glasl [3] combines a
variety of definitions in a separate - very concise - definition of conflicts. His
definition will be the basis for our understanding of dynamic conflicts occurring
during the negotiation process:
Conflict is an interaction between individuals, groups or organisations in which at
least one party has a different perception, thinking, feeling and will than the
counterpart. This difference in feeling, thinking and will leads to an interference
with the other party.
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This definition integrates the fact, that conflicts can be perceived differently.
Therefore, only interactions, in which all conditions are met, are conflict situations.
Interactions, in which this is not the case, can be described as incompatibilities in the
cognitive domain, feeling, willing and conflictive behaviour [3].
Within electronic negotiations, the conflict behaviour is different compared to
face-to-face negotiations. Through the restrictions of the electronic medium, the
negotiators focus on selected aspects. Normally, gestures, tone of the voice and
mimics can increase or decrease the perceived level of conflict during the
communication process. These visual and acoustic attractions are missing. The
negotiators have to rely on the written messages and the information provided by the
NSS [16]. For this, we have to understand the current state of the art of NSS and their
involvement in the negotiation process.
2.2 Classification of Negotiation Support Systems
A negotiation support system (NSS) is a software system which implements models
and procedures, has communication and coordination facilities, and is designed to
support two or more parties and/or a third party in their negotiation activities [17]. In
contrast to, for example, email, the system supports the parties in different ways,
namely by means of communication support, decision support and document
management [18–21]. The level of involvement an NSS can offer has different levels.
Kersten et al. [17] introduced the following three stages:
1st stage, passive involvement:
The NSS supports the interaction between the negotiators located in different
places. Additionally it offers calculation support to help the negotiators to
make a decision (utility functions). Different visualizations of the negotiation
data help the negotiators to keep the process transparent.
2nd stage, active involvement:
This so called facilitation-mediation systems help parties to create offers.
Advices for e.g. formulations of messages or possible new concession help to
find solutions for the given problem.
3rd stage, pro-active involvement:
This class of NSS has the same functions than active systems but provides
the possibility of proactive mediation intervention. The system has a certain
artificial intelligence and monitors the whole negotiation process. It can
evaluate the current status of the negotiation and provide specific advices,
e.g. if a negotiator should accept an offer or criticize their activities.
The main difference between active and pro-active systems is that the negotiator asks
in active systems for an advice. Pro-active NSS make “suggestions and critiques
without any request” [17] based on an expert system or an artificial intelligence
component.
Electronic negotiations realized with NSSs can allow on the one hand better
outcomes than face-to-face negotiations and improve the exchange of multi-issue
offers, but on the other hand they might need more time and can often end with
impasses between the negotiators[1, 4]. Existing systems such as Negoisst [19],
SmartSettle [22] and Inspire [23, 24] have their main focus on different components.
29
SmartSettle and Inspire belong to the so called decision support school. They focus on
quantitative support with the objective to push the negotiators to a more Pareto
optimal agreement. Negoisst provides a more holistic support for all relevant phases
of the negotiation process. Especially the communication process is supported in
several stages which is a key aspect in conflict management. Ambiguous
communication can influence the conflict level (and with it the decision-making
process) in negative ways. As a consequence, Negoisst provides the most
sophisticated support and will be the focus in the following discussion. It is thus
necessary to discuss the three components of Negoisst and the support of all three
negotiation phases (pre-negotiation, negotiation and post-settlement) as to what their
current contribution is to reduce initial and dynamic conflicts.
2.3 Current Conflict Management Concepts of Negoisst
Following again Schoop [4], there are three different schools of negotiation support:
communication management, document management and decision support. An
integrated and holistic approach combines all three schools. The following matrix will
give an overview of the negotiation phases, the three different support approaches and
selected functions which Negoisst offers to reduce initial and dynamic conflicts:
Table 1. Negoisst conflict management components in the context of the different negotiation
phases
Negotiation phases
1) Pre-Negotiation 2) Negotiation 3) Post-Settlement
-Model Guide - Analytical Support
Decision
-Preference - Dynamic Preference
Support
Components
Elicitation Elicitation
Support
-Ontology Integration
Communication -Ontology
-Explicit Intentions
Support Integration
-Negotiation protocols
Document -Contract -Automatic generation -Contracting
Management Templates of contract versions Support
Decision Support:
Concepts for supporting the decision-making process are essential in supporting
electronic negotiations. The main objective is not only to offer the negotiators
individual or joint advices to evaluate offers during the process. Additionally, the
negotiators’ preference structures can be measured. Negoisst supports parties offering
different negotiation protocols such as auctions, combined auctions, reverse auctions,
bilateral negotiations etc [4, 5, 17, 24]. In context of B2B negotiations, the question is
which kind of model should be used to solve the initial conflict in the context of the
current business situation. Choosing the wrong model could lead to a higher initial
level of conflict. The model guide helps negotiators on basis of a recommender
system to choose the right one.
