Mgt. 667 – Leadership
Week 8
Rex Mitchell
Spring 2006
2nd Reflection Papers
Good work!
Almost all:
– Showed new learning
– Demonstrated insights
– Had good emergent questions
– Made this useful for you
Many identified specific actions
Power: potential ability to influence
behavior, events …get people to do things
they would not do otherwise
Influence, politics: processes & actions
through which potential power is used
Leadership: art of mobilizing others to
want to struggle for shared aspirations
Engaging with Readings
What are my reactions to this: thoughts,
feelings?
What do I agree with, like, want to
remember and use? Why?
What do I disagree with, wish were
different, would change, would expand
on...? Why?
What connections & expansions can I
make from my experience?
Strategies & Tactics for Using
Power Effectively
Using Power Effectively
Framing
Information and analysis
Interpersonal influence
Timing
Structure
Symbolic actions
Strategies for Using Power Effectively
Framing
Information and analysis
Interpersonal influence
Timing
Structure
Symbolic actions
Framing
In addition to our earlier points, consider
Pfeffer ch. 10
Anchoring effects
– Gordon Liddy example (ch. 10, p.189)
– Sales
– Charity fund-raising
Counteracting commitment
– Twelve Angry Men film
Strategies for Using Power Effectively
Framing
Information and analysis
Interpersonal influence
Timing
Structure
Symbolic actions
Information & Analysis
Pfeffer ch.13, p.247) There is little doubt
that information, and the certainty that it
can provide, is a source of power... and
can be used as part of a very important
political strategy–getting one's way
through analysis.
Information & Analysis As a
Political Tactic
Need for appearance of rationality: Using
information and analysis to justify decisions,
even after the fact
Limits of facts and analysis: In complex
decisions, it is very unlikely that analysis will
clearly resolve the issue of what to do
Selective use of information (framing again):
Leaving room for the advocacy of criteria and
information that favor one's own position
Why there is often no learning or evaluation:
The discovery of decision quality is both difficult
and often avoided
Information & Analysis
(262) Many decisions have remote or highly
indirect connections to the outcomes that are
measured
(265) The connection between results and what
happens to people is quite tenuous
(265) We should probably not hesitate to use
information and analysis to exercise power in
organizations, since the strategy is an effective
one and the likelihood of our being called to
account for our actions is not very great
Strategies for Using Power Effectively
Framing
Information and analysis
Interpersonal influence
Timing
Structure
Symbolic actions
Interpersonal Influence As a
Political Tactic
Three topics in Pfeffer ch. 11:
– Social proof (we are influenced by what our
colleagues are saying and doing)
– Use of ingratiation
– The role of emotions
What else?
Interpersonal Influence: Social Proof
Momentum is very important in affecting a
decision or accomplishing something. Once a
social consensus begins to develop in one
direction, it is difficult to change
It may be more appropriate to think of decisions
as unfolding rather than being made
It is invaluable to have allies or supporters to
provide social consensus re a particular position
Interpersonal Influence: Ingratiation
We prefer to say yes to the requests of people
we know and like
(216) Flattery or ingratiation is a very effective
technique of interpersonal influence
– Sincere and accurate
– Instrumental
(218) One of the more subtle but effective forms
of flattery is being responsive and attentive to
others
(220) ...importance of working through friends
or mutual acquaintances to influence third
parties
Interpersonal Influence: Emotions
Using expressed or displayed emotion can
be an effective technique of interpersonal
influence
However, it is not something everyone can
do
There is... some skill involved in the
strategic display of emotions.
