Sitting down and negotiating an increase in pay with your boss isn’t something anyone looks forward to. It’s a tense negotiating situation because so many personal power factors come into play.
The following come into play when you’re negotiating for more money:
- Title power: You are dealing with someone who has a more powerful position than you; that can be intimidating.
- Reward power: Because they have the ability to reward you, it makes you feel very vulnerable.
- Coercive power: What if they get angry with you because you ask for a raise? What if they even get so upset that they accuse you of lack of loyalty to the company?
- Information power: Chances are you’re sitting there wondering what they know that you don’t know. Is the company in an expansion mode where they’re looking for good people, to move up in the organization? Or are they downsizing, where they are in financial difficulties and looking for ways to cut payroll – maybe eliminating your job? When information is unavailable or withheld from us, it makes us nervous and uptight.