Power is the potential to have influence over another party during negotiations. However, power can also be used to level the playing field and create collaborative negotiations and solutions. Power may be sought to compete with or dominate another party or it may be used to minimize the other party's potential to take advantage of the situation. Sources of power vary and include informational, personality-based, position-based, relationship-based, and contextual power. The party with the most information may have power over the competitor: in common terms, "knowledge is power." Personality-based sources of power include charisma but also psychological or cognitive skills. Some parties may rely on position-based power, or reverting to rank in negotiations. Relationship-based power depends on a person's connections, and contextual power offers one party the advantage in a given situation such as being in familiar surroundings.

The Chapter 7 discussion of power focuses mainly on negotiation situations and does not address the way power is translated into force. Moreover, the author assumes that in any negotiation, both parties participate even if one has the greater power. In many cases power is used to create generalized influence and has nothing to do with a situational negotiation. For example, a supervisor might weld power by calling frequent meetings or demanding frequent checks on employees. No negotiation is involved; the supervisor wields power through rank but the employees have no say.

Therefore, the textbook's explanation of power is helpful in illustrating how parties in negotiations gain or use power. Power is a conflicted term because it can be easily translated into negative influence over others. On the other hand, the authors show how power need not entail influence and in fact at the beginning of the chapter the authors make sure to distinguish between power and influence, which they define as "power in action," (p. 183).