Power and Influence

 “The true leader must submerge himself in the fountain of

the people.”

 ~V.I. Lenin

 Lecture 3
Some important distinctions
 Power has been defined as the capacity to produce effects on
others, or the potential to influence others.

 Followers or situational characteristics may diminish or

enhance a leader’s potential to influence followers.

 Power does not need to be exercised in order to have its

effect.-(military-political)

 Power is attributed to others on the basis and frequency of

influence tactics they use and on their outcomes.
Power, Influence and Influence Tactics

 Influence: Defined as the change in a target agent’s attitudes,

values, beliefs, or behaviors as the result of influence tactics.

 Influence tactics: Refer to one person’s actual behaviors

designed to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, values,
or behaviors.

 Followers can wield power and influence over leaders as well

as over each other.
 Measuring Power and Influence
 Influence can be measured by the behaviors or attitudes
manifested by followers as a result of leader’s influence
tactics.
 Leaders can cause fairly substantial changes in
subordinates’ attitudes and behaviors.
 The amount of power followers have in work situations can
also vary dramatically.
 Sometimes, particular followers may exert relatively more
influence than the leader does.
 Measuring Power and Influence (continued)

 Individuals
with a relatively large amount of power
may successfully employ a wider variety of influence
tactics.
 Followers often can use a wider variety of influence
tactics than the leader.
 Thisis because the formal leader is not always the person
who possesses the most power in a leadership situation.
 Symbols of Leader Power
 Furniture, office arrangements and type of office

 Prominently displayed symbols

 Appearances of title and authority

 Choice of clothing

 Presence or absence of crisis

Sources of Leader Power in the Leader-
Follower-Situation Framework
Expert Power

 Expert power: Power of knowledge.

 Some people are able to influence others through
their relative expertise in particular areas.
 Ifdifferent followers have considerably greater
amounts of expert power, the leader may be unable
to influence them using expert power alone.
Referent Power
 Referent power: Refers to the potential influence one has due
to the strength of the relationship between the leader and the
followers.
 Referent power often takes time to develop.
 The stronger the relationship, the more influence leaders and
followers exert over each other.
 Followers with relatively more referent power than their peers
are often spokespersons for their units.
 They generally have more latitude to deviate from work-unit
norms.
Legitimate Power
 Legitimate power: Depends on a person’s organizational role.
 Legitimate power allows exertion of influence through
requests or demands deemed appropriate by virtue of role
and position.
 Holding a position and being a leader are not synonymous.
 Effective leaders often intuitively realize they need more
than legitimate power to be successful.
 It is also possible for followers to use their legitimate power
to influence leaders.
Reward Power
 Reward power: Involves the potential to influence
others due to one’s control over desired resources.
 The potential to influence others through reward power
is a joint function of the leader, the followers, and the
situation.
 An overemphasis on rewards for performance can lead
to resentment and feelings by workers of being
manipulated.
 Extrinsic rewards may not have the same effects on
behavior as intrinsic rewards.
Cautions About Reward Power
 Leaders can enhance their ability to influence others based on
reward power if they:
 Determine what rewards are available.
 Determine what rewards are valued by their subordinates.
 Establish clear policies for the equitable and consistent
administration of rewards for good performance.
 Followers may exercise reward power over leaders by:
 Controlling administration of scarce resources.
 Modifying their level of effort.
Coercive Power
 Coercive power: the potential to influence others through the
administration of negative sanctions or the removal of positive
events.
 Reliance on this power has inherent limitations and drawbacks.
 One of the most common forms of coercion is a superior’s
temperamental outbursts.
 Followers can also use this power to influence their leader’s
behavior.
 More likely to use this power when a relatively high amount of
referent power exists among co-workers.
Informational Power
 Informational power:
 is based on the ability to control the flow of information that is
needed to get things done.
 It is often derived from having access to confidential information
that others don’t know (information asymmetry).
 Informational power can be very strong in our increasingly
information and data driven world.
Concluding thoughts about French and
Raven’s Power Taxonomy
 Leaders can usually exert more power during a
crisis than during periods of relative calm.
 During a crisis, followers may be more eager to
receive direction and control from leaders.
 Research indicates that reliance on referent
and expert power led to employees who were:
 More motivated
 More satisfied
 Were absent less
 Performed better
Four Generalizations About
Power and Influence
 Effective leaders typically take advantage
of all their sources of power.
 Leaders in well-functioning organizations
are open to being influenced by their
subordinates.
 Leaders vary in the extent to which they
share power with subordinates.
 Effective leaders generally work to increase
their various power bases or become more
willing to use their coercive power.
Leader Motives
 People vary in their motivation to influence or
control others.
 Two different ways of expressing the need for
power:
 Personalized power
 Socialized power- for good for empowerment
 Need for power is found to be positively
related to various leadership effectiveness
criteria.
Types of Influence Tactics

 Influence Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) assesses

nine types of influence tactics:
 Rational persuasion
 Inspirational appeals
 Consultation
 Ingratiation
 Personal appeals
 Exchange
 Coalition tactics
 Pressure tactics
 Legitimizing tactics
Influence Tactics and Power
 A strong relationship exists between relative power
and types of influence tactics used.
 Hard tactics are typically used when:
 An influencer has the upper hand.
 Resistance is anticipated.
 When a person’s behavior violates important norms.

