Chapter 4: Power and Influence

Leaders with a high need for power but low activity inhibition may be successful in the short term,

But the remainder of the organization may pay high costs for this success.

Projective Personality Test (Thematic Apperception Test)

Can assess the need for power.

Power

Capacity to produce effects on others or the potential to influence others

Influence

Change in a target agent's attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as the result of influence tactics.

Several significant people in an alcoholic's life, such as a spouse, children, employer, or neighbor, agree to confront the alcoholic in unison about the many dimensions of his or her problem. This is an example of an influence tactic called ________.

Coalition tactic.

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.

Followers can use their legitimate power, job descriptions, bureaucratic rules,

or union policies to influence leaders. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Legitimate Power.

Followers may have more

Expert power than leaders at times. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Expert Power.

Sources of Leader Power (Leader)

Expert, Referent, Coercive, Reward

McClelland found that individuals with a high need for power are guaranteed leadership success.

False.

Leaders can improve their effectiveness by

Finding ways to enhance the value of their personal contribution to their team.

Leaders with high referent power

Generally do NOT use legitimizing or pressure tactics

Power (important distinctions)

1. Function of the leader, the followers, and the situation 2. Does not need to be exercised in order to have its effect 3. Attributed to others on the basis and frequently of influence tactics they use and on their outcomes

Sources of Leader Power

1. Furniture arrangement 2. Shape of the table used for meetings and seating arrangements 3. Prominently displayed symbols 4. Appearances of title and authority 5. Choice of clothing 6. Presence or absence of crisis

Leader motives also have

1. High need for socialized power and a high level of activity inhibition may be required for long-term leadership success 2. Followers and leaders differ in the need for power, activity inhibition, and motivation to manage

Influence tactics (important distinction)

Apart from leaders, followers can also wield power and influence over leaders as well as over each other.

Holding a position and being a leader

Are not synonymous. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Legitimate Power.

Hard tactics are used when:

1. An influencer has the upper hand 2. Resistance is anticipated 3. The other person's behavior violates important norms

Research indicates that leaders who rely on referent and expert powers have subordinates who:

1. Are more motivated and satisfied 2. Are absent less 3. Perform better According to French and Raven's Power Taxonomy.

Influence (important distinctions)

1. Can be measured by the behaviors or attitudes manifested by followers as a result of a leader's influence tactics 2. Leaders with high amounts of power can cause fairly substantial changes in subordinates' attitudes and behaviors 3. Amount of power followers have in work situations can also vary dramatically 4. Some followers may exert relatively more influence than the leader does in certain situations

Followers can exercise reward powers over leaders by:

1. Controlling scarce resources 2. Modifying their level of effort based on the leader's performance

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

1. Determining what rewards are available and most valued by subordinates 2. Establishing policies for the fair and consistent administration of rewards for good performance

Following generalizations can be made about power and influence:

1. Effective leaders 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

According to Miner motivation to manage in terms of the following 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

Findings concerning need for power and motivation to manage have several implications for leadership practitioners -- meaning:

1. Not all individuals like being leaders 2. High need for power or motivation to manage does NOT guarantee leadership success

Soft tactics are used when:

1. One is at a disadvantage 2. Resistance is expected 3. There is personal benefit if the attempt is sucessful

Problems associated with rewards

1. Overemphasizing performance rewards can lead to workers feeling resentful and manipulated 2. Extrinsic rewards such as praise or compensation may not have the same behavioral effects as intrinsic rewards such as personal growth and development 3. Rewards may produce compliance but not other desirable outcomes like commitment

Rational tactics are used when:

1. Parties are relatively equal in power 2. Resistance is not anticipated 3. Benefits are organizational as well as personal

Need for power is expressed in the following ways:

1. Personalized Error 2. Socialized Power 3. Thematic Apperception Test (Projective Personality Test)

People select influence tactics as a function of their power relationship with another person

1. Relationships holds true universally across different social domains

Potential influence one has because of the strength of the relationship between the leader and the followers

1. Takes time to develop but can be lost quickly 2. Desire to maintain referent power may limit a leader's actions in certain situations According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Referent Power

Other ways to successfully influence superiors

1. Thoroughly prepared beforehand 2. Involving others for support or coalition tactics 3. Persisting through a combination of approaches

In his classic study, Stanley Milgram found that some ______% of individuals followed the requests of their "boss" even though doing so may have gone against their own personal beliefs.

70.

Long-term success as a leader requires

A high need for socialized power and a high need for activity inhibition.

A strong relationship exists between the relative power of agents

And targets and the typed of influence tactics used

A policeman giving a ticket is an example of _______

Coercive power.

The actions of the Taliban against woman in Afghanistan is an example of using which type of power?

Coercive.

Leadership practitioners should always

Consider why they are using a particular influence attempt before they actually use it.

An agents asks a target to participate in planning an activity. In this scenario, the agent uses an influence tactic called __________.

Consultation.

French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Legitimate Power

Depends upon a person's organizational role or his or her formal or official authority. Allows exertion of influence through requests or demands deemed appropriate by virtue of one's role and position.

An agent influences a target by giving and taking favors. This scenario exemplifies an influence tactic called __________.

