After watching the vice presidential debate on Thursday night, I could not resist the urge to BLOG about some of the aspects of leadership that were on display. The debate had a slightly different look and feel; in Tim Stanley’s words posted on a CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/11/opinion/opinion-roundup-veep-debate/index.html it seemed like a duel between the “sports bar” and the “seminar.” Vice President Biden was by all accounts quite raucous, shouting out answers and responses when it was not his turn and he made a series of facial expressions that were reminiscent of Jack Nicolson in the Shining. Paul Ryan presented himself in more of a “wonkish” lecture mode. His tone was even and somewhat respectful though many of his answers failed the smell test. Interestingly enough with these two very different approaches, the pundits are calling the debate a draw based upon plus-ups for Biden in the substance department and plus-ups for Ryan in the style department. With that said, I have to ask myself, who would I want standing next-in-line as the leader of the free world – a candidate who projects more substance or a candidate who projects more style?
As I contemplate this question, I thought that I would examine some of the similarities/differences in leadership between Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan using our current lesson on power and influence. In this lesson, we learned that power is the capacity to influence others, and it is not only a “function of the leader,” but the followers and the situation as well. Influence is the degree of change – changes in attitudes, behavior and/or beliefs of the followers. (PSU, L 7, pp. 2-3). In the case of the sparring Vice Presidential candidates, there is no question that both men possess a high degree of power. In my view, Biden draws upon several different sources of power. He has expert power with his vast amount of knowledge; at the age of 69 Vice President Biden has been involved in the political arena for nearly 40 years. He possesses referent power – this happens when there is a strong relationship between the leader and his followers and the leader is viewed as a role model. He possesses legitimate power – his legitimate power is tied to his role as Vice President and as such his formal authority. He possesses both reward and coercive power; tasked with implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Vice President Biden was in a position to establish policies for the fair administration and implementation of funding to help support the rebuilding of the American economy. Ryan also possesses several sources of power, though not as many as Biden. Ryan’s legitimate source of power comes from his position as the republican vice presidential candidate and also as the Chairman of the House Budget Committee. He possesses reward and coercive power that again comes from his position as the Chairman of the House Budget Committee. Clearly both Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan have a need for power as they are both vying for a position where they can influence others and in doing so have been very outspoken and forceful in their approaches (Biden more so than Ryan during Thursday’s debate).
Now that we’ve explored the Vice Presidential candidates’ sources of power, we need to examine the types of influence tactics they used during the debate to try to change the attitudes of those who were watching. As we learned from Lesson 7: Power and Influence, there are nine influence tactics: 1) Rational Persuasion (logical arguments or facts), 2) Inspirational Appeals (emotional pleas), 3) Consultation (asking for participation), 4) Ingratiation (flattery), 5) Personal Appeals (relying on friendship), 6) Exchange (asking for favors), 7) Coalition Tactics (banding together), 8) Pressure Tactics (threats), and 9) Legitimizing Tactics (using position or authority). (PSU, L 7, pp. 7-8). From my seat in the “audience,” both Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan were somewhat successful in using rational persuasion (Biden more so than Ryan), inspirational appeals, consultation, coalition tactics, pressure tactics and legitimizing tactics in their attempts to try influence voters during the debate.
With just 24 days left until Election Day, it is certain that Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan will continue to use their power to influence voter behavior. Since it looks like the race is still too close to call, the VEEPs will need to behave differently (bring their “A Game) toward different followers (groups of voters) if they are going to secure their support. (PSU, L 7, p. 7).
References:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/11/opinion/opinion-roundup-veep-debate/index.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice-president-biden
http://www.whitehouse.gov/recovery/
PSU, L 7, pp. 2-3 and 7-8.
BRENT A BRODIE says
After the Vice Presidential Debate; CNN and other news channels had multiple discussions about Vice President Biden’s behavior calling it rude. Vice President Biden interrupted Ryan and used tactics such as shaking his head and laughing at Ryan during the debate. The news discussion banter postulated; perhaps Vice President Biden may have been using tactics to demonstrate his potential wisdom in years verses Senator Ryan’s lack of experience in years. For example, this would be like an older person shaking his head at a younger person as if to say “silly boy you do not know what you are talking about.” I am sure prior to the debate Biden was encouraged to go in like an attack dog based on President Obama’s first debate being lackluster. Prior to most jabs or jests, Vice Presidential Biden always started by saying, “my friend here…”. As if by saying my friend would reduce the blows about to follow. I think Vice President Biden was using a modified version of pressure tactics during the debate. Pressure tactics in a work setting could be threats of the reduced salary, taking away potential rewards but the key concept is, “persistent reminders used to influence targets” (Pennsylvania State University, 2012, p.7). Communication is conducted in both a verbal and non-verbal manner and body language speaks volumes. Vice President Biden was attempting to put pressure on Senator Ryan by continuously shaking his head, continuously outwardly laughing at his responses, continuously interrupting Ryan and the moderator in an attempt to influence the target, Senator Ryan. I believe the main goal of Vice President Biden was to exert as much pressure on Senator Ryan as possible. This was an attempt to create a “pressure cooker environment” and influence Ryan to behave, say or look foolish in front of the American people. The unspoken threat or the taking away of rewards would clearly be the Vice Presidential seat as only one will win and hold the title. In the diverse world of American personalities and perceptions; Biden’s behavior may have worked for some, but it did not work for all resulting in a close percentages in the polls with neither candidate taking a clear lead.
