Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Business Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 18 of 18

Full-Text Articles in Business

Power Dependence And Power Paradoxes In Bargaining, Samuel B. Bacharach, Edward J. Lawler Aug 2017

Power Dependence And Power Paradoxes In Bargaining, Samuel B. Bacharach, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

[Excerpt] What this article (and our larger program of work) is designed to demonstrate is that these very simple ideas represent a particularly suitable starting point for understanding the power struggle between parties who regularly engage in negotiation. Specifically, in this article we show that the approach contains certain paradoxes regarding the acquisition and use of power in an ongoing bargaining relationship. The dependence framework treats the ongoing relationship as a power struggle in which each party tries to maneuver itself into a favorable power position.


Power Processes In Bargaining, Edward J. Lawler Jul 2017

Power Processes In Bargaining, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

This is a theoretical article that integrates and extends a particular program of work on power in bargaining relationships. Power is conceptualized as a structurally based capability, and power use as tactical action falling within either conciliatory or hostile categories. The core propositions are (1) the greater the total amount of power in a relationship, the greater the use of conciliatory tactics and the lower the use of hostile tactics; and (2) an unequal power relationship fosters more use of hostile tactics and less use of conciliatory tactics than an equal power relationship. Distinct research on power dependence and bilateral …


Perceptions Of Power In Conflict Situations, Samuel B. Bacharach, H. Andrew Michener, Edward J. Lawler Jul 2017

Perceptions Of Power In Conflict Situations, Samuel B. Bacharach, H. Andrew Michener, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

Subjects rendered judgments regarding the power of the participants in a series of conflictual circumstances where an adversary threatened a target. These situations manipulated four independent variables: (a) the adversary's capacity to damage the target's interests, (b) the adversary's probability of actually attacking, (c) the target's ability to block the impending attack, and (d) the target's capacity to retaliate. Results showed that all of the independent variables affected the subjects' judgments of the adversary's power, while three of them (damage, blockage, and retaliation) affected judgments of the target's power. Differences in the predictive equations for judgments of adversary power and …


Comparison Of Dependence And Punitive Forms Of Power, Edward J. Lawler, Samuel B. Bacharach Jul 2017

Comparison Of Dependence And Punitive Forms Of Power, Edward J. Lawler, Samuel B. Bacharach

Edward J Lawler

This paper deals with the impact of power on tactical action in conflict. The theory and research is organized around two conceptual distinctions: one between power based on dependence versus punitive capability, and the other between relative power (i.e., power difference) and "total power" in a relationship (i.e., across actors). The paper will argue that these distinctions are important on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Theoretically, they are important to explicate the connection between conceptions of power that stress the coercive foundation of power (Bierstedt 1950; Tedeschi, Schlenker & Bonoma 1973) and those that treat power as dependence (Bacharach & …


It Hurts When I Do This (Or You Do That): Posture And Pain Tolerance, Vanessa K. Bohns, Scott Wiltermuth Apr 2016

It Hurts When I Do This (Or You Do That): Posture And Pain Tolerance, Vanessa K. Bohns, Scott Wiltermuth

Vanessa K. Bohns

Recent research (Carney, Cuddy, & Yap, 2010) has shown that adopting a powerful pose changes people's hormonal levels and increases their propensity to take risks in the same ways that possessing actual power does. In the current research, we explore whether adopting physical postures associated with power, or simply interacting with others who adopt these postures, can similarly influence sensitivity to pain. We conducted two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants who adopted dominant poses displayed higher pain thresholds than those who adopted submissive or neutral poses. These findings were not explained by semantic priming. In Experiment 2, we manipulated power …


Is It Me Or Her? How Gender Composition Evokes Interpersonally Sensitive Behavior On Collaborative Cross-Boundary Projects, Michele Williams, Evan Polman Dec 2014

Is It Me Or Her? How Gender Composition Evokes Interpersonally Sensitive Behavior On Collaborative Cross-Boundary Projects, Michele Williams, Evan Polman

Michele Williams

This paper investigates how professional workers’ willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity is influenced by the gender and power of their interaction partners. We call into question the idea that mixed-gender interactions involve more interpersonal sensitivity than all-male interactions primarily because women demonstrate more interpersonal sensitivity than do men. Rather, we argue that the social category “women” can evoke more sensitive behavior from others such that men as well as women contribute to an increase in sensitivity in mixed-gender interactions. We further argue that the presence of women may trigger increased sensitivity such that men can also be the recipients …


Is It Me Or Her? How Gender Composition Influences Interpersonally Sensitive Behavior On Collaborative Cross-Boundary Projects, Michele Williams Aug 2014

