Chapter 10: Power & Influence In The Workplace

Front 1

Define "Power".

Back 1

The capacity of a person, team, or organization to influence others.

* Not act of changing attitudes/behavior, only potential to do so.

*based on target's perception that the power holder controls a powerful resource that can help them achieve their goals (may or may not actually control it).

*Involves asymmetric (unequal) dependence of one party on another party

*Depends on some minimal level of trust (expectation that the more powerful party will deliver the resource)

Front 2

What is "Countervailing Power"?

Back 2

The capacity of a person, team, or organization to keep a more powerful person or group in the exchange relationship.

*Less powerful party has this over more powerful

Front 3

What (5) sources are power derived from?

Back 3

Legitimate, Reward, Coercive, Expert, and Referent.

* Legitimate, Reward, and Coercive = originate mostly from the power holder's formal position or informal role.

* Expert & Referent = originate mainly from power holder's own characteristics.

Front 4

What are the (4) contingencies of power?

Back 4

The employee's or department's substitutability, centrality, discretion, and visibility.

Front 5

What is "Legitimate power"?

Back 5

An agreement among organizational members that people in certain roles can request certain behaviours of others.

*Originates from formal job descriptions & informal rules of conduct

* "Zone of Indifference" - what someone asks vs what the other is willing to do (depends on level of trust)

Front 6

What is the "Norm of Reciprocity"?

Back 6

A felt obligation and social obligation of helping or otherwise giving something of value to someone who has already helped you or given something of value to you.

Front 7

What is Legitimate Power through Information Control?

Back 7

Information gatekeepers gain control in two ways:

1) Information is a resource - those who need that information are dependent on the GK to provide the resources.

2) By selectively distributing information so those receiving the information perceive the situation differently (can potentially influence executive decisions by framing their reality through selective distribution of information)

Front 8

What is "Reward Power"?

Back 8

Power derived from the person's ability to control the allocation of rewards valued by others and to remove negative sanctions.

Front 9

What is "Coercive Power"?

Back 9

Power to apply punishment.

*Both direct and indirect forms, may not be exercised with an adverse intent

*Some organizations rely on peer-based pressure to control coworker behaviour in team settings

Front 10

What is "Expert Power"?

Back 10

An individual or work unit's capacity to influence others by processing knowledge or skills valued by others. Originates mostly from within the power holder.

*One important form is the ability to manage uncertainties in the business environment.

Front 11

In what (3) ways can expertise help with uncertainty?

Back 11

1) Prevention - keeping environmental changes from occurring

2) Forecasting - predict environmental changes/variations

3) Absorption - absorbing/neutralising effect/impact of environmental shifts as they occur

Front 12

What is "Referent Power"?

Back 12

The capacity to influence others on the basis of an identification with and respect for the power holder.

* Originate within the power holder, largely a function of a person's interpersonal skills and tends to develop slowly

* Associated with Charisma

Front 13

What is "Charisma"?

Back 13

A personal characteristic or special "gift" that serves as a form of interpersonal attention and referent power over others.

* Produces a high degree of trust, respect, and devotion toward the charismatic individual.

Front 14

What is "Substitutability"?

Back 14

A contingency of power pertaining to the availability of alternatives.

* Strongest when someone has a monopoly over a valued resource, but also substitutions of the resource itself

*Nonsubstitutability - strengthened by controlling access to the resource.

Front 15

What is "Centrality"?

Back 15

A contingency of power pertaining to the degree and nature of interdependence between the power holder and others.

* Increases with number of people dependent on you and how quickly/severely the are affected

Front 16

What is "Visibility"?

Back 16

Employees gain power when their talents remain in the forefront of the minds of their boss, coworkers, and others.

* power increases with visibility

* employees gain by being literally visible (close to boss)

Front 17

What is "Discretion"?

Back 17

The freedom to exercise judgement; to make decisions without referring to a specific rule or receiving permission from someone else.

* Managerial discretion varies considerably across industries, and managers with internal locus of control are viewed as more powerful because they don't act like they lack discretion in their life

Front 18

How do the contingencies affect power?

Back 18

Power increases with high levels of centrality, visibility, and discretion. It decreases with substitutability.

Front 19

What are "Social Networks"?

Back 19

Social structures of individuals or social units that are connected to each other through one or more forms of interdependence.

* Formed with common interested, common status, expertise, kinship, or physical proximity.

* Exist everywhere due to the drive to bond, but cultural differences in norms.

* Generate power through social capital

* Company structure and practices can shape these networks to some extent

Front 20

What is "Social Capital"?

Back 20

The knowledge and other resources available to people or social units (teams, organisations) from a durable network that connects them to others.

Front 21

What are social networks' resources?

Back 21

1) Information from other network members which improves the individual's expert power

2) Increased visibility, increased referent power

3) Helps with salary negotiations

Front 22

How is Centrality determined in Social Networks?

Back 22

1) Between-ness - how much you are located between others in their network

2) Degree Centrality - Number or Percentage of Connections you have to others in the network

3) "Closeness" of the Relationship with others in the network - centrality increases because they are affected more quickly and significantly by you.

