Write a brief summary of the important concepts you learned from chapter 4 & 5. (Chapter 4 & 5 summary attached and textbook attached)

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4-2

Power and Influence

“The true leader must submerge himself in

the fountain of the people.”

~V.I. Lenin

C h

a p

te r

4

4-3

Some Important Distinctions

• Power has been defined as the capacity to

produce effects on others, or the potential to

influence others.

• Followers or situational characteristics 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.

4-4

Some Important Distinctions (continued)

• Influence is 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.

4-5

Some Important Distinctions (continued)

• Influence can be measured by the

behaviors or attitudes manifested by

followers as a result of a 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.

4-6

Some Important Distinctions (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.

4-7

Sources of Leader Power

• Many situational factors affect

power and influence.

– Furniture arrangement

– Office size and type

– Prominently displayed symbols

– Appearances of title and authority

– Choice of clothing

– Presence or absence of crisis

4-8

A Taxonomy of Social Power

• French and Raven identified five sources/bases

of power by which an individual can potentially

influence others.

– Expert power

– Referent power

– Legitimate power

– Reward power

– Coercive power

4-9

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

4-10

Expert Power

• Expert power is the power of knowledge.

• Some people are able to influence others with

their relative expertise in particular areas.

• Expert power is a function of the amount of

knowledge one possesses relative to other

group members, so followers may have more

expert power than leaders at times.

• If different followers have considerably greater

amounts of expert power, the leader may be

unable to influence them using expert power

alone.

4-11

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 but

can be lost quickly.

• 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 and have more latitude to deviate from work-unit norms.

4-12

Legitimate Power

• Legitimate power depends on a person’s

organizational role i.e. formal/official authority.

• 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.

• Followers can use their legitimate power (job

descriptions, bureaucratic rules, union policies)

to influence leaders.

4-13

Reward Power

• Reward power involves the potential to influence

others through control over desired resources.

• The potential to influence others through reward

power is a joint function of the leader, the

followers, and the situation.

• Overemphasizing performance rewards can lead

to workers feeling resentful and manipulated.

• Extrinsic rewards (praise, compensation) may not

have the same behavioral effects as intrinsic

rewards (personal growth, development).

4-14

Reward Power (continued)

• Leaders can enhance their ability to influence others based on reward power by:

– Determining what rewards are available and

most valued by subordinates

– Establishing policies for the fair and consistent

administration of rewards for good performance

• Followers can exercise reward power over leaders by:

– Controlling scarce resources

– Modifying their level of effort based on the

leader’s performance

4-15

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.

• One of the most common forms of coercion is a

superior’s temperamental outbursts.

• Followers that use coercive power to influence

a leader’s behavior tend to have a relatively

high amount of referent power among co-

workers.

4-16

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

– Were more satisfied

– Were absent less

– Performed better

4-17

Concluding Thoughts about French and Raven’s Power Taxonomy (cont.)

• Four generalizations can be made 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.

4-18

Leader Motives

• People vary in their motivation to influence or

control others.

• This need for power is expressed in two ways.

– Personalized power is exercised for personal needs

by selfish, impulsive individuals.

– Socialized power is used for the benefit of others or

the organization and may involve self-sacrifice.

• Thematic Apperception Tests, a projective

personality test, can assess the need for power.

• Need for power is found to be positively related

to various leadership effectiveness criteria.

4-19

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,

which can lead to tension between leader and

follower.

4-20

Leader Motives (continued)

• 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

4-21

Leader Motives (continued)

• Miner’s Sentence Completion Scale (MSCS)

consistently predicts leadership success in

hierarchical or bureaucratic organizations, and

its findings offer several implications:

– Not all individuals like being leaders.

– A high need for power or motivation to manage does

not guarantee leadership success.

– A high need for socialized power and a high level of

activity inhibition may be required for long-term

leadership success.

– Followers and leaders differ in the need for power,

activity inhibition, and motivation to manage.

4-22

Influence Tactics

• The 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

4-23

Influence Tactics and Power

• A strong relationship exists between relative

power and the 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 or expect resistance

– They will personally benefit if the attempt is successful

4-24

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

tend to use coalition, legitimizing, or pressure

tactics.

• Using influence tactics is a social skill.

4-25

A Concluding Thought about Influence Tactics

• Leaders benefit from being conscious of the

type of influence tactic to use and its effects.

• Leaders should consider why they believe

particular influence tactics are effective.

• Influence efforts intended to build others up

more frequently lead to positive outcomes than

influence efforts intended to put others down.

4-26

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

enhancing their idiosyncratic credit.

• Leaders should discourage in-group and out-

group rivalries from forming 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.