Power and Influence

2. 5 Power and Influence Chapter • “The true leader must submerge himself in the fountain of the people.” • ~V.I. Lenin

3. Some Important Distinctions • Power has been defined as the capacity to produce effects on others, or the potential to influence others. • Followers or situationalcharacteristics may diminish or enhance a leader’s potential to influence followers. • Power does not need to be exercised in order to have its effect. • Power is attributed to others on the basis and frequency of influence tactics they use and on their outcomes.

4. Power, Influence and Influence Tactics • Influence: Defined as the change in a target agent’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as the result of influence tactics. • Influence tactics: Refer to one person’s actual behaviors designed to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors. • Followers can wield power and influence over leaders as well as over each other.

5. Measuring Power and Influence • Influence can be measured by the behaviors or attitudes manifested by followers as a result of leader’s influence tactics. • Leaders can cause fairly substantial changes in subordinates’ attitudes and behaviors. • The amount of power followers have in work situations can also vary dramatically. • Sometimes, particular followers may exert relatively more influence than the leader does.

6. Measuring Power and Influence (continued) • Individuals with a relatively large amount of power may successfully employ a wider variety of influence tactics. • Followers often can use a wider variety of influence tactics than the leader. • This is because the formal leader is not always the person who possesses the most power in a leadership situation.

7. Sources of Leader Power • Furniture, office arrangements and type of office • Prominently displayed symbols • Appearances of title and authority • Choice of clothing • Presence or absence of crisis

8. Sources of Leader Power in the Leader-Follower-Situation Framework

9. Expert Power • Expert power: Power of knowledge. • Some people are able to influence others through their relative expertise in particular areas. • If different followers have considerably greater amounts of expert power, the leader may be unable to influence them using expert power alone.

10. Referent Power • Referent power: Refers to the potential influence one has due to the strength of the relationship between the leader and the followers. • Referent power often takes time to develop. • The stronger the relationship, the more influence leaders and followers exert over each other. • Followers with relatively more referent power than their peers are often spokespersons for their units. • They generally have more latitude to deviate from work-unit norms.

11. Legitimate Power • Legitimate power: Depends on a person’s organizational role. • Legitimate power allows exertion of influence through requests or demands deemed appropriate by virtue of role and position. • Holding a position and being a leader are not synonymous. • Effective leaders often intuitively realize they need more than legitimate power to be successful. • It is also possible for followers to use their legitimate power to influence leaders.

12. Reward Power • Reward power: Involves the potential to influence others due to one’s control over desired resources. • The potential to influence others through reward power is a joint function of the leader, the followers, and the situation. • An overemphasis on rewards for performance can lead to resentment and feelings by workers of being manipulated. • Extrinsic rewards may not have the same effects on behavior as intrinsic rewards.

13. Cautions About Reward Power • Leaders can enhance their ability to influence others based on reward power if they: • Determine what rewards are available. • Determine what rewards are valued by their subordinates. • Establish clear policies for the equitable and consistent administration of rewards for good performance. • Followers may exercise reward power over leaders by: • Controlling administration of scarce resources. • Modifying their level of effort.

14. Coercive Power • Coercive power is the potential to influence others through the administration of negative sanctions or the removal of positive events. • Reliance on this power has inherent limitations and drawbacks. • One of the most common forms of coercion is a superior’s temperamental outbursts. • Followers can also use this power to influence their leader’s behavior. • More likely to use this power when a relatively high amount of referent power exists among co-workers.

15. Concluding Thoughts about French and Raven’s Power Taxonomy • Leaders can usually exert more power during a crisis than during periods of relative calm. • During a crisis, followers may be more eager to receive direction and control from leaders. • Research indicates that reliance on referent and expert power led to employees who were: • More motivated • More satisfied • Were absent less • Performed better

16. Four Generalizations about Power and Influence • Effective leaders typically take advantage of all their sources of power. • Leaders in well-functioning organizations are open to being influenced by their subordinates. • Leaders vary in the extent to which they share power with subordinates. • Effective leaders generally work to increase their various power bases or become more willing to use their coercive power.

17. Leader Motives • People vary in their motivation to influence or control others. • Two different ways of expressing the need for power: • Personalized power • Socialized power • Thematic Apperception Tests have been used to assess the need for power. • It is a projective personality test. • Need for power is found to be positively related to various leadership effectiveness criteria.

18. Leader Motives (continued) • Leaders who are relatively uninhibited in their need for power will use power impulsively. • Leaders with a high need for power but low activity inhibition may be successful in the short term, but create hazards for the long-term. • Some followers have a high need for power too.

19. Motivation to Manage • Individuals vary in their motivation to manage in terms of six composites: • Maintaining good relationships with authority figures. • Wanting to compete for recognition and advancement. • Being active and assertive. • Wanting to exercise influence over subordinates. • Being visibly different from followers. • Being willing to do routine administrative tasks.

20. Miner’s Sentence Completion Scale • Findings concerning both the need for power and the motivation to manage have several implications: • Not all individuals like being leaders. • A high need for power or motivation to manage does not guarantee leadership success. • In order to be successful in the long term, leaders may have to have both: • A high need for socialized power. • A high level of activity inhibition.

21. Types of Influence Tactics • Influence Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) assesses nine types of influence tactics: • Rational persuasion • Inspirational appeals • Consultation • Ingratiation • Personal appeals • Exchange • Coalition tactics • Pressure tactics • Legitimizing tactics

22. Influence Tactics and Power • A strong relationship exists between relative power and types of influence tactics used. • Hard tactics are typically used when: • An influencer has the upper hand. • Resistance is anticipated. • When a person’s behavior violates important norms. • Soft tactics are typically used when: • They are at a disadvantage. • They expect resistance. • They will personally benefit if the attempt is successful.

23. Influence Tactics and Power (continued) • Rational tactics are typically used when: • Parties are relatively equal in power. • Resistance is not anticipated. • Benefits are organizational as well as personal. • Leaders with high referent power generally do not use legitimizing or pressure tactics. • Leaders with only coercive or legitimate power may use only coalition, legitimizing, or pressure tactics. • Using influence tactics can be thought of as a social skill.

24. A Concluding Thought about Influence Tactics • Research indicates that though hard tactics are effective, it also changes the way we see others. • An implicit lesson for leaders is of being conscious of the type of influence tactic to use and its effects. • It is suggested that leaders pay attention to why they believe particular influence tactics are called for. • Influence efforts intended to build others up more frequently lead to positive outcomes rather than vice versa.

25. Summary • By reflecting on their different bases of power, leaders may better understand how they can affect followers and even expand their power. • Leaders can improve their effectiveness by finding ways to enhance their idiosyncratic credit. • Leaders should discourage in-group and out-group rivalries to develop in the work unit. • The exercise of power occurs primarily through the influence tactics leaders and followers use. • Leadership practitioners should always consider why they are using a particular influence attempt before they actually use it.