Questions and Answers
Which of the following is a proactive influence tactic?
Legitimating tactics involve establishing the legitimacy of a request by referring to rules or policies.
True
Which trait is associated with effective leadership?
Match the following influence tactics with their descriptions:
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Which of the following is based on formal authority?
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Coercive power has seen an increase in use among leaders in recent years.
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Which of the following does NOT represent one of the proactive influence tactics?
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Referent power is derived from a target person's strong feelings of affection, admiration, and loyalty toward the agent.
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Match the following types of power with their characteristics:
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What do managers with a strong achievement orientation prefer when solving problems?
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A strong need for affiliation is generally beneficial for managerial effectiveness.
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Which component is NOT part of emotional intelligence?
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Match the types of managerial competencies with their descriptions:
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Low need for affiliation can have undesirable consequences for managers.
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What is the main focus of managers with a strong need for affiliation?
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What is a key characteristic of leaders under high stress according to cognitive resources theory?
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Study Notes
Power and Influence in Organizations
- Influence is crucial for leadership; effective leaders must persuade others to follow requests and support decisions.
- Power refers to the capacity of one party (agent) to influence another (target), while authority relates to the rights associated with positions in an organization.
Sources of Leader Power
- Position Power: Inquiry into legitimate authority, control over resources, and ability to reward/punish.
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Personal Power: Derives from expertise and relationships with others, including:
- Legitimate Power: Based on formal authority and organizational structure.
- Reward Power: Influence based on the ability to provide desired resources or rewards.
- Coercive Power: Authority over penalties or punitive measures.
- Referent Power: Derived from admiration, loyalty, and strong personal relationships.
- Expert Power: Based on specialized knowledge or skills.
- Information Power: Control over essential information and its dissemination.
Dynamics of Power Acquisition and Loss
- Power fluctuates over time due to changes in environments and individual actions.
- Social Exchange Theory: Position and power depend on loyalty, competence, and contributions to shared goals.
- Strategic Contingencies Theory: Explains how subunits in organizations manage to gain or lose influence based on expertise and centrality within workflows.
- Institutionalization of Power: Utilizing political maneuvers to protect or enhance power despite changing contingencies.
Consequences of Power
- Effective leaders often possess more expert and referent power compared to less effective ones.
- Optimal leadership requires a balance of position and personal power tailored to specific goals and contexts.
Guidelines for Using Power
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Legitimate Power:
- Be clear, polite, and respectful in requests.
- Verify authority and follow proper channels.
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Reward Power:
- Offer desired, fair rewards.
- Maintain transparency regarding reward criteria.
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Coercive Power:
- Communicate rules clearly and enforce discipline fairly.
- Investigate before action and avoid favoritism.
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Expert Power:
- Justify requests with sound reasoning and evidence.
- Foster trust and listen to concerns.
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Referent Power:
- Build rapport and demonstrate support for others.
- Lead by example and keep commitments.
Influence Tactics
- Influence tactics aim to consciously affect the actions or attitudes of others, categorized into:
- Impression Management Tactics: Creates favorable perceptions (praise, friendliness).
- Political Tactics: Maneuvering organizational decisions through strategic influence.
- Proactive Tactics: For immediate task objectives when simple requests fail.
Types of Proactive Influence Tactics
- Rational Persuasion: Utilize logic and factual arguments to support proposals.
- Apprising: Highlight benefits for the target's personal or professional growth.
- Inspirational Appeals: Appeal to emotions and values for commitment.
- Consultation: Involve others in modifying proposals for better acceptance.
- Collaboration: Offer assistance and resources in exchange for compliance.
- Ingratiation: Employ praise and flattery to enhance influence.
- Personal Appeals: Request support out of personal relationships.
- Exchange: Propose reciprocal agreements for favors.
- Coalition Tactics: Leverage support from allies to reinforce requests.
- Legitimating Tactics: Validate requests by referring to rules or policies.
- Pressure: Utilize persistent demands or reminders to encourage compliance.### Proactive Influence Tactics Effectiveness
- Rational persuasion: Widely used for initial requests; effective across all directions.
- Inspirational appeals: Primarily downward influence; has no difference in results.
- Consultation: Effective more downward and lateral; no significant outcome difference noted.
- Collaboration: Used more downward and lateral; effects were not studied.
- Apprising: Most effective downward; generally high effectiveness when used with other tactics.
- Ingratiation: Commonly used downward and laterally for initial requests; moderate effectiveness.
- Exchange: Employed downward; frequently for quick follow-ups, moderate effectiveness noted.
- Personal appeal: More lateral influence; used for initial requests with low to moderate effectiveness.
- Coalition tactics: Predominantly lateral and upward; low to moderate effectiveness for follow-ups.
- Legitimating: Downward and lateral use; primarily for quick follow-ups, low to moderate effectiveness.
- Pressure tactics: Mainly downward; used for delayed follow-ups, low effectiveness demonstrated.
Guidelines for Using Proactive Tactics
- Rational Persuasion: Use evidence and comparisons to make a proposal compelling.
- Inspirational Appeals: Connect requests to values and self-image, use positive language and vision.
