Due to some things that occurred during my previous work week, I thought it would be interesting to look back a few weeks at one of our topics: power and influence. I definitely have mulled over the questions that are posed in our lesson content more than a few times: “Is power a good or bad thing?” “Do leaders have power over others” (PSU WC, 2014, L. 7, P. 1). These are certainly interesting questions, especially when one looks at work from a larger point of view.
Power was defined by House (1984, as cited in PSU WC, 2014, L. 7, P. 3) as “the capacity to produce effects on others” or, as defined by Bass (1990, as cited in PSU WC, 2014, L. 7, P. 3) as “the potential to influence others.” As is implied further in our lesson content, power is not a trait of the leader in question; rather, it is a result of the function of the position. I would certainly agree with that implication. Power is not inherent, which would seem to lead to adages such as “give an inch and they will take a mile” or off-handedly saying “power has gone to their head.” Power is given to positions, not grown within people, which seems to suggest that there are equal parts of power in the followers along with leaders. If followers were to not surrender amounts of power in the worker-leader relationship, what would the leader do? This is interesting to ponder, as it could certainly be said that the relationship is a grab for power and security in the workplace.
Influence, on the other hand, is defined in our lesson as “the change in a target agent’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as a result of influence tactics,” which are a leader’s actions to influence others attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors (PSU WC, 2014, L. 7, P. 3). Influence can almost be seen as an extension of power. While you may have the power to tell a follower to improve their work, and the ability to terminate them if they do not, it is more likely that the leader’s influential nature will lead to real change than simply flashing power. While not 100% accurate in every work situation, this simply concept will hold true in a variety of settings and situations.
All that said, I was curious how the concepts would apply to my current work situation. I recently switched companies and assumed an Assistant Manager’s role in my new company. I was hired because of my extensive retail experience as a Store or Assistant Manager and have been told to essentially act as if I were a Store Manager. I have found this to be a very confusing and difficult position, especially as it pertains to the ideas of power and influence that we learned about. How does one perfectly exercise power and influence when they are technically on an even position with others? I have found it to be a very careful balancing act, maintaining positive relationships with co-workers while also attempting to shape their work to be better. I have found that influence, even in the absence of power for me in this position, has been possible. Framing power and/or influence moments as teaching and coaching moments has led me to make positive strides with the team of employees. If I had to make a gut call right now, I would arguable say that influence is more valuable based on my personal experience.
I think I am most curious to see how others view this situation. How would you manage the balance of power and influence with co-workers and equals that you were intimated to have responsibility over? I find myself questioning this every day, regardless of the fact that I have had success to this point.
Works Cited
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014). Lesson 7: Power and Influence. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp14/psych485/002/content/07_lesson/01_page.html.
*the site here won’t allow me to edit the comment. The table lost it’s formatting when I posted. The hygiene factors and motivating factors should be grouped like this:
HYGIENE FACTORS
• Compensation
• Relationships with co-workers
• Benefit plans
• Organizational policies and procedures
MOTIVATORS
• Increasing responsibility
• Satisfaction of achievement
• Expression of autonomy
• Opportunities for personal growth
I was in “limbo” when I transferred to Pennsylvania when my division was shut down in Georgia. I worked for a national hardware chain and due to a clerical error in Georgia; I was “terminated” instead of “transferred”. Adding insult to injury, the store where I was supposed to transfer to did not have the authority to rehire me at my salary level and job code without district level approval and to make matters worse, the district manager here in Penny was at a conference and then on vacation. So, for a month I swept floors and stocked shelves. It was, honestly, a nice break at the time, but when all of the button-pushing was done, the store associates were very resentful of me. They thought that I was lying to them on purpose and that I had spent a month sweeping and befriending them as an act of “retail espionage.” It was ridiculous and it undermined my authority for many, many months afterward. