MNGT 5590
Organizational Behavior
Week 6: Chapters 10, 11, 12
Dr. George Reid
1
• Chapter 10: Power and
Influence
• Chapter 11: Conflict and
Negotiation
• Chapter 12: Leadership
2-2
10
Power and Influence
in the Workplace
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Whale Power at JP Morgan
Through unconstrained power and influence, a
handful of traders (including the infamous London
Whale) in the London bureau of JP Morgan’s chief
investment office produced a mammoth $7 billion
loss.
10-4
The Meaning of Power
 The capacity of a person, team, or
organization to influence others
 Potential to change attitudes and behavior
(not actual change)
 People may be unaware of their power
 Perception –target perceives powerholder
controls a valuable resource
 Power involves unequal dependence
10-5
Power and Dependence
Person B’s
countervailing
power over
Person A
Person A
Person A is
perceived as
controlling resources
that help or hinder
Person B’s goal
achievement.
Person B’s
Goal
Person B
Person A’s
power over
Person B
10-6
Model of Power in Organizations
Sources
of Power
Legitimate
Reward
Coercive
Expert
Referent
Power
over others
Contingencies
of Power
10-7
Legitimate Power
 Agreement that people in certain roles can
request certain behaviors of others
 Zone of indifference -- range of behaviors for
deference to authority
 Norm of reciprocity -- felt obligation to help
someone who has helped you
 Information control -- right to distribute
information to others
 Creates dependence
 Frames situation
10-8
Expert Power
Capacity to influence others by possessing
knowledge or skills that they value
Coping with uncertainty
 Organizations operate better in predictable
environments
 People gain power by using their expertise to:
 Prevent environmental changes
 Forecast environmental changes
 Absorb environmental changes
10-9
Other Sources of Power
Reward power
 Control rewards valued by others, remove
negative sanctions
Coercive power
 Ability to apply punishment
Referent power
 Capacity to influence others through identification
with and respect for the power holder
 Associated with charisma
10-10
Contingencies of Power
Sources
of Power
Power
over others
Contingencies
of Power
Substitutability
Centrality
Discretion
Visibility
10-11
Increasing Nonsubstitutability
Substitutability – availability of alternatives
 More power when few/no alternatives
Reduce substitutability through:
 Monopoly over resource
 Controlling access to the resource
 Differentiating the resource
10-12
Other Contingencies of Power
 Centrality
 Degree and nature of interdependence with powerholder
 Higher centrality when (a) many people affected and (b)
quickly affected
 Visibility
 You are known as holder of valued resource
 Increases with face time, display of power symbols
 Discretion
 The freedom to exercise judgment
 Rules limit discretion
 Discretion is perceived by others
10-13
Power Through Social Networks
Social networks – people connected to
each other through forms of
interdependence
Generate power through social capital -goodwill and resulting resources shared
among members in a social network
Three power resources through networks
 Information
 Visibility
 Referent power
10-14
Social Network Ties
 Strong ties:
 Close-knit relationships (frequent
interaction, high sharing, multiple roles)
 Offer resources more quickly/plentifully,
but less unique
 Weak ties
 Acquaintances
 Offer unique resources not held by us or
people in other networks
 Many ties
 Resources increase with number of ties
 Limited capacity to form weak/strong ties
10-15
Social Network Centrality
Person’s importance in a network
Three factors in centrality:
 Betweenness – extent you are located
between others in the network
 Degree centrality -- Number of people
connected to you
 Closeness – stronger relationships
A
B
Example: “A” has highest centrality
due to all three factors; “B” has
lowest centrality
10-16
Influencing Others
 Influence is any behavior that attempts to alter
someone’s attitudes or behavior
 Applies one or more power bases
 Essential activity in organizations
 Coordinate with others
 Part of leadership definition
 Everyone engages in influence
10-17
Types of Influence
Silent
Authority
• Following requests without overt influence
• Based on legitimate power, role modeling
• Common in high power distance cultures
Assertiveness • Actively applying legitimate and coercive
power (“vocal authority”)
• Reminding, confronting, checking,
threatening
more
10-18
Types of Influence (con’t)
Information
Control
• Manipulating others’ access to information
• Withholding, filtering, re-arranging
information
Coalition
Formation
• Group forms to gain more power than
individuals alone
1. Pools resources/power
2. Legitimizes the issue
3. Power through social identity
more
10-19
Types of Influence (con’t)
Upward
Appeal
• Appealing to higher authority
• Includes appealing to firm’s goals
• Alliance or perceived alliance with higher
status person
Persuasion
• Logic, facts, emotional appeals
• Depends on persuader, message content,
message medium, audience
more
10-20
Types of Influence (con’t)
Impression
Management
• Actively shaping or public image
• Self-presentation
• Ingratiation
Exchange
• Promising or reminding of past benefits in
exchange for compliance
• Negotiation, reciprocity, networking
10-21
Organizational Politics
Manipulating/influencing others:
Negative: For personal gain or approval (narrow selfinterest)
Positive: For the benefit of others or the future
(enlightened self-interest)
10-22
10
Power and Influence
in the Workplace
10-23
11
Conflict and
Negotiation in the
Workplace
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Is Conflict Good or Bad?
