Have you ever worked for a company that sounded like it was a dream come true to be offered a position to soon after find this company isn’t what you expected. What I am talking about specifically is when the higher management in an organization uses its power to control their employees. I’m sure you know someone in this situation even if you have not experienced this.
Our lesson this week tells us Power—the ability to influence other people–can also be a problem, and is sometimes related to the issue of difficult colleagues (and bosses in particular). Kipnis, Castell, Gergen, and Mauch’s (1976) Metamorphic Model of Power states that having power changes people, and many of these changes are not desirable. It goes on to say that “power holders come to devalue other people. They view others as being inferior, incompetent, and deserving of their low status.”
There is a local well known (non profit) business that is known for hovering their power over their employees to not only belittle them but also coheres them into doing some illegal activities. This puts a sense of mistrust, rage, and fear in the employees. They were set up to do these illegal activities with the notion if they did not follow through they would be fired or in some cases lose their work visa. The higher up management’s negative use of power quickly set fire to other management and they also became mean and threatening.
This business did get caught and they did have to pay the price but sadly they have not changed their ways of operations. The higher management still continues their fear tactics to manipulate their employees to do things that are not on the up and up.
Power is contagious. In this case it is the negative power that we see trickle down the chain. You start with a CEO on a power trip to bully those below them to get what they want. In turn you will see those employees doing the same to those under them and so on and so on. You will also see employees that are on the receiving end have less work ethic and less trust in their supervisors. One person at the top started it all and the effects of that one person spread throughout the whole company. What would it be like if they used their power in a positive way to achieve their goals?
Power. Sign in to your account. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2204526/modules/items/35810277
ScienceDaily. (2007, October 7). Negativity is contagious, study finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071004135757.htm
Leadership is when a specific individual utilizes their influence on their personnel to help achieve an organization goal (Gruman et al., 2017). Having good leaders is an important aspect of a company and these leaders are given a great deal of power to guide their organization to success. Obviously, as you have shared, we do not always get good leaders and that can create a very dysfunctional environment. It sounds like the people in charge of the business you referenced used autocratic leadership, meaning that the leader makes all of the decisions and does not delegate any power (Gruman et al., 2017). That is to say they made the decision to do some illegal things and modeled toxic power, then expected everyone under them to follow suit. Which I think is what you spoke of when you said “negative power that we see trickle down the chain.” If they were able to use their power in a positive way to achieve their goals they would be actual leaders, instead of flawed corrupt dictators.
Reference
Gruman, J.A., Schneider, F.W., & Coutts, L.A. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.