In a Nutshell
Who would want to work for
a weak manager? Managers need power to do their jobs, because their
jobs require them to influence others. Consequently, managers who
feel powerless to influence others experience a tremendous amount of frustration
and stress. Their staff members tend to feel frustrated too.
Positions of authority confer
power to the people who hold those positions. However, managers who
rely solely on their formal authority
to influence others will find that it doesn't inspire their staff, and
can even demoralize them. Hence, it helps to also derive power from
other sources. Charisma and having
personal appeal are sources of power
too. Power can also be developed by becoming
an expert or by performing a critical
role for the firm.
In This Issue
Be Neither Obsessed with, nor Averse to, Becoming
Powerful
There are obviously a lot
of self-serving reasons for managers to build their power bases, and I
would never suggest that building a power base should be a manager's first
priority. But, when acquired honestly and used ethically, power in
organizations isn't inherently evil. In fact, it's quite necessary
for managers.
Power in organizations is
simply the ability to influence others. Leadership requires power.
Indeed, leadership can be defined as influencing others to work toward
a common goal. Without power, managers are unable to lead.
Bases of Social Power
The bases of social power
are very diverse, and no list is ever complete. Over time, LeaderLetter
subscribers have shown me bases of power that I hadn't thought of.
Nonetheless, the commonly identified bases of power fit pretty well into
two categories; position-related factors and personal factors.
Position-related
factors. Position power comes from the legitimacy inherent
in many positions, the ability to provide rewards, the ability to coerce,
access to valuable information and performing a critical function. Legitimate
power allows leaders to motivate others simply because they
hold the leadership position. Sometimes we comply with the wishes
of a leader just because of the societal expectations for us to do so.
For instance, if Colin Powell shows up at your club's luncheon and wants
to say a few words, you let him. Why do you give him that privilege?
Stupid question. He's the Secretary of State! You just
do that sort of thing for someone in his position. That's legitimate
power.
That kind of legitimacy
isn't always very strong for managers who are promoted to a position in
which they must supervise their former peers. If the former peers
have any difficulty adjusting to their managers' new positions, legitimacy
will be kind of weak.
Reward
power is the ability to provide incentives to others if
they will cooperate with you. Managers who can affect their direct
reports' income, perks, job assignments, etc. are able to offer rewards
in exchange for compliance. Having a high degree of reward power
really helps a manager influence others.
Coercive
power is the ability to punish or intimidate. It's
often said that unions eliminate management's ability to sanction uncooperative
employees. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but when collective
bargaining agreements state that management can only terminate employees
with cause, management does have restricted ability to coerce cooperation.
Managers should use coercion with great care anyway. Coercion only
motivates minimal cooperation and breeds resentment.
Access
to valuable information produces power because valuable
information is a resource that can be exchanged. Back in the days
when managers had secretaries do all their typing and schedule their meetings,
some secretaries had access to a lot of important information. Consequently,
people who were nice to secretaries were able to get information and access
to key personnel that jerks couldn't get. Even without having formal
authority, the secretaries did have power, and shrewd business people treated
secretaries with respect.
Performing
a critical function confers power, but only to the extent
that the individual or group performing the function is irreplaceable.
One of my favorite examples of criticality and irreplaceability as they
pertain to power comes from NBC's television show, West Wing.
At the end of the first season, the producers were expecting to have to
renegotiate a lot of the actors' contracts. The producers wanted
to bring the whole cast back because audiences don't react well to new
actors playing established roles or to roles that are clumsily dropped
from the story. Thus, each actor was critical and irreplaceable.
Of course, producers don't have to replace an actor whose character died.
So, the writers arranged to have the West Wing season finale end
with a gunshot that could have killed any of the critical actors.
It wasn't until the second season that we found out who got hit.
By making the actors less critical, the producers reduced the actors' negotiating
power.
Personal
factors. A number of personal qualities can also contribute
to a person's power in an organization. Expertise
that can be used in exchange for favors is a form of power. For instance,
if you're an expert with PowerPoint you can help colleagues put together
their presentations, and you can get favors from them in return.
