Influence, Empowerment, and Politics

1. Influence, Empowerment, and Politics Chapter Fifteen

2. Learning Objectives LO.1 Explain the concept of mutuality of interest. LO.2 Name at least three “soft” and two “hard” influence tactics, and summarize the practical lessons from influence research. LO.3 Identify and briefly describe French and Raven’s five bases of power, and discuss the responsible use of power. LO.4 Define the term empowerment , and explain why it is a matter of degree.

3. Learning Objectives (cont.) LO.5 Explain why delegation is the highest form of empowerment, and discuss the connections among delegation, trust, and personal initiative. LO.6 Define organizational politics , and explain what triggers it. LO.7 Distinguish between favorable and unfavorable impression management tactics. LO.8 Explain how to manage organizational politics.

4. Mutuality of Interest • Mutuality of interest • involves win–win situations in which one’s self-interest is served by cooperating actively and creatively with potential adversaries.

5. The Constant Tug-of-War between Self-Interest and Mutuality of Interest Requires Managerial Action

6. Nine Generic Influence Tactics • Rational persuasion • Inspirational appeals • Consultation • Ingratiation • Personal appeals • Exchange • Coalition tactics • Pressure • Legitimating tactics

7. Question? Tami has a tendency to use praise or flattery with her boss prior to making a request for her expense account approval every month. Tami is using which influence tactic? • Inspirational appeal • Ingratiation • Pressure • Consultation

8. Three Possible Influence Outcomes • Commitment • substantial agreement followed by initiative and persistence in pursuit of common goals • Compliance • reluctant agreement requiring subsequent prodding to satisfy minimum requirements

9. Three Influence Outcomes • Resistance • stalling, unproductive arguing, or outright rejection

10. Practical Research Insights • Commitment is more likely when people rely on strong rational persuasion and do not rely on pressure and coalition tactics. • Ingratiation can slightly improve your performance appraisal results and make your boss like you significantly more. • Interpersonal influence is culture bound.

11. Social Power • Social power • ability to marshal the human, informational, and material resources to get something done

12. Two Types of Power • Socialized power • plans, self-doubts, mixed outcomes and concerns for others • Personalized power • expressions of power for the sake of personal aggrandizement become paramount

13. Personalized Power Personalized power is exhibited when managers: • Focus more on satisfying their own needs. • Focus less on the needs of their underlings. • Act like “the rules” others are expected to follow don’t apply to them

14. Five Bases or Power

15. Five Bases of Power • Reward power • obtaining compliance by promising or granting rewards. • Coercive power • obtaining compliance through threatened or actual punishment. • Legitimate power • obtaining compliance through formal authority.

16. Five Bases of Power • Expert power • obtaining compliance through one’s knowledge or information. • Referent power • obtaining compliance through charisma or personal attraction.

17. Question? As a Division Head, Natalie is implementing pay-for-performance plans and positive reinforcement programs at Goodwill Wireless Center. Natalie is attempting to exploit which power? • Coercive • Expert • Referent • Reward

18. Research Insights about Social Power • Expert and referent power had a generally positive effect • Reward and legitimate power had a slightly positive effect • Coercive power had a slightly negative effect

19. Empowerment: From PowerSharing to Power Distribution • Empowerment • recognizing and releasing into the organization the power that people already have in their wealth of useful knowledge, experience, and internal motivation.

20. The Evolution of Power

21. Participative Management • Participative management • process whereby employees play a direct role in setting goals, making decisions, solving problems, and making changes in the organization

22. Participative Management Participative management helps employees fulfill three basic needs: • Autonomy • Meaningfulness of work • Interpersonal contact

23. Question? Herman is able to work more on his own now that his supervisor has given him more responsibility and authority in his job. Which need of participative management does this fulfill? • Autonomy • Meaningfulness of work • Interpersonal contact • Sovereignty

24. Delegation • Delegation • the process of granting decision-makingauthority to lower-level employees • amounts to power distribution

25. Barriers to Delegation • Belief in the fallacy, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.” • Lack of confidence and trust in lower-level employees. • Low self-confidence. • Fear of being called lazy. • Vague job definition. • Fear of competition from those below

26. Personal Initiative: The Other Side of Delegation

27. Personal Initiative Personal initiative is characterized by the following aspects: • consistent with the organization’s mission, • has a long-term focus, • goal-directed and action-oriented, • persistent in the face of barriers and setbacks • self-starting and proactive.

28. Randolph’s Empowerment Model

29. Four P’s of Political Success • Power Assessment • How can you improve your leverage position? • Performance • How can your work make the business more successful?

30. Four P’s of Political Success • Perception • How can you enhance your reputation, especially with those who can achieve your goals? • Partnerships • How can you increase your network of allies and supporters?

31. Domain of Organizational Politics • Organizational politics • intentional acts of influence to enhance or protect the self-interests of individuals or groups

32. Sources of Uncertainty • Unclear objectives • Vague performance measures • Ill-defined decision processes • Strong individual or group competition • Any type of change

33. Levels of Political Action in Organizations

34. Levels of Political Action • Coalition • an informal group bound together by the active pursuit of a single issue

35. Common Political Tactics in Organizations

36. Question? Whenever things don’t go well for Duane, he is quick to shift fault to others. Which political tactic is he using? • Creating a favorable image • Praising others (ingratiation) • Attacking or blaming others • Using information as a political tool

37. Impression Management • Impression management • the process by which people attempt to control or manipulate the reactions of others to images of themselves or their ideas

38. Favorable Impression Management • Job-focused • manipulating information about one’s performance • Supervisor-focused • praising and doing favors for one’s supervisor • Self-focused • presenting oneself as a polite and nice person

39. Question? Kendall will often do favors and run errands for her manager. She is engaged in __________ impression management. • Job-focused • Supervisor-focused • Self-focused • Organization-focused

40. Video Case: Dealing with Office Bullies • Can workplace bullying lead to conflict between managers and subordinates? • Why is bullying a concern to organizations? What are some of the adverse affects of bullying in the workplace? • How can office bullying be managed? Is there legal recourse for victims of bullying?