Abstract
This study examined whether employees who were involved in interdepartmental negotiations had biased perceptions of their own negotiation behavior and that of the other department, and whether power differences between departments were associated with these biased perceptions. The results of a study in 11 manufacturing organizations among 41 members of low-power planning departments and 44 members of high-power sales departments showed that both planning and sales employees believed that they showed more problem solving than the other department. Power was associated with perceptions of contending: planning employees seemed to overstate differences in contending behavior (‘Sales contends much more than we do’), whereas sales employees seemed to understate differences in contending behavior.
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