Transcript Power and Influence in the Workplace

Power and
Influence in the
Workplace
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e
Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Power, Influence & Politics in the RCMP
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) human resources director
Denise Revine and her boss Chief
Superintendent Fraser Macauley,
(see photo) had their careers
derailed when they reported that
pension funds had been
misappropriated. A Canadian
government report concluded the
RCMP suffered from the “absolute
power exercised by the
Commissioner.”
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The Meaning of Power
Power is the capacity of a
person, team, or organization to
influence others.
• Potential, not actual use
• People have power they don’t
use -- may not know they
possess
• A perception
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Power and Dependence
Person B’s
countervailing
power over
Person A
Person A
Person A’s control
of resource valued
by Person B
Resource
desired by
person B
Person B
Person A’s
power over
Person B
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Model of Power in Organizations
Sources
of Power
Legitimate
Reward
Coercive
Expert
Referent
Power
over others
Contingencies
of Power
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Sources of Power
Legitimate

Agreement that people in
certain roles can request
certain behaviors of others
 Based on job descriptions and
mutual agreement
 Legitimate power range (zone
of indifference) varies across
national and org cultures.
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Sources of Power
Legitimate
Reward

Ability to control the allocation of
rewards valued by others and to
remove negative sanctions
 Operates upward as well as
downward
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Sources of Power
Legitimate
Reward


Coercive

Ability to apply punishment
Exists upward as well as
downward
Peer pressure is a form of
coercive power
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Sources of Power
Legitimate
Reward
Coercive

Expert
The capacity to influence
others by possessing
knowledge or skills that they
value
 More employee expert power
over companies in knowledge
economy
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Sources of Power
Legitimate
Reward
Coercive

Expert
Referent

Occurs when others identify
with, like, or otherwise respect
the person
Associated with charismatic
leadership
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DeCourcy’s Trendspotting Power
Colleen DeCourcy has
developed a reputation as a
trendspotter, giving her
considerable information power
in the advertising industry. “Her
knowledge of the digital
landscape, grounded in
creativity, make her an
invaluable additional to TBWA,”
says DeCourcy’s boss.
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Information and Power

Control over information flow
• Based on legitimate power
• Relates to formal communication
network

Coping with uncertainty
• More power to those who can
help firms cope with uncertainty
- Prevention
- Forecasting
- Absorption
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Power Through Control of Information Flow
Wheel
formation
This person has high
information control
All-channels
formation
These people individually
have low information control
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Contingencies of Power
Sources
of Power
Power
over others
Contingencies
of Power
Substitutability
Centrality
Discretion
Visibility
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Increasing Nonsubstitutability

Few/no alternatives to the resource
 Increase nonsubstituability by controlling the
resource
• exclusive right to perform medical procedures
• control over skilled labor
• exclusive knowledge to repair equipment

Differentiate resource from others
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Centrality

Degree and nature of interdependence
between powerholder and others
 Centrality is a function of:
• How many others are affected by you
• How quickly others are affected by you
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Discretion and Visibility

Discretion
• The freedom to exercise judgment
• Rules limit discretion, limit power
• Also a perception – acting as if you have discretion

Visibility
• Symbols communicate your power source(s)
- Educational diplomas
- Clothing etc (stethoscope around neck)
• Salience
- Location – others more aware of your presence
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Social Networking and Power

Cultivating social relationships with others to
accomplish one’s goals

Increases power through:
• social capital
• referent power
• visibility and centrality contingencies
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Influencing Others

Influence -- any behavior that attempts to alter
someone’s attitudes or behavior
• Applies one or more power bases
• Process through which people achieve
organizational objectives
• Operates up, down, and across the organizational
hierarchy
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Types of Influence
Silent
Authority
• Following requests without overt influence
• Based on legitimate power, role modeling
• Common in high power distance cultures
Assertiveness • Actively applying legitimate and coercive
power (“vocal authority”)
• Reminding, confronting, checking,
threatening
more
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Types of Influence (con’t)
Information
Control
• Manipulating others’ access to information
• Withholding, filtering, re-arranging
information
Coalition
Formation
• Group forms to gain more power than
individuals alone
1. Pools resources/power
2. Legitimizes the issue
3. Power through social identity
more
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Types of Influence (con’t)
Upward
Appeal
• Appealing to higher authority
• Includes appealing to firm’s goals
• Alliance or perceived alliance with higher
status person
Persuasion
• Logic, facts, emotional appeals
• Depends on persuader, message content,
message medium, audience
more
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Types of Influence (con’t)
Ingratiation/
Impress. Mgt.
• increaseliking by, or perceived similarity to
the target person
Exchange
• Promising or reminding of past benefits in
exchange for compliance
• Includes negotiation and networking
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Consequences of Influence Tactics
people oppose the behavior desired by the influencer
motivated by external sources
(rewards) to implement request
identify with and
highly motivated to
implement request
Resistance
Compliance
Commitment
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Consequences of Influence Tactics
Hard Influence
Tactics
Soft Influence
Tactics
Silent authority
Persuasion
Upward appeal
Coalition formation
Ingratiation &
impression mgt
Information control
Exchange
Assertiveness
Resistance
Compliance
Commitment
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Contingencies of Influence Tactics

“Soft” tactics generally more acceptable than
“hard” tactics

Appropriate influence tactic depends on:
• Influencer’s power base
• Organizational position
• Cultural values and expectations
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Organizational Politics
Behaviors that others perceive as selfserving tactics for personal gain at the
expense of other people and possibly
the organization.
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Conditions for Organizational Politics
Tolerance of
Politics
Scarce
Resources
Conditions
Supporting
Organizational
Politics
Organizational
Change
Complex and
Ambiguous
Decisions
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Minimizing Political Behaviour
1.
Introduce clear rules for scarce resources
2.
Effective organizational change practices
3.
Suppress norms that support or tolerate
self-serving behavior
4.
Leaders role model organizational
citizenship
5.
Give employees more control over their
work
6.
Keep employees informed
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Power and
Influence in the
Workplace
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e
Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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