INFLUENCE
Influence is any action or examples of behavior that cause a change in the attitude or behavior of another person or group. It is the process of guiding the activities of organization members in appropriate directions. It involves the performance of four management objectives: leading, motivating, considering groups and communicating. Appropriate directions are those that lead to the attainment of management objectives.
Influence System involves people taking the roles of influencer and influence. It refers to situations wherein behavioral changes occur as a result of relationships among people. These relationships involve interaction which is direct or indirect.
SPECTRUM OF MEANS FOR INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR
1)Emulation – requires no direct contact between individuals; yet it is a powerful influencer in behavior. It is a subtle phenomenon which is more indicated in our reference to celebrities. In organizations, certain individuals become aware of the behavioral patterns of their co-workers that they tend to model this behavior in hopes of attaining similar success.
2)Suggestion – involves direct and conscious interaction between individuals or between individuals and a group. It explicitly attempts to influence behavior by presenting an idea or advocating a course of action.
3)Persuasion – implies urging and the use of inducement in order to evoke a desired response. Skinner’s operant conditioning can be viewed as a form of persuasion.
4)Coercion – involves forcible constraint, including physical pressure. In organizations, salaries and promotions and even threat of dismissal can be used to constrain or influence behavior.
INFLUENCE TACTICS
Pressure- Use of demand, threat or intimidation
Ingratiation- Seeking to get you in a good mood or to think favorably of him/her before asking you to do something
Upward Appeal- Persuading you that the request is approved by or appeals to higher management
Rational Persuasion- Using logical arguments and factual evidence to persuade you of the validity of the request
Exchange- Making an explicit or implicit promise that you will receive awards or tangible benefits if you comply with request or reminds you of past favor to be reciprocated
Inspirational Appeals- Making an emotional request or an arousal of enthusiasm by appealing to your values and ideals
Coalition- Seeking to aid others to persuade you to do something or use the support of others as an argument for you to support it
Consultation- Seeking your participation in making a decision or planning
POWER
This refers to the capacity that person A has to influence the behavior of person B, so that B acts in accordance with person A’s wishes. This definition implies a potential that need not be actualized to be effective and a dependency relationship. Power underlies the entire spectrum of means for influencing behavior. The more power an individual has, the more effective his/ her influence systems
FRENCH AND RAVEN’S 5 SOURCES OF POWER
French and Raven proposed that there were five bases or sources of power:
1.Coercive Power is the power that is based on person A’s ability to cause person B to have an unpleasant experience. To coerce someone into doing something means to force the person to do it, often with threats of punishment. Punishment can be in the form of verbal abuse or removal of support.Coercive power uses fear as a motivator, which can be a powerful force in inducing short term action. However, it is unlikely to have an overall negative impact on the receiver. In the Government, the capacity to tax, arrest, imprison and execute are but a few examples of coercive power. Public managers need to recognize that management theorists have long emphasized the relative clumsiness and costliness of coercive power. Forcing and threatening people requires costly vigilance and oversight and can make enemies.
2.Reward Power is the power that is based on person A’s ability to control rewards that person B wants. Rewards can be in the form of promotions, salary increases, bonuses and other incentives. It can also stem from the capacity to provide organizational recognition, to include an employee in a social group, or simply to give positive feedback.Reward power can lead to better incentives but only as long as person B sees a strong and clear link between performance and rewards.
3.Legitimate Power is the power that is based on position and mutual agreement. Persons A and B agree that person A has the right to influence person B’s behavior. People accept this power because they believe that it is desirable and necessary to maintain order and discourage anarchy in a society or organization. For legitimate power to be effective, person B must believe that person A has the right to tell them what to do.
4.Referent Power is an elusive power that is based on interpersonal attraction. Person A has referent power over person B because person B identifies with person A and wants to be like person A. It is the ability to influence through the strength of their personalities. People who have this source of power have a personal magnetism, an air of confidence and a passionate belief in objectives that attract and hold their followers. They are most often individualistic and respected by the target. Referent power is a lot like charisma. This explains why celebrities are paid millions of dollars to endorse products. If person A holds special characteristics that person B (who desires to please person A) can identify with, then person A can have influence over the actions of person B.
