Conflicts and Negotiations

Conflict Management in Organizations Apple and Samsung Drop Patent Disputes Against Each Other Outside of the U.S. The business conflict covered here involves the two smartphone giants that operate globally with great reach and hold of the market not only in the U.S. But also across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Over the last three years, these two companies have filed more than 40 cases against each other involving patent issues.

These suits have seen them go through a lot of cost of conflict, however, at last they agreed to sign an agreement that saw each side drop all the cases that they had against the other side but this was limited to the U.S.A. And they insisted that the cases within the U.S. courts were to continue to the logical conclusion (Chowdhry A., 2014).

The cost of conflict in any business conflict does not just come in the forms of the dollar spent during the conflict but also in the form of the morale of the employees getting dampened since they are aware of the controversy that surrounds their organization, hence reduction in productivity (John Ford and Associates, 2007).

In the case of Apple and Samsung, they both spent a lot of money in hiring the lawyers that were to handle these cases and even after determination of some of the cases most of which were in favor of Apple, Samsung decided to appeal against them, a further cost for both companies. The two companies also attempted to use a mediator to resolve the U.S.

based cases to no positive end hence wasted time whose quantification is not easy, taking into account that they had to meet other costs to facilitate the mediator. The conflict also meant a decline in the sales of Samsung which was significant hence it was in the best interest of both parties to ensure these 40 suits are brought to an end so that the two companies can concentrate on the business side. In the above case study, the conflict was resolved through an intense negotiation, concessions and mutual agreement.

The two organizations agreed to drop the cases that each held in the country jurisdictions outside the U.S. This had to involve concessions of possible compensations for the sake of the end of the operational costs since they had considered the costs of legal fees over the three years and considered it not worth continuing with the cases.

It is worth noting that even though Apple and Samsung are at conflicts in the court, in the business world they are friends and indeed Apple is one of Samsung largest customers since Samsung supplies Apple with iOS and this could have played a role in the amicable conflict resolution since this is one common thing that brings them together.

This was also used by the mediators as an empowerment tool for both the parties involved as well as a tool for placing responsibility in their hands within the mediation process since the mediation was voluntary (Doherty N. & Guyler M., 2008). This case is a classic example of how business conflicts can occur even between very close business partners within any industry and the possibility of using negotiations and mediations to end these conflicts.

Here, conflicts that have spanned through 3 years were easily resolved and concluded within a few days and brought to a closure,.