A511.3.3.RB
– Power and Influence
1.
Everyone possesses and exercises power of some kind within the context of
relationships. For this reflective exercise, first demonstrate your knowledge
of the theory of power and influence (Hint: See the learning objectives
on page 185 of your text).
Influence is how leaders are able to get
people to come together and work toward a common goal. Power is how leaders are
able to influence people. Power can be defined as having influence over an
individual or multiple individuals and it can vary in degrees. “[P]ower is a
dynamic variable that changes as condition changes.” (Yukl, 2013) The sources
of power, according to our text, are Legitimate,
Reward, Coercive, Referent, Expert, Information, and Ecological. Understanding
how and when to use power is essential for managers/leaders. In most business
situations, understanding how and when to use legitimate power as a manager
will make a more effective leader. Using politeness and compassion when working
with subordinates and will most likely garner a desired result. Being polite
doesn’t mean being best friends or a push-over, it is being assertive without
having to be a jerk. Explaining the reasons behind the request, being clear
about expectations, following the approved channels and not overstepping the
scope of authority are other ways to use this power effectively. Using reward
power is the basic, “If you do this for me, I’ll give you this or will do this
for you.” The important things to remember are that the agent should offer a
reward that is relevant and appropriate, explain the rules and requirements,
and deliver the rewards when requirements are met fairly and without being
shady. Coercive power should be used to maintain order within a team.
Explaining the rules and requirements clearly, expectations understandable, and
responding to non-compliance quickly and fairly are ways to use coercive power.
A manager should never jump to conclusions when a mistake is made, get the
whole story, help the target to correct issue in order to avoid punishment and
issue an unbiased punishment yourself if necessary. Expert power is very relevant in my line of
work. We must be able to influence our targets with expert power that consists
of complete and concise information as to why we have reached a conclusion and
propose changes or improvements. We don’t make knee-jerk reactions, we listen
to the end user or target to make sure the solution is mutually beneficial and
intelligent, and we do not manipulate data or make outlandish statements or
promises. Data integrity is how we are able to best do our jobs or use our
expert power to influence decision makers. Within each of these power types are
ways to effectively use the power and consequences if the power is abused, these
are the influence processes. These processes are able to happen independently
or simultaneously. The first is Instrumental
Compliance and is when a subordinate (or target) carries out a task to
obtain a reward or to avoid punishment. This kind of influence makes me think
of the power of correctional facility guards. They have a limited power and
their influence stems from their ability to give and take privileges from the
prisoners. This doesn’t mean that the prisoners are willing to obey every
command; they usually do the very minimum they have to in order to earn the
rewards and since they are already in prison, additional punishment is usually
not a huge threat. Internalization is
when a target becomes committed to a project because it aligns with their own
value system. This is similar to a person who works on a political campaign. A
lot of the people in the campaign headquarters are volunteers and will carry
out tasks and put in long hours because even though the reward may be
intangible, it is important to them. Personal
Identification is when a target complies with the request because of a need
for acceptance. An example of this type of influence could be a sorority or
fraternity at a college. Most college students are living away from their
parents for the first time and finding a sisterhood or brotherhood to “belong”
to is very attractive. A sorority or fraternity requires a “pledge” to perform
certain tasks which the target willingly does in the hopes that he or she will
be accepted into the “family.” This will also help their self-esteem and feeling
of security needs. There are also several types of Influence Tactics which are
tactics used to influence an outcome. Impression
Management Tactics is commonly known as “the first impression” influence,
people want other people to accept them so they manage their attitudes and influences
in a manner that makes them look favorable to the target. A person interviewing
for a job will use impression management tactics in the interview in order to
make them look like a good fit for the job. Political
tactics are influences on organizational decisions and other important
issues that are important to the agent. When someone is an advocate for a policy
change or personal interest groups, they use political tactics to garner
favorable support from the target individual or group. Proactive tactics are influences that have an immediate objective
for change. “The tactics can be used also to resist or modify a request made by
someone who is attempting to influence you.” (Yukl, 2013) Rational persuasion,
and Ingratiation are two examples of proactive influence tactics. All of these
powers and influences have the ability to be misused for personal gain or
organizational partialities. Once a trust is broken or power abused, future
compliance is minimal and not to the best effort of the target or targets. The
simplest way to say it is, “Once bitten, twice shy.” Leaders who do not respect
the power and influence of power and influence are ineffective and not
respected.
2.
Then, reflect on the power that you personally bring to your work place (if you
are not employed, think about an organization of which you are part…such as
your family or your church).
·
What are the sources of that power?
