Power in Work

9 Key excerpts on "Power in Work"

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  The Undreaded Job

  Learning to Thrive in a Less-than-Perfect Workplace

  • Richard Brislin(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  7 Understanding Power in the Workplace INTRODUCTION As introduced in Chapter 1, a major theme of this book is that people who understand workplace dynamics such as cognitive processes, group formation, communication, leadership development and other issues will have a greater chance of job satisfaction and life satisfaction. In my own personal experience, understanding power and its attrac- tions to many people has been very important in my own efforts at workplace satisfaction. Power refers to influence in one’s workplace and community, the ability to have one’s preferences put into action, and the ability to help others with their work efforts in the expectations that these others will eventually return favors. If there is one substitute word for power, it is ‘‘clout‘‘ (Brislin, 1991; 2001). Some young people have socialization experiences that lead to an understanding of power. They attend dinner parties with their lawyer fathers and politician mothers and keep up discussions with influential guests. They attend fund-raisers for political candidates, volunteer for community activities where they meet movers and shakers, and become comfortable interacting with school peers when they have titles such as ‘‘student body president.’’ I had few such childhood experien- ces and so had to play ‘‘catch up’’ when I was well past 30 years old. One personal experience may be instructive. I once worked for an or- ganization where employees submitted proposals, and after a review some of the proposals would be funded. Decision makers could call employees and schedule meetings during which written proposals would be discussed. Meetings were scheduled only with proposals that the decision makers felt had problems in such areas as conceptualiza- tion, staffing, or predicted outcomes. I rarely was called to such meet- ings and received modest funding for my proposals.

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  The Manager as Politician

  • Jerry W. Gilley(Author)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  Power is the ability to (potentially or actually) control other people and to impose your will on others. Power is the ability of one person to affect the behavior of someone else in a desirable way. It is also the ability of a person or group to influence another person or group. Power is based on formal authority, knowledge, personality, and access to information. It is also based on a person's ability to control resources. Power is typically used to obtain a desired result. It is used to get others to perform a certain action that they normally would not perform. It is used to push a group to accomplish the goals of another person and to control other people. It is distributed both formally and in- formally and is used to get accomplished what the most powerful person wants. Finally, managers who understand power and its effects possess much greater autonomy than those who do not. Understanding Power, Politics, and Influence in Organizations / 21 Power can sometimes become addictive and is not relinquished eas- ily. However, power does not last forever, and transitions of power often result in major conflict in organizations. Consequently, you must have a complete understanding of who has power and how they use it in the organization. Power is based on five elements. First, power is grounded formal au- thority, which is present in any reporting relationship. Second, power is based on knowledge: the more knowledge you possess, the more power- ful you are. Third, power is based on personality. Individuals with per- suasive, charismatic personalities typically are granted greater power. Fourth, power is based on one's ability to control information. Informa- tion is essential to decision-making, goal setting, and communications. Fifth, power is based on one's ability to control resources and increases as people become more dependent on the resources you control. There are two perspectives on power: distributive and integrative.

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  Social Work and Power

  • Roger Smith, Jo Campling(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Red Globe Press

    (Publisher)

  Why Do We Need to Think about Power? A persistent problem Power is an awkward and slippery concept, and it has proved highly problematic for social work both in theory and in practice. Indeed, conventional definitions illustrate the fundamental nature of the challenge. The Oxford Dictionary of English offers eight variations, of which three at least are directly relevant: the ability or capacity to do something; the capacity or ability to act in a particular way to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events; or physical strength or force exerted by someone … ( Oxford Dictionary of English , 2005) These are abstract and neutral properties, however, which give rise to large and challenging questions when applied to concrete situations. How does someone gain the authority to ‘direct’ or ‘influence’ others, for instance? What if this conflicts with someone else’s ‘capacity’ to act in a particular way? Is it ever acceptable to use ‘force’ against someone else? Where does the authority and legitimacy to act in these ways come from? These and other related questions are of particular concern for social workers whose work typically involves negotiating the boundaries between individual freedom and choice, on the one hand, and external constraints and collective responsibilities, on the other. This may, for example, include considering the use of one’s authority to ‘direct’ the behaviour of others by setting limits to their ‘capacity to do something’, such as exercising the parental role. As a result, social workers often seem to be uncomfortable with the ambiguity of their position and responsibilities.