5.Expert Power is the power that exists when person A has the information or knowledge that person B needs. It depends on education, training and experience. For expert power to work, three conditions must be met: person B must believe that person A’s knowledge is accurate, the knowledge must be relevant and useful for person B and that person B believes that person A is really an expert. Experienced officials and observers report that the skill, integrity, experience and expert knowledge of a public administrator can give that administrator a positive form of power with members of the organization as well as external authorities.
Researches on the Relationship of Bases of Power and Employee Effectiveness:
Reward Power- Provides temporary compliance on the part of employees. Requires the leader/manager to be physically present and watchful all the time, otherwise, employees will not work.
Coercive Power- Provides temporary compliance on the part of employees. Requires the leader/manager to be physically present and watchful all the time, otherwise, employees will not work.
Legitimate Power- Provides compliance on the part of employees but do not have any links to organizational effectiveness or employee satisfaction
Referent Power- Provides compliance plus linkages with organizational effectiveness. But, it can be a dangerous power due to its extent and intensity in influencing others
Expert Power- Holds the strongest relationship with performance and satisfaction. Also skills, abilities and knowledge are passed on in the organization
Public Management books also referred to the following sources of power in the political dimension :
*Connection Power derives from a (political) leader’s personal ties with important persons inside and outside the organization.
*Dependence Power derives from a people’s perception that they are dependent on the (political) leader either for help or protection. They gain their power through finding and acquiring resources that others need for their jobs.
*Obligation Power derives from a (political) leader’s efforts to do favors for people who they expect will feel an obligation to return those favors and to develop true friendships with those on whom they depend.
McCLELLAND’S 2 FACES OF POWER
McClelland believes that there are 2 distinct faces of power, one negative, the other positive.
1.Personal power is the negative face of power. This is power used for personal gain. Leaders or managers who use personal power are often referred to as “power hungry”. Personal power is a win-lose form of power in which the manager tends to treat others as objects to be utilized to get ahead. It is based on the traditional notion of power as domination over others.
2.Social power is the positive face of power. This is power used to create motivation or to accomplish group goals. McClelland found that the best managers are those who possess a high need for social power coupled with a relatively low need for social affiliation.
McClelland also found that managers who use power successfully have four power-oriented characteristics.
1.Belief in the authority system-They believe that the institution is important and that the authority system is valid. They are comfortable influencing and being influenced. The source of their power is the authority system of which they are a part.
2.Preference for work and discipline- They like their work and they are also very orderly. They believe that work is more than its income producing value.
3.Altruism-They put the company and its needs before their own. They see their own well-being as integrally tied to the corporate well-being.
4.Belief in Justice – They believe justice is to be sought above all else. People should receive that to which they are entitled and that which they earn.
SYMBOLS OF POWER
Rosabeth Moss Kanter discusses who has power and who is powerless in an organization. She provides several characteristics of powerful people in organizations.
1.Ability to intercede for someone in trouble
2.Ability to get placements for favored employees
3.Exceeding budget limitations
4.Procuring above-average raises for employees
5.Getting items on the agenda at meetings
6.Access to early information
7.Having top managers seek out their opinions
Kanter also wrote about symbols of powerlessness.
1.First line supervisors can display three symptoms of powerlessness – overly close supervision, inflexible adherence to rules and a tendency to do the job themselves.
2.Staff professionals like accountants and lawyers tend to – resist change and protect their turf.
3.Top executives feel powerless when they – focus on budget cutting, punishing others and using dictatorial and top-down communication.
Organizational politics – This is the use of power and influence in organizations.
Political behavior – These are actions not officially sanctioned by an organization that are made to influence others in order to meet one’s personal goals.
MACCOBY’S 4 POLITICAL TYPES
1.The Craftsman – He is a technical specialist who likes detail and precision. He is sincere, modest, quiet and practical. His goal is to be a good provider. He is the least political.