Before negotiations start, parties have to be sure about their preferences. Complete
preferences are unrealistic. With different concepts of preference elicitations
30
(compositional and de-compositional), Negoisst tries to reduce a lack of clarity and
helps parties to explicate their preferences. As a consequence, this leads on the one
hand to an awareness of negotiators for the more or less relevant conflict issues before
the negotiation starts and on the other hand it can reduce dynamic conflicts during the
negotiation. Already, negotiating parties can use methods of dynamic preference
elicitation to redefine their preferences within the process, e.g. when new information
is available, when their preferences change etc [25].
A valid preference model is the basic for the analytical support during the process.
It offers numerical indicators like the utility range of received offers or suggestions
for possible new offers. Additionally a graphical representation of the negotiation
history can display the progress of the negotiation and the integrative activities on
negotiators side. All this functions allow to disclose concessions (as a sign of
cooperation) and to evaluate the dynamic conflict behaviour.
Communication Support:
Communication is an essential part in the bargaining process. Communication
problems can be caused by missing cues due to the medium used for the negotiation.
The objective is to reduce these possible dynamic conflict aspects to a minimum.
Communication does not just describe something; it can also have a performative role
[18, 20, 26]. As a consequence, Negoisst supports communication on three different
levels with the objective to 1) structure the negotiation process, 2) create a joint
understanding and 3) show the intentions of messages. All three aspects have in
common, that they should prevent misunderstandings and in turn frustration (=level of
conflict). The so-called syntactic support declares signs and rules for the
communication process. A strictly alternating negotiation protocol prohibits belated
changes or deletion of messages. The negotiation process becomes more transparent
and future steps are clear. The semantic support reduces possible misunderstandings
through the definition of the meaning of negotiation issues. Semantic enrichment -
based on an ontology - connects the written communication with the agenda items and
their values. The pragmatic support transmits intention to make clear how a message
is meant to be understood.
Document Management:
To build up trust between the negotiators and provide traceability is indispensable to
reduce the level of conflict within the process. Document Management in Negoisst
links messages and documents by automatically creating a new contract version from
each message. No modifications are possible, thereby enhancing trust in the system
and in the partner [27].
2.4 Summary
In general, different methods exist to support negotiators in resolving their conflicts.
We distinguish between initial conflicts and dynamic conflicts which occur and
escalate during the interaction process. These dynamic conflicts are influenced by
different aspects. Currently, most NSSs are more or less active systems but do not
offer a holistic support. Negoisst is the only NSS supporting the communication
31
process, offering decision support and providing document management. However,
based on the introduced definition of conflict, negotiations can also escalate due to
different perceptions. As a consequence, qualitative aspects have to be considered in a
holistic conflict management support, as the different aspects influencing the level of
conflict show.
3 Advanced Conflict Management in Electronic Negotiations
As mentioned before, conflicts can be constructive and destructive. Additionally we
distinguish between the initial conflict and the conflicts occurring within the
negotiation process. It is necessary to divide between these two different aspects. In
our understanding, the initial conflict exhibits the characteristics of a business
negotiation scenario. Two parties already figured out that an electronic negotiation
would fit their needs and could lead to a possible solution. They know the issues and
in turn their agenda items. The dynamic conflict occurs during the dyadic written
message exchange. Through the low media richness the level of conflict is influenced
by 5 different aspects [3]:
1. The parties and their relationship and positions
2. The characteristics of each party
3. Their attitude concerning the initial conflict and the dynamic conflict
4. The conflict issues
5. The escalation process by itself
All mentioned aspects are necessary for a diagnosis and analysis of the conflict. A
holistic concept starts with the recognition of the initial conflict and its consequences
on the escalation process. The level of escalation can be divided into 9 stages [3]: 1)
hardening, 2) debate, 3) action instead of words, 4) images and coalition, 5) loss of
face, 6) threats, 7) partial destruction, 8) fragmentation and 9) elimination. There is a
polarization and debate between the negotiators in the first stages. During the next
stages, the conflict gets more intensive and the actors start to make threats. During
these phase, conflicts can be constructive. As discussed, even in successful
negotiations there are different positions and opinions. The parties have to exchange
information to achieve a mutual understanding. With rising escalation, the conflicts
are getting destructive and after stage 5 to 6, they cannot be resolved without the help
of a third party any more.
A diagnosis can be of different levels of details. A very detailed diagnosis cannot
be guaranteed due to lack of time or missing, distorted, or masked information. On the
other hand, it is also not always relevant to include all aspects. In the context of
electronic negotiations, the access to interpersonal factors is particularly difficult. The
negotiators act in offset locations and communicate over time. For a possible third
party, it is far harder to make a complete conflict diagnosis or to influence relevant
aspects.
Concerning the introduced escalation model, there are different conflict resolution
methods which can help de-escalation. We will introduce three of them briefly and
32
discuss them in the context of already given NSSs components.1 Later we will
connect them to the overall framework for conflict management support:
Moderation:
Moderation can be used on level 1-3 of the escalation scale [3]. The objective is to
help participants to solve instantly problems of interaction and questions concerning
the content and the process. This type of intervention is useful on lower escalation
levels. Moderation can offer support to explain unclear terms and definitions. The
creation of awareness for the joint objective can be forced by moderation. In turn,
behaviour-oriented interventions or advices concerning tasks, roles and functions take
center stage. Passiveness and restriction as an adviser are essential elements of
moderation. Moderation does not have the force to push parties to accept an advice.
