Unit 4: Learning Objectives Flashcards
Students will be able to define power in a business sense.
In the social sciences, power is the ability to move people—change behaviors, cause actions, accomplish tasks. Relating to leadership, it is often described as the ability to exert influence. We will discuss the relationship between power and influence later.
Students will be able to explain French and Raven’s Taxonomy of Power.
Their five types of power are:
Legitimate Referent Expert Reward Coercive
If we are talking of a political context, then coercive power is probably the most powerful.
In the literature, it is generally agreed that referent power is the most powerful. It is followed by expert power. Notice that these two kinds of power fall in the upper end of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They are associated with feelings.
Students will be able to discuss the difference between power and influence.
Power functions directly. You apply power with the expectation of an outcome.
Influence is the application of power. In most cases, it is indirect.
Influence is the medical model of power…goes for underlying causes.
Students will be able to explain how power operates.
Given our sense of democracy, the use of raw power often holds negative sanctions.
Many are unwilling to admit they use force, or try to rationalize it away. They try to keep their power unobtrusive. One way to determine who holds power is to determine the possible power resources in the situation and identify which parties hold which power. Power will ultimately be used if it is available.
keep in mind that nobody is inherently powerful. Power only exists when we ratify it.
Power is only present if it is ratified. Nobody has inherent power. It must give given by followers, and continually reaffirmed. This is called “The Myth of Power.”
Students will be able to understand and explain the 9 influence tactics.
- Rational persuasion. This is using reason and logic to convince. This is associated with French and Raven’s concept of expert power.
- Inspirational appeals: This is the use of emotion to persuade. This is the use of referent power.
- Consultation. This is getting others to participate in the process of planning, making decisions and changing. This can be expert power, but also legitimate and referent power.
- Ingratiation. We often call this “buttering up,” or using flattery to get someone on our side. This is the use of referent power.
- Personal appeals. This is calling upon personal loyalty or friendship for support. This is referent power.
- Exchange. This is trading favors. If you support me, then I’ll support you. This is primary reward power.
- Coalition tactics. This is forming power coalitions. If you can get people to join in with you, you can use this to persuade others. This is referent power, but can also be legitimate power.
- Pressure. Pressure is demanding compliance by using threats or by actually carrying out a threat. This is coercive power.
- Legitimizing tactics. This is requiring compliance because of one’s right or authority. This is legitimate power.
Students will be able to discuss and explain impression management.
Part of politics in the workplace is personal. That is, you attempt to create an image of yourself in order to improve your status or to get the job done. This is called impression management.
We also often talk about “first impressions.” Whether we like it or not, impressions matter and part of being politically successful in an organization is the ability to control this factor.
Students will be able to explain the three reactions to power, influence and politics.
When power or influence is used, people react differently
- Commitment
- Compliance
- Resistance
Commitment. This is when the subject fully agrees with and embraces the issues of the leader. There is complete acceptance of directives and the follower internalizes the concept. In this case, giving orders or directing an employee is not necessary because the employee wants to do what is asked. This is part of being a good organizational citizen. The employee embraces the goals and objectives of the organization and wants it to succeed. Please note that this can include disagreeing with management. If an employee if fully committed, and sees something that is not working as well as it should, they will be anxious to fix the problem. This may mean disagreeing with policies or practices and bringing this to the attention of leadership.
Compliance. This is when the follower does as he or she is told. This can include doing exactly as told, even when the employee may know the leader is wrong. This is called “vicious compliance.” It is done with the hope that doing exactly as you are told and then having it go wrong will reflect negatively on the leader. The reason for doing this may be to discredit a disliked leader, as a power play to get the leader’s job, or simply schadenfreude—rejoicing in the misfortune of others. Compliance is found in organizations in which bosses see themselves as directing activities. Employees are expected to do as they are told, and as a result have little “ownership” in the process.
Resistance. This can take several forms. Employees may stall, obfuscate, delay, or outright defy orders. The leadership of the organization is not valued by the employees and there are regular efforts to subvert their leadership. Some resistance can be manifest as outright hostility. In some cases, it may be passive-aggressive. Many times, the resistance is hidden from the manager. This shows itself in power coalitions among staff, secret agreements, self-imposed limits on production, etc. Resistance can come from an individual employee, but in its more virulent form, be a conspiracy among employees.
Students will be able to explain why leaders should do the right thing.
“a good leader is an ethical leader.” I think this should be part of the definition of good leadership. Without ethical underpinnings, there can be no good leadership.
Let me put it this way: Good leaders do the right things. Now I know that for many of you, a statement like this causes problems. How do we know what is the “right thing” to do? What if one thing is right for me and not right for somebody else? Is it really possible to determine what is right and what is wrong?
The best leaders will have strongly held ethical beliefs, and convert those beliefs into behaviors. You need to examine your value system and have it drive your actions. As a leader, you should do the right thing, but how do you know what is right and what is wrong?
No leader can afford to check their value system at the door. If we have learned anything from Enron, Global Crossing, Vivendi and several other companies whose leadership “cheated”, it is that successful leaders must be grounded in an ethical system strong enough to dictate their behavior
Students will be able to explain how ethical decisions are made.
Contrary to the belief of many, ethical decision making is not a rational process. We do not process this decision directly through our value system. It is generally done in three steps:
- Evaluate whether or not it is an ethical decision.
a. What is the value of the decision—stealing a pencil or $1 million
b. What are the social ramifications? What will others think? - Intuitively make the decision.
- Go back, post facto, and rationalize the decision against our value system.
Therefore: Our intuition must be value-based. If not, we will not make ethical decisions.
