Negotiation Case

6.1 INFLUENCE OF POWER

The study of power and its effect is important in the understanding of negotiation process and relationships flowing from it. Every interaction and every social relationship, inside and outside organizations, involves an exercise of power. In the context of negotiations, we don’t analyze the absolute power, but the power which is relevant for a specific conflict or situation.

All negotiation is about power. Because there are always power imbalances in a relationship, negotiation goes on all the time. No matter what your overall approach to negotiation, you may need to consider the nature of power. Remember that the power in the relationship will influence the negotiation process and that negotiation is not limited to a formal across the table’ session. It is, of course, very rare that you will find that there is only one type of power in a relationship. In the case of a bank manager for example, he or she is likely to have six or seven of the types of power listed above. Once you’ve identified the types of power that are involved in the relationship, you can cast your strategy in a way that will help you work successfully in that relationship. Let’s carry the bank manager analogy a bit further. They have positional power and information power, at least about the bank’s lending policies and possibly about similar organizations to yours. They will have reward power and conceivably coercive power, although this is likely to be illusory. They will have access to alliances and networks, and control of agendas through demands for a business plan. They will certainly have control of meaning and symbols in the form of their office setting and the way in which they dress.

Power is a very important element of negotiation, because it gives advantage to one party over the other. At the bargaining table power is rarely distributed evenly.

Sources of negotiating