Chapter 12 Power and Influence in the Workplace

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Chapter 12Power and Influence in the Workplace

• Chris Estrada
• Tom Quach

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The Meaning of Power

• 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.

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Dependence in the Power Relationship
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Sources of Power

• Legitimate power the capacity to influence
  others through formal authority.
• Reward Power persons ability to control the
  allocation of rewards valued by others and to
  remove negative sancctions.
• Coercive Power ability to apply punishment.

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Sources of Power

• Expert Power an individuals or work units
  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.

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Sources of Power

• Information and Power
• controlling the flow of information when they
  control the flow of information to others.
• Organizations ability to adapt with
  environmental changes.
• Prevention
• Forecasting
• Absorption

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Contingencies of Power

• Substitutability the extent to which people
  depend on a resource have alternatives.
• Controlling Task
• Controlling Knowledge
• Controlling Labor
• Differentiation
• Centrality the degree an natur of
  interdependence between the power holder and
  others.

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Contingency of Power

• 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.
• Mentoring process of learning the ropes of
  organizational life from a senior person within
  the company

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Contingencies of Power

• Networking and Power cultivating social
  relationships with others to accomplish ones
  goal.

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Model of Power within Organization
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Influencing Others

• Power is only the capacity to influence others.
  It represents the potential to change someones
  attitude of behavior.
• Influence Refers to any behavior that attempts
  to alter someones attitudes.
• It is power in motion.

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Types of Influence Tactics

• Hard Influence Tactics They force behavior
  change through position power (legitimate,
  reward, and coercion)
• 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
  persons attitude and needs.
• Ingratiation Impression Management
• Persuasion
• Exchange

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Hard Influence Tactics

• Silent Authority
• Influencing behavior through legitimate power
  without explicitly referring to that power base.
• Assertiveness
• Actively applying legitimate and coercive power
  by applying pressure or threats.
• Information Control
• Explicitly manipulating someone elses access to
  information for the purpose of changing their
  attitudes and/or behavior.
• Coalition Formation
• An informal group that attempts to influence
  people outside the group by pooling the resources
  and power of its members
• Upward Appeal
• Gaining Support from one or more people with
  higher authority or expertise.

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Soft Tactics

• 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 ones public
  image.
• Persuasion
• Using Logical Arguments, facts, and emotional
  appeals to encourage people to accept a request
  or message.
• Exchange
• Involves the promise of benefits or resources in
  exchange for a target persons compliance with
  your request. (negotiation networking)

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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 influencers 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 influencers
  request and are highly motivated to implement it
  even when extrinsic sources of motivation are no
  longer present.

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Gender difference in Influence Tactics

• Men
• 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
• 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.

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Organizational Politics

• Organizational Politics
• 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.

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Minimizing Organizational Politics

• Providing clear rules for resource allocation
• Establishing a free flow of information
• Using education and involvement during
  organizational change
• Supporting team norms and a corporate culture
  that discourage dysfunctional politics
• Having leaders who model organizational
  citizenship rather than political savvy.

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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)
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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