Reflecting on Power

Power is somewhat complex in the details, but in general practice, it seems obvious.  Power is having the advantage, upper hand, or control in a negotiation.  A humorous “Non Sequitur” comic strip showed this phenomenon with a boss in a lavish room with a portrait of himself and giant desk with the title “The Man,” written on the nameplate.  The boss is saying “I found it saves a lot of time by taking the guesswork out of who’s going to win any disagreement.” That is power.  The authoritative source wields it, then wins.

Not all power derives from a boss position (though those benefits are many).  Though it feels hackneyed to my youthful senses of watching Saturday morning cartoons, it is true that knowledge is power. “Expert power” is a source of legitimate power from a unique knowledge of a subject.  In negotiations, this can occur if you have an expert on your side, or is possible to attain if one party just does not have the proper information (likely because of lack of discovery or just a failure to be fully prepared).  If ever there was a point to be prepared for a negotiation, expert power would be it.

Other sources of power—reward, coercive, legitimate, and referent—are based in a more pure form of preliminary structures giving one side an edge.  These “bosses” are the ones in charge, and as the rule makers (or rule upholders), they hold the cards.  They control the resources—money, supplies, time, etc.  But while coercive and legitimate seem to be key in the Non Sequitur joke, referent power is about respect for an authority figure, rather than fear.  This type of situation immediately feels like it will lead to the most good faith negotiations.  It creates trust and mutual goals.  This obviously differs from the iron hand of the coercive.

I suppose everyone is looking for a source of power in a negotiation, and we fear our opponent grabbing the power, instead.  The controlling party dictates a negotiation.  If one side has it all, they probably won’t be playing nice.  They will be busy getting everything.