Organizational Behaviour ADM 2513 - Power and Influence PDF

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR ADM 2513 Patrick Bruning TODAY’S CLASS Topic 1 - Power Topic 2 - Influence Topic 3 - Dispute Resolution  DOWNWARDS INFLUENCE ACTIVITY You are a manager at a local boutique retail store that specializes in Maritime themed clothing and household ite...

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR ADM 2513 Patrick Bruning TODAY’S CLASS Topic 1 - Power Topic 2 - Influence Topic 3 - Dispute Resolution  DOWNWARDS INFLUENCE ACTIVITY You are a manager at a local boutique retail store that specializes in Maritime themed clothing and household items. Your niche market is middle to upper class customers who live in the area or are in town visiting on government/university work. You have 10 university student-aged employees and one assistant manager that work for you. The student employees tend to work the store 3-4 employees at any given time. You and the assistant manager, who is two years out of UNB’s Business program, rotate being the on-site manager. You are having problems with employees showing up late for work and ignoring the job (i.e. playing on their phones) while they are there at work. You want to correct this behaviour because it can bother some of your clientele and the store needs to meet higher professional standards than normal. On the other hand, you need to keep the employees committed and working for the store, as hiring new employees is always a challenge and added cost for you. What sources of power do you have or could you draw on in this situation? What influence tactics could you try to use? What specifically would you do to influence these employees to change?  POWER AND INFLUENCE Power - The ability to influence the behavior of others and resist unwanted influence in return. Just because a person has the ability to influence others does not mean he or she will actually choose to do so. Power can be seen as the ability to resist the influence attempts of others. Power is all relative – The absolute power of the “influencer” and “influencee” isn’t as important as the disparity between them, i.e., the proportional power. Influence - The use of an actual behavior that causes behavioral or attitudinal changes in others. Influence can be seen as directional. Downward influence - Managers influencing employees Lateral influence - Peers influencing peers Upward influence - Employees influencing managers Most frequently occurs downward. Testable  TYPES OF POWER Organizational Power – Power derived from the organization. Legitimate power - Derived from a position of authority inside the organization. Sometimes referred to as “formal authority.” Reward power - Exists when someone has control over the resources or rewards another person wants. Coercive power - Exists when a person has control over punishments in an organization. Personal Power – Power derived from one’s individual attributes. Expert power - Derived from a person’s expertise, skill, or knowledge on which others depend. Referent power - Exists when others have a desire to identify and be associated with a person. Testable  CONTINGENCY FACTORS Contingency Factors – Factors that impact the degree to which a leader can use their power to influence subordinates. Substitutability ( ) - The degree to which people have alternatives in accessing resources, or achieving success. Power is increased when there is no substitute for the leader’s power. Discretion ( ) - The degree to which managers have the right to make decisions on their own. Like the concept of autonomy but with regard to managerial decision making … Are their “hands tied?” Centrality ( ) - How important a person’s job is and how many people depend on that person to accomplish their tasks. Is an important contingency for both leaders, peers, and subordinates. Visibility ( ) - How aware others are of a leader’s power and position. Testable  INFLUENCE TACTICS AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS Testable RESPONSE TO INFLUENCE TACTICS Internalization - When the target of influence agrees with and becomes committed to the influence request. Employee is both behaviorally and attitudinally committed to the course of action. Compliance - When targets of influence are willing to do to what the leader asks, but they do it with a degree of ambivalence. Employee is behaviorally committed, but not attitudinally committed. Resistance - When the target refuses to perform the influence request and puts forth an effort to avoid having to do it. Employee is neither behaviorally, nor attitudinally committed. Can also involve parallel counterproductive actions, attitudes that emerge from the ineffective influence situation. Testable STYLES OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION There are five styles a leader can use to handle conflict, appropriate in different circumstances. The five styles can be viewed as combinations of two separate factors: Assertiveness – How much they want to achieve their objectives. Cooperation – Whether they are willing to concede to the other party’s wishes. Testable  LATERAL INFLUENCE ACTIVITY You are a student in an introduction to organizational behavior class, are taking four other challenging courses, and are working 20 hours a week. You are working very hard to get an A in the OB class. You have been put on a team of five members for a final group project in the class. One other member on the team is also very committed to doing an excellent job on the final paper. Two members are moderately committed, but responsive and very willing to help when given tasks to do. Unfortunately, you have one final member who has no interest in communicating with the group at all and does not participate in group activities. While you know you could complete the project with the other members, you know it would be a whole lot of work that you and the other committed member would need to put forth to ensure a good grade. You question whether you have the time and energy to do this and decide that the only solution is if to get the moderately committed members to be more committed and get the uncommitted member to do a reasonable amount of work on time. What sources of power do you have or could you draw on in this situation? What influence tactics could you try to use? What specifically would you do to influence your group members to change?  