CPPSEC3002A Manage Conflict Through Negotiation - Reading Material

8/12/2019 CPPSEC3002A Manage Conflict Through Negotiation - Reading Material

1/10

CPPSEC3002A

Manage conflict throughnegotiation

Version 1.2 Draft JPR CPPSEC3002A Manage Conflict Through Negotiation Nov 2011


2/10

Manage Conflict through Negotiation

Legal and Organisational Obligations

Conflict comes in many forms and Security and Law enforcement generally get to see someof the worst forms of conflict resulting in physical violence. Having knowledge of the causesof conflict or harmful behaviour is one way to minimize the potential negative aspects ofconflict.

Conflict that is commonly dealt within the Security Industry occurs when:

A person is refused entry into a premise, venue or property for any number ofreasons

A person is removed either physically or under escort from a premise, venue orproperty for any number of reasons

An aggressive confrontation has occurred, is threatened or is expected for any

number of reasons against persons or property

Opposing parties might be making threats of or engaged in actual physical violencein a premise, venue or property you are providing Security services for or on behalfof.

Any activity relating to the Lawful arrest or apprehension of person or persons whohave committed offences in direct sight of the arresting officer or citizen.

When dealing with conflict in public, there are many considerations that must be factoredinto your response to any situation you may encounter. You must be aware of the followingPyramid of Legal Obligation when you respond to a situation:

Law / Legislation - Useof Force

Law / Legislation - OHS

Policy / Procedures -Employer Requirements



3/10

You must have a strong working knowledge of your legal and organisational responsibilities

and obligations. You must have complete awareness of what your role is, what is expected

of you and what actions you are to perform when responding to prescribed security

situations involving actual or potential conflict.

You could face potentially serious consequences including criminal charges and financialpenalties for your actions or failure to perform certain actions related to other actions you

have performed. (For example, if you were to arrest and handcuff someone and then not

ensure they were safe whilst in your custody you directly could face criminal and civil

actions)

Conflict vs. Response

Any incident involving actual or potential conflict must first be assessed to ensure an

appropriate response can occur. Earlier we identified the general times when security

officers will encounter conflict in their typical roles, but let us look closer at what may haveled to the conflict occurring:

Opposing points of view (May include religious, political and social views)

Aggression as a tool of dominance (Bullies, street gangs etc.)

Aggression as a tool of grievance resolution (Someone responding physically

because they have or believed they have been aggrieved)

Intoxication

Drug or medication affected

Mental health issues

Physical disabilities including brain injuries Termination of employment

Termination of building or property lease

Termination of finance / asset seizure

Denial of Access to premises, property or assets by lawful seizure or foreclosure

Apprehending alleged offenders

Defending self or others

How you respond to real or potential conflict can mean the difference between a negotiated

resolution and possible escalation. As mentioned earlier, you must be aware of the laws and

legislation relating to Use of Force and OHS when responding to any conflict situation.

Your employer or client will have detailed instructions in written format that outline what you

are required to do when confronted by conflict situations. Many of those will explicitly instruct

you that any Use of Force is only to be used as a last resort in situations of defence of self or

others from grievous harm.

Many will outline certain procedures that may include:

directing CCTV for video capture,

detailed incident reports to be made,

Police or external agencies / Supervisors or managers to be called for assistance



4/10

Seeking Assistance

Experienced or senior security staff may be required by procedures to attend the situation

and undertake conflict resolution. In many cases, they will communicate as patiently as they

can to try to achieve a win win resolution whereby both parties appear to have reached an

acceptable outcome to the conflict situation.

Sometimes, you will have to undertake the

conflict resolution. In order to be effective at

conflict resolution, you have to be able to

manage conflict through negotiation; that is

you need to be able to communicate.

Remembering that what you say when

exercising your duties as a security officer

would be considered Level 2 of the ForceContinuum (Verbal, Use of Voice); how you

communicate is important. Your

communication technique needs to be firm

but respectful, assertive not aggressive, your

instructions lawful and with thought to your

duty of care obligations.

These skills take time to develop, hence the reason why many senior or more experienced

security staff may be required to attend incidents requiring conflict resolution and take

charge. Having a thorough knowledge of your employers policies and procedures relating toconflict situations and what actions or steps are to be taken ensures that you can respond

appropriately should the situation arise.

This could be achieved by you having a detailed understanding of what your

organisational policies and procedures require of you in responding to potential

conflict situations whilst on duty. Further, ensure that you maintain your knowledge of

the legislation under which you are licenced (NSW Security Industry Act) and other

legislation (NSW Crimes Act) which affects you directly when performing your duties.