Is It Me Or Her? How Gender Composition Influences Interpersonally Sensitive Behavior On Collaborative Cross-Boundary Projects, Michele Williams

Michele Williams

This paper investigates how professional workers’ willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity is influenced by the gender and power of their interaction partners. We call into question the idea that mixed-gender interactions involve more interpersonal sensitivity than all-male interactions primarily because women demonstrate more interpersonal sensitivity than do men. Rather, we argue that the social category “women” can evoke more sensitive behavior from others such that men as well as women contribute to an increase in sensitivity in mixed-gender interactions. We further argue that the presence of women may trigger increased sensitivity such that men can also be the recipients …


Dispersed Leadership, Power And Change: An Empirical Study Using A Critical Management Framework, Ray Gordon Jul 2014

Dispersed Leadership, Power And Change: An Empirical Study Using A Critical Management Framework, Ray Gordon

Ray Gordon

Using a critical management framework I provide a genealogical account of a police organization's attempt to implement what senior officers in its behavioural change division described as a dispersed leadership (Bryman, 1996; Gordon, 2002) strategy. I describe the organization and provide a detailed account of the dynamics that emerge as groups and individuals who historically held positions of power found themselves reporting to one of many designated leaders. The account depicts how the organization's dispersion of leadership, while on the surface represents a new and successful endeavour, is rendered problematic by the organization's historical constitution of power.


Maybe It’S Right, Maybe It’S Wrong: Structural And Social Determinants Of Deception In Negotiation, Mara Olekalns, Chris Horan, Philip Smith Dec 2012

Maybe It’S Right, Maybe It’S Wrong: Structural And Social Determinants Of Deception In Negotiation, Mara Olekalns, Chris Horan, Philip Smith

Mara Olekalns

Context shapes negotiators’ actions, including their willingness to act unethically. Focusing on negotiators use of deception, we used a simulated two-party negotiation to test how three contextual variables - regulatory focus, power, and trustworthiness - interacted to shift negotiators’ ethical thresholds. We demonstrated that these three variables interact to either inhibit or activate deception, providing support for an interactionist model of ethical decision-making. Three patterns emerged from our analyses. First, low power inhibited and high power activated deception. Second, promotion-focused negotiators favored sins of omission whereas prevention-focused negotiators favored sins of commission. Third, low cognition-based trust influenced deception when negotiators …


Maybe It’S Right, Maybe It’S Wrong: Structural And Social Determinants Of Deception In Negotiation, Mara Olekalns Dec 2012

Maybe It’S Right, Maybe It’S Wrong: Structural And Social Determinants Of Deception In Negotiation, Mara Olekalns

Mara Olekalns

Context shapes negotiators’ actions, including their willingness to act unethically. Focusing on negotiators use of deception, we used a simulated two-party negotiation to test how three contextual variables - regulatory focus, power, and trustworthiness - interacted to shift negotiators’ ethical thresholds. We demonstrated that these three variables interact to either inhibit or activate deception, providing support for an interactionist model of ethical decision-making. Three patterns emerged from our analyses. First, low power inhibited and high power activated deception. Second, promotion-focused negotiators favored sins of omission whereas prevention-focused negotiators favored sins of commission. Third, low cognition-based trust influenced deception when negotiators …


An Ethnographic Account Of Leadership, Power And Change, Ray Gordon Oct 2012

An Ethnographic Account Of Leadership, Power And Change, Ray Gordon

Ray Gordon

The paper provides a genealogical account of a police organization’s attempt to implement what senior officers in its behavioural change division described as a dispersed leadership (Bryman, 1996; Gordon, 2002) strategy. I describe the organization and provide a detailed account of the dynamics that emerge as groups and individuals who historically held positions of power found themselves reporting to one of many designated leaders. The account depicts how the organization’s dispersion of leadership, while on the surface represents a new and successful endeavour, is rendered problematic by the organization’s historical constitution of power.


The Power Process And Emotion, Edward J. Lawler Aug 2012

The Power Process And Emotion, Edward J. Lawler

Edward J Lawler

[Excerpt] Power is a crucial phenomenon in organizations, both pervasive and somewhat elusive. The study of power in organizations has a long tradition (Crozier 1964), yet the literature on power is fragmented and has been a central focus only intermittently over time. Fundamental assumptions about the role of power vary widely. On the one hand, power can be construed broadly as a negative and divisive force in relations, groups, and organizations. It enables those having power to exert influence over or command the compliance of others through coercion, force, and threats. This is the punitive, manipulative face of power (Deutsch …


