Power - Sources of Power and Dealing With Others Who Have More Power
Power – capabilities negotiators can assemble to give themselves an advantage or increase the probability of achieving their objectives
Sources of Power – How People Acquire Power
Traditional Sources of Power
– Expert power
- from having unique, in-depth information about a subject
– Reward power
- from ability to reward other for doing what needs to be done
– Coercive power
- from ability to punish other for not doing what needs to be done
– Legitimate power
- from hierarchical status within organization
– Referent power
- from respect or admiration one commands due to attributes like personality, integrity, interpersonal style and the like
Major Source of Power in Negotiation
– informational sources of power
– personal sources of power
– power based on position in an organization
– relationship-based sources of power
– contextual sources of power
1) Informational Sources of Power
– most common source of power – derived from ability to assemble and organize facts and data to support one’s position, arguments or desired outcomes
– challenge other’s position or desired outcomes
– undermine the effectiveness of the other’s negotiating argument
– power based on expertise is a special form of information power – only for those who have achievement some level of command and mastery of a body of information
– experts’ arguments are more credible than nonexperts’ ones
– to use expert power, demonstrate that this expertise actually exists and is relevant to the issues under discussion
2) Personal Sources of Power
– have different psychological orientations to social situations
– cognitive orientation
- individual differences in ideological frames of reference
- shape one’s expectations, the way individual process social information about power and people’s willingness to share power
- 3 types of ideological frames
- The unitary
- Beliefs that society is an integrated whole and that the interests of individuals and society are one, such that power can be largely ignored or, when needed, be used by benevolent authorities to benefit the good of all. (communal)
- The radical
- Beliefs that society is in a continual clash of social, political, and class interests, and that power is inherently and structurally imbalanced (Marxist)
- The pluralist
- Beliefs that power is distributed relatively equally across various groups, which compete and bargain for a share of the continually evolving balance of power (liberal democracies)
– motivational orientation
- differences rooted more in need and energizing elements of the personality rather than in ideology
- power motive – a need to influence and control others and to seek positions of power and authority
– dispositions and skills
- Competitive dispositions and skill emphasize on “power over” approach along with skills such as sustaining energy and stamina, maintaining focus and having high expertise, strong self-confidence and high tolerance for conflict.
- Cooperative dispositions and skill emphasize on “power with” approach along with skills such as sensitivity to others, flexibility and ability to consider and incorporate other’s views into an agreement
– moral orientation
- different moral view about power and its use
3) Power Based on Position in an organization
– legitimate power
- exist at the foundation of our social structure
- from occupying a particular job, office or position in an organizational hierarchy
- make people feel proper (legitimate) to receive directions from others and proper (obligatory) to follow it
- ways of acquiring legitimate power
- by birthright
- by election (from peers)
- by appointment (from superior)
- by cultural value (the young respects the old)
- legitimate power cannot function without obedience or the consent of the governed
- types of social legitimate powers
- legitimate power of reciprocity
- if a person something positive for other, the gesture or favor is expected to be returned
- legitimate power of equity
- someone has a right to request compensation from other if he/she goes out of his way or endures suffering for the other
- legitimate power of responsibility or dependence
- we have an obligation to help others who cannot help themselves and are dependent on us
- legitimate power of reciprocity
– resource control
- resource can be anything valued by participants in the negotiation
- ability to create or control and dispense resources is a major power source in organizations
- develop and maintain control over some desirable reward that other party wants or control over some punishment the other wants to avoid
4) Relationship-Based Sources of Power
– good interdependence
- has strong impact on how likely parties will be to constructively use power
- shape “power with” orientation between parties, inducing higher expectations of assistance, more persuasion and less coercion and more trusting and friendly attitude
– referent power
- Derived from the respect or admiration one commands due to attributes such as personality, interpersonal style, integrity and the like.
- Based on an appeal to commonalities
- Has negative forms to create distance between themselves and others or to label others
5) Contextual Sources of Power
– BATNAs
- Alternative deal that a negotiator might pursue in case of negotiation failure
- Offers negotiator significant power
– Culture
- Often contains many implicit rules about use of power and more or less processes
- Company culture shapes what kind of power are seen as legitimate and illegitimate or how people use influence and react to influence
- National cultures also differ in the degree to which these “power over” or “power with” orientations are supported or encouraged
– Agents, constituencies and external audiences
- Negotiation process is more complex when acting as agents, or other parties such as public media, critics, etc are present to observe.
- These other parties might or might not share your interests, putting pressure on either party.
Dealing with Others Who Have More Power
- Never do an all-or-nothing deal – deal with several other partners to lower risks
- Make the other party smaller- diversify into multiple negotiations by establishing relationships with several departments or individuals in an organization
- Make yourself bigger- build coalitions
- Build momentum through doing deals in sequence
- Use the power of competition to leverage power-create competition among partners by using BATNA
- Constrain yourself- limit the ways you can do business
- Good information is always a source of power – seek information that is most compelling and persuasive to the counterpart
- Do what you can to manage the process – steer the deal in an advantageous direction. Do not let the high-power party control the process (agenda, cadence, timing, location)
