CHAPTER 7CHAPTER 7

Finding and Using NegotiaFinding and Using Negotiation Power tion Power 谈判力 谈判力

Questions to ponder

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else

have your way.

---Daniele Vare, Italian diplomat

Learning objectives

1. Understand that power is a key determinant of success in negotiation (pp.183-84)

2. Learn about the nature of power (184-87), and power sources (pp. 187-200)

3. Learn how to deal with higher power parties (pp. 201-02)

Outline

1. Why Is Power Important to Negotiators? (pp.183-84)

2. A Definition of Power

3. Sources of Power, i.e. How People Acquire Power (pp.184-87)

4. Dealing with Others Who Have More Power

5. Chapter Summary

6. Assignment

1. Why Power is Important to Negotiators? (pp.183-84)

Answer: A high/strong power party have chances of securing desired outcomes.

Two perceptions common to power-seeking negotiators:

1) currently having less power than TOS;

2) 2) more power needed than TOS to increase the probability of securing a desired outcome

1. Why Power is Important to Negotiators?

Then, tactics and motives function in changing the relative power. Tactics are most commonly designed to create power equalization as a way to level the playing field, but in contrast to create power difference as a way to gain advantage or to block TOS’s power moves. (ref. goal and strategy).

The motive questions relate to why negotiator is using the tactics. (See Box 7.1, Interests, Rights, and Power in Negotiation, p.185)

In general, negotiators who don’t care about their power or who have matched power will find that their deliberations proceed with greater ease and simplicity toward a mutually satisfactory and acceptable outcome.

2. A Definition of Power

• Working definitions: “the ability to bring about outcomes they desire” or “the ability to get things done they way (they want) them to be done” (Salancik and Pfeffer, 1977). Presumably, a party with power can induce another to do what the latter otherwise would not do(Dahl,1957; Kottter, 1979)

Suggestive of power as absolute and coercive, but too restrictive for understanding how power is used in negotiation.

• But the concept of power is not absolute, static but relative and dynamic.

2. A Definition of Power

In fact, there are 2 perspectives on power: “Power over”, the power is fundamentally dominating

and coercive in nature. This use of power implies powerlessness and dependence on the receiving end.

“Power with”, the power holder jointly develops and shares power with the other. The receiver experiences this power as empowered and independent.

Summary: “A is more powerful than B” should be viewed from 3 distinct yet often interrelated perspectives. (Deutsch 193)

2 illustrations (1st for environmental power; 2nd for relationship and personal power)

Limitations remain but a few key sources of power help!

2. A Definition of Power

Also Box 7.2 serve as a guideline (Some thoughts a

bout power (p.187)

Note: Exactly how and when to use these tools, or i

n what combination, will be addressed in ch.8 (infl

uence)

2. Sources of Power: How People Acquire Power

• French and Raven (1959)’s influential typology: expert power, reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power (参照点， also commonality 共同点 ).

Self-evident in nature? Here, a broader perspective on power in the context of nego

tiation, ie, five major sources of power:1. Informational sources of power 2. Personal sources of power3. Power based on position in an organization4. Relationship-based sources of power (Figure 7.1, p.198)5. Contextual sources of power (see Table 7.1 Major Sources of power, p.189)Any implications?

2.1 Informational Sources of Power

• It is derived from the negotiator’s ability to assemble and organize facts and data to support his or her position, arguments, or desired outcomes.

• The exchange of information is also at the heart of concession-making process.

• Through the exchange of information, a common definition of situation emerges and serves as a rationale for both sides to modify their positions and, eventually, arrived at a mutually acceptable price.

• The presentation of information is also a key source of power in negotiation.

2.2 Power Based on Personality & Individual Differences-1

• Personal Orientation. Individuals have different psychological orientations to social situations.

• Cognitive Orientation.

Three types of ideological frames: the unitary, the radical, the pluralist.

Each ideological perspective operates as a frame, shaping expectations about what one should pay attention to, how events will evolve, and how one should engage situations of power.

2.2 Power Based on Personality & Individual Differences-2

• Motivational Orientation. Differences rooted in needs and “energizing elements” of the personality rather than in ideology.

• Disposition Orientation.

• Moral Orientation.

