Power & influence

1. LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATION, Yukl G.
POWER AND
INFLUENCE
dr Slavka Draskovic, http://www.esb.edu.rs/

2. • LEADERSHIP IS (definitions):
• The behavior of an individual…directing the
activities of a group toward a shared goal.
(Hemphill & Coons, 1957)
• The process of influencing the activities of
an organized group toward goal
achievement. (Rauch & Behling, 1984.)
• The process whereby one or more
individuals succeed in attempting to frame
and define the reality of others. (Smircich & Morgan,
1982.)
• The ability of an individual to influence,
motivate, and enable others to contribute
toward the effectiveness and success of the
organization…(House et al., 1999.)

3. Leadership is the process of influencing
others to understand and agree about
what A needs working to be done definition
and how to do it,
and the process of facilitating individual
and collective efforts to accomplish
shared objectives.

4. Conceptions of Power and
Influence
Power
• Capacity of one party (the agent) to influence another
party (the target)
• Influence the behavior or attitudes of one or more
designated target persons at a given point in time
Authority
• The right of the agent to exercise control over things
associated with particular positions
The scope of authority
• The range of requests that can properly be made
• The range of actions that can properly be taken

5. Outcomes of Influence Attempts
Commitment
– The target agrees with a decision or request and
makes a great effort to carry out the request or
implement the decision effectively
Compliance
– The target is willing to do what the agent asks but is
apathetic rather than enthusiastic about it and will
make only a minimal effort
Resistance
The target person opposed to the proposal or request
1. Refuse to carry out the request
2. Make excuses about why the request cannot be carried out
3. Try to persuade the agent to withdraw or change the request
4. Ask higher authorities to overrule the agent’s request
5. Delay acting
6. Make a pretense of complying but try to sabotage the task

6. Influence Processes
Instrumental Compliance
The target carries out a requested action --The purpose
is obtaining a reward or avoiding a punishment. The
motivation is instrumental (the only reason is benefit)
Internalization
The t.p. becomes committed to support and implement
Because they appear to be desirable and correct in
relation to the target’s values, beliefs, and self-image
Personal Identification
Target person imitates the agent’s behavior or adopts
the same attitudes to please the agent and to be like the
agent
Motivation is target person’s need of acceptance and
esteem

7. Power Types and Sources
French &Raven (1959); Bass(1960), Entzioni(1961); Yukl&Falbe (1991)
Position Power
– Legitimate power
– Reward power
– Coercive power
– Information power
– Ecological power
Personal Power
– Referent power
– Expert power

8. Power Types & Sources: Legitimate Power
Power stemming from formal authority over work
activities
The target person complies because he/she believes the
agent has the right to make the request and the target
person has the obligation to comply
• Higher level managers usually have more
authority than lower-level managers
• The way in which legitimate power is exercised
affects the outcome : Guidelines for Using
Legitimate Authority
» Explain the reasons for a request
» Do not exceed your scope of authority
» Make polite clear request
» Etc.

9. Power Types and Sources: 2 Reward Power
Stems in part from formal authority to allocate resources
and rewards -- from control over benefits such as a
promotion, a better job, a better work schedule, a
larger operating budget, a larger expense account,
larger office
The target person complies in order to obtain rewards
controlled by the agent
Much more over subordinates than over peers or
superiors
• The way in which reward power is exercised affects
the outcome : Guidelines for Using Reward Power
» Offer rewards that are fair and ethical
» Offer the type of rewards that people desire
» Do not promise more than you can deliver
» Explain the criteria for giving rewards
» Etc.

10. Power Types and Sources: 3 Coercive Power
Based on authority over punishments
The target person complies in order to avoid
punishments controlled by the agent
General decline in use of legitimate
coercion by all types of leaders
• Avoid using coercion except when
absolutely necessary
• Difficult to use, and likely to result in
undesirable side effects
• Arouses anger or resentment

11. Power Types & Sources : 4 Information Power
• Results from a person’s position
• Control over information
• Access to vital information
• Control over its distribution
• Actively involved in cultivating a network of
information sources and gathering information
• Way to enhance their expert power and
increase subordinate dependence
• Easier for a leader to cover up failures and
mistakes
• Source of upward influence as well as
downward and lateral influence

12. Power Types & Sources: 5 Ecological Power
Control over the physical environment,
technology, and organization
Opportunity for indirect influence over other
people
• Design of subordinate jobs - Improvements in work
quality and job satisfaction
• Design of formal structure - The grouping of activities
into subunits, determination of reporting relationships,
design of information systems
• Control over the physical work environment - Lights,
On equipment, machine-paced assembly lines set the
speed at which employees work
• Cultural engineering - Shared norms, values, and
beliefs of members. Strong culture influence the
attitudes and behavior of members (Schein, 1992)

