This paper examines the roles of power and leverage in the negotiation process, arguing that leverage is the most important foundation of effective bargaining strategy. Drawing on Lewicki et al.'s three primary sources of power — information and expertise, control over resources, and organizational authority — the paper explains how each creates a tactical advantage for negotiators. It then extends the analysis to French and Raven's five bases of power (Reward, Coercive, Legitimacy, Expertise, and Reference), exploring how these sources interact with negotiator persona and tangible resources to shape outcomes. The paper concludes that without leverage, negotiations risk collapsing into one-sided concessions.
In negotiations, it is critical that a trading or bargaining process be determined and initiated as soon as both parties agree to engage. At this stage, negotiators must be able to establish leverage over each other — leverage that makes one party amenable to the other's demands, while the other party reciprocally satisfies the first party's demands in return. What makes bargaining possible during a negotiation is the presence of leverage on both sides; without it, negotiations become far more difficult and may ultimately result in one party simply yielding to the other's demands.
Having leverage means the negotiator has power over the process, if not over the other party directly. Power is technically defined as "gaining control or influence," whether over a person or an event. Leverage is synonymously defined with power: a person gains a specific advantage over another and uses that advantage to benefit themselves (Merriam-Webster, 2011). In negotiations, the most important source of bargaining strategy is leverage.
Leverage can be sourced from any of three major sources of power, as outlined by Lewicki et al. (2001): (i) information and expertise, (ii) control over resources, and (iii) location in an organizational structure (functional authority).
Information about the other party's potential disadvantages enables a negotiator to position themselves more favorably and to make those disadvantages known; this information then becomes their leverage. Similarly, resources that the other party needs can serve as another point of leverage — the negotiator controls the supply while the other party generates the demand. Given this dynamic, a trade or bargain occurs, with the supplier gaining the upper hand over the party seeking the resource. Sometimes leverage is gained simply by virtue of the negotiator's authority within their organization. It is not uncommon for individuals of high functional authority to act as negotiators, and the authority they wield is itself a form of leverage.
"Reward, coercion, legitimacy, expertise, and reference power"
In French and Raven's model, the focus is on the negotiator's persona and the tangible or intangible resources that could be gained through negotiations. The first two sources — Reward and Coercive power — treat power as a function of what the negotiator can offer or withhold from the other party. The remaining three sources are more negotiator-centric. Legitimacy corresponds to the negotiator's functional authority, as discussed above. Expertise centers on the individual's competency or specialized knowledge in an area that the other party is interested in or that forms the main focus of the bargaining process. Reference power is derived from the other party's identification of the negotiator as synonymous with, or having a "feeling of oneness" with, another person — typically someone of high authority, established legitimacy, or well-known expertise (p. 391).
Together, these frameworks illustrate that leverage in negotiation is multidimensional, drawing on informational, resource-based, institutional, and interpersonal sources of power. Without leverage, one party risks simply yielding to the other's demands, making a genuine bargaining process impossible. Understanding the distinct bases of power identified by both Lewicki and French and Raven equips negotiators to identify and deploy their strongest sources of leverage strategically.
"Leverage, Definition of." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Accessed 29 April 2011. Available at:
Lewicki, R. (2001). Essentials of Negotiation. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Podsakoff, P., and Schriesheim, C. (1985). "Field studies of French and Raven's Bases of Power: Critique, Reanalysis, and Suggestions for Future Research." Psychological Bulletin, 97(3), 387–411.
"Power, Definition of." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Accessed 29 April 2011. Available at:
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