Assignment on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Running head: NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Brief Idea of the Case Study..................................................................................................3
2.2 Identification of the Main Stages, Strategies as well as Tactics used by the Parties in the
Negotiation..................................................................................................................................3
2.3 Reasons for their Effectiveness or Ineffectiveness in reaching out to a Negotiated
Agreement....................................................................................................................................4
2.4 Discussion about the Case Study for Negotiation Literature.................................................5
3. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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1. Introduction
Negotiation is the dialogue within two and more parties or people that is intended in
reaching out to an advantageous result for one or more problems, in which a specific conflict
occurs with respect to at least one of such issues (Lewicki, Barry and Saunders 2016).
Negotiation can be referred to as the major interaction as well as procedure within entities, who
are compromising to agree on the major matters of mutual interest and optimizing on their
respective individual utilities. It helps to bring beneficial outcomes for some of them. Conflicts
are avoided subsequently and the respective project or work becomes free from any type of issue.
This report would be outlining a detailed discussion on negotiation and conflict resolution for the
case study of Koala Airlines.
2. Discussion
2.1 Brief Idea of the Case Study
Koala Airlines started its operations in the year of 1971 and started serving two cities
initially. Before the year of 1999, the organizational members were unionized. However, the
attendants of Koala Airlines were worried about the management resolving personnel issues,
such as merging of seniority lists. As a result, the attendants contacted the LFA or the League of
Flight Attendants, whose memberships comprised of only flight attendant. The negotiators in the
League of Flight Attendants agreed on a contract in August of 2000.
2.2 Identification of the Main Stages, Strategies as well as Tactics used by the Parties in the
Negotiation
The organization of Koala Airlines had to consider different aspects and segments of
negotiations to make sure that the respective attendants are not getting into conflicts under any

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circumstance (Ting‐Toomey 2015). The respective negotiations for the first Koala Airlines and
League of Flight Attendants started in the year of 1999 and the respective negotiators from both
the sides had to cooperate effectively in their business. The committee had borrowed language
from the other airline contracts like Aussie Airlines. This particular committee even incorporated
the previous practices as well as working conditions, which were being utilized at the Regional
City Airlines. As a result, they made the final contract in year of 2000. The second agreement
was made in the year of 2007 and it ended in 2011. Whenever an LFA carrier started
negotiations, the LFA sent a nationalized bargaining representative or NBR in their business
(Brett and Thompson 2016). With the help of the NBR, Deborah Lee, the respective
spokesperson lowered the probability that any specific flight attendant, who had been
emotionally involved with the issue may use any word that is not proper during negotiation. The
other vital members of the team involved the local LFA union presidents, namely Peggy Hardy,
Jody Rogers and Marie Phillips.
2.3 Reasons for their Effectiveness or Ineffectiveness in reaching out to a Negotiated
Agreement
Koala Airlines had made a negotiated agreement with the involvement of LFA
negotiating committee for the flight attendants. The major reasons for their effectiveness to reach
out the respective negotiated agreement included:
i) Open Processes: The first and the most significant reason for the effectiveness of this
particular negotiated agreement in KA is that they get accessibility of the open processes (Strentz
2017). The flight attendants as well as the other members of the organization is able to deal with
all types of complexities and issues successfully and hence ensure that the existing conflicts
related to wages and working time is eradicated.

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ii) Long Term Business: There are several members in the company, who are working
for around 14 years and with the effective negotiated agreement, the respective tenure would be
increased to a high level and the business would get success for a longer period of time.
iii) Enhancement in the Listening Skill: It is also needed to enhance the listening skill of
all the members of the team in KA for ensuring better effectiveness of team management. As a
result, the processes are well eradicated (Mazei et al. 2015).
iv) Flexibility: Another major reason for the effectiveness of negotiated agreement is its
flexibility. It is highly flexible for the business.
2.4 Discussion about the Case Study for Negotiation Literature
The respective negotiating committee members of LFA had first identified the bargaining
objectives. In the agreement of 2011, the negotiating committee members of LFA devised an
opening offer based on of the average working condition as well as rates of wage for the
respective flight attendant offered by any other and same sized carrier (Rojot 2016). They have
looked at the rate of redundancy, costs of living and wage data from the government source like
the Monthly Labor Reviews. These distinct committee member knew about the financial history
of this Koala Airlines and have kept their suggestions in the financial reach of this business. The
specific negotiating committee of LFA has hoped to bring the wages as well as working
regulations within line with the organizational financial performances and even industrial
standards (Fells and Sheer 2019).
After comparing with the other airline companies, it is noted that the starting wage rate
per hour at Koala Airlines is 23.50 dollars, which is the lowest as compared to the rest of the
companies. Hence, a proper negotiation is required for them to ensure maximum effectiveness

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and efficiency in the business. Moreover, they have made a union plan for making the
negotiation work in the business, which include certain strategies like keeping various union
members for being informed about the movement of negotiation, to get union members involved,
to convince the organization about the demands of the union and finally settling any specific
issue only with the common consents of the respective committee (Olekalns and Druckman
2015).
3. Conclusion
Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn that negotiation and conflict resolution is one of the
most important and significant needs in any particular organization to ensure that the respective
business is working successfully and would be eradicating all types of conflicts, present in the
company. It is aimed to solve the main difference points for gaining advantages for the
individual or collective or even for crafting of results to satisfy the major interests. Conflict
resolution is being conducted by putting forward a position and making concessions for
achievement of the agreement. The above provided report has properly outlined a detailed
analysis of the case study for Koala Airlines to understand their collective bargaining.

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References
Brett, J. and Thompson, L., 2016. Negotiation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
Processes, 136, pp.68-79.
Fells, R. and Sheer, N., 2019. Effective negotiation: From research to results. Cambridge
University Press.
Lewicki, R.J., Barry, B. and Saunders, D.M., 2016. Essentials of negotiation. McGraw-Hill
Education.
Mazei, J., Hüffmeier, J., Freund, P.A., Stuhlmacher, A.F., Bilke, L. and Hertel, G., 2015. A
meta-analysis on gender differences in negotiation outcomes and their
moderators. Psychological bulletin, 141(1), p.85.
Olekalns, M. and Druckman, D., 2015. With feeling: How emotions shape negotiation.
In Emotion in group decision and negotiation (pp. 33-50). Springer, Dordrecht.
Rojot, J., 2016. Negotiation: from theory to practice. Springer.
Strentz, T., 2017. Psychological aspects of crisis negotiation. CRC Press.
Ting‐Toomey, S., 2015. Identity negotiation theory. The international encyclopedia of
interpersonal communication, pp.1-10.