2.The Jungle Fighter – He desires success at any cost. He is unafraid to step on others to go ahead. There are 2 kinds of jungle fighters-foxes make their nests in their organization and makes it their safe base where as lions conquer other territories and build empires.
3.The Company Man/Woman – He/She is conservative. The goal is to protect the self and the company. Concern is more on the security rather than the success of the company.
4.The Gamesman – He likes contests and views business like a game. He takes calculated risks and thrives on challenge and competition.
AUTHORITY
This is the right to influence another person. It is the right to perform or command or issue directives and expand resources. It exists in the formal organization because it stems from the position created by the organization. It can also be viewed as institutionalized power. It is based on legal foundations (legislation, articles of incorporation, partnership agreements, by laws) that define an organization’s mission and empower its members to carry out its activities.
TYPES OF AUTHORITY
1) Charismatic – This authority depends on the magical qualities of a leader. No rules or regulations are involved. This is more a concept of power.
2) Traditional – Charismatic authority often evolves into traditional authority. This is when informal status and role systems become stabilized over time.
3) Rational Legal – Traditional authority can evolve to rational legal authority if the system is formally legitimized.
LEADERSHIP
Leadership is A special case of interpersonal influence that gets an individual or a group to do what has to be done. It also refers to the capacity of someone to direct and energize the willingness of people in social units to take actions to achieve the goals. It involves the crucial functions of championing goals and values, setting direction and inspiring. Leadership in one sense can draw mainly on blunt power, but usually the term implies legitimate authority.
Leadership can be of a formal or informal nature. A formal leader can exercise formal influence. This leader is given the responsibility to perform certain leadership functions because the authority is given to him by the organization. An informal leader exercises informal influence. It originates not from the position but rather from a special quality of the individual that is desirable for the group.
Leadership is influence, that is, the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals. The three important elements in this definition of leadership are – influence, voluntary effort and goal achievement. Without leadership, an organization will only be a confusion of people and machines, or an orchestra without a conductor. Organizations require leadership to develop their precious assets to the fullest.
LEADERSHIP THEORIES
I. TYPE 1 Theories TRAIT THEORIES
These theories of leadership attempt to identify the traits and/or inherent attributes of leaders, regardless of the leaders’ situation or circumstances.
Stogdill identified a leadership classification system based on six broad categories: physical characteristics, social background, intelligence, personality, task-related characteristics, social characteristics.
Eugene E. Jennings, Richard E. Boyatzis, Harry Levinson and others also conducted their own research to find out the traits that leaders possess but as Jennings’ puts it “ Fifty years of study has failed to produce one personality trait or set of qualities that discriminate leaders from non-leaders.”
*Studies revealed certain traits that leaders possess, however the findings are neither strong nor uniform. Leadership traits do not necessarily guarantee successful leadership. They are best viewed as personal competencies which may or may not be used. This indicates a limitation in being able to identify universal and distinguishing attributes of leaders.
Revival of Trait Theory
John C. Maxwell’s 21 indispensable qualities of a leader
1.Character – Be a piece of the rock
2.Charisma – The first impression can seal the deal
3.Commitment – It separates doers from the dreamers
4.Communication – Without it you travel alone
5.Competence – If you build it, they will come
6.Courage – One person with courage is majority
7.Discernment – Put an end to unsolved mysteries
8.Focus – The sharper it is the sharper you are
9.Generosity – Your candle loses nothing if you light another
10.Initiative – You won’t leave home without it
11.Listening – To connect with their hearts, use your ears
12.Passion – Take this life and love it
13.Positive Attitude – If you believe you can, you can
14.Problem-solving – You can’t let your problems be problems
15.Relationships – If you get along, they’ll go along
16.Responsibility – If you won’t carry the ball, you can’t lead the team
17.Security – Competence never compensates for insecurity
18.Self-Discipline – The first person you lead is you
19.Servanthood – To go ahead, put others first
20.Teachability – To keep leading, keep learning
21.Vision – You can seize only what you can see
Stephen Covey’s Characteristics of Principles-centered leaders
1.Principle-centered leaders are continually learning.
2.Service-oriented.
