Power in Negotiations

Power is a notion that is difficult to define yet it affects everything we do in our everyday lives whether we realise it or not. The understanding and use of various resources and sanctions is present in all our activities and shapes the way we act and react. The knowledge and use of power is especially important in industrial relations and the more we understand about the way power can be used the more successful our industrial relations encounters are likely to be.

There are three main frameworks that can be used to analyse the employment relationship (Kirkbride, 1985) but I believe that it would appear there are varying interests between management and employees and that conflict is an inevitable part of relationship. The way power can be used is demonstrated very clearly in times of industrial disputes when the various players in the employment relationship are negotiating aspects of employment. These different aspects of power and how they can affect negotiations were ma...