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Weakness as Strength: The Use and Misuse of a “My Hands Are Tied” Ploy in Bargaining
Author(s) -
Friedland Nehemia
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1983.tb01749.x
Subject(s) - negotiation , adversary , settlement (finance) , psychology , social psychology , weakness , economics , political science , microeconomics , law , computer science , computer security , medicine , finance , payment , anatomy
This study was designed to evaluate empirically the notion that in bargaining weakness can be turned into strength. Subjects participated in simulated labor‐management negotiations. The results indicate that a “my hands are tied” ploy is effective in eliciting concessions when used to induce an adversary to accept a settlement which is included in the bargaining range. In contrast, the use of the ploy in an effort to settle negotiations outside the bargaining range enhanced the adversary's intransigence. The implications of the differential effects of a “my hands are tied” ploy for the process of negotiations are discussed.