3.Radiate positive energy.
4.Believe in other people.
5.Lead balanced lives.
6.See life as an adventure.
7.Synergistic.
8.Exercise for self-renewal.
II. TYPE 2 Theories BEHAVIOR THEORIES
These theories are concerned with describing leader’s actions and behaviors. They classify leaders in one of three categories and examine common behavioral dimensions among leaders.
Leadership Styles
Kurt Lewin, Lippitt and White did leadership decision experiments in 1939 and identified three different styles of leadership
Autocratic
In the autocratic style, the leader takes decisions without consulting with others. The decision is made without any form of consultation. In Lewin’s experiments, he found that this caused the most level of discontent. An autocratic style works when there is no need for input on the decision, where the decision would not change as a result of input, and where the motivation of people to carry out subsequent actions would not be affected whether they were or were not involved in the decision-making.
Democratic
In the democratic style, the leader involves the people in the decision-making, although the process for the final decision may vary from the leader having the final say to them facilitating consensus in the group.
Democratic decision-making is usually appreciated by the people, especially if they have been used to autocratic decisions with which they disagreed. It can be problematic when there are a wide range of opinions and there is no clear way of reaching an equitable final decision.
Laissez-Faire
The laissez-faire style is to minimize the leader’s involvement in decision-making, and hence allowing people to make their own decisions, although they may still be responsible for the outcome. Laissez-faire works best when people are capable and motivated in making their own decisions, and where there is no requirement for a central coordination, for example in sharing resources across a range of different people and groups.
In Lewin et al’s experiments, he discovered that the most effective style was Democratic. Excessive autocratic styles led to revolution, whilst under a Laissez-faire approach, people were not coherent in their work and did not put in the energy that they did when being actively led.
However, Robert McMurry described the ‘benevolent autocrat’ as an even more effective leader. The benevolent autocrat gives the impression of being democratic but always makes his or her own personal decision. He argues that the democratic leader is too slow and unworkable in our fast moving business world. A benevolent autocrat is powerful, prestigious and respected therefore more effective.
Leadership Styles in Japan
Performance-Maintenance(PM) Theory of Leadership
P-ORIENTED LEADERSHIP
Encourages fast work pace
Emphasizes good quality and high accuracy
Works toward high-quantity production
Demonstrates concern and for rules and regulations
M-ORIENTED LEADERSHIP
Is sensitive to employees’ feelings
Emphasizes comfort in the work environment
Works to reduce stress levels
Demonstrates appreciation for follower contributions
Ohio State Leadership Studies
A study made by Ohio State University investigated the determinants of leader behavior as well as the effect of leadership style and on work-group performance and satisfaction. Two independent leadership dimensions were identified:
1. Initiating Structure – the degree to which the leader organize and define task, assign the work to be done, establish communication networks and evaluate work-group performance. This is analogous to a task-oriented leadership style.
2. Consideration – the behavior that involves trust, mutual respect, friendship, support and a concern for the welfare of the employee. This is analogous to an employee-oriented leadership style.
Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid
The two underlying dimensions of the grid are labeled:
1. Concern for Production (CPr)
2. Concern for People (CPe)
*Low CPe, High CPr : Authority-Obedience Manager
emphasizes production and works to achieve high levels of efficiency in operations by minimizing any interference from the human element. Production maximization is the hallmark of this manager.
*High CPe, Low CPr : Country Club Manager
gives thoughtful attention to the needs of people and their relationships so as to create a comfortable working environment. Good feelings are the hallmark of this manager.
*Low CPe, Low CPr : Impoverished Manager
exerts the minimum effort to get essential work done while maintaining organizational membership. This is similar to the laissez-faire style.
*High CPe, High CPr : Team Manager
emphasizes high levels of work accomplishments through committed trustworthy people. There is no trade-off between people and production.
Job-centered and Employee-centered Leadership Style
Michigan State University also conducted its own research. They came up with two distinct styles of leadership:
1. Job-centered leadership style – focuses on the use of close supervision, legitimate and coercive power, meeting schedules and evaluating work performance. This belongs to the task-oriented area.