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  Managerial Leadership for Librarians

  Thriving in the Public and Nonprofit World

  • G. Edward Evans, Holland Christie(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Libraries Unlimited

    (Publisher)

  POWER Power is a word that often generates a negative knee-jerk response; this is espe- cially true when the hearer has had a bad experience with power. It is, in a sense, one of those hot-button words we mentioned in the last chapter. It is also one that you can assume or expect may be a “hot” word for someone on your staff. Why that negative response occurs is somewhat complex. Perhaps one reason is we hear more about misuse of power, regardless of form, than we do about its positive uses. Another factor is that there is inherent in the concept a coercive, punishment, and sanction component. People tend not to respond favorably to being coerced. Yet another factor is some people have had negative experiences with a person holding some power. Power in and of itself is not bad. What makes the concept of power good or bad is how the person holding power wields it. Power is a part of managing organizations and getting people to carry out activities they might not otherwise be inclined to do. According to researchers (see, for example, Dorwin Cartwright, 1995), mana- gerial power comes in several forms In the workplace, power is, or should be, about influence—getting people to work together to accomplish a defined goal. Jeffery Pfeffer defined power as “the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance, and get people to do things they would not otherwise do” (1992, 30). Managers in the nonprofit and public sectors need to keep in mind that for them, the real workplace power is influence. In either sector, it is rather easy to fall into the trap of thinking we are powerless. We may not have the power to force something; however, we have almost unlimited power to try to influence. Influence is essentially our most effective power. More than 80 years ago Chester I.

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  Knowledge and Practice in Business and Organisations

  • Kevin Orr, Sandra Nutley, Shona Russell, Rod Bain, Bonnie Hacking, Clare Moran(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  4 Power, Knowledge and Practice

  Christopher Mueller, Alina Baluch and Kevin Orr

  DOI: 10.4324/9781315674025-4

  Introduction

  Power relations are an integral part of our everyday lives. We have all exercised power, just as we have experienced it. Sometimes this occurs in the most mundane ways—we may have made colleagues work long hours by calling a snap meeting at five p.m., or been compelled by a deadline to spend weekends welded to a laptop. Power is often seen “as the capacity of individuals to exert their will over others” (Huzzard 2004 :353)—and, if required, to do so against their will (Weber 1954 ; Hardy & Clegg 2006 ). In this way, for example, employees must submit to a controlling performance appraisal regime. Power can also be an enabling aspect of organisational life—for example, a team leader may create an environment of openness during a project meeting, encouraging colleagues to speak candidly; a decisive intervention in a process may free up time or create autonomy; or an individual may be given more decision-making power as part of their personal or professional development. Such examples have nothing grandiose about them; they do not involve heroic deeds or the majestic wielding of power. Instead, they highlight the commonplace nature of power relations: power is an everyday phenomenon.

  Just as power is an integral part of our day-to-day interactions, it is at the same time deeply entwined with knowledge. Drawing on the examples above, employees must know how to conduct themselves in relation to the performance management norms of the organisation. Relations of power may also regulate access to knowledge, including one participant but excluding another. The team leader giving voice to colleagues during a meeting is inclusive and thus open towards knowledge arising through interactions in the team.

  This chapter begins by providing an overview of the different ways power has been understood. We then consider the relationship between power and knowledge. Following this, we use a practice-theory lens to demonstrate the fruitfulness of viewing power, knowledge and practice in conjunction with each other. Finally, we offer some thoughts about the implications of these connections for practitioners.

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  Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology

  • Ronald E. Riggio, Stefanie K. Johnson, Stefanie K Johnson(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In sum, the different power bases indicate that power can indeed take many forms and arise from many sources. For example, expert power and referent power reside within the individual and, thus, are forms of individual power. More often than not, legitimate, reward, and coercive power are derived from organizational rather than personal sources and, thus, are types of organizational power. As you might expect, the various power bases can combine to further increase an individual’s power in an organization. At the same time, possession of certain power bases, coupled with the effective use of influence tactics (e.g., assertiveness, ingratiation, upward appeals), can even further increase the power an individual wields in a group or organization (Brass & Burkhardt, 1993). A great deal of research has been conducted on power dynamics, or on how the different power bases operate in work settings and how they affect work outcomes. Let’s explore power dynamics in work organizations.

  Stop & Review Name and describe three influence tactics identified by Cialdini.

  Power Dynamics in Work Organizations

  The topic of Power in Work settings is an important one, and research on the topic has increased, particularly on the dynamics of Power in Work organizations (Tarakci et al., 2016). For example, researchers have investigated such issues as the distribution of power in organizations, the attempts of organizational members to increase power, power and dependency relationships, and the effects of power on important organizational outcomes, specifically job performance and satisfaction.

  Differences in Power Distribution

  We know that power, because of its many forms, is unevenly distributed in work settings. Usually, organizations are arranged in a power hierarchy, with people at the upper levels possessing great power and those at the bottom having relatively little power. However, individual differences in the expert and referent power bases ensure that no two people, even those at the same status level, have exactly equal power. Therefore, although persons high in the hierarchy tend to possess more power than those at lower levels, even a low-ranking member can wield considerable power because of personal sources of power, such as expert power and referent power.