 Soft tactics are typically used when:

 They are at a disadvantage.
 They expect resistance.
 They will personally benefit if the attempt is
successful.
Influence Tactics and Power (continued)

 Rational tactics are typically used when:

 Parties are relatively equal in power.
 Resistance is not anticipated.
 Benefits are organizational as well as personal.
 Leaders with high referent power generally do not
use legitimizing or pressure tactics.
 Leaders with only coercive or legitimate power
may use only coalition, legitimizing, or pressure
tactics.
 Using influence tactics can be thought of as a
social skill.
A Concluding Thought about Influence Tactics
 Research indicates that though hard tactics are
effective, it also changes the way we see
others.
 An implicit lesson for leaders is of being
conscious of the type of influence tactic to use
and its effects.
 It is suggested that leaders pay attention to why
they believe particular influence tactics are
called for.
 Influence efforts intended to build others up
more frequently lead to positive outcomes
rather than vice versa.
Summary
 By reflecting on their different bases of power,
leaders may better understand how they can
affect followers and even expand their power.
 Leaders can improve their effectiveness by
finding ways to enhance their idiosyncratic credit.
 Leaders should discourage in-group and out-group
rivalries to develop in the work unit.
 The exercise of power occurs primarily through
the influence tactics leaders and followers use.
 Leadership practitioners should always consider
why they are using a particular influence attempt
before they actually use it.
Building effective relationships with
superiors

 1) Understanding your superior’s world

 2) Adapting to the style of your superior

 Understanding your superior’s world

 A starting point is getting to understand your superior’s personal goals and

objectives. Knowledge of their values, preferences, personality and needs can
help you better understand their actions and their motives and increase your
capacity to positively influence them.
 A successful strategy for managing upwards is to make up for a superior’s
weaknesses and lack of knowledge by providing support and assistance
through your complementary knowledge and skills. This may involve, for
example, helping to orientate a new superior who has transferred from a
different area.
 A key success strategy is to ensure that your superior does not suffer
unpleasant surprises through lack of information that should have been
provided to them
 Adapting to the style of your superior

 Successful followers learn how to adapt to the preferences of their superiors.

Individual leaders have their own preferred communication style –
 Over time, you could use influence tactics to help your superior change their
style, but this will require a concerted effort over a long period. In the
meantime, you cut yourself off from influencing your superior if you do not
use their preferred style of communication, decision-making, problem solving
and interaction etc.
 Associated with this aspect is the need to clarify your role and the
expectations of the superior.
 If you take the initiative in this process, you can avoid a lot of
misunderstanding and begin to build an effective relationship with your
superior (referent power). Superiors value honesty and integrity and
appreciate reliability in work habits and task accomplishment.
Power and punishment

 Leaders sometimes have to institute

 Disciplinary action
 Impose penalties for inappropriate behavior by subordinates

 Three core issues to be able to handle punishment effectively

 The myths surrounding the use of punishment
 1) The use of punishment results in undesirable emotional effects on the part
of the recipient (Skinner).
 2) Punishment is unethical and inhumane.
 3) Punishment rarely works on a permanent basis
Punishment, satisfaction and performance

 Researches are ambiguous given the varying nature of research subjects,

organizational conditions and the way the punishment is administered

 Some suggestions and outcomes

 Punishment may increase job satisfaction (because it deals with under-performers

within a work group).
 Punishment may decrease role ambiguity and absenteeism rates.
 Punishment may have a positive effect on performance (depending on what
behaviors are being punished).
Strategies for administering punishment

 Be aware of any personal bias (or unfounded attributions) and check the facts
before making decisions or acting in relation to punishment.
 Focus on the act, not the person (focus on specific behaviors, not on the
person’s attributes).
 Be consistent in the administration of punishment (to avoid inequity and to
be more effective – organizational policies and guidelines are important
here).
 Explain clearly why punishment is being administered and make it clear to
everyone what consequences will follow what specific behaviours (so there is
no ambiguity or room for misunderstanding).
 Provide guidance and assistance to facilitate performance improvement of
the follower.
 Reward performance improvement by followers.
Conclusions

 “properly administered punishment does not lead to undesirable side effects,

is not unethical, and may effectively suppress undesirable behavior”.
 Also state that it may be unethical to not administer punishment in cases such
as unsafe practices
 To be properly administered, punishment must be contingent on some event
and not be simply arbitrary behavior
 Thank You !

Thushara Asuramanna
ACMA-UK, CGMA-UK, MBA (PIM-USJ), Bsc Eng (Hons), Dip in Mgmt (OUSL), BMS – OUSL,
AM (IESL), M (IET-UK), Certified Expert in SME Finance

[email protected].