2. Employee-centered leadership style – focuses on delegation of responsibility and a concern for employee welfare, needs, advancement, and personal growth.
Likert’s System 4 Management
Rensis Likert developed a description of four approaches to leadership taken by managers, ranging from autocratic to participative. Likert believes the one best way to lead is through ‘system 4 participation’.
Each style or system is defined by at least seven operating characteristics.
1. character of motivational forces
2. character of communication process
3. character of interaction-influence process
4. character of decision making process
5. character of goal-setting or ordering
6. character of control process
7. performance characteristics
System 1 – Exploitative-Authoritative Leadership Style
Managers in System 1 are autocratic, relying on traditional structures of authority for decision making. Formal authority and rigid chain of command process underscore human relations, with little or no interaction between hierarchical levels. Fear is used as a motive and communication is mostly downward.
System 2 –Benevolent-Authoritative Leadership Style
Managers in System 2 are benevolent but still at the autocratic end. Decision making is structured along hierarchical lines but a mellowing of relationship allows for productive interaction between levels. Economic rewards are used more than fear as motives and communication is slightly better.
System 3 – Consultative Leadership Style
Managers in System 3 are consultative and tend to include subordinates in decisions. Their behaviors fall short of allowing a fully participative system, but they seldom make decisions unilaterally. Systems of communication are more open as subordinates are brought into the problem-solving process.
System 4 – Participative Leadership Style
It is considered by Likert as the optimal approach to leading people in our dynamic and educated society. Managers in System 4 have a fully participative style of leadership. They rely on team building approaches rather than stratified methods of organization. Subordinates are part of the decision-making and problem-solving processes. Consensus among group members is crucial. Motivational forces come from ego, economics and group involvement in decision making and goal setting. In Likert’s view, participative management encourages acceptance of decisions while providing for broad-based support of collective goals and objectives.
3. TYPE 3 Theories CONTINGENCY THEORIES
These theories are concerned with identifying the situationally specific conditions in which leaders with particular traits are effective. It focuses on how the leader’s traits interact with situational factors in determining team effectiveness in task performance.
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
This proposes that the fit between the leaders’ need structure and the favorableness of the leaders’ situation determine the team’s effectiveness in work accomplishments. This theory assumes that leaders are task-oriented or relationship-oriented depending on how the leaders obtain their primary need gratification.
1. Task-oriented leaders – are primarily gratified by accomplishing tasks and getting work done.
2. Relationship-oriented leaders – are primarily gratified by developing, good, comfortable,interpersonal relationships.
Fiedler classifies leaders using the LPC (Least Preferred Co-worker) scale and evaluates the leader’s situation in terms of task structure, position power and leader-member relations through the Group Atmosphere Scale. High LPC scorers are more of relationship oriented, low LPC scorers are task-oriented. Fiedler concluded that:
-Low and high LPC scorers can be effective if placed in the right situation.
-Low LPC scorers can be effective in favorable and unfavorable situations.
-High LPC scorers are effective in situations with immediate favorableness.
4. TYPE 4 Theories BEHAVIOR CONTINGENCY THEORIES
These theories are concerned with identifying the specific leader behaviors that are most effective in specific leader situations. It focuses on the behavioral contingencies of a leader that yield the most effective performance by followers.
Robert Houses’ Path Goal Theory
The basic role of the leader is to enhance follower motivation so that the followers are able to experience need gratification. The leader must use structure, support and rewards to create a work environment that helps employees reach the organizations’ goals. This theory holds that effective leaders increase motivation and satisfaction when they help subordinates pursue important goals and see how to achieve them-that is, to see the goals and the paths to them and to follow the paths effectively.
Vroom-Yetton-Jago Normative Decision Theory
This theory recognizes the potential benefits of authoritarian, as well as democratic, styles of leader behavior.
Situational Determinants of Appropriate Leader Behavior
- quality of decisions to be made
- acceptance of that decision by employees
- time available for the decision
- information available to the manager
The Situational Leadership Model
Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard suggest that the leader’s behavior should be adjusted to the maturity level of the followers.
