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

1212

Power and Influencein the Workplace

Power and Influencein the Workplace

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-2

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-3

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

Craig Abraham/Fairfax Photos

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-4

Power and Dependence

PersonPersonAA

PersonPersonB’s GoalsB’s Goals

PersonPersonBB

Person B’s Person B’s counterpower counterpower over Person Aover Person A Person A’s Person A’s

power over power over Person BPerson B

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-5

Model of Power in Organizations

PowerPowerover Othersover Others

ContingenciesOf Power

Legitimate

Reward

Coercive

Expert

Referent

SourcesSourcesOf PowerOf Power

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-6

LegitimateLegitimate • 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

Source of Power

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-7

LegitimateLegitimate

Ability to control the allocation of rewards valued by others and to remove negative sanctions

Operates upward as well as downward

Source of Power

RewardReward

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-8

LegitimateLegitimate

Ability to apply punishment

Exists upward as well as downward

Peer pressure is a form of coercive power

Source of Power

RewardReward

CoerciveCoercive

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-9

LegitimateLegitimate

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

Source of Power

RewardReward

CoerciveCoercive

ExpertExpert

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-10

LegitimateLegitimate

Occurs when others identify with, like, or otherwise respect the person

Associated with charismatic leadership

Source of Power

RewardReward

CoerciveCoercive

ExpertExpert

Referent

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-11

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-12

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-13

Contingencies of Power

Contingenciesof Power

Substitutability

Centrality

Discretion

Visibility

PowerPowerover othersover others

SourcesSourcesof Powerof Power

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-14

IncreasingNonsubstitutability

ControllingControllingTasksTasks

ControllingControllingKnowledgeKnowledge

DifferentiationDifferentiation

ControllingControllingLaborLabor

Increasing Nonsubstitutability

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-15

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-16

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-17

AssertivenessAssertiveness • Actively applying legitimate and coercive power (“vocal authority”)

• Reminding, confronting, checking, threatening

Silent Silent AuthorityAuthority

• Following requests without overt influence

• Based on legitimate power, role modeling

• Common in high power distance cultures

more

Types of Influence

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-18

Coalition Coalition FormationFormation

• Group forms to gain more power than individuals alone

1. Pools resources/power 2. Legitimizes the issue3. Power through social identity

ExchangeExchange• Promising or reminding of past benefits in

exchange for compliance

• Negotiation is integral to this strategy

• Networking relates to exchange influence

more

Types of Influence (con’t)

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-19

Ingratiation/ Ingratiation/ Impress. Mgt.Impress. Mgt.

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

• Impression Management• Actively shaping our public images• Way we dress, padding résumé

Upward Upward AppealAppeal

• Appealing to higher authority

• Includes appealing to firm’s goals

• Formal alliance or perception of alliance with higher status person

more

Types of Influence (con’t)

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-20

PersuasionPersuasion • Using logic, facts, emotional appeals to gain acceptance

• Depends on persuader, message content, message medium, audience

Types of Influence (con’t)

Information Information ControlControl • Manipulating others’ access to information

• Withholding, filtering, re-arranging information

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-21

Consequences of Influence Tactics

ResistanceResistance ComplianceCompliance CommitmentCommitment

PersuasionPersuasion

Ingratiation &Ingratiation &impression mgtimpression mgt

ExchangeExchange

Soft Influence Tactics

Hard Influence Tactics

Silent authoritySilent authority

Upward appealUpward appeal

Coalition formationCoalition formation

Information controlInformation control

AssertivenessAssertiveness

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-22

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-23

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-24

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-25

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 © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-26

ConditionsConditionsSupportingSupporting

Organizational Organizational PoliticsPolitics

ScarceScarceResourcesResources

Complex andComplex andAmbiguousAmbiguousDecisionsDecisions

Tolerance of Tolerance of PoliticsPolitics

OrganizationalOrganizationalChangeChange

Conditions for Organizational Politics

McShane/Von Glinow OB4e © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Slide 12-27

Minimizing Political Behavior

Leaders as Leaders as role modelsrole models

ManageManageteam normsteam norms

Free flowingFree flowinginformationinformation

Manage changeManage changeeffectivelyeffectively

IntroduceIntroduceclear rulesclear rules

Support Support values that values that

oppose politicsoppose politics

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

1212

Power and Influencein the Workplace

Power and Influencein the Workplace