Now, I cant speak for anyone else, but I have definitely had a few of those leaders that think they have the “power” and “influence” over everything that moves. I had one in particular at a previous job that just thought he was the most important person around. Meanwhile, he was not even in charge of the whole place – just one division of it. The problem was not so much that he thought of himself so highly, it was more the fact that if you didn’t do what he said, he would make sure that you would be miserable. Of course, I am not one of those people to just go along with whatever someone says. I want proof or reason or something as to why.
So, I had challenged him once or twice and was shown that he could be more than just “two-faced.” He would continually pick on me and harass me in front of his followers – you know, those that were “influenced” by his “power” and now suck up to him so he doesn’t do the same to them. What could I do about it? Nothing, except continue what I was doing and take the abuse. Because I did not conform to his ways, he continued to try and use his “power” to “influence” me. I did not let it happen.
Fortunately, I had at least one or two other people on my side. They convinced me that it was probably more effective to let him think he had finally won over me. To his face, conform. Behind his back – be yourself. I can’t seem to understand why, but I think he was finally content with my visible obedience. While we continued to be individuals while out of sight, we were his little minions in his presence. Sometimes a slip up would happen here or there to any of us, and we would have to start parts of the process over again.
While I think that this leader was trying to influence our beliefs that this was the ways things were in this company, I believe he was unsuccessful. Since then, one of us has been fired, and I have moved on. Last I knew, the third of our trio was not working there any longer either – but I am not sure in what capacity she left (fired or willingly). I just hope that he realizes that not everyone can be influenced when power is used in an inappropriate manner.
Denine M Greenwald says
The research of French and Raven (1959) identified five bases of power that individuals use to influence others. These are referent power, expert power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power (PSU WC, 2014). I would certainly say that your former boss did not possess reverent power as none of his followers liked him or revered him. While I would imagine that your former boss had more knowledge about the tasks performed and was therefore more expert than his subordinates, it does not appear that he exercised expert power as his means of influencing you and your coworkers. You mention that your boss had a very high opinion of himself and used his position of authority to motivate his subordinates; this use of legitimate power as a means of influencing others is very different from genuine leadership, and it does not appear that your former boss provided positive leadership. You did not mention whether promotions and bonuses were dispensed by your former boss as they would be if he possessed reward power; however, you did mention that he utilized the polar opposite power base of coercion as he attempted to influence his subordinates with the threat of public ridicule. It appears that your former boss was able to use legitimate power and coercive power to get his subordinates to complete the tasks at hand; however he was unable to influence their commitment to him and the organization. Your former boss would do well to remember that influence is the evidence of power, and because he was unable to influence you and your coworkers to be committed to him and the organization, he was not nearly as powerful as he perceived himself to be.
References
French, J. & Raven, B. H. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies of Social Power. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2014). PSYCH 485 lesson 7: Power and influence. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp14/psych485/001/content/07_lesson/01_page.html