Negotiation Chapter 6: Finding and Using Negotiation Leverage

Chapter 6 : Finding and Using Nrgotiation Leverage

Leverage means the tools negotiators can use to give themselves an avantage or increase the propability of achieving their objectives. The concept of leverage is related to the use of power and influence.

Leverage as advantage: why is power important to negotiators? Seeking leverage in negotiation usually arises from one of two perceptions :
1. The negotiator believes he or she currently has less leverage than the other party.
2. The negotiator believes he or she needs more leverage than the other pary in increase the propability of securing desired outcome.

Sources of power – how people acquire power There are three sources of power:
1. Information and expertise – information power is derived from the negotiator’s ability to assemble and organize data to support his or her position, arguments, or desired outcomes.; Power derived from expertise is a special form of information power. Expert power is accorded to those who are seen as having achieved some level of command and mastery of a body of information.
2. Control over resources – People who control resources have the capacity to give them to someone who will do what they want, and withhold them from someone who does not do what they want.
3. Power based on one’s position – there are two kinds of power:
· Legitimate power – There are times when people respond to directions from another, even directions they do not like, because they feel it is proper fro the other to direct them and proper for them to obey.
· The location within an organizational structure – which leads to either formal authority or informal power based on where one is located relativew to flows of information or resources. Key location concepts include centrality, criticality, flexibility, and visibility.

Managing power: influence and persuasion There are two general paths by which people are persuaded. The first path occurs conciously and involves integration of the message into the individual’s previously existing cognitive structures. The other route to persuasion, the peripheral route, is characteristized by subtle cues and context, with less cognitive processing of the message.

The central route to influence: The message and its delivery There are three major issues to consider when structuring message:
· Message content – there are four questions that negotiators need to consider when constructuring persuasive argument: 1)how to make the offer attractive to the other party, 2) how to frame the message so the other party will say yes, 3)how to make messages normative, and 4) how to obtain agreements in principle.
· Message structure – There are four aspects of messages:
1. One- and two-sided messages : when negotiators try to persuade the other partyit is because they believe that the other holds an opinion defferent from theirs.
2. Message components. : negotiators can help the other party understand and accept their arguments by breaking them into smaller, more understandable pieces.
3. Repetition : encorages central-route processing and enhances that the message will be understood.
4. Conclusions : the negotiators can leave the coclusion open or leave conclusion unstated depending on the situation and types of the other party.
· Persuative style: how to pitch the message
There are four major elements of persuasive style:1)encorage active participation, 2)use vivid language and metaphors, 3)incite fears, 4)violate the receiver’s expectations.

Peripheral routes to influence There are three sets of strategies:
1. Aspects of messages that foster peripherall influence – there are two elements:
· Message order – the way in which the influence seeker chooses to order the argument.
· Distractions – the use of distraction to interfere with the target’s ability to think about argument.

2. Source characteristics that foster peripheral influence – there are three categories:
· Source credibility – depends on three things: the qualification of the source, the perceived trustworthiness of the source, and source likability.
· Personal attractiveness – there are many way of tactics that an individual can enhance his or her personal attractiveness to a target of influence or a negotiating opponent such as, friendliness, ingratiation, likability, perceived similarity, and emotion.
· Authority – people with authority have more influence than those without authority.

3. Aspects of context that foster peripheral influence. There are five strategies:
· Reciprocity – when you receive something from ahother person, tou should respond in the future with a favor in return.
· Commitment – once people have decided something, they can be remarkably persistent in their belief.
· Social proof – people look to others to determine the correct response in many situations.
· Scarcity – when things are less available, they will have more influence.
· Use of reward and punishment – First,negotiators can offer resources, or favors, to secure the other’s compliance and cooperation.Second, negotiators attempt to use this power is through pressure—that is, by the treat of punishment.

The role of receivers—targets of influence
1. attending to the other – there are three important behaviors: Make eye contact, Adjust body position, and Nonverbally encourage or discourage what the other says.
2. Exploring or ignoring the other’s position – Selectively paraphrase (ensures that both parties have understood each other acuurately), and reinforce points you like in the other party’s proposals.
3. Resisting the other’s influence -there are three major things that listeners can do to resist the other’s influence efforts: have a best alternative to anegotiated agreement (BATNA), make a public commitment (or get the other party to make one), and inoculate yourself against the other’s persuasive message.