- Consultation: Encourage involvement by asking for input on achieving objectives and addressing concerns.
- Collaboration: Provide assistance and resources to help achieve requests.
- Apprising: Highlight personal benefits and career advancement related to the task.
- Exchange: Offer reciprocation or rewards for compliance with requests.
- Ingratiation: Acknowledge the person's skills and past successes when making requests.
- Legitimating: Emphasize alignment with rules and policies to support requests.
- Personal Appeals: Frame requests as personal favors or in a 'need help' context.
- Pressure: Use persistent requests to influence compliance, emphasizing urgency or consequences.
- Coalition: Leverage support from others to strengthen proposals and influence decisions.
Leader Traits and Skills
- Key leadership traits include high energy, internal locus of control, emotional stability, personal integrity, socialized power motivation, and moderate achievement orientation.
- Effective leaders have a high energy level and stress tolerance, crucial for meeting managerial demands.
- Self-confidence should be balanced; excessive confidence can lead to over-optimism and poor decision-making.
- A strong internal locus of control promotes proactivity and responsibility among leaders.
- Emotional stability leads to improved relationships with subordinates by fostering self-awareness and self-improvement.
- Personal integrity is vital for building trust and entails consistency between values and actions.
- A socialized power orientation is associated with responsible and effective leadership compared to a personalized power focus.
Research Insights on Leadership Traits
- Evidence supports that specific traits enhance the likelihood of achieving leadership positions and effectiveness.
- However, possessing desired traits does not guarantee effectiveness in all circumstances; context matters greatly.
- Researchers analyze how traits influence various outcomes, like subordinate satisfaction and organizational performance.
- Longitudinal studies reveal patterns of traits correlating with career advancement or derailment, emphasizing the importance of adaptability in leadership roles.
Psychological Insights on Leadership
- High energy and stress tolerance contribute significantly to managerial effectiveness amidst demanding environments.
- Managers with high core self-evaluations inspire more confidence in followers, enhancing group performance.
- Emotional maturity aids leaders in maintaining stable relationships through receptiveness to feedback and improved cooperation.
- A strong need for power can lead to effective leadership when directed towards organizational success rather than personal gain.
- The need for affiliation often correlates negatively with managerial effectiveness, affecting decision-making and priority on task completion versus relationships.### Big Five Personality Traits
- Surgency (Extroversion): Outgoingness, high energy, assertiveness.
- Conscientiousness: Dependability, integrity, achievement orientation.
- Agreeableness: Cheerfulness, nurturing tendencies, desire for affiliation.
- Adjustment (Neuroticism): Emotional stability, self-esteem, self-control.
- Intellectance (Openness to Experience): Curiosity, open-mindedness, focus on learning.
Personality Traits and Leadership Effectiveness
- Higher scores on extroversion, conscientiousness, and openness are linked to leadership emergence and effectiveness.
- Lower scores in neuroticism correlate with effective leadership.
Leadership Skills
- Technical Skills: Knowledge and ability in specialized activities.
- Interpersonal Skills: Empathy, communication proficiency, relationship-building.
- Conceptual Skills: Analytical and logical reasoning, problem-solving creativity.
- Political Skills: Understanding social interactions, influencing others, networking and forming alliances.
Managerial Competencies
- Emotional Intelligence: Empathy, self-regulation, emotional self-awareness, effective expression of feelings.
- Social Intelligence: Recognizing leadership requirements, social perceptiveness, and behavioral flexibility.
- Learning Ability: Adapting from experiences, self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses, motivation for excellence.
Situational Relevance of Traits and Skills
- Levels of Management: Skill relevance changes based on managerial level and organization type.
- Type of Organization: Transferability of skills varies; high human relations and conceptual skills ease transitions between industries.
- Stress on the Leader: High stress can disrupt cognitive function and decision-making, making intelligence less effective.
- External Environment: Skills needed differ between stable environments and turbulent conditions; growing importance of adaptability and social competencies.
Evaluation of Trait Approach
- Progress in identifying managerial traits and skills; however, research faces methodological and conceptual challenges.
Negative Aspects of Trait Scores
- Self-Confidence: Too little leads to indecisiveness; too much causes arrogance.
- Need for Esteem: Too little results in low recognition; too much leads to preoccupation with status.
- Need for Affiliation: Too little results in weak relationships; too much may avoid necessary sacrifices.
- Need for Independence: Too little leads to dependency; too much causes resentment towards authority.
- Altruism: Too little suggests selfishness; too much hinders effectiveness.
- Performance Orientation: Too little leads to complacency; too much results in perfectionism.
Guidelines for Leaders
- Cultivate awareness of strengths and weaknesses.
- Prioritize self-awareness in personal development.
- Focus on acquiring skills relevant to future leadership roles.
- Recognize that strengths can become weaknesses and compensate accordingly.
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Description
Test your knowledge on influence tactics, including proactive strategies and the effectiveness of various methods. Explore concepts like Internal Locus of Control and how they relate to ideals and values in decision-making. This quiz is designed to enhance your understanding of social influence dynamics.
