ABSTRACT
The concept of a boundary role was introduced by Walton and McKersie as part of their intraorganizational model of labor-management bargaining. They define the concept in terms of two forces, a pull in the direction of the opponent’s expectations and a pull in the direction of the bargainer’s own party. They refer to these forces as conflicting expectations, which include objectives, priorities, aspirations, and behavior. Their broad treatment of these concepts is grounded in examples from diverse cases mostly involving unions. The boundary role conflict suggests two types of functions in negotiations: monitoring the other side for evidence of movement and monitoring one’s own side for evidence of preferences. These functions differ in terms of focus and information-processing. This chapter addresses these functions in terms of two general models, referred to as the negotiator as bargainer and the negotiator as representative.
