Personal Power 500 words

profilelilyy
currentpower.ppt
Home>Business & Finance homework help>Management homework help>Personal Power 500 words

ENHANCING PERSONAL POWER AT WORK

Harnessing the Energy of the System

Dr.Craig Nathanson

1

1

POWER

  • The ability of a person or group to change the attitudes or behavior of others.
  • In today’s organization, power is not power OVER others
  • power is the ability to GET THINGS DONE

POLITICS

  • Acquiring, developing and using power to obtain preferred outcomes, where there is disagreement about outcomes
  • Effective managers use power to advance the interests of the group, rather than their own self interests.

TRADITIONAL ASSUMPTIONS

  • Organizations are rational, logical places
  • In business, people make unbiased, value-free decisions
  • Power in organizations should be strictly legitimate and authority based

POLITICAL MODEL

  • Organizations are arenas where different values and biases confront each other
  • Decisions are value laden, often irrational
  • Conflict is a central part of work
  • All people need personal power to accomplish important, non-routine objectives
  • Both the insufficient use of power and the excessive use of power can create imbalance in the system

?

  • “Discussing power is unpleasant because…”
  • “I feel personally uncomfortable with using power at work because…”
  • “In my experience, people who have a lot of power are…”
  • “As soon as I get power, I’m going to…!”

SOURCES OF POWER

Granted by organization:

authority

rewards

coercion

Personal characteristics:

expertise

personal attraction

extra effort

distinctive competency

Bases of Power

-French and Raven

WAYS TO ACQUIRE POWER

  • Position yourself centrally in the communication network
  • Take primary responsibility for unique, critical tasks
  • Attain discretion and the capacity to work without close supervision
  • Make your performance known to organizational leaders
  • Make your work relevant to organizational goals

TRANSFORMING POWER INTO INFLUENCE

  • Retribution: use intimidation or coercion
  • Reciprocity: use ingratiation or bargaining
  • Reason: appeal to personal values or present facts to demonstrate a significant need
  • NOTE: effective managers increase their influence by sharing their power with others, particularly subordinates

POWER VS. EMPOWERMENT

  • Power: how to gain power over others, how to use individual power
  • control-oriented model of management

  • Empowerment: supporting a sense of personal power in everyone
  • commitment-based model of management

EMPOWERMENT

  • It’s not just “turning the reins over!”
  • Empowerment involves…
  • sharing information
  • giving people the tools to make the right decisions
  • sharing and distributing power and opportunity

System with Heavy Reliance on Power

An Empowered System!

EMPOWERMENT AND DELEGATION

  • Enable others to act!
  • it leaves others feeling strong, capable and committed
  • When empowerment happens, people feel a sense of…
  • self-efficacy
  • self-determination
  • personal control
  • meaning
  • trust

FIVE CORE DIMENSIONS OF EMPOWERMENT

  • Self-efficacy –

“I can do my work”

  • Self-determination –

“I can figure out what work to do”

  • Personal consequences –

“The outcomes of my work matter”

  • Meaningfulness –

“My work is important”

  • Trust –

“I have the skills and resources I need to do my work”

POWER VS. EMPOWERMENT

  • Power
  • external source
  • ultimately, few people have it
  • the capacity to have others do what you want
  • to get more implies taking it away from someone else
  • leads to competition
  • Empowerment
  • internal source
  • ultimately, everyone can have it
  • the capacity to have others do what they want
  • to get more does not affect what others have
  • leads to cooperation

WAYS TO EMPOWER OTHERS

  • Articulate a vision and goals
  • Help them to master challenges
  • Model the correct behavior
  • Provide support
  • Emphasize the positive
  • Provide good information
  • Provide necessary resources
  • Connect to outcomes
  • Be fair, reliable, open

Do you agree?

Anything missing?

RESPONSIBILITIES OF EMPOWERED EMPLOYEES

  • Communicating openly
  • Taking ownership of work
  • Continuous learning
  • Having a team orientation

GROUP EXCERISE

  • Meet as a group and define 3 ways in which a person can increase their personal power at work.