Chapter 12 Power and Influence in the Workplace

1. Chapter 12Power and Influence in the Workplace Chris Estrada Tom Quach

2. 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.

3. Dependence in the Power Relationship

4. Sources of Power • 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.

5. Sources of Power • 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.

6. Sources of Power • 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. • Prevention • Forecasting • Absorption

7. 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.

8. 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

9. Contingencies of Power • Networking and Power; cultivating social relationships with others to accomplish one’s goal.

10. Model of Power within Organization

11. Influencing Others • Power is only the capacity to influence others. It represents the potential to change someone’s attitude of behavior. • Influence: Refers to any behavior that attempts to alter someone’s attitudes. • It is power in motion.

12. 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 person’s attitude and needs. • Ingratiation & Impression Management • Persuasion • Exchange

13. 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 else’s 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.

14. 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 one’s 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 person’s compliance with your request. (negotiation & networking)

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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)

20. 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