·
What is the nature of that power?
·
How is it used or not used?
·
How is that power related to your ability
to lead or follow?
I
have thought a lot about my own personal power and influence. At first, I
couldn’t think of any power or influence that I had but when I read through again
about expert power and the proactive influence tactics I saw that they aligned
with my role at Boeing. As an industrial engineer I have expert power because I
collect and analyze data on a daily basis. We monitor changes in trends and
make note of the consequences of decisions from working overtime to buying a
new mill. Our data helps the managers run their areas effectively and we are constantly looking for process improvement opportunities based on time studies and observations of processes and trends. We are currently working on the project to buy two new mills for an extruded
product. We currently have four mills and are replacing two of them in October
2017. In 2014 and 2015, that seemed like plenty of time, to the leadership, for us to prepare and pull-ahead parts for when
we are down 50% capacity and senior leaders continuously pushed the priority of
this project down under other projects that were “urgent” but not “important.”
We knew that it wasn't plenty of time and studied and analyzed numbers and based on how long of a lead time we’ll
have to take out the existing mills, prepare the cement for the new “footprint”
of the new mills, install the new mills, run parts for inspection, and finally
run production parts is approximately 24 months. We should have started our
pull-ahead 6 months ahead of that. We should have started this last summer. We presented our plan over a year ago but were trumped by "urgent" things. So now, we’re in meetings where we find out
that the purchase order for these mills hasn’t been dropped yet, and the
managers are complaining that we haven't even looked to outsource the
needed capacity to make up for the delays. The reality is that we held a supplier conference last year to vet the suppliers willing to mill this unique parts but haven't received any bids because no one (those managers) has authorized buying material for the suppliers to test. (Proprietary extrusion) Our influence was non-existent even
though we had all of the facts and data. The folks with the legitimate and
coercive (albeit uninformed) power won out with what can only be described as
political tactics. So, even though I have expert power because I can present a
strong case backed by facts and data, I don’t always have the influence to
accomplish my goals. Sometimes, the tail wags the dog and we just don’t win...however, when we do...it is very sweet!
As
I was thinking about this, I was looking out at the great Pacific Ocean and the
Oregon coastline. This made my problems and issues seem very small and
insignificant. I think it’s good for a person to have that reality check from
time to time, the reality of how small and fragile we are and that no matter
what we do or choose in life, the earth will still be here and the ocean will
still follow its tides. However, this time it made writing this reflection blog
a struggle. I thought about the power of the waves on the earth (erosion) and
the influence of the moon on those powerful waves (tides) and understood that
even in nature, there has to be a balance of power and influence in order to
accomplish something or to be effective. I also thought that even targets or
subordinates have power and influence just as managers or agents do. If an
agent is an ineffective manager, the targets have the power to leave. Targets
have power in that they too are the experts at their jobs and know it better
than anyone. When a manager tries to influence them, they can resist with clear
and intelligent arguments. When there is a balance, or a mutual respect and
understanding, morale is higher and organizations become more productive.
Finally, if it applies,
have you experienced high quality LMX (Leader-Member exchange) situations
within your workplace which are dysfunctional in the sense that Othamn et al
describe in the extra reading material for this module?
I think that every organization has high
quality LMX situations, it just depends on the degree to which they are perpetrated.
In the extra reading material, the LMX theory, “basically argues that leaders
develop differentiated dyadic relationships with their subordinates.” (Othamn,
et al, 2010) This “favoritism” can cause unbalance in a group and create
unnecessary tensions within a team. Where I work, we have a senior manager who
came in from another business unit within Boeing. She’s been with Boeing for
almost 30 years and has a lot of experience to bring to the table.
Unfortunately, she is also loud, manipulative, obnoxious, and just
plain disrespectful of colleagues and subordinates. I think she thinks it’s
okay because after she belittles someone or throws someone under the bus, she
will come up to them later and call them, “Sweetie” or some such and complement
their clothes or the presentation she has just ripped to shreds. For some reason, our new director thinks this senior manager can do no wrong. She seems to
be the director’s favorite (Based on her demonstrated ability to do pretty much what she wants.) and my assumption is that she tells him what he
wants to hear and frankly, she is a little scary. She is bipolar at best and a
sociopath at worst. This is the highest degree of LMX that I have experienced.
References:
Othman, R., Ee,F.F., Shi, N.G. (2010)
Understanding dysfunctional leader-member exchange: antecedents and outcomes.
Leadership and Organizational Development Journal Vol. 31, No.4, 2010. Emerald
Group Publishing Limited. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-7739.htm
Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in
organizations (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
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