Exchange.

Rational tactics

Exchange.

________ power is the power of knowledge.

Expert

Individuals in a clique who sit next to each other at a circular table

Increase their power.

Leaders should pay attention to the actual influence tactics they use and why they believe particular methods are effective

Influence efforts intended to build others up more frequently lead to positive outcomes than influence efforts intended to put others down.

Referent power

Influence one has due to the strength of the relationship between the leader and the follower.

The change in a target agent's attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as the result of influence tactics refers to________.

Influence.

In the context of influence tactics, when an agent attempts to get a target person in a good mood before making a request, __________ occurs.

Ingratiation.

Soft tactics

Ingratiation.

A minister's impassioned plea to members of a congregation about the good works that could be accomplished if a proposed addition to the church were built as an example of an influence tactic called ___________.

Inspirational appeal.

French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Reward Power

Involves the potential to influence others through control over desired resources Potential to influence others through reward power is a joint function of the leader, the followers, and the situation.

Personalized power

Is exercised for personal needs by selfish, impulsive, uninhibited individuals who lack self control.

Reward power

Is the potential to influence others due to one's control over desired resources.

Socialized power

Is used for the benefit of others or the organization and involves self-sacrifice.

Which types of power are best for a leader to use?

It depends on the situation.

MSCS predicts

Leadership success in hierarchical or bureaucratic organizations.

A coach deciding who will play in a game is an example of

Legitimate power being exercised.

Sources of Leader Power (Situation)

Legitimate, Reward, Coercive

Hard tactics

Legitimizing or pressure tactics.

A principal asks a teacher to be on the school's curriculum committee, and the teacher accedes to the request despite reservations because it is the principal's prerogative to appoint any teacher to that role. This scenario exemplifies an influence tactic called ___________.

Legitimizing tactic.

Miner's Sentence Completion Scale (MSCS)

Measures a person's motivation to manage.

Followers with relatively more referent power than their peers are

Often spokepersons for their units and have more latitude to deviate from work-unit norms. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Referent Power.

Influence tactics

One person's actual behaviors designed to change another person''s attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors.

Leader motives

People vary in their motivation to influence or control others.

Need for power is found to be

Positively related to various leadership effectiveness criteria.

French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Coercive Power

Potential to influence others through the administration of negative sanctions or the removal of positive events Reliance on this power has inherent limitations.

An agent uses threats or persistent reminders to influence targets. This scenarios exemplifies an influence tactic called ________.

Pressure tactic.

Legitimate power is

Primarily a function of the situation.

Studies by McClelland and also by Miner use which method of assessing the need for power?

Projective personality tests Ex: MSCS

An agent uses logical arguments or factual evidence to influence others. This scenario exemplifies an influence tactic called ___________.

Rational persuasion.

Sources of Leader Power (Followers)

Referent, Reward

Many people admire Michael Dell and see him as a role model. Which type of power does Dell have?

Referent.

Coercive power can be thought of as being the opposite of

Reward power.

Leaders should discourage in-group and out-group

Rivalries from forming in the work unit.

Power of Knowledge (French and Raven's Bases of Social Power): Expert Power

Some people are able to influence others with their relative expertise in particular areas.

Individuals with a relatively large amount of power may

Successfully employ a wider variety of influence tactics

Followers that use coercive power to influence a leader's behavior

Tend to have a relatively high amount of referent power among co-workers. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Coercive Power.

Informal coercion can change

The attitudes and behavior of others. One of the most common forms of coercion is a superior's temperamental outburst. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Coercive Power.

Exercise of power occurs primarily through

The influence tactics leaders and followers use.

If different followers have considerably greater amounts of expert power,

The leader may be unable to influence them using expert power alone. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Expert Power.

The stronger the relationship,

The more influence leaders and followers exert over each other. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Referent Power.

V.I. Lenin, leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution believes that

The true leader must submerge himself in the fountain of the people.

In the context of influence tactics, identify a feature of coalition tactics that is different form that of consultation.

They are used when agents seek aid or support of others to influence a target.

Effective leaders often intuitively realize

They need more than legitimate power to be successful. According to French and Raven's Bases of Social Power: Legitimate Power.

Which of the following are nonverbal gestures of power?

Touching, Pointing, and Staring.

An individual is likely to be perceived as taller when he is introduced as a professor rather than as a student.

True.

Leaders who are relatively uninhibited in their need for power will

Use power impulsively.

Inspirational appeals

When a request or proposal is designed to arouse enthusiasm or emotions in targets

Personal appeals

When a target is asked to do a favor out of friendship.

Exchange

When a target is influenced through the exchange of favors.

Legitimizing tactics

When agents make requests based on their position or authority.

Coalition tactics

When agents seek the help of others to influence the target.

Ingratiation

When an agent attempts to get a target in a good mood before making a request.

Rational persuasion

When logical arguments or factual evidence is used to influence others

Need for power

When people vary in their motivation to influence and control others.

Consultation

When targets are asked to participate in planning an activity.

Pressure tactics

When threats or persistent reminders are used to influence targets

Some followers have a high need for power,

Which can lead to tension between the leader and the follower.

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 possess the most power in a leadership situation.