CHAPTER 7: Finding and using Negotiation Power

In this chapter, they discussed the nature of power in negotiation. They suggested that there were two major ways to think about power. “power over” which suggests that power is fundamentally dominating and coercive in nature, and “power with” suggesting that power is jointly shared with the other party to collectively develop joint goals and objectives. There is agreat tendency to see and define power as the former, but as we have discussed in this chapter and our review of the basic negotiation strategies “power with” is critical to successful integrative negotiation.

            They reviewed five major sources of power

·       Informational sources of power (information and expertise)

·       Personal source of power (psychological orientation, cognitive orientation, motivational orientation, certain dispositions, and moral orientation and skills).

·       Position-based sources of power (legitimate power and resource control)

·       Relationship-based power (goal interdependence and referent power and netwoks).

·       Contextual sources of power (availability of BATNAs, availability of agents, and the orgaizational or national culture in which the negotiation occurs).

In closing, we wish to stress two key points.

 First while we have presented many vehicles for attaining power in this chapter, it must be remembered that power can be highly elusive and fleeting in negotiation. Almost anything can be source of power if it gives the negotiator a temporary advantage over the other party(e.g.,BATNA or a piece of critical information).

Second, power is only the capacity to influence; using that power and skillfully exerthing influence on the other requires a great deal of sophistication and experience.