Leadership's Use Of Power To Influence

Claude Toland, Director of Education, Universal Technical Institute

Oftentimes, in work teams or work groups, conflict among team members is inevitable and power becomes a key resource. When one possesses power, they have the ability or opportunity to influence others. Having power is having authority and with authority, leaders can make decisions that others must accept. Bolman and Deal use examples of how a leader makes decisions that employees must accept, a teacher makes decisions that students must accept, and organizational leaders make decisions that organizations must accept.

With power, political or positional, comes responsibility. Drucker stated that leaders must see their leadership position as a responsibility, not as having rank and privilege. Leaders must earn trust to effectively use power and influence because without it there will be no followers—a leader without followers is not a leader.

Leader’s Use of Power and Influence

The Center for Leadership Studies defines leadership as an attempt to influence and power as influence potential. The organization lists five effective powers that an organizational leader might use. They consist of coercive, positional, reverent, reward and expert power. Positional and coercive power could be used to get people to work harder and be more productive by denying rewards or saying no to a vacation, bonus, or salary hike. While positional power could be intermingled with coercive power and denying rewards, the leader could force his authority based on his position. Robbins stated that by using positional power, the person in charge has the right to command or control. The leader can deny promotions, transfers, raises, and assign more complicated tasks to employees.

The Role of Influence

According to Robbins, influence takes place when power is exercised, and when it does certain behaviors take place. If the leader begins to use coercive and positional power, creative tension could be released into the organization. There are times when different styles of power should be used to redirect the workforce. Robbins stated that direct defiance is needed at times and leaders must use new and different tactics to get things accomplished. If a leader is always predictable, productivity and motivation could become stagnant. Furthermore, Robbins stated there are times when leaders want to create a dependency to indicate that the things the manager controls are important. In addition, if a resource has few or no viable substitutes, there is more power and control. For example, if the leader has the knowledge and skills to work in several different positions, that individual is more in demand within the organization.

“At times, the leader will need to get out of the comfort zone in order to be a successful organizational leader and effectively use their power and influence” 

Politics and Influence

Robbins stated that politics is an unpleasant fact in organizations. People who ignore this fact do so at their peril. There are times when support is needed to influence a project, meet goals, or gain career ground. This is where political influence comes into the game. All organizational members do not have the same goals and interests; therefore, politics is required to acquire a certain level of influence. To change, Claude will become more in tune with social cues, be more aware of social conformity, maintain a high level of self-monitoring, and become more skilled in political behavior. This will increase Claude’s level of political influence.

Impression Management for Influence

Some managers have an ongoing concern about how others perceive and evaluate them. A high self-monitor person is concerned about those perceptions. Robbins defines impression management techniques as:

1) a raised level of conformity with higher levels of management,

(2) apologizing at times, even if you do not think you should,

(3) doing favors for higher levels to get their approval,

(4) compliment others to make yourself seem likable,

(5) associate with the right people within the organization, and

(6) explain your accomplishments to maximize desirable implications.

Summary and Conclusion

Whetten and Cameron stated that power is converted into influence when the target individual consents to behave according to the desires of the power holder. They continue stating how a power holder can use three approaches to apply power for impacting influence. The approaches are retribution, reciprocity, and reason. Retribution is often seen in the case of coercive power. Reciprocity can be used in coercive power and positional power. It is when the leader lets the employee know they will be rewarded to perform a task.

Whetten and Cameron stated that a leader must initiate a power base to get things accomplished and to introduce influence. This power base does not need to be limited to only a few. As mentioned earlier, Robbins stated that a leader must not be limited to only a few power bases for influence. At times, the leader will need to get out of the comfort zone in order to be a successful organizational leader and effectively use their power and influence.