Front 23

What is a "Structural Hole"?

Back 23

An area between two or more dense social network areas that lacks network ties.

Front 24

What are some of the downsides of Social Networks?

Back 24

1) Social networks can create a formidable barrier to those who are not actively connected to it.

2) The effect of social networks can constrain the opportunities and advancement of women to corporate board members.

Front 25

What are some of the consequences of power?

Back 25

1) Empowerment increases motivation, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and job performances, but also increases automatic rather than mindful thinking (rely on stereotypes, have difficulty empathising and generally have less accurate perceptions compared with people with less power)

2) Other type of power = an individual has power over others, therefore producing a sense of duty/responsibility for the people over whom you have power so more mindful of their actions (less stereotyping)

Front 26

What is "Influence"?

Back 26

Any behaviour that attempts to alter someone's attitudes or behaviours.

* Power in Motion - applying one or more sources of power to get people to alter their beliefs, feelings, and activities.

*Essential process through which people coordinate their efforts and act in concert to achieve organisational objectives

Front 27

What are the (8) types of influence tactics?

Back 27

Hard (force behaviour through position power) - Silent authority, Assertiveness, Information Control, Coalition Formation, and Upward appeal

Soft (rely more on personal sources of power) - Persuasion, Impression Management, Exchange

Front 28

What is "Silent Authority" when it comes to influencing?

Back 28

Occurs when someone complies with a request because of the requestor's legitimate power as well as the target person's role expectations

Front 29

What is "Assertiveness" when it comes to influencing?

Back 29

Might be called "Vocal Authority" because it involves actively applying legitimate & coercive power to influence others

Front 30

What is "Information Control" when it comes to influencing?

Back 30

Power turns into influence when the power holder selectively distributes information such that it reframes the situation and causes others to change their attitudes and/or behaviour.

Front 31

What is "Coalition Formation" when it comes to influencing?

Back 31

When people lack sufficient power alone to influence others in the organisation, they might form a coalition of people to support the proposed change.

Front 32

What is a "Coalition"?

Back 32

A group that attempts to influence people outside the group by pooling the resources and power of its members.

* Informal group that advocates a new set of norms and behaviours.

Front 33

What is "Upward Appeal" when it comes to influencing?

Back 33

A type of influence in which someone with higher authority or expertise is called on in reality or symbolically to support the influencer's position.

Front 34

What is "Persuasion" when it comes to influencing?

Back 34

The ability to present facts, logical arguments, and emotional appeals to change another person's attitudes and behaviour.

* People are more persuasive when listeners believe that they have expertise and credibility.

* Message is more important than messenger

Front 35

What is the "Inoculation Effect"?

Back 35

A persuasive communications strategy of warning listeners that others will try to influence them in the future and that they should be wary of the opponent's arguments

Front 36

What is "Impression Management" when it comes to influencing?

Back 36

Actively shaping through self-presentation and other means the perceptions and attitudes that others have of you.

Front 37

What is "Ingratiation"?

Back 37

A subcategory of impression management; Any attempt to increase liking by, or perceived similarity to, some targeted person.

* Effective but may lead one to be seen as a brown-noser.

Front 38

What is "Exchange" when it comes to influencing?

Back 38

Involves the promise of benefits or resources in exchange for the target person's compliance with your request.

* Negotiation is an integral part of exchange activities

*Includes applying norm of reciprocity

Front 39

What are the (3) possible consequences of influence tactics?

Back 39

1) Resistance - occurs when people/work units oppose the behaviour desired by the influencer.

2) Compliance - occurs when people are motivated to implement the influencer's request for purely instrumental reasons (usually involves engaging in the behaviour with no more effort than is required)

3) Commitment - people identify with the influencer's request and are highly motivated to implement it even when extrinsic sources of motivation are not present.

Front 40

What are some contingencies of influence tactics?

Back 40

1) People react more favourably to soft tactics vs. hard tactics

2) Strategy choice depends on a few contingencies: which sources of power are the strongest, whether the person being influenced is higher/lower/same level in the organisation

3) Personal, organisational, and cultural values

Front 41

What are "Organisational Politics"?

Back 41

Behaviours that others perceive as self-serving tactics at the expense of other people and possibly the organisation.

* Employees who experience organisational politics have lower job satisfaction, organisational commitment, organisational citizenship, and work performance, as well as higher levels of work-related stress and motivation to leave the organisation.

Front 42

What can one do to minimise organisational politics?

Back 42

1) Triggered by scarce resources in the workplace, so maintain or add resources

2) Fuelled by ambiguous, complex, or nonexistent formal rules, so make resource allocation decisions clear and simplified.

3) Org change brings out more, so keep employees informed and involved with decisions.

4) More common in work units and organisations where it is tolerated and reinforced, so organisations need to diagnose and alter systems and role modelling that support self-servicing behaviour (supporting values such as altruism and customer focus)

5) Org leaders should become role models of org citizenship rather than symbols of successful org politicians.

Front 43

What Personal Characteristics affect a person's motivation to engage in self-serving behaviour?

Back 43

1) Strong need for personal (vs. socialized) power

2) Machiavellian Values