Two Dimensions of Leader Behavior
1. task or production oriented
2. relationship or people oriented
Follower Maturity – determined by the ability and willingness of the followers to accept responsibility for completing their work. Followers who are unable and unwilling are the least mature and those who are both able and willing are the most mature.
Four Levels of Follower Maturity
1. Unwilling/unable – leaders should follow a telling style of leadership. This style is characterized by high concern with the task and strong initiating structure behavior coupled with low concern with relationships and little consideration behavior.
2. Willing/unable – leaders should use a selling style, there is high concern for the task and relationship.
3. Unwilling/Able – leaders are required to use a participating style of leadership. This is characterized by high concern for relationships and low concern for tasks.
4. Willing/Able – leaders are required to use a delegating style of leadership. This is characterized by a low concern with the tasks and responsibility. The followers accept responsibility.
Transactional Leadership- motivate followers by recognizing their needs and providing rewards to fulfill those needs in exchange for their performance and support.
Kinds of Leadership
Transformational Leadership is the ability to raise follower goals to higher plains and to focus on higher level goals same as Maslow’s self actualization concept. Bennis and Nannus’ Transformational leadership relies on power but not in an overly controlling way. These leaders use extraordinary talents for coupling visions of success and directions to them and the empowerment and motivation of others to contribute.
Bass on the other hand, states that transformational leadership can have a transforming influence through a negative shift. He argues that this form of leadership involves an emotional and intellectual component. This involves ‘charisma’ an inspiring influence on followers. The intellectual component involves processes of careful attention to individual followers, often of a benevolent, developmental, mentoring nature, as well as intellectual stimulation.
A variant of transformational leadership is a dynamic leadership in a sense that the leaders throw themselves into a relationship with followers who will feel elevated by it and often become active themselves, thereby creating new cadres of leaders. This is transcending leadership, which is leadership engaged.
Reform leadership is seeking change through gradual means. A reformer is an insistent exclusivist particularist.
Revolutionary leadership is seeking complete, pervasive, profound and radical transformation of the entire social, economic or political system.
Charismatic Leadership Theory says that followers make attributions of heroic extraordinary leadership abilities when they observe certain behaviors.
Key Characteristics of Charismatic Leaders
1. self confidence
2. vision
3. ability to articulate vision
4. strong convictions about the vision
5. behavior that is out of the ordinary
6. appearance as a change agent
7. environmental constraints and resources needed to bring about change
Research suggests impressive correlations between charismatic leadership and high performance and satisfaction among followers. People working for charismatic leaders are motivated to exert extra effort and because they like their leader, express great satisfaction. Charismatic leaders on the other hand, may become a liability to an organization once a crisis and need for dramatic change subside.
How Today’s Managers can lead leaders.
1. Lead yourself and others by example
2. Develop the brightest and best talent
3. Point to the vein in the mine
4. Support and trust the leaders you lead
5. Don’t lead unless you are ready for adventure
6. A thirty hour investment per employee
Famous Leadership Quotes
Lance Secretan, Industry Week, 10/12/98
Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration—of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine.
Unknown
Blessed is the leader who seeks the best for those he serves.
Peter F. Drucker
Leadership is not magnetic personality—that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
Chinese proverb
An army of a thousand is easy to find, but, ah, how difficult to find a general.
Lao Tzu
Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.
Donald H. McGannon
Leadership is action, not position.
Harold J. Seymour
Leaders are the ones who keep faith with the past, keep step with the present, and keep the promise to posterity.
Peter Ferdinand Drucker
Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.
Warren Bennis
Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.
James L. Fisher
Leadership is the special quality which enables people to stand up and pull the rest of us over the horizon.
Donald H. McGannon
Leadership is action, not position.
Anthony T. Dadovano
A good leader is not the person who does things right, but the person who finds the right things to do.
Talleyrand
I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.
Walter Lippmann
The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.
Charles S. Lauer
Leaders don’t force people to follow—they invite them on a journey.
Ralph Nader
I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.
John Maxwell
The first step to leadership is servanthood.