UPWARDS INFLUENCE ACTIVITY You are a new employee working in the accounting department of a large firm in Toronto and you have been in the position for about 6 months after moving from Fredericton. Unfortunately, you have not gotten very much important accounting work to do and you are getting bored. You feel like you are losing your edge and your skills and it is quite bothersome. You worked very hard to be in the top of your class in your BBA program and went on to complete your CPA designation. Your manager has a perception that you are not ready for the workload required from an employee in your position at the firm and she does not want to overload you with work in your first year. You do not think this perspective is good for you, your development, or your performance, as you know you will not be able to show your skills and contribution when you get appraised in six months for your annual performance appraisal. You need to find a way to get consistent and challenging work. You also know that you need to be able to show that you are a fully functional and contributing member of the organization in your performance appraisal to stay in the firm’s good graces and keep you employment. What sources of power do you have or could you draw on in this situation? What influence tactics could you try to use? What specifically would you do to influence your manager to change? APPENDIX  INFLUENCE TACTICS Rational persuasion - The use of logical arguments and hard facts to show the target that the request is a worthwhile one. E.g. OB instructor using the logic that reading the textbook will increase knowledge and an understanding of context that will help on exam, when attempting to influence students to read the chapters in addition to studying the slides. Inspirational appeal - A tactic designed to appeal to the target’s values and ideals, creating an emotional or attitudinal reaction. E.g. When a coach gets team/individual to visualize themselves effectively performing and succeeding in a challenge like playing a point, making a shot, or winning a match. Consultation – Getting target(s) participation in deciding how to implement a request. E.g. A manager getting their sales team to participation in a store’s product roll-out. Collaboration - Attempting to make it easier for the target to complete the request. E.g. A mgr. saying, you work on the task at hand, I’ll take care of mgmt. Testable  INFLUENCE TACTICS Ingratiation - The use of favors, complements, or friendly behavior to make the target feel better about the influencer. E.g. A manager acting in a benevolent manner to instill a sense of trust in the worker. Personal appeals - When the requestor asks for something based on personal friendship or loyalty. E.g. “Hey buddy, could you please help me out on this because we are friends?” Exchange tactic - The requestor offers a reward or resource to the target in return for performing a request. E.g. 1 - A manager offering pay for a designated behavior. E.g. 2 – When a coworker (at a restaurant) call you and asks you to pick up their shift, saying that they will pick up one of your shifts in the future. Exchange is the basis of using compensation for performance. Apprising - The requestor clearly explains why performing the request will benefit the target personally. E.g. When manager describes the visibility of a given project, they might, imply that good performance could be instrumental in a promotion decision. Testable  INFLUENCE TACTICS Pressure - The use of coercive power through threats and demands. Coalitions - The influencer enlists other people to help influence the target. Testable  INFLUENCE TACTICS Influence tactics tend to be most successful when used in combination. E.g. a manager might use rational persuasion and collaboration. The influence tactics that tend to be most successful are those that are “softer” in nature. Rational persuasion Consultation Inspirational appeals Collaboration Testable HOW IMPORTANT ARE POWER AND INFLUENCE Job Performance - Power and influence are moderately correlated. The engagement and compliance created by power and influence can also increase OCBs and decrease CWBs. Organizational Commitment - Power and influence are moderately correlated. When a leader draws on personal sources of power, (e.g. expert power and referent power) a stronger emotional bond can be created with the employee, boosting affective commitment. ‘Hard’ tactics can decrease affective commitment, as these can be seen as aversive, and unjust – This will apply to concepts of interpersonal and informational justice. The effective use of such power should increase job satisfaction and a sense of trust in the leader, all of which are associated with increased commitment levels.  CONFLICT RESOLUTION There are five styles a leader can use to handle conflict, appropriate in different circumstances. The five styles can be viewed as combinations of two separate factors: Assertiveness – How much they want to achieve their own objectives. Cooperation – Whether they are willing to concede to the other party’s wishes. Five Styles: Competing - One party attempts to get their goals met without concern for the other party. (high assertiveness, low cooperation) Avoiding - One party wants to remain neutral, stay away from conflict, or postpone the conflict to gather information or let things cool down. (low assertiveness, low cooperation) Accommodating - One party unselfishly gives in. (low assertiveness, high cooperation) Collaboration - When parties work together to maximize outcomes. (high assertiveness, high cooperation) Compromise - Conflict is resolved through give-and-take concessions. (moderate assertiveness, moderate cooperation) Testable