Chapter Thirteen
Power, Influence, and Politics
Chapter Overview …………………………………………………….. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Learning Outcomes …………………………………………………………………………………………. 1
Real-World Challenge: Influencing Acceptance of Change at Church & Dwight …. 2
Chapter Outline ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
Video Exercise ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
Chapter Overview
The word power often conjures up a variety of images, ideas, and thoughts, both good and bad. When
used effectively, power and influence are essential to every manager’s performance. When used
inappropriately, though, power can result in unethical behavior and be damaging to employees and
organizations alike. Effectively using power and influence is a skill, and misusing either can quickly
derail your career. Conflict in organizations is often about power and influence, and the way power is
manifested in the organization and across workgroups. Understanding what power and influence are and
how to effectively use them will enhance your success in any organization.
Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Identify and describe different kinds of position and personal power.
Real-World Challenge: Influencing Acceptance of Change at Church &
Dwight
Summary: Church & Dwight Co., Inc., founded in 1846, is a leading consumer packaged goods
company. Company leaders realized that without new successful product launches, the company would
lack organic growth. One key part of the new strategy was splitting the marketing department into two
parallel marketing organizations. One marketing group would focus on new products, and the other would
focus on the base marketing of the company’s current brands.
Chapter Outline
I. POWER IN ORGANIZATIONS
Power refers to a person or group’s potential to influence another person or group to do something
that would not otherwise have been done. Power can be held by individuals as well as by groups.
Noted scholar David McClelland found that the real driver of a leader’s performance was the
leader’s need for power, or the desire to control and influence others or to be responsible for others.
A. Position Power
Managers’ power stems in part from organizational authority, which gives a manager position
power, power based on one’s position in the organization.
We next discuss the three types of position power: power due to one’s job, power due to control
over rewards, and power due to control over punishments.
1. Legitimate Power
Legitimate power is a form of position power based on a person’s holding a managerial
position rather than anything the manager is or does as a person.
2. Reward Power
Reward power is position power that involves the use of both tangible and intangible
rewards to influence and motivate followers.
3. Coercive Power
If a manager has the ability to punish subordinates, they can use position power to “coerce”
subordinates to comply out of fear or because people want to avoid being punished. This is
coercive power.
B. Personal Power
A manager’s ability to influence others to give their full effort depends on the power or
capability she or he has to influence other people’s behavior or attitudes.
Personal influence gives a manager personal power, which is based on the characteristics of
that individual and stays with the individual regardless of where that person works.
1. Expert Power
Expert power is based on an individual’s expertise in some area. People respond to expert
2. Informational Power
Control over information is informational power.
3. Referent Power
Referent power is another type of personal power based on a manager’s charisma or
4. Persuasive Power
II. USING POWER
It is important to adjust your use of power to the situation and person you are trying to influence.
Because the effects of referent and expert power rely on the employee’s internal motivation and
voluntary compliance, they are always appropriate. However, these types of power are not always
effective.
Legitimate, reward, and coercive power rely on external motivation and obligatory obedience.
A. Acquiring and Using Power
So how can you increase your power in your organization?
1. Acquiring Power
Your power is greater if the things you control are important, rare, and cannot be
substituted for by something else.
2. Abuse of Power
Power in an absolute sense is neither good nor bad—what matters is how the power is used.
An important point to make about power is the potential for its abuse.
The abuse of power is using any type of power to demean, exploit, or take advantage of
another or influencing someone to do something the person later regrets.
harassment.
B. Empowerment
The degree to which power is shared and an employee has the authority to make and implement
at least some decisions is empowerment.
C. How Subunits Obtain Power
A workgroup’s, department’s, or subunit’s power is derived either from its control of resources
or through its strategic power.
1. Resource Scarcity
Power is greater for subunits that control scarce resources that are vital to the organization
as a whole. When resources are plentiful, subunit power differences are often reduced.
2. Centrality
A subunit’s activities are central to the extent that they influence the work of many other
4. Uncertainty
Organizations do not like surprises or uncertainties.