References
Pennsylvania State University. (2012). Lesson 7: Power and Influence. Retrieved from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu
BRENT A BRODIE says
After the Vice Presidential Debate; CNN and other new channels had multiple discussions about Vice President Biden behavior calling it rude. Vice President Biden interrupted Ryan and used tactics like shaking his head and laughing at the Ryan during the debate. The news discussions banter postulated; perhaps Vice President Biden may have been using tactics to demonstrate his potential wisdom in years verses Senator Ryan’s lack of experience in years. For example, this would be like an older person shaking his head at a younger person as if to say “silly boy you do not know what you are taking about.” I am sure prior to the debate Biden was encouraged to go in like an attack dog based on President Obama’s first debate being lackluster. Prior to most jabs or jests, Vice Presidential Biden always started by saying, “my friend here…”. As if by saying my friend would reduce the blows about to follow. I think Vice President Biden was using a modified version of pressure tactics during the debate. Pressure tactics in a work setting could be threats of the reduced salary, taking away potential rewards but the key concept is, “persistent reminders used to influence targets” (Pennsylvania State University, 2012, p.7). Communication is conducted in both a verbal and non-verbal manner and body language speaks volumes. Vice President Biden was attempting to put pressure on Senator Ryan by continuously shaking his head, continuously outwardly laughing at his responses, continuously interrupting Ryan and the moderator in an attempt to influence the target, Senator Ryan. I believe the main goal of Vice President Biden was to exert as much pressure on Senator Ryan as possible. This was an attempt to create a “pressure cooker environment” and influence Ryan to behave, say or look foolish in front of the American people. The unspoken threat or the taking away of rewards would clearly be the Vice Presidential seat as only one will win and hold the title. In the diverse world of American personalities and perceptions; Biden’s behavior may have worked for some, but it did not work for all resulting in a close percentages in the polls with neither candidate taking a clear lead.
References
Pennsylvania State University. (2012). Lesson 7: Power and Influence. Retrieved from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu
TERRY PICKETT GLADHILL says
Sam – you had me at Fox News:) There is no question that Vice President Biden should have had more control over his body language and perhaps been a little less forceful in his approach. But from all accounts he was trying to set the record straight, because after all facts do matter. Fortunately, Vice President Biden has been in the political area for almost 40 years and during that time has garnered the respect of his colleagues, republicans and democrats alike. To this point, I think he’s known for gaffs of all shapes and sizes. The good thing about the Vice President is – he says what he means and to me that is a man of substance – like it or not. A leader needs to be strong in his/her convictions and stand behind what they say. Going back to one of our earlier lessons on the Trait Approach, I believe that Vice President Biden exhibits all five of the major leadership traits: 1) intelligence, 2) self-confidence, 3) determiniation, 4) integrity and 5) sociability. (Northouse, 2013, p. 23).
Reference: Northouse, P.G., (2013), Leadership: Theory and Practice, (6th Edition) Los Angeles: Sage Publications
SAMUEL HODGSON says
We will have to politely agree to disagree with your stance on Vice President Biden showing his power. I heard a comment on Fox News this weekend that summed up his power, if you listened to the debate on radio it was obvious that Biden won, but in watching it on television is was obvious that Ryan won for he had the control and the power on the stage and was not acting childish. As I read through this lesson, I think Biden has a blatant disrespect for the “power” that he has, for I believe that this power he gets is from his followers not actual power bestowed to him and he was responding the power that Ryan had during the debate. The area that I was able to relate to this was the story about being called in to the principal’s office and then having to wait for him and becoming frustrated and powerless, while you stood there and waited and waited. To me this is exactly what Biden was doing, he was frustrated and powerless while Ryan was providing his answers and feedback but to try to gain back the power Biden felt the need to speak over Ryan or to sit back in his chair and make faces and giggle uncontrollably at times that were not appropriate for this situation. This is not the type of leader that I would want to have any legitimate power or any form of any power over my country! If this is the way that you behave to with those who you know, can you imagine what those meetings would look like? No thank you, that is just opening up a large can of worms in my opinion.
Penn State World Campus (2012). PSYCH 485 Lesson 7 Power and Influence. Retrieved on October 12, 2012, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa12/psych485/002/content/07_lesson/01_page.html