Negative Outcomes
Positive Outcomes
• Wastes time, energy, resources • Fuller debate of decision
choices
• Less information sharing,
productivity
• More organizational politics
• More job dissatisfaction,
turnover, stress
• Weakens team cohesion
(when conflict is within team)
• Decision assumptions are
questioned
• Potentially generates more
creative ideas
• Improves responsiveness to
external environment
• Increases team cohesion
(conflict with other teams)
11-25
Emerging View: Task Versus
Relationship Conflict
Task (constructive) conflict
 Parties focus on the issue, respect people with
other points of view
 Try to understand logic/assumptions of each
position
Relationship conflict
 Focus on personal characteristics (not issues) as the
source of conflict
 Try to undermine each other’s worth/competence
 Accompanied by strong negative emotions
11-26
Minimizing Relationship Conflict
Goal: encourage task conflict, minimize
relationship conflict
Problem: relationship conflict often develops
when engaging in task conflict
Three conditions that minimize relationship
conflict during task conflict:
 Emotional intelligence
 Cohesive team
 Supportive team norms
11-27
The Conflict Process
Sources of
Conflict
Conflict
Perceptions
and
Emotions
Manifest
Conflict
Conflict
Outcomes
Conflict
Escalation Cycle
11-28
Structural Sources of Conflict
Incompatible
Goals
• One party’s goals perceived to interfere
with other’s goals
Differentiation
• Different values/beliefs
• Explains cross-cultural, generational,
merger conflict
Interdependence
• Conflict increases with interdependence
• Parties more likely to interfere with each
other
11-29
Structural Sources of Conflict
Scarce
Resources
• Motivates competition for the resource
Ambiguous
Rules
• Creates uncertainty, threatens goals
• Encourages political behavior
Communication
Problems
• Rely on stereotypes
• Less motivation to communicate
• Arrogant language escalates conflict
11-30
Five Conflict Handling Styles
Forcing
Assertiveness
High
Problem-solving
Compromising
Avoiding
Low
Yielding
Cooperativeness
High
11-31
Conflict Handling Contingencies
 Problem solving
 Best when:
 Interests are not perfectly opposing
 Parties have trust/openness
 Issues are complex
 Problem: other party may use information to its
advantage
 Forcing
 Best when:
 you have a deep conviction about your position
 quick resolution required
 other party would take advantage of cooperation
 Problems: relationship conflict, long-term relations
11-32
Conflict Handling Contingencies
 Avoiding
 Best when:
 conflict is emotionally-charged (relationship conflict)
 conflict resolution cost is higher than benefits
 Problems: doesn’t resolve conflict; causes frustration
 Yielding
 Best when:
 other party has much more power
 issue is much less important to you than other party
 value/logic of your position is imperfect
 Problems: increases other’s expectations; imperfect
solution
11-33
Conflict Handling Contingencies
Compromising
 Best when:
 Parties have equal power
 Quick solution is required
 Parties lack trust/openness
 Problem: Sub-optimal solution where mutual gains
are possible
11-34
11
Conflict and
Negotiation in the
Workplace
11-35
Leadership Defined
Leadership is the ability to influence, motivate, and
enable others to contribute toward the
effectiveness of the organizations of which they are
members
12-36
Shared Leadership
The view that leadership is a role, not a
position assigned to one person
 Employees lead each other – e.g., champion ideas
Shared leadership flourishes where:
 Formal leaders are willing to delegate power
 Collaborative (not competitive) culture
 Employees develop effective influence skills
Distributed leadership…
12-37
Transformational Leadership Model
Build
commitment
to the vision
Develop/com
municate a
strategic vision
Elements of
Transformational
Leadership
Encourage
experimentation
Model the
vision
12-38
Managerial Leadership
Definition: Daily activities that support and guide the
performance and well-being of individual
employees and the work unit to support current
objectives and practices
 Managerial leadership differs from transformational
leadership
 Assumes environment is stable (vs dynamic)
 Micro-focused (vs macro-focused)
 Transformational and managerial leadership are
interdependent
12-39
Task vs People Styles of
Leadership
 Task-oriented behaviors
 Assign work, clarify responsibilities
 Set goals and deadlines, provide feedback
 Establish work procedures, plan future work
 People-oriented behaviors
 Concern for employee needs
 Make workplace pleasant
 Recognize employee contributions
 Listen to employees
 Both styles necessary, but different effects
12-40
Servant Leadership
 Leaders serve followers toward their need fulfillment,
development, growth
 Described as selfless, egalitarian, humble, nurturing,
empathetic, and ethical coaches
 Servant leader
characteristics:
1. Natural calling to
serve others
2. Humble, egalitarian,
accepting relationship
3. Ethical decisions and actions
12-41
Other Managerial Leadership
Theories
Situational Leadership Model
 Four styles: telling, selling, participating, delegating
 Best style depends on follower ability/motivation
 Popular model, but lacks research support
12-42
Authentic Leadership
Know Yourself
Be Yourself
• Engage in selfreflection
• Develop your own
style
• Feedback from
trusted sources
• Apply your values
• Know your life story
• Maintain a positive
core self-evaluation
12-43
Gender Issues in Leadership
 Male/female leaders have similar task- and peopleoriented leadership
 Female leaders use more participative leadership
 Women rated higher on emerging leadership styles
12-44
12
Leadership in
Organizational
Settings
12-45