W&O ch.10 - Power

Question 1

Power

Answer 1

Potential to change attitudes and behaviors of others

Question 2

What are three basic characteristics of power?

Answer 2

• it is based on target’s perception that powerholder controls valuable resource
• it involves unequal dependence
• it requires minimal level of trust by both parties (that resources will be delivered)

Question 3

Countervailing Power

Answer 3

• ability to keep the more powerful person in an exchange relationship
• power held by person B that creates asymmetric dependence

Question 4

General model of power

Answer 4

• person A holds power over person B
• person B has countervailing power over person A
• person B believes that person A controls valuable resources that can stop him from achieving goals

Question 5

What are the sources of power?

Answer 5

• legitimate
• reward
• coercive
• expert
• referent

Question 6

What are the contingencies of power?

Answer 6

• nonsubstitutability
• centrality
• visibility
• discretion

Question 7

Legitimate power

Answer 7

• agreement that people in certain positions can request behaviors from others
• employees also have legitimate power (norm of reciprocity)
• comes from:
  > job prescription and from informal rules of conduct
  > informational control (gatekeeping of information)

Question 8

What is the restriction of legitimate power?

Answer 8

Zone of indifference
> limited domain of behaviors that can be asked
> e.g. boss can ask to turn off social media during working hours but cannot ask to work 40 hours consecutively

Question 9

What factors influence the size of the zone of indifference? (and consequentially the impact of legitimate power)

Answer 9

• trusted leaders have wider zone of indifference
• some people obey more due to personality (conformity, tradition, …)
• culture of organization (e.g. high power distance)

Question 10

Reward Power

Answer 10

• person’s ability to:
  > control allocation of valuable resources
  > remove negative sanctions (negative reinforcement)
• employees can also have reward power with:
  > coworkers (through organizational citizenship)
  > boss (through feedback)

Question 11

Coercive Power

Answer 11

• ability to apply punishment
• employees can also have coercive power through:
  > peer pressure to change behavior

Question 12

Expert Power

Answer 12

• capacity to influence others by possessing knowledge or skills valued by them
• e.g. perceived ability to manage uncertainties

Question 13

How can expertise help coping with uncertainties?

Answer 13

• Prevention
  > preventing environmental changes
  > e.g. preventing cash shortage
• Forecasting
  > predicting environmental changes
  > e.g. ability to spot upcoming trends and acting on them so that organization gains advantage
• Absorption
  > absorbing or neutralizing impact of environmental changes
  > e.g. ability of maintenance crews to come to rescue when machine breaks down

Question 14

Referent Power

Answer 14

• capacity to influence others when others identify, like or respect powerholder
• associated with charisma
  > set of self-presentation nonverbal behaviors and characteristics

Question 15

Deference to Power

Answer 15

• submission to or extreme respect for someone’s power
• especially towards legitimate and expert power
• can become problematic (unfounded belief that person holds power)

Question 16

Nonsubstitutability

Answer 16

• power increases if it is not substitutable (decreases if there are alternative sources)
• no one else should be source of same power (e.g. you’re the only one that has knowledge on that topic)
• resources should also be nonsubstitutable (cannot be achieved through other means)

Question 17

How can nonsubstitutability be increased?

Answer 17

• control access to resource
  > e.g. restric access to profession and education for profession
• differentiate resources from alternatives
  > e.g. giving new name to package of services in a hotel
  > e.g. through developing personal brand (something about company that’s new and different from others)

Question 18

Centrality

Answer 18

• interdependence with powerholder
• e.g. how many are affected by your absence at work? how much?

Question 19

Visibility

Answer 19

• “power flows only to those who are visible”
• achieved through:
  > social interaction (e.g. sitting in desk close to boss)
  > power symbols (e.g. lab coat for doctors)
• “face-time” (spending more time at work to look more productive)

Question 20

Discretion

Answer 20

• freedom to exercise judgement
• making decisions without referring to specific rule or asking for permission
• increases with more job autonomy

Question 21

Consequence of power

Answer 21

a) feeling empowered
- perceived power over themselves and freedom from others
- independent power (no influence from others)
b) power over others
- sense of duty and responsability towards people that powerholder has power over
- interdependent power
- more mindful, less sstereotyping
> they are not contradictory (both can be present)

Question 22

What are the consequences of feeling empowerd?

Answer 22

🟢 increse in motivation, performance, job satisfaction and organizational commitment
🔴 less mindful thinking, less empathy, less accurate perceptions and more stereotyping
- can lead to dysfunctional leadership

Question 23

Social Networks

Answer 23

• social structures of individuals connected to one another by various forms of interdependence
• derive from drive to bond
• reinforce self-concept

Question 24

Social capital

Answer 24

• knowledge, opportunities and resources available to members of social network
  –> increase mutual trust, support, reciprocity and coordination
  –> facilitates sharing of resources
• social networks generate power through social capital

Question 25

How does social capital maintain and enhance power?