Power, Language And Context: A Sociolinguistic Reading Of Bill Clinton’S Between Hope And History, Uzoechi Nwagbara Sep 2011

Power, Language And Context: A Sociolinguistic Reading Of Bill Clinton’S Between Hope And History, Uzoechi Nwagbara

Dr Uzoechi Nwagbara

A sociolinguistic reading of Between Hope and History unpacks the thrusts of the book that are couched in Bill Clinton’s overall political and ideological philosophy as well as the achievements of his first tenure of office as President of the United States of America. The book also states the hallmarks of his campaign manifestoes for his second term through the use of apt linguistic and sociolinguistic elements. The acknowledgement of language as a medium for acquiring power is integral in all communicative situations aimed at rhetorical or sociolinguistic value. An outstanding feature of Bill Clinton’s Between Hope and History: Meeting …


Living Large: The Powerful Overestimate Their Own Height, Michelle M. Duguid, Jack A. Goncalo Aug 2011

Living Large: The Powerful Overestimate Their Own Height, Michelle M. Duguid, Jack A. Goncalo

Jack Goncalo

Three experiments tested the prediction that individuals’ experience of power influences perceptions of their own height. Power decreased judgments of an object’s height relative to the self (Study 1), made participants overestimate their own height (Study 2) and caused participants to choose a taller avatar to represent them in a second-life game (Study 3). These results emerged regardless of whether power was experientially primed (Study 1 and 3) or manipulated through roles (Study 2). Although a great deal of research has shown that physically imposing individuals are more likely to acquire power, this work is the first to show that …


When Language Means Power: A Sociolinguistic Study Of Bill Clinton’S Between Hope And History: Meeting America’S Challenges For The 21 St Centur, Uzoechi Nwagbara Sep 2010

When Language Means Power: A Sociolinguistic Study Of Bill Clinton’S Between Hope And History: Meeting America’S Challenges For The 21 St Centur, Uzoechi Nwagbara

Dr Uzoechi Nwagbara

The acknowledgement of language as a medium for acquiring power is integral in all communicative situations aimed at rhetorical or sociolinguistic effectiveness. Every sociolinguistic setting operates with disparate set of linguistic rules in order to maximise power in such instance. Thus, the kernel of this study is to interrogate how power is exerted and couched in political languages or speeches that take as their primacy the social arrangement of the people being addressed. Studies abound regarding sociolinguistic strategies that are employed to gain power through well crafted linguistic pieces that pay attention to target audience’s social, political and cultural configurations. …


Embedded Ethics: Discourse And Power In The New South Wales Police Service, Ray Gordon, Stewart Clegg, Martin Kornberger Jul 2010

Embedded Ethics: Discourse And Power In The New South Wales Police Service, Ray Gordon, Stewart Clegg, Martin Kornberger

Ray Gordon

In this paper we report an ethnographic research study conducted in one of the world's largest police organizations, the New South Wales Police Service. Our research question was, `How do forms of power shape organizational members' ethical practices?' We look at existing theories that propose the deployment of two interrelated arguments: that ethics are embedded in organizational practices and discourse at a micro-level of everyday organizational life, which is contrasted with a focus on the macro-organizational, institutional forces that are seen to have an impact on ethics. Resisting this distinction between the `micro' and the `macro', we build on these …


Power, Rationality And Legitimacy In Public Organizations, Ray Gordon, Martin Kornberger, Stewart Clegg Dec 2008

Power, Rationality And Legitimacy In Public Organizations, Ray Gordon, Martin Kornberger, Stewart Clegg

Ray Gordon

In this paper we propose answers to the research question: how does power shape the construction of legitimacy in the context of public organizations? We suggest that while organizational structures of dominancy will be embedded, not all structures of dominancy align with those that are normatively presented as legitimate and authoritative. Such situations make the creation and sustenance of legitimacy problematic for organizational action. This paper advances our understanding of the relation between power, rationality and legitimacy by showing how structures of domination recursively constitute, and are constituted by, legitimacy that may not be authoritative. We show, empirically, how these …


Power And Legitimacy: From Weber To Contemporary Theory, Ray Gordon Dec 2008

Power And Legitimacy: From Weber To Contemporary Theory, Ray Gordon

Ray Gordon

The chapter provides a comparative review of literature pertinent to power and legitimacy in social systems. The review will trace a specific path from the work of Max Weber to contemporary times. A comprehensive assessment of all contributions to the literature is outside the scope of the review. Instead, the focus is restricted to the comparison of three key bodies of literature, namely, mainstream functionalist approaches, critical approaches, and pragmatic approaches. A small sample of contemporary work that specifically centres on power and the construction of legitimacy in organizations will also be reviewed.