5/10

Negotiating a Resolution

When you are trying to reach a constructive solution to a conflict it helps to find out whatareas, if any are and what areas are not negotiable. You need a thorough workingknowledge of your organisations policies and procedures and any legal factors. If you areignorant of these, your solution may be unworkable or indeed illegal.

Many negotiators automatically assume that to protect their own interests they must actagainst the other partys interest. This is not the case. Negotiating to your advantage is notthe same as negotiating to the other partys disadvantage.

You need to strive towards agreements that meet as many of the legitimate objectives ofeach party as possible, resolving conflicting objectives in a way that each party regards asfair. This is known as rational negotiation, where you maximise the advantages and minimisethe disadvantages.

Here are some tips for rational negotiation:

Deal first with emotions. If the other party is emotional let them get it off their chest. Define needs versus solutions. They are not necessarily the same. Be soft on the person and hard on the problem. If you are aggressive towards the

other party you will only get aggression in return. Work on a relationship independent of the problem. Establish rapport and empathy

and a willingness to help the other party. Get them on your side. Use and not but in your verbalisation. And indicates a neutral response, But

indicates a negative response. Who or what is behind the scenes? Is there anything or anyone you dont know about

or have not included or considered? Stress common areas of agreement.

Is it fair? Can you find an objective yardstick or something to compare? Develop a smorgasbord of options. Help each other to save face. This may involve changing your position. Choose solutions that recognise the ongoing relationship. Everyone likes to be

valued. Make it easy for the other person to say yes.

A skilled negotiator will follow this path to obtain a satisfactory result within the bounds oftheir authority and their organisations policy and procedures.

Social, Cultural and Safety Factors

In a conflict situation, the safety and security of people is your firstconsideration. Look out for anything that might compromise the safety ofall concerned, whether they are part of the problem or someone simplyoffering their two cents worth as they walk past.

For example, you might be dealing with a disturbance between two patronsof a club who are getting agitated with each other in what may appear tobe a prelude to a physical confrontation. You need to size up the situationand look for ways to contain the incident as best as possible. You may nothave sufficient resources or staff to assist you when you initially arrive at

the incident so you would try to ensure that other patrons do not getinvolved or inflame the situation prior to you getting back-up.



6/10

Rushing into a situation without regard for your safety can also affect the safety of othersaround you. People who would not normally get involved in such incidents may reactdifferently depending on how you respond to the situation at hand as they may perceive thata social or cultural injustice is being carried out.

In all conflict situations, you should remember the three Cs Contain, Calm andCommunicate.

Contain the situation as best as possible to stop further potential for escalation orinjury

Calm the situation down by splitting persons away from each other, speaking withrespect to all parties concerned

Communicate to both parties what actions will be taken once all relevant informationhas been obtained and an outcome determined in line with your legal andorganisational obligations / operating procedures

You need to be aware of your environment at all times and be ready to act if necessary to

any escalation of a conflict situation. Avoid becoming involved emotionally as this mayinfluence your judgement and may cause issues with those around who perceive youractions as overly authoritarian.

In some extreme circumstances you may need to have a fall-back plan as you may beforced to retreat in order to maintain your own safety. Knowing your environment whether itbe a night club, patrol site or static site is one way for you to be able to have options forretreat if needed. Only by knowing your surrounds can you create Plan B options should thesituation get out of hand or is overtly dangerous or hazardous.

Your position, uniform, security badge and ID imply power that some people find daunting.Some may show disdain for your authority, just as people do with the police or anyone in a

position of power or authority.

This can make your job of establishing trust, rapport and empathy more difficult. You need tobe non-judgmental and fully aware of social and cultural factors that will affect how otherssee you.

Different cultures and social backgrounds can result in different interpretations ofcommunication, especially when assertive behaviour is used. Your actions may bemisinterpreted as aggressive.

You must therefore be careful to identify and clarify any contradictions, ambiguity,uncertainty or misunderstandings that may occur.

Keeping your supervisor or appropriate person informed and up-to-date with the situation iscritical.

This could be achieved by you being fully aware of social, cultural or safety factors

that are relevant to the duties you are performing when faced with a conflict situation.

Observe senior staff when they deal with conflict situations and try to model your

future responses on those senior staff that are most effective at negotiating during

conflict situations.

Know the area / environment within which you are working. It may save your life.



7/10

Evaluate Response

Evaluation is the process of questioning every aspect of your response to find out if by usingdifferent techniques, actions, tactics, ideas and questions you may have reached a betterresolution.