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  Leadership in Higher Education from a Transrelational Perspective

  • Christopher M. Branson, Maureen Marra, Margaret Franken, Dawn Penney(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  Real Power and Influence 79 to attain specific goals or to engage in specific behavior; it is the capacity to influence and motivate others’. The common focus coming through in the above statements is the way in which leaders influence their followers to produce a desired outcome through the quality and characteristics of the relationships that they establish with their followers. Although there is no universally accepted definition of leadership, most tend to confirm this pivotal principle that leadership requires the power to influence others. For example, Yukl’s (2006: 8) commonly applied definition states that leadership is ‘the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives’. This, then, raises questions about the nature of the leader’s ‘power’ to influence. Indeed, how the leader sees the nature of their ‘power’ to influence determines their actual approach to leadership practice. The nature of this power in a transactional approach is very different to that in a transrelational approach. The first section of this chapter sets out to clearly describe this difference. Possible sources of power To more deeply understand the foundation of power within human relationships, the studies of Kreisberg (1992) may prove beneficial. Kreisberg’s work, Transforming power: Domination, empowerment, and education , highlighted the distinction between two sources of power: ‘power over’ and ‘power with’. He defined ‘power over’ as ‘a conception of power as the ability to impose one’s will on others as a means towards fulfilling one’s desired goals. It is the ability to direct and control and to manipulate and coerce if need be, sometimes for the good of all, most often for the good of the few’ (1992: 45). We experience this form of leadership power when trust is not openly shared in communication with others.

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  Dynamics of Organizational Change and Learning

  • Jaap Boonstra(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Thus, power can be conceptualized as being manifest– personal, manifest–structural, latent–personal, and latent–cultural (Figure 13.1). In the next section of the chapter, we will present each of these perspectives on power and some associated power sources, and then explore various approaches to change which emerge from each perspective. MANIFEST–PERSONAL POWER This is one of the best understood and widely shared conceptions of power and is informed by the early conceptual work of scholars such as Dahl (1975), Emerson (1962), and Wrong (1968). Basically, from this perspective we say power is a force and person A has more power than B to the extent that A can get B to do something they would not otherwise do. Early social and organizational psychological research 282 power dynamics: a multi-perspective approach T ABLE 13.1 Elements of manifest–personal power Sources Definitions Strategies Expertise Knowledge and skills which others see as relevant to the task accomplishment and which the individual is seen as possessing Obtaining credentials or ongoing experiences which others respect Legitimate authority Formal position and roles which define responsibilities and appropriate scope of activity Ensuring roles and role expectations are clear and recognized as legitimate Referent Power which comes from trust and commitment given to the individual because of his/her personal traits and characteristics Build respect and trust through personal integrity, charisma, and group affiliation Rewards/ coercion Behaviours which reward or hurt others but which ensure compliance and buy-in Accumulating things of value to others or punishments which can harm others Association Influence which comes from knowing powerful people Networking and developing connections and associations on power focused on describing power bases of managers. From this perspective, power is viewed as the potential ability of an individual agent to influence a target within a certain system or context.

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  Power, Influence, and Persuasion

  Sell Your Ideas and Make Things Happen

  • Harvard Business Review(Author)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • Harvard Business Review Press

    (Publisher)

  They may also find a source of power within coalitions. Relationships are an important source of power, but you must be judicious in using them. Managers must sense when to tap these relationships and avoid overexploiting them. Personal Power The final source of power that bears mentioning is personal power. Personal power is the power you have after the powers of position and relationships are stripped away. It is a function of one or many qualities that others recognize in you. In most cases these include the following: • Trustworthiness • Relating well to others 26 Power, Influence, and Persuasion • Expertise of high value to others • An ability to communicate opinions and ideas in compelling ways • Accomplishments that merit admiration and respect • A charismatic style that engages the emotions and allegiance of others • Powerful and attractive ideas • Enthusiasm and dedication to hard work • An ability to enlist collaboration among fellow employees • Self-confidence • Abundant physical energy and stamina The sum of these personal qualities is a measure of your personal power. That power makes it possible to lead in the absence of formal authority and to influence the thinking and behavior of others over whom you have no organizational control. Consider the following example: Hard work and expertise in flexible manufacturing helped Philip gain substantial recognition within SupplyCo, an electronic components manufacturer.The idea of integrating data systems, computer-controlled equipment, and production processes was new and radical when he joined the company in 1985. But Philip had the technical know-how and foresight to recognize its potential. He also had the interpersonal skills to make a winning case for its adoption as SupplyCo’s new man-ufacturing strategy, which he helped implement.That strategy was highly successful, giving SupplyCo a competitive advantage.

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