Power and Influence in Negotiations

Running head: CASE STUDY: POWER AND INFLUENCE IN NEGOTIATIONS

Power and Influence in Negotiations

August 23, 2011

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Power and Influence in Negotiations

This case study is based upon the article by Rebecca J. Wolfe and Kathleen L. Mcginn titled; 'Perceived Relative Power and its Influence on Negotiations'. The study addresses "perceived relative power in negotiations and its effect on the distribution of resources and the integrativeness of agreements and the important role it plays in "determining the agreements the parties reach" (Wolfe & Mcginn, 2005, p. 1), and how resources influence the power that is perceived to be measured equally among the parties. According to Lewicki, Barry, and Saunders (2010, p. 199), "people have power when they have the ability to bring about outcomes they desire or the ability to get things done the way they want them to be done."

The negotiations before signing the Treaty of Tria...

Wolfe With Leaf

Watchful Wolfe

Influence is "the actual strategies and messages that individuals deploy to bring about desired attitudinal or behavioral change," (Lewicki et al 2010, p. 220).

Problems Specified in the Case

Perceived relative power is contrasted with three measures of power; the objective, individual level "resources each party brings to the negotiating table, the perceptions of those individual-level resources, and the objective relative power between the parties," (Wolfe & Mcginn, 2005, p. 6).

Possible solutions presented by the Authors

According to Wolfe and Mcginn (2005, p. 5), the author presented alternatives to a negotiated agreement by "comparing perceived relative power with the objective individual level measure of power" the parties. The "alternatives affected the distribution of outcomes, while perceived relative power and alternatives affected the integrativeness of outcomes. As the quality of a party's alternatives increase;" so is individual payoffs and "the integrativeness of the agreement is likely to increase. The...