Strategies for Using Power Effectively
Framing
Information and analysis
Interpersonal influence
Timing
Structure
Symbolic actions
Timing
Timing Is (Almost) Everything
(ch. 12, p.227) Actions that are well-timed
may succeed, while the same actions,
undertaken at a less opportune moment,
may have no chance of success
Timing
Being early and moving first
Delay
The waiting game
Deadlines
Order of consideration
– Anchoring effects
– Sequence of decisions & resulting
commitments
– Interdependence of decisions
Propitious moments
Strategies for Using Power Effectively
Framing
Information and analysis
Interpersonal influence
Timing
Structure
Symbolic actions
Using Structure As a Tactic
Some managers use structure for tactical
advantage
Although organizational design should be
used to ensure efficient operation
(ch. 14, p.268) Divide and conquer
(271) Expansion of one's domain
(274) Use task forces and committees to
institutionalize your power and diffuse
responsibility for decisions, co-opt others
Strategies for Using Power Effectively
Framing
Information and analysis
Interpersonal influence
Timing
Structure
Symbolic actions
Symbolic Actions As a
Power Tactic
Language, Ceremonies, and Settings
(ch. 15, p.279) Given the choice of
influencing you through your heart or your
head, I will pick the heart
Using political language, settings, and
ceremonies effectively elicits powerful
emotions in people, and these emotions
interfere with or becloud rational analysis
Instrument 6, Use of Influence
Tactics
Review your self-assessment, particularly
noting relatively high or low usage items
Identify two or more tactics with which you
would like to experiment – increasing or
decreasing usage
Make some notes for yourself
Share with a neighbor
Power Dynamics
How Power is Lost & How
Organizational Dynamics Change
Even the Mighty Fall
Pfeffer ch. 16
In groups, each identify and summarize
one point you particularly want to agree or
disagree with, or expand on
Case 7, Opportunity Lost
Three questions at end of case:
– Who had power in this organization? What
type of power did Harry Walden have?
– Do you think Roger played company politics
well? If so, why didn’t he get the job?
– What would you do now, if you were Roger?
What political strategies could he use?
Report back & discuss
Politics
The Organization as Political Arena,
The Leader as Politician
www.csun.edu/~hfmgt001/politics.doc
Organizational Politics
Processes, actions, behaviors through which
potential power is utilized and realized
Used to achieve power, either directly or
indirectly
Informal approaches to gaining power through
means other than merit or luck
Way to reconcile differences through
consultation and negotiation
Neither good nor bad, intrinsically
Necessary for effective leadership
Factors Contributing to Politics
Pyramid-shaped organization design
Subjective performance standards
Environmental uncertainty and turbulence
Emotional insecurity
Greed and manipulative tendencies
Lack of congruence in goals & strategies
Some Political S & Ts
1. Develop power contacts & relationships
2. Make a good early showing
3. Keep informed
4. Control vital information
5. Control lines of communication
6. Provide favors (ingratiation)
7. Display loyalty
8. Develop reputation as expert
9. Rational persuasion
10. Manage your impressions
11. Bring in outside experts
12. Consult with & ask advice
13. Ask customers to tell your boss
14. Be courteous, pleasant, & positive
15. Thank-you notes
16. Flatter others sensibly
17. Develop allies & coalitions
Some Usually Unethical Tactics
Back stabbing
Purge all but loyalists
Set others up for failure
Exert undue pressure
Divide and conquer (sometimes)
Play self-serving territorial games
Avoid Political Blunders
Embarrassing boss in public
Surprising boss
Bypassing boss
Declining offers from top management
I believe use of organizational politics is
necessary for a leader to acquire and
retain power and to accomplish major
goals
This use should be:
– Appropriate
– Skillful
– Ethical
– And should contribute to a balanced set of
interests, not just that individual’s
Case 8: Comparison of Two
Leaders
Each group discusses one of Q.1-3 plus
Q.4
Report back & discuss
Leaders don't create followers, they
create more leaders [Tom Peters]
Leadership development is selfdevelopment [K&P]
Love and power need not be in
competition, unless we organize our
thinking to make it so
We must become the change we
wish to see in the world
[Mahatma Gandhi]
Leadership is not an affair of
the head.
Leadership is an affair of the heart.