4 | Power and influence Flashcards
What is power?
the ability to get things done the way one wants then done (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1989)
Outline French & Raven’s ‘Bases of power’ (1960)
There are structural and personal bases of power.
Structural includes: Legitimate, reward, coercive power
Personal includes: expert, information, referent power
What is legitimate power? Give examples.
Structual base of power
= based on position, having legitimate authority to demand someone’s compliance
e.g: CEO, manager, PM, Teacher
What is reward power? Give examples.
Structual base
= based on ability to grant reward for compliance
e.g: investor, manager
What is coercive power? Give examples.
structural base
= ability to punish someone for noncompliance
e.g: police officer, dictator
What is expert power? Give examples.
Personal base of power
= based on ability to exercise knowledge or skill
e.g: engineer, doctor
What is information power? Give examples.
personal base
= based on ability to access and control info
e.g: executive assistant
What is referent power? Give examples.
personal base
aka charisma
= peronal characteritistics that attract people to you
e.g: social movement leader, influencer, celeb
What is the Strategic Contingency Model of Power as described by Salancik & Pfeffer, 1989)?
Ideally, people/groups who cope with critical environmental problems will have more power
– it is not the structural basis of a group, but whether they are able to solve critical problems for the organisation - those groups IDEALLY should have, and often do have, the most power.
And as the environment and problems change, those in power in the org should also change
BUT.. we do not live in an ideal world and there is often a lag in trying to adapt to changing environmental circumstances
What are social networks?
(Informal) Relationships between individuals
aka ‘informal organisation’ in a company
- Diversifying your network will lessen your dependency on particular individuals, and
potentially make you more influential
What are social networks?
(Informal) Relationships between individuals
aka ‘informal organisation’ in a company
- Diversifying your network will lessen your dependency on particular individuals, and
potentially make you more influential
Describe a cohesive network
- Everyone is connected
- lots of communication and coordination, trust and mutual support, mutual dependency
- there is redundant information
Describe a bridging network
Boundary spanners = people who bridge networks who are not alr connected to one another
–> boundary spanners can decide WHAT info to communicate, WHEN, or HOW to communicate it
- access to bridging networks => access to more novel info from these different sources
What comes under strong ties?
- frequent interaction
- reciprocation
- more effort to maintain ties
What constitues weak ties in rels?
- less frequent interactions
- acquaintance rather than a close friend
- easy to maintain
–> you can have many weak ties bc there’s no dependency - expose you to novel info
–> e.g. helpful when job searching