Individuals differ in their moral views about power and its use.

There is a significant positive relationship between people’s implicit ideals regarding egalitarianism.

2.3 Power Based on Position in an Organization -1

• Legitimate Power(pp.192-94) It is derived from occupying a particular job, office,

or position in an organizational And it is at the foundation of our social structure.

People can acquire legitimate power in several ways. Legitimate Power cannot function without obedience

or the consent of the governed. Because legitimate power can be undermined if

followers choose to no longer recognize the power holder’s authority, it is not uncommon for power holders to accumulate other power sources to fortify their power base.

2.3 Power Based on Position in an Organization-2

• Resource Control(p.194) Resources can be many things, some of most

important resources are the following: Money, Supplies, Human Capital, Time, Equipment, and so on.

The ability to control and dispense resources is a major power source in organizations. Power also comes from creating a resource stockpile in an environment where resources appear to be scare.

Resources are generally deployed in one of two principle ways: as rewards and as punishment.

Negotiators must develop or maintain control over some desirable reward that the other party wants or control over some punishment the other seeks to avoid.

2.4 Power Based on Relationships (p.196)

• Goal Interdependence

Goal structure has consistently demonstrated a strong effect on negotiator’s attitudes and behaviors by influencing the disposition parties take toward power.

• Referent Power Referent power is often based on an appeal to

common experiences, common past, common fate, or membership in the same group.

• Networks

Networks

• Tie Strength. This is an indication of the strength or quality of relationships with others. Stronger ties with another usually indicate greater power to have the other accede to request.

• Tie Content. It is the resource that passes along the tie with the other person.

• Network Structure (1) Centrality (the star in figure 7.1) (2) Criticality and Relevance (liaisons and linking pins

perform this role) (3) Flexibility (the role of gatekeeper) (4) Visibility (how visible the task performance is to

others in the organization ) (5) Coalitions .It often act together to represent a point of

view or promote action or change.

Figure 7.1 (p.198) Comparing Organization Hierarchies and Networks

IsolateExternalEnvironment

Gatekeeper

Linking Pin

LiaisonIsolated Dyad

Star

An Organization Hierarchy

An Organization Network

2.5 Contextual Sources of Power (p.199)

• BATNAs. Any viable BANTA gives the negotiator the choice to walk away from current deal or to use the BATNA as leverage to strike a better agreement in the current discussion.

• Culture. Culture determines the “meaning system ” of a social environment. National Cultures also differ in the degree to which these “power over” or “power with” orientations are supported or encouraged. Culture often translates into deeply embedded structural inequalities in a society.

• Agents, Constituencies, and External Audiences (multiple parties are involved in)

4. Dealing with Others Who have More Power (p.201)

Alternative perspective: from the receiver’s point of view

Little researched Q: How parties can deal with others

who have significantly more power?

An exception is Watkins(2002): the problem of “dan

cing with the elephants” is addressed, and ways are h

ighlighted that lower power parties can deal with the

big players in business deals and partnerships.

Then, what advice to negotiators who are in a low-power

position? (TBCed)

4. Dealing with Others Who have More Power

① Never do an all-or-nothing deal.

② Make the other Party smaller.

③ Make yourself bigger.

④ Build momentum through doing deals in sequence.

⑤ Use the power of competition to leverage power.

⑥ Constrain yourself.

⑦ Good information is always a source of power.

⑧ Do what you can to manage the process (ibid.)

(to be further discussed in chpt 12, focusing on strategy and tactics dealing with “mismatches)

5. Chapter Summary (p.202)

What have we learned? The nature of power in negotiation.Two major ways to think about power: “power

with” and “power over”.Five major sources of power.Power can be highly elusive and fleeting in

negotiation. Power is only the capacity to influence; using that

power and skillfully exerting influence on the other requires a great deal of sophistication and experience.

5 Assignment

Watch the movie The Negotiator, focusing on the dynamics

of power relationship between the two top hostage negoti

ators

Case Study: Sequencing, Acoustic Separation, and 3-D Neg

otiation of Complex Barriers: Charlene Barshefsky and I

P Rights in China (Hulse, Rebecca; Sebenius, James K.,

International Negotiation, 8(2), 2003:311-38.

Also

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