Chapter 8 Flashcards
Coercive power
The person can make things difficult for people, and you want to avoid getting him or her angry
-based on fear
Reward power
The person is able to give special benefits or rewards to people, and you find it advantageous to trade favours with him/her
-based on ability to provide benefits or rewards to people
Legitimate power
The person has the right, considering his/her position and your job responsibilities, to expect you to comply with legitimate requests
-based on relative position in the org hierarchy
Expert power
The person has the experience and knowledge to earn your respect, and you defer to his or her judgement in some matters
-based on a persons experience and knowledge
Referent power
You like the person and enjoy doing things for him or her
Information power
The person has data or knowledge that you need
What was “the Stanford prison experiment”?
- mock prison where 24 students from Stanford were randomly divided into “guards” and “inmates”
- prison from “Cell Block 1” actively revolted
- set up “privileged cell” -prisoners showed solidarity
- after 36 hours one inmate went “crazy”- was sent home
- guards became increasingly cruel
- experiment was called off after 6th day (guards wanted to keep going)
What was the”Milgram Experiment “?
- looked at how willing people were to follow authority figures
- the “teacher” was to administer electric shocks to the “learner”, the “experimenter” gave the orders
- if the learner got a list of works wrong, the teacher would shock him
- -shocks went from 15 volts to 450
- -learner would yell, experimenter encouraged more - no teacher stopped before 300 volts, 65% of teachers gave full level shocks
Resource power
- The power to control scarce resources in an org
- often where admin people gain power/influence
- time is one of the mist scarce resources in an org
- a manager hires you to make life easier/free up time
- if you are taking up a managers time (not working well with people), you are reducing your power
What are the 3 ways of evaluating the bases of power?
- commitment: the person is enthusiastic about the request, and shows initiative and persistence in carrying it out
- compliance: the person goes along with the request grudgingly, puts in minimal effort, and takes little initiative in carrying out the request
- resistance: the person is opposed to the request and tries to avoid it with such tactics as refusing, stalling, or arguing about it
What is the general dependency postulate?
The greater b’s dependency on A, the greater the power A has over B
What are the 3 main things that create dependancy? And define
- importance: must seems important
- scarcity: having something that others dont
- nonsubstitutability: not easily replaced
What are the 9 influence tactics?
- rational persuasion: using facts and data to make a logical or rational presentation of ideas
- inspirational appeals: appealing to values, ideals, and goals when making a request
- consultation: getting others involved to support ones objectives
- ingratiation: using flattery, getting goodwill, and being friendly prior to making a request
- personal appeals: appealing to loyalty and friendship when asking fir something
- exchange: offering favours or benefits in exchange fir support
- coalitions: getting the support of other people to provide backing when making a request
- pressure: using demands, threats, and reminders to get someone to do something
- legitimacy: claiming the authority or right to make a request, or showing that it supports org goals or policies
What is political skill?
-the ability to influence others in such a way as to enhance their own objectives
- politically skilled people use influence tactics more effectively
- politically skilled people are able to exert influence without others detecting it
key points
- Rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, and consultation tend to be the most effective
- pressure tends to backfire and leads to resistance
- several tactics can be used at one time
- you are most likely to be successful if you start with a sift tactic (1-5) and then move to “hard” tactics (6-9)
- effectiveness depends on the “org culture”
- -people who fit the culture of an org tend to obtain more influence