Answer 25

• information (increases expert power)
• visibility (more likely to think of people inside network and recommend them)
• referent power (more trust in one another and more reciprocity)

Question 26

How can social capital be gained through social networks?

Answer 26

depends on:
- strength of ties (strong vs weak)
- variety of ties
- number of ties (many ties)
- centrality of ties (social network centrality)

Question 27

Strong ties vs Weak ties

Answer 27

Strong ties:
- how often we interact with specific people, how much psychological closure, …
- more and quicker resources
Weak ties:
- acquaitances who differ from us
- provide unique opportunities, new resources, …
- sometimes even more important than strong ties

Question 28

Social Network Centrality

Answer 28

• if more central in network-> more social capital
• determined by:
  > betweenness (how in between others you are in network)
  > degree (percentage of connections you have within network)
  > closeness (strong ties)

Question 29

Structural hole

Answer 29

• gap between social networks
• filled in by “Broker” (person that becomes link between two clusters of people in one social network)

Question 30

What is an issue of social networks?

Answer 30

• can lead to exclusion
• e.g. social networks based on gender

Question 31

Influence

Answer 31

• behavior that attempts to alter someone else’s attitudes or behaviors
• power in motion

Question 32

what are some tactics to influence others?

Answer 32

• silent authority
• assertiveness
• information control
• coalition formation
• upward appeal
• persuasion
• impression management
• exchange

Question 33

Silent Authority

Answer 33

• person complies to requests because of legitimate power of authority and role expectations
• deference to authority
• works best in high power distance countries
• behavior influenced by requests or mere presence of authority

Question 34

Assertiveness

Answer 34

• “vocal authority”
• actively applying legitimate and coercive power
• reminding target of task, constantly checking target’s progress, workplace bullying, …

Question 35

Information Control

Answer 35

• controlling how much and what information is given to whom
• wheel formation (1) vs all-channels formation (2)
• 1: one person has high information control
• 2: everyone has low information control

Question 36

Coalition Formation

Answer 36

• if power is insufficient when acting alone->form coalition
• influencial in three ways:
  > pools power
  > symbolizes that issue is legitimate (if more people support issue, it seems more important)
  > influence through social identity

Question 37

Upward Appeal

Answer 37

• claiming to have support of higher authority
• also when reminding others that your request is consistent with the values of the organization

Question 38

Persuasion

Answer 38

• using facts, logical arguments and emotional appeals
  -> to change beliefs and attitudes
  -> to change behaviors

Question 39

What does the effectiveness of persuasion depend on?

Answer 39

• persuader (expertise, credibility, appearing neutral)
• message content (strong, few arguments)
• communication channel (more persuasion if channel is high in social presence and media richness)
• audience being persuaded (persuasion less efficient if audience has high intelligent and high self-esteem)

Question 40

Inoculation Effect

Answer 40

• persuasion strategy
• warning listeners that others will try to influence them in the future and they should be wary of opponent’s arguments
• as a consequence, the opponent’s next persuasion effect will be less persuasive

Question 41

Impression Management

Answer 41

• actively shaping others, perceptions and attitudes of us
• occurs through “self-presentation” (e.g. way employee dresses)
• plays a role in “personal brand”
• ingratiation

Question 42

Ingratiation

Answer 42

• attempt to increase being liked by or perceived as similar to targeted person
• e.g. portraying similar views as boss, ask boss for advice, …
• generally leads to increase in carreer but if perceived as too much-> becomes counterproductive

Question 43

Personal brand

Answer 43

• forming and displaying accurate impression of person’s own distinctive competitive advantage
• impression management plays a role in this

Question 44

Exchange

Answer 44

• promise of benefits and resources in return to person’s compliance
• negotiation, reciprocity, social networks

Question 45

What are the consequences of Influence?

Answer 45

• commitment
• compliance
• resistance

Question 46

Commitment

Answer 46

> feels that influence is legitimate
people identify with requests
highly motivated

Question 47

Compliance

Answer 47

> not want to face consequences
extrinsic motivation to implement requests
no more effort than required

Question 48

Resistance

Answer 48

> oppose behavior desired by influencer
refusal to engage in behavior
performing tasks poorly or while vocally complaining

Question 49

What forms of power are associated to hard and soft tactics?

Answer 49

• Hard tactics -> legitimate, reward or coercive power (position power)
• Soft tactics -> expert and referent power (personal power)

Question 50

What are the contingencies of influence? (how to choose which tactic is more effective)

Answer 50

• type of power held (if expert power, then soft tactics are best)
• person being influenced is at lower, same or higher status in workplace
• personal, organizational and cultural values (e.g. in high power distance country like Hong Kong, ingratiation doesn’t work)

Question 51

Organizational Politics

Answer 51

• use of influence tactics for personal gains and at expense of organization and/or others
• more if dark triad personality

Question 52

How can Organizational Politics be minimized?

Answer 52

• provide sufficient resources
• clarify resources allocation clearly
• manage change effectively (change creates ambiguity->leads to O.P.)
• discourage political behavior