Likeability,
or any kind of personal attractiveness, also gives you power. If
people like to be around you because you're witty, friendly, famous or
good looking, you're also likely to be pretty persuasive. We all
want to do favors for people we like, up to a limit anyway.
Charisma
has multiple meanings. A person with charisma has a special interpersonal
appeal. Charisma can be viewed as a particularly strong form of likeability
or attractiveness. That's the kind of charisma that Princess Diana
had. Charismatic leaders, on the other hand, communicate a vision
that's very appealing and they energize others to pursue it with them.
If you want to be a charismatic leader, (a) you have to have an ambitious
vision for the group you're leading, (b) you have to be excited about it,
(c) you have to be confident in the group's ability to achieve that vision,
and (d) you have to be able to communicate your vision, excitement, and
confidence. That's the kind of charisma that Winston Churchill had.
Persuasive
ability, which is clearly associated with the ability to
influence others, is another personal source of power. Intellectual
problem solving abilities (e.g., rational problem solving ability, creative
problem solving ability, inductive reasoning ability) help people influence
others. So do interpersonal persuasion skills. On the list
of influence tactics, "reason" is generally considered the best way to
influence others. It's ranked above "reciprocity," which draws on
reward power (e.g., a bonus in exchange for exceptional performance), and
"retribution" which uses threats and intimidation. To the extent
that reason is a great way to influence others, possessing the ability
to reason with others is a great power base.
Credibility
is an important personal base of power. We are more likely to be
persuaded by and follow someone with high credibility than we are someone
with low or no credibility. Credibility comes from integrity, character,
competence, and the ability to lead. Integrity means being
open and sharing information that people need and have a right to know.
Hidden agendas undermine integrity. So does the unwillingness to
provide truthful, well-intentioned, constructive criticism. Honesty
also has to be tempered with discretion. Managers need to show discretion
and not say negative things about people as gossip or with the intent to
hurt, even if those negative things are true. Remember the lesson
from the movie, Jerry Maguire, "brutal truth" can be a bad thing.
Character is the strength to do what needs to be done in difficult
times. A basketball team has character if it tends to play well at
the end of close games. A businessperson demonstrates character by
acting in a moral and ethical way despite pressures or self-interests that
push them to do otherwise. Competence is one's knowledge and
skills that pertain to a given situation. When someone tries to reason
with you and gain your support for a certain course of action, their competence
in that area affects their persuasiveness. If they don't know what
they're talking about, you're not going to be influenced. Competence
contributes to credibility, and credibility allows one person to influence
another. Finally, the ability to lead contributes to managers' credibility.
Would you enthusiastically follow a leader who is unable to inspire others,
manage conflict, delegate tasks or coordinate activities? No matter
how much you respect a leader for her task-related knowledge, integrity
and character, you'll have reservations about working hard for her if she
doesn't demonstrate the ability to lead.
How do managers use their
power to influence others? See the LeaderLetter on using
and resisting influence.
In Summary ...
Managers must have power,
and they would do well to develop more than just the ability to reward
and punish others. Having resources and information that can be exchanged
for cooperation is also helpful. Having personal qualities that inspire
confidence and a willingness to follow might be even more useful.
Nevertheless, all are sources of power.
Source
Robbins, S. P. (2001).
Organizational behavior, (9th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
About the Photo
The photo is of U.S. Secretary
of State, Colin Powell, speaking at the World Summit on Sustainable Development
in Johannesburg, South Africa, on September 4. (AP Photo/Jon Hrusa:
e-mailed to me from Yahoo! News, www.news.yahoo.com.)
About the Newsletter
and Subscriptions
LeaderLetter is written
by Dr. Scott Williams, Department of Management, Raj
Soin College of Business, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
It is a supplement to my MBA 751 - Managing People in Organizations class.
It is intended to reinforce the course concepts and maintain communication
among my former MBA 751 students, but anyone is welcome to subscribe.
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Let's keep the conversation going.
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