Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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.

Social Structure, Power And Financial Fraud, Elisabeth Brooke Harrington

Brooke Harrington

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 …

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 …

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 …