Leadership enhancing the lessons of experience 8th by hughes curphy chap 04

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Chapter

4

Power and Influence

“The true leader must submerge himself in
the fountain of the people.”
~V.I. Lenin

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Some Important Distinctions
• Power has been defined as the capacity to
produce effects on others, or the potential to
influence others.
• 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.

• Amount of power followers have in work
situations can vary dramatically.
– Sometimes, particular followers may exert relatively

more influence than the leader does.
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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.
• Followers can wield power and influence
over leaders as well as over each other.

• Individuals with a relatively large amount
of power may successfully employ a
wider variety of influence tactics.

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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.

• Followers or situational characteristics may
diminish or enhance a leader’s potential to
influence followers.
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Some Important Distinctions
(continued)

• Influence tactics refer to one person’s
actual behaviors designed to change
another person’s attitudes, beliefs, values,
or behaviors.
• 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.

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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

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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

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Sources of Leader Power in the LeaderFollower-Situation Framework

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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.
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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.

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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.
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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).
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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
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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 coworkers.

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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
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Concluding Thoughts about French
and Raven’s Power Taxonomy (cont.)
• Four generalizations can be made about power
and influence:
1. Effective leaders typically take advantage of all their
sources of power.
2. Leaders in well-functioning organizations are open
to being influenced by their subordinates.
3. Leaders vary in the extent to which they share
power with subordinates.
4. Effective leaders generally work to increase their
various power bases or become more willing to use
their coercive power.
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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.

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Leader Motives (continued)
• Need for power is found to be positively related
to various leadership effectiveness criteria.
– 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.

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Leader Motives (continued)
• Individuals vary in their motivation to manage
in terms of six composites:

1. Maintaining good relationships with authority figures
2. Wanting to compete for recognition and
advancement
3. Being active and assertive
4. Wanting to exercise influence over subordinates
5. Being visibly different from followers
6. Being willing to do routine administrative tasks

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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.
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Influence Tactics
• The Influence Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ)
assesses nine types of influence tactics:

1. Rational persuasion
2. Inspirational appeals
3. Consultation
4. Ingratiation
5. Personal appeals
6. Exchange
7. Coalition tactics
8. Pressure tactics
9. Legitimizing tactics
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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

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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.
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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.

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