This gives you confidence in your ability to handle and negotiate conflict situations as theyarise in the future. The following questions could be used as an evaluation checklist toassess your response to a conflict incident:

How did I feel in my role? How adequately prepared was I? How flexible was I in my approach? Did I achieve my required objectives lawfully and within the organisational

guidelines? How did my intended response compare with what actually happened? Was there anything that I wish I had or had not said? Why?

What aspects do I need to improve on?

The evaluation should include all incident reports or other documentation relating to the

incident ensuring that all observations are recorded accurately and constructively. As with all

security related documentation, ensure all reports are secured in accordance with

organisational and legislative requirements.

An example of your obligations; any interaction with the public where you are using force is

required to be documented in accordance with legislative obligations placed upon the

Employer AND Employee of a security company. The date, time, names of persons involved

(person have force used against and the person using the force), the reason for the use of

force and the outcome of the use of force are required to be kept in a register at the

premises (such as licensed premises, pubs, clubs etc.) This would then be expanded by the

security licence holder involved later on to be included in an incident report detailing fully all

of the facts relating to the incident.

These registers and subsequently any security related documentation can be inspected or

requested for inspection by any authorised person or Police officer at any time. Failure for

these documents to be completed could see you facing a breach of the Security Legislation

and Regulations in your state and face fines as an individual. You may also run the risk of

having no evidence to defend claims of wrongful assault by individuals with whom you have

had dealings requiring legitimate use of force.

There are various sayings in the Security Industry; but the most important sayings that you

should remember are these:

Paperwork pads thy arse

o Simply put, your attention to detail and your paperwork can be the difference

between you meeting your obligations and facing the consequences of not

meeting your obligations

The more you fight, the more you write

o Simply put, continually using force as the first option instead of containing,

calming and communicating will have you filling out twice as many reports andraise questions over your abilities as a professional security licence holder



8/10

Improvement through Feedback

Getting constructive feedback through the evaluation process is the key to increasing your

knowledge and thereby making you more effective in your job role.

We can see in the diagram that feedback can be used to improve conscious knowledge,

make corrections to undesired results and it is an ongoing continuous cycle. Conducting

evaluations of responses to situations is a prime source of good quality learning and can

further ensure that you are consistently improving yourself professionally.

Stress

Another purpose of evaluating your response to a conflict situation is to identify any effects

of stress or other issues related to your well-being. We all respond differently to stress and

the first rule of stress management is to identify and be aware of your own responses to

stress.

If you find yourself becoming stressed you need to take action to reduce the stressor and itseffects. If you fail to do this, your work performance will suffer and your general behaviourmay become affected.

To release or reduce stresses consider the following:

Training

Training helps us be prepared to handle aspects of our job. This boosts our self-

confidence and faith in our ability.



9/10

Combat or tactical breathing

Tactical breathing is a technique used to decrease the heart rate during a stressfulsituation. Simply breathe in for a count of two, hold your breath for a count of two andbreathe out for a count of two.

Continue until your heart rate is reduced to a level where you can perform at youroptimum. This technique immediately reduces the heart beat by up to 30%.

Time management

Learn and practice the principles of time management. Time management applies tobalancing both work and social commitments.

A healthy diet and exercise routine

You handle stress better if you are physically fit and healthy.

Avoid substance and alcohol abuse

Whilst alcohol and other substances may provide a temporary short term release,their long term effects will only serve to increase your levels of stress and diminishwork performance.

Hobbies and interests outside of work

These can provide relaxation and help to release built up stress.

Support groups

Family, friends, work mates and work groups are all there for help and support.Another person may have been through similar experiences. Their observations cangive you a different perspective and lessen the stress factor.

Counselling

In some situations expert assistance in coping with stress may be necessary. Thismay be related to personal loss or perhaps violent incidents. Do not underestimatethe value of counselling if the need arises.

Laugh and enjoy life

No wonder they say that laughter is the best medicine. It certainly works with stress.If you have had a tough day, watching a comedy or funny movie that makes youlaugh does wonders in releasing pent-up stress and frustration.

Keep life in perspective. It may sound corny but many of the worlds business leadersswear by this motto. It is the same with stress. If you perceive threat in a situation, itis stressful. If you perceive no threat then there is no stress.

It is what we perceivethat makes the difference with stress.



10/10

This could be achieved by you ensuring that you actively participate in evaluation

sessions designed to help you improve in dealing with conflict situations.

Ensure that you provide all appropriate documentation as required relating to any

conflict situation and that appropriate measures are taken to protect and secure such

documentation.

Be aware of your stress indicators and ensure that you take action to reduce stress

through an appropriate release.


CPPSEC3002A Manage Conflict Through Negotiation - Reading Material

Documents

Transcript of CPPSEC3002A Manage Conflict Through Negotiation - Reading Material