Organizational behavior 4th by MShean chap012

12

Power and Influence
in the Workplace
McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Power, Influence & Politics at NAB
National Australia Bank
rogue trader Luke Duffy and
his colleagues created
losses of $350 million,
thanks in part of Duffy’s
power and influence tactics.

Craig Abraham/Fairfax Photos

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-2

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


The Meaning of Power
• Power is the capacity of a
person, team, or
organization to influence
others.

– The potential to influence
others
– People have power they don’t
use and may not know they
possess
– Power requires one person’s
perception of dependence on
another person

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-3

Craig Abraham/Fairfax Photos

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Power and Dependence
Person B’s
counterpower
over Person A

Person
A

Person
B

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Person A’s
power over
Person B

Person
B’s Goals

Slide 12-4

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Model of Power in Organizations
Sources
Of Power

Legitimate
Reward
Coercive
Expert
Referent

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Power
over Others

Contingencies
Of Power

Slide 12-5

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Source of Power
Legitimate

• Agreement that people in certain
roles can request certain
behaviors of others
• Based on job descriptions and
mutual agreement from those
expected to abide by this
authority
• Legitimate power range (zone of
indifference) is higher in high
power distance cultures

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-6

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Source 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

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-7

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Source of Power
Legitimate
Reward
Coercive

 Ability to apply punishment
 Exists upward as well as
downward
 Peer pressure is a form of
coercive power

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-8

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Source of Power
Legitimate
Reward
Coercive
Expert

 Individual’s or work unit’s capacity
to influence others by possessing
knowledge or skills that they
value
 Employees gaining expert power
over companies in knowledge
economy

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-9

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Source of Power
Legitimate
Reward
Coercive
Expert
Referent

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

 Occurs when others identify with,
like, or otherwise respect the
person
 Associated with charismatic
leadership

Slide 12-10

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Information Power at Lowe Counsel
Information about the future
helps companies to cope with
environmental uncertainties,
so trendspotters like Zoe
Lazarus and Richard Welch at
Lowe Counsel (shown here)
potentially wield considerable
power.

Courtesy of Lowe Worldwide

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-11

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Information and Power
• Control over information flow
– Based on legitimate power
– Relates to formal
communication network
– Common in centralized
structures (wheel pattern)

• Coping with uncertainty
– Those who know how to cope
with organizational uncertainties
gain power

• Prevention
• Forecasting
• Absorption
Courtesy of Lowe Worldwide

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-12

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Contingencies of Power
Sources
of Power

Power
over others
Contingencies
of Power
Substitutability
Centrality
Discretion
Visibility

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-13

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Increasing Nonsubstitutability

Controlling
Tasks

Differentiation

Increasing
Nonsubstitutability
Controlling
Labor

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Controlling
Knowledge

Slide 12-14

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Networking and Power
• Cultivating social relationships with others to accomplish
one’s goals
• Increases power through

– social capital -- durable network that connects people
to others with valuable resources
– referent power -- people tend to identify more with
partners within their own networks
– visibility and centrality contingencies

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-15

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Influencing Others
• Influence is 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

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-16

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


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
McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-17

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Types of Influence (con’t)
Exchange

• Promising or reminding of past benefits in
exchange for compliance
• Negotiation is integral to this strategy
• Networking relates to exchange influence

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
McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-18

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Types of Influence (con’t)
Upward
Appeal

• Appealing to higher authority
• Includes appealing to firm’s goals
• Formal alliance or perception of alliance
with higher status person

Ingratiation/ • Ingratiation
• Increasing liking/similarity to target
Impress. Mgt.
• Flattering, helping, seeking advice

• Impression Management
• Actively shaping our public images
• Way we dress, padding résumé
more
McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-19

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Types of Influence (con’t)
Persuasion

Information

Control

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

• Using logic, facts, emotional appeals to gain
acceptance
• Depends on persuader, message content,
message medium, audience

• Manipulating others’ access to information
• Withholding, filtering, re-arranging
information

Slide 12-20

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


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

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Compliance

Slide 12-21

Commitment

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple
Computer and Pixar
Animation Studios, is
famous for influencing
people through his

persuasiveness, which
draws them into his “reality
distortion field.”

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-22

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Contingencies of Influence Tactics
• “Soft” tactics generally more
acceptable
• Appropriate influence tactic
depends on:
– Organizational position
– Influencer’s power base
– Cultural values and
expectations
– Age cohort

• Gender differences

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-23

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

WorldCom Politics
Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers (left), CFO Scott Sullivan
(right), and other executives perpetrated one of the largest cases of
accounting fraud in history by using assertiveness, information control,
and other influence practices as political tactics to protect their financial
interests.

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-24

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.


Organizational Politics
Behaviors that others perceive as self-serving
tactics for personal gain at the expense of other
people and possibly the organization.

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e

Slide 12-25

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.