III. INFLUENCE IN ORGANIZATIONS
Influential people have power, but not all powerful people have influence.
Leadership is in large part an influence process that involves the use of various powers or
interpersonal styles to affect the behaviors and attitudes of others.
A. Influence Tactics
People apply their power to influence the behavior of others through influence tactics.
Influence tactics should be matched to the situation and to the person being influenced and can
be learned with practice. Responses to influence attempts are not always positive, however.
Table 13.3 summarizes some influence tactics along with the possible responses to them.
Case Study: Influencing Decisions
Summary: You are a manager responsible for choosing one new project to support. Each project has
merit, and you feel that they all have an equal chance of success. As the meeting comes to a close, your
team members each make a last-minute appeal to win your support.
1. What influence tactics did each staff member use?
2. Which influence tactic do you think would best persuade you to choose that person’s idea?
Why?
3. Which influence tactic do you think would be least effective in persuading you to choose that
person’s idea? Why?
B. Role of National Culture in Influence Effectiveness
Understanding diverse cultures, values, and perspectives enhances your sensitivity to what is
important to others and how to best influence them.
Influence tactics are also most effective when they are consistent with the social values in the
national and organizational cultures.
Global Issues: Effectiveness of Different Influence Tactics Depends on
National Culture
Summary: National culture affects the appropriateness of different influence tactics. Managers from
Hong Kong and Taiwan believe that exchange and rational persuasion are the most effective influence
tactics. However, Taiwanese managers use inspirational appeals and ingratiation more than Hong Kong
managers, who use pressure. Direct, task-oriented influence tactics are seen as more effective by Western
C. Persuasion Skills
Because persuasion gets people to do things differently because they want to, not because they
have been ordered to, it is a more effective way to lead.
Because most people are resistant to altering their habits, managers need to use persuasion
skills whenever they need to create change.
Persuasion is much more than a sales skill.
Here are some recommendations for being more persuasive:
• Build credibility based on both your skills and your relationships.
• Do not begin with a hard sell.
D. Upward Influence
In addition to using influence to guide the behavior of subordinates, upward influence styles
can also be used to influence superiors. They are combinations of upwards influence tactics that
tend to be used together.
Upward influence is an important aspect of influence and contributes substantially to individual
effectiveness in organizations.
There are six primary upward influence tactics:
1. Ingratiation: using flattery and acting polite, friendly, or humble to put the supervisor in
a good mood
2. Exchange: offering to trade favors or rewards for compliance
Your source(s) of power generally determines which upward influence tactics you tend to use.
It is also important to adjust your influence tactic to suit the boss you are trying to influence.
The six upward influence tactics can be used alone, but are often used in combination with each
other in what are called upward influence styles.
The four upward influence styles are:
1. Shotgun: This style uses the most influence and emphasizes assertiveness and
bargaining. Shotgun managers use many different tactics. This style is associated with
the highest levels of job tension and personal stress.
IV. ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Organizational politics are social influence attempts directed at people who can provide rewards
that will help promote or protect the self-interests of the actor.
Effectively influencing others through persuasion, generating support, and inspiring trust are the
core of effective politics.
Organizational politics are the result of both individual employees and the culture of the
organization. Political behaviors are most likely to occur when there is a reasonably high degree of
ambiguity or uncertainty in the work environment.
Eugene McKenna identified these common political tactics in organizations:
1. Controlling information: restricting information to certain people
2. Controlling lines of communication: establishing gatekeepers to restrict access
When politics are constructive rather than destructive, they are unnoticeable. When politics are used
to advance self-serving causes, employees tend to perceive the workplace as more highly political.
Employees who perceive that others get ahead by acting politically engage in more political
behaviors themselves. Organizational culture is thus influenced by the perceived degree of political
activity and how the employees in that organization react to these perceptions.
A. Causes of Political Behavior
Conflict is at the core of organizational politics. Uncertainty increases political behavior.