13. Power Types & Sources: 6 Referent Power
Derived from the desire of others to please an agent
toward whom they have strong feelings of
affection, admiration, and loyalty
The target person complies because he/she admires or
identifies with the agent and wants to gain the agent’s
approval
• The strongest form - Personal identification
• Greater for someone who is friendly, attractive,
charming, and trustworthy
• Increased by showing concern for the needs and
feelings of others. Treating people fairly
Strong referent power will increase the agent’s
influence even without any explicit effort by the
agent to invoke this power

14. Power Types & Sources: 7 Expert Power
Task-relevant knowledge and skill are a major
source of personal power in organizations
Unique knowledge about the best way to perform
a task
The target person complies because he/she believes that
the agent has special knowledge about the best way
to do something
• Target person must recognize this expertise
• Expertise is maintained through a continual
process of education and practical experience
• Remain a source of power only as long as
dependence on the person who possesses
them continues

15. How Power Is
Acquired or Lost

16. Power is not a static condition. It changes over time
Social exchange theory
Between leaders and followers in small groups
Strategic Contingencies theory
Different subunits of an organization
The two theories
Focus at different levels of analysis
Emphasize importance of demonstrated
expertise for the acquisition of authority

17. Exchange of benefits or favors
Material benefits & Psychological benefits
(expressions of approval, respect, esteem, and
affection)
Social Exchange Theory
• Proportionate to the group’s evaluation of
the person’s potential contribution
• The group is ready to wait for contribution if it was
demonstrated good judgment, or Innovative
proposal for attaining group goals – If it is
successful- more status and influence.

18. Social Exchange Theory
• Greater loss of power - if failure appears to be due to
poor judgment or incompetence rather than to
circumstances beyond the leader’s control
• More loss of power - if selfish motives rather than loyally
serving the group
• How serious the failure is to the group. A major disaster
results in greater loss of power
• Amount of status the leader had prior to the failure
• Social exchange theory emphasizes expert power and
other forms of power do not receive much attention

19. Explains how some organizational
subunits gain or lose power to influence
important decisions (chief executive
selection, allocation of resources)
Strategic Contingencies Theory
The power of a subunit depends on three factor
• Expertise in coping with important problems
• Centrality of the subunit within the workflow
• The extent to which the subunit’s expertise is
unique rather than substitutable

20. Strategic Contingencies Theory
• The more unique and irreplaceable the
expertise required to solve critical
problems, the more power is gained.
(Subunits with critical expertise will have
more representatives on the board,
committees…)
• Strategic Contingencies Theory fails to take into
account that a powerful subunit can use its power to
protect its dominant position.

21. Consequences of Position & Personal Power
Legitimate power was the most common reason for compliance
with requests from the boss, but it was not correlated to
the task commitment
Expert and referent power were positively correlated with
subordinates satisfaction and performance
Effective leaders rely more on expert and referent power to
influence subordinates
Rewards announced for subordinates performance led to a
higher satisfaction and performance
Some- contingent punishment when used in combination with
rewards can have positive effect on subordinates
performance
dr Slavka Draskovic, ESB Belgrade,S.Draskovic@hw.ac.uk

22. How Much Power Should
Leaders Have?
Leaders need some power to be effective
The necessary power will depend on what
needs to be accomplished and on the
leader’s skill in using available power.
More influence is necessary in an organization where
major changes are required, but there is strong initial
opposition
dr Slavka Draskovic, ESB Belgrade,S.Draskovic@hw.ac.uk

23. How Much Power Should Leaders Have?
Too much position power may be as damaging as
too little
Leaders may be tempted to rely on it instead of
developing personal power and using
approaches for influencing (consultation,
persuasion)
The notion that power corrupts is especially
relevant for position power
What about personal power?
It is less suited to misuse, because it erodes
quickly when a leader acts contrary to the
interests of followers
Nevertheless the potential of corruption remains

24. How Much Power Should Leaders Have?
So, there is also danger from having a great deal of expert
and referent power --Expert can be tempted to act in
ways that will eventually lead to failure
Experiment conducts by Kipnis (1972)- greater reward power
of a leader resulted in seeing subordinates as objects of
manipulation; Devalued the worth of subordinates,
maintained more social distance from subordinates
(when positively used, develop a deeper exchange
relationship and enhances referent power)
One of the best ways is to provide formal mechanisms to
promote reciprocal influence (Procedures, Bylaws, Official
policies)
dr Slavka Draskovic, ESB Belgrade,S.Draskovic@hw.ac.uk

25. LEADERSHIP IN
ORGANIZATION
dr Slavka Draskovic, http://www.esb.edu.rs
S.Draskovic@hw.ac.uk