Transcript Chapter 12 Power and Influence in the Workplace

Chapter 12
Power and Influence in the
Workplace
Chris Estrada
Tom Quach
The Meaning of Power
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Power is the capacity of a
person, team or organization to
influence others.
Counter power is the capacity to
a person, team, or organization
to keep a person more powerful
person or group in the
exchange.
Dependence in the Power
Relationship
Sources of Power
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Legitimate power; the capacity
to influence others through
formal authority.
Reward Power; person’s ability
to control the allocation of
rewards valued by others and to
remove negative sancctions.
Coercive Power; ability to apply
punishment.
Sources of Power
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Expert Power; an individual’s or
work unit’s capacity to influence
others by possessing knowledge
or skills that they value.
Referent Power; when others
identify with them, like them, or
otherwise respect them.
Sources of Power
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Information and Power
controlling the flow of information
when they control the flow of
information to others.
 Organization’s ability to adapt with
environmental changes.
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Prevention
 Forecasting
 Absorption
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Contingencies of Power
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Substitutability; the extent to which
people depend on a resource have
alternatives.
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Controlling Task
Controlling Knowledge
Controlling Labor
Differentiation
Centrality; the degree an natur of
interdependence between the power
holder and others.
Contingency of Power
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Discretion; freedom to exercise
judgment; to make decisions without
referring to a specific rule or
receiving permission from someone
else.
Visibility; those who control value
resources or knowledge will yield
power only when others are aware of
these power bases.
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Mentoring; process of learning the ropes
of organizational life from a senior
person within the company
Contingencies of Power
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Networking and Power;
cultivating social relationships
with others to accomplish one’s
goal.
Model of Power within
Organization
Influencing Others
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Power is only the capacity to
influence others. It represents
the potential to change
someone’s attitude of behavior.
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Influence: Refers to any
behavior that attempts to alter
someone’s attitudes.
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It is power in motion.
Types of Influence Tactics
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Hard Influence Tactics: They force behavior
change through position power (legitimate, reward,
and coercion)
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Silent Authority
Assertiveness
Information Control
Coalition Formation
Upward Appeal
Soft Tactics: Rely on more personal sources of
power (referent, expert) and appeal to the target
person’s attitude and needs.
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Ingratiation & Impression Management
Persuasion
Exchange
Hard Influence Tactics
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Silent Authority
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Assertiveness
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Explicitly manipulating someone else’s access to information for the
purpose of changing their attitudes and/or behavior.
Coalition Formation
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Actively applying legitimate and coercive power by applying pressure
or threats.
Information Control
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Influencing behavior through legitimate power without explicitly
referring to that power base.
An informal group that attempts to influence people outside the group
by pooling the resources and power of its members
Upward Appeal
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Gaining Support from one or more people with higher authority or
expertise.
Soft Tactics
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Ingratiation and Impression Management
Ingratiation
 Any attempt to increase liking by, or perceived
similarity to, the targeted person
Impression Management
 The practice of actively shaping one’s public image.
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Persuasion
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Using Logical Arguments, facts, and emotional
appeals to encourage people to accept a request or
message.
Exchange
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Involves the promise of benefits or resources in
exchange for a target person’s compliance with your
request. (negotiation & networking)
Consequences of Influence
Tactics
The best way to measure how people react to the influence
tactics is in 3 ways:
1) Resistance: when people or work units oppose the
behavior desired by the influencer and consequently
refuse, argue, or delay engaging in the behavior.
2) Compliance: When people are motivated to implement
the influencer’s request at a minimal level of effort and for
purely instrumental reasons. Without external sources to
prompt the desired behavior, it would not occur.
3) Commitment: The strongest form of influence, whereby
people identify with the influencer’s request and are highly
motivated to implement it even when extrinsic sources of
motivation are no longer present.
Gender difference in Influence
Tactics
Men:
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More likely to rely on direct impression management tactics
Tend to advertise their achievements and take personal
credit for successes
Likely to assign blame and less likely to assume it
Women:
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Reluctant to force the spotlight on themselves. They prefer
to share credit with others.
More likely to apologize-personally take blame- even for
problems not cause by them.
Generally have difficulty exerting some forms of influence in
organizations
Viewed as less (not more) influential when they try to directly
influence others by exerting their authority or expertise.
Organizational Politics
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Organizational Politics
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Behaviors that others perceive as self-serving
tactics for personal gain at the expense of other
people and possible the organization.
More prevalent when scarce resources are
allocated using complex and ambiguous
decisions and when the organization tolerates or
rewards political behavior.
Individuals with a high need for personal power,
an internal locus of control, and strong
Machiavellian values have a higher propensity
to use political tactics.
Minimizing Organizational
Politics
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Providing clear rules for resource allocation
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Establishing a free flow of information
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Using education and involvement during
organizational change
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Supporting team norms and a corporate
culture that discourage dysfunctional
politics
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Having leaders who model organizational
citizenship rather than political savvy.
Questions
1. _ is the capacity to a person, team, or
organization to keep a more powerful person
or group in the exchange. (b)
a) Power
b) Counter power
c) Referent power
d) Reward power
2. Name two of the four contingencies of
power
(Substitutability, Centrality, Discretion,
Visibility)
3. T/F Upward appeal is the tactic of gaining
support from one or more people with
higher authority or expertise. (T)
Questions
4. ______ ______ are behaviors that
other perceive as self-serving tactics
for personal gain at the expense of
other epopel and possibly the
organization (Organizational Politics)
5. Select the answer that is not a
consequence of hard and soft
influence tactics (C)
a) Compliance
b) Resistance
c) Assertiveness
d) Commitment