Organizational Behavior:
An Introduction to
Your Life in Organizations
Chapter 13
Power and Influence
©2007 Prentice Hall
Preview
• What is power?
• How can you identify the sources of power in
your company?
• How can you acquire power in your
organization?
• As a leader, what should you know about
power?
• How can others acquire power over you?
• How does a person’s view of power depend on
their culture?
©2007 Prentice Hall
What is power?
• Power is the ability to mobilize resources
to accomplish some end
• Influence also involves the ability to get
someone to do something but typically
suggests that the individuals who have
been influenced have gone along
somewhat willingly
• Authority suggests legitimate control or
command over others
©2007 Prentice Hall
Power sources versus power tactics
• Power sources are the entire repertoire of
behaviors that an individual could
potentially call upon to influence others
• Power tactics are the behaviors actually
used in a particular situation
©2007 Prentice Hall
Formal versus informal power
• Formal power originates in the principle of
hierarchy with those higher in the
organization having more power and those
lower having less
• Informal power is reciprocal, individuals
help each other out because of anticipated
mutual gain, and conflict is minimal
©2007 Prentice Hall
Other sources of power
• Manipulation: changing some aspect of the
targeted individuals or their environment to
achieve a desired goal
• Providing information indirectly: suggesting what
someone should do
• Influencing third parties: bring in a third party
who has power
• Control of resources: take control of the
resources that they want or need, thus making
them dependent on you
©2007 Prentice Hall
Prepare for the use of power
• Setting the stage with signs of power
• Enhancing and emphasizing power bases
by role reference or self-promotion
• Minimizing the other person’s strength with
subtle put-downs
• Minimizing the influence of outside parties
by pointing out their flaws
©2007 Prentice Hall
Apply power tactics
1.
2.
3.
4.
Rational persuasion persuade with logic & facts
Inspirational appeals
Consultation to enlist support and assistance
Ingratiation to establish a positive mood before you ask for
something
5. Exchange of favors now or in the future
6. Coalitions by seeking the aid of others to persuade
7. Legitimation by claiming the authority or right to make a
request
8. Pressure by making demands or threats
9. Upward appeals by getting the support of higher ups
10. Personal appeals by appealing to feelings of loyalty and
friendship
©2007 Prentice Hall
Engage in political behavior
• Political behavior: activities that are not required as part
of a person’s organizational role but that influence, or
attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and
disadvantages within the organization
• Sometimes political behavior is good for the organization
and sometimes it is not
• Guidelines for whether you should play politics:
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
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Is it in line with your personal beliefs, values and style?
What outcomes is this behavior likely to produce?
Is engaging in this behavior in line with your personal goals?
Are the likely outcomes of this behavior in line with
organizational goals
©2007 Prentice Hall
Use networks and mentors
• One goal of networking is to establish
effective relationships with key people who
have the potential to help you in your
career
• Networking plays an important role in
disseminating information and ideas
throughout the organization
• A mentor can help in building a network
©2007 Prentice Hall
Understand empowerment
• The term used when a company moves
power downward in its formal
organizational hierarchy
• Empowerment provides employees with
power, information, knowledge and
rewards, and is accomplished through a
variety of employee involvement programs
©2007 Prentice Hall
How do leaders differ from powerholders?
• Leaders aim to enhance the effectiveness
of their organization
• Power-holders seek to influence others for
their own ends, independent of whether
organizational effectiveness is enhanced
• All effective leaders have power, but not all
power-holders are leaders
©2007 Prentice Hall
Does power corrupt?
• Leaders should be taught to be aware
that:
 having power is likely to incite them to act
even when inaction is the preferable course
 power is likely to reduce their feelings of
responsibility and empathy for others
 power is likely to accentuate the probability
that they will use their authority even when
other modes, such as encouraging
participation, are preferable
©2007 Prentice Hall
How are employees subject to
routinization and dehumanization?
• Routinization is the transformation of an immoral
job into a “routine, mechanical, highly
programmed operation”
• Routinization results in amoralization, which is
the removal of moral standards
• Dehumanization is the process of depriving
individuals of their human qualities and
attributes, of their individuality; it reduces the
likelihood that an individual will ask moral
questions
©2007 Prentice Hall
How do some managers intimidate
their employees?
• “Get up close and personal”: using direct
confrontation and invading the personal
space of another individual
• Getting angry
• Keep people guessing about what you are
thinking, including how you are judging
them
©2007 Prentice Hall
How powerful is deception?
• Machiavellianism is the extent to which
individuals exhibit a cool detachment from
others and may be, as a result, more
manipulative and impersonal
• Psychological tests for Machiavellianism
have failed to meet professional standards
for reliability
©2007 Prentice Hall
What is the allure of toxic leaders?
• Toxic leaders engage in destructive behaviors
that inflict serious and enduring harm on their
followers and organizations
• Why people accept toxic leaders:
 our need for reassuring authority figures to fill our
parents’ shoes
 our need for security and certainty and the willingness
to sacrifice freedom to achieve them
 our need to feel chosen or special
 our fear of ostracism and isolation
 our fear of personal powerlessness to challenge a
bad leader
©2007 Prentice Hall
Effects of national culture
• The power tactics universally believed to
be effective are rational persuasion,
collaboration and consultation
• Pressure, gift giving and socializing are
considered to be the least effective tactics
• This area needs more research
©2007 Prentice Hall
Effects of organizational culture
• Organizational cultures differ significantly
in how people use power and how their
employees react to the existing power
structures
• Power relationships are crucial influences
in any organizational culture
©2007 Prentice Hall
Apply what you have learned
• World Class Company: The Walt Disney
Company
• Advice from the Pro’s
• Gain Experience
• Can you solve this manager’s problem?
©2007 Prentice Hall
Summary – What is power?
• Power is the ability to mobilize resources
to accomplish some end
• The terms power and influence are used
synonymously
• Authority suggests control or command
over others that is legitimized by a group
or organization
©2007 Prentice Hall
Summary – How can you identify the
sources of power in your company?
• In organizations power can be either formal or
informal.
• There are six bases of interpersonal power:
Three soft/interpersonal bases are referent,
expert and information power, while three
hard/formal bases are coercive, reward and
legitimate power
• Other sources of power include manipulation,
providing information indirectly, influencing third
parties, and control of resources
©2007 Prentice Hall
Summary – How can you acquire
power in your organization?
• You acquire power in your organization by
setting a goal, acquiring sources of power,
preparing for the use of power, and then
acting
• You can apply any of a number of power
tactics, including rational persuasion,
building coalitions, engaging in political
behavior, and networking
©2007 Prentice Hall
Summary – As a leader, what should
you know about power?
• The idea that power corrupts is true
• Managers with power tend to distance
themselves from subordinates, for
example, and they are somewhat likely to
act selfishly and with reduced social
inhibitions
©2007 Prentice Hall
Summary – How can others acquire
power over you?
• Organizations are powerful entities that may use
authority, routinization and dehumanization to
induce compliance in their workers
• Factors that lead to obedience to authority
include working for a prestigious company, being
paid well, and being given a direct order by a
legitimate authority figure
• You resist authority by developing your individual
ethical beliefs in advance, by being financially
independent, by mustering social support for
your views, and by understanding the dynamics
of authority
©2007 Prentice Hall
Summary – How does a person’s
view of power depend on their
culture?
• Cultural differences may influence your
perceptions of:
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organizational politics
Conflict
Networking
and related phenomena
©2007 Prentice Hall