Similarities to the introduced components of NSSs are obvious. For example, the
communication support (section 2.3) has the same objectives than the main ideas of
moderation. Misunderstandings should be reduced (semantic and pragmatic
enrichment) and the process structured (negotiation protocol). As a consequence we
can summarise that the main components of Negoisst already fulfill the requirements
of moderation. Dynamic conflicts on a low level of escalation are already handled in a
common way.
Consultation:
On levels 3 to 5 of the escalation scale, consultation can be an option to resolve
conflicts [3]. Consultation is active (the consultant helps negotiators to deal with their
problems) and constructive (the negotiators understand the dynamic of the conflict
and its influence). Negotiators ask for an advice, this advice should be perceived as
motivating, helpful and not judging. Interventions of a consultant also focus on socio-
psychological aspects. Parties have to control their emotions, thoughts and intentions
and break out of the spiral of escalation. Consultation should prevent negotiation
deadlocks and increase the flexibility. Additionally, the parties should create self-
perception and reflect their situation. A consultant will not start a bilateral interaction
between the negotiators at the same time.
To offer consultation, Negoisst and NSSs in general will need to be more active.
The consultation process can be divided in three steps: 1) diagnosis, 2) analysis and 3)
advice. Negoisst offers decision and communication support and advice but does not
yet help the negotiators to reflect their positions and their self-perception compared to
the image the counterpart have of them.
Mediation:
On conflict levels 5 to 7, negotiators cannot resolve the dispute without the help of a
third party [3]. One or both negotiators are willing to reject the negotiation. Mediation
can be defined as assisted negotiation through a third party [28]. It is used to assist the
parties in their negotiation, not to negotiate with the parties. It is a communicative
process between all parties with the objective for the parties to generate a solution
themselves.
1 “Arbitration“ and „Authority“ are not discussed in the context of this paper as the negotiators
have no choice to accept or reject a final advice given by the third party.
33
Mediation has 5 different principles which are essential [28]: 1) voluntary
participation 2) no bindingness 3) neutrality of the mediator 4) disclosure of all
information and 5) awareness of the mediation process.
The mediation process is similar to the negotiation and has the same sequences.
The focus of mediation is on the negotiation outcome. A negotiation problem should
be transferred into a successful and integrative agreement. The aim is not only to stop
a “fight” but also to secure an agreement [29].
Negoisst does not offer mediation but has been combined with the mediating
system Negotiator Assistant [30, 31]. To offer mediation components, the system
needs to become pro-active. Mediation support would require the negotiators to reveal
their preferences and goals to the partner as the mediator will try to find solutions that
are acceptable to both parties. Such support must be an integrative support of decision
making and communication/argumentation.
4 Conclusion and Future Research
Existing NSSs offer a multidimensional support for electronic negotiations. Most of
them have a more or less active character and use different components, namely
communication support, decision support and document management, to support B2B
negotiations. Within this negotiation process, different types of conflict can occur,
which are different to the initial conflict. Current conflict management theory argues
that depending on the escalation level of a conflict, different conflict resolution
methods exist.
In case of an advanced conflict management, we introduced a 3-stage intervention
model for a holistic conflict management framework. It includes current existing
functions up to the concept offering negotiators the help of a neutral third party, called
a mediator. Between the two extremes of normal negotiations with a moderate level
of conflict and assisted negotiations with the help of a negotiator at a totally escalated
level, we suggest integrating a two-phase consultant. This consultant would firstly
include a diagnosis and analysis component, helping the negotiators to reflect the
process to the present point. Within this phase, the focus would be on issue aspects,
e.g. reflecting the concession behaviour and give verbal suggestions e.g. redefining
the preferences. In the second consultation phase, negotiators ask directly for a proper
advice. To generate this advice, both negotiators have to agree to disclose their
preferences. As a consequence, conflict awareness on both sides will be created and a
proper advice for future offers is available for both sides.
We have discussed the three levels of intervention are reflected in electronic
negotiation and in Negoisst as the system to support such negotiations. Moderation is
already provided and consultation is implemented to a large extent already. We are
currently developing the mediation component which will lead to an even more
powerful system.
One of the overall objectives for future research is the creation of a conflict
intensity measurement within electronic negotiations. It is essential to combine the
individual perceived conflict level of a negotiator with his/her written communication
(qualitative) and his/her concession behaviour (quantitative). Afterwards we can
34
define whether advanced support is necessary and, if so, in which way, i.e.
quantitative, qualitative or both. Furthermore, the necessary consulting and mediation
components have to been integrated into Negoisst and evaluated. This evaluation will
focus on acceptance of such advanced conflict management and its added value to the
final agreement.
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