Decisions made under uncertainty are particularly susceptible to political influence.
B. Managing Organizational Politics
Because politics is pervasive and because political skill has been found to decrease job stress, it
is worth developing your skills in this area.
Formal rules and procedures can help to reduce the occurrence of political behavior.
V . IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
Impression management is the process of portraying a desired image or attitude to control the
impression others form of us.
Impression management is not inherently a bad thing; in fact, most people regularly engage in some
form of interpersonal deception.
Table 13.5 presents some tips for detecting impression management and deception on the part of
others.
Summary and Application
When used properly, power, influence, and politics are essential tools for managerial success. When used
improperly, power, influence, and politics can undermine trust, result in unethical behavior, and create a
toxic organization.
Discussion Questions
1. What power(s) does your instructor have?
An instructor has legitimate power, expert power, referent power, coercive power, reward power, and
2. What influence tactics does your instructor use to motivate you to learn?
The most effective influence tactics that an instructor can use to motivate students include:
3. Describe a time in the last week that someone influenced you to do something you would not
otherwise have done. What influence tactic(s) did she or he use?
4. Is another person’s ethics important to you in your decision to allow that person to influence
you? Why or why not?
5. How can you ethically use power, influence, and politics to get a promotion?
A person can ethically use expert power and personal to influence a decision maker, a manager, to get
6. Have you ever tried to influence your boss to do something? What upward influence tactics did
you try? Were you successful? Why or why not?
7. Are office politics bad? Why or why not?
Office politics are bad because they take time away from performing valuable tasks for the
8. How do you use impression management at work?
Students can share their experiences. I’ve used impression management techniques with positive
Understand Yourself Exercise—Influencing an Ethical Decision
Students read a scenario describing the discovery of potential illegal workers at a new employer. Students
then use what they have learned in the chapter to describe what they would do to change the company’s
policy toward employing illegal workers and analyze their effectiveness.
Group Exercise—Influencing Your Instructor
Learning Objective: Describe what you can do to increase your power in an organization.
Summary: Students form small groups and identify a spokesperson. They develop a strategy to influence
Video Exercise
Videos and questions can be found in the eBook and MindTap video folder.
Numi Organic Tea: Value Chain, IT, and E-Business
Summary:
1. Describe the power relationship between Numi and its supply chain partners.
Numi relies on international partners to produce, package, and deliver its high-end organic teas.
Factories, warehouses, tea farms, and other third parties work closely with Numi’s marketing teams to
2. In the video, what issues with China-based suppliers require Numi’s managers to use influence
and persuasion tactics?
Numi is dedicated to the concepts of sustainability and social responsibility. However, partners in
China have trouble comprehending Numi’s fair-trade, organic, and sustainability ideals, and they
3. How does Numi get suppliers to comply with its policies?
Numi expects supply chain partners to adhere to its ethical standards and it refuses to partner with any
Now What?
Imagine learning that your boss is trying unsuccessfully to influence a peer of yours to organize the
company picnic again this year. When you are asked to try to influence the stubborn subordinate to agree
to plan the picnic, what do you say or do? Go to this chapter’s “Now What?” video, watch the challenge
video, and choose a response. Be sure to also view the outcomes of the two responses you didn’t choose.
OB Concepts Applied: legitimate power; coercive power; reward power; referent power; rational
persuasion; ingratiation; inspirational appeals; coalition tactics; exchange
influence tactic; personal appeals; pressure; commitment; compliance; passive
resistance; active resistance
Discussion Questions
1. Which influence tactics do you think were the most effective and why would they work?
2. If you were to use power to try to get the subordinate to do the task, which forms of power
would work best and why? Which would be ineffective and why?
Legitimate power would work but would likely make Allison resentful and mad. Reward power may
3. Did you detect any organizational politics, and if so, what types?
4. How else might you persuade your coworker to organize the picnic using power and influence?
Allison has expert power because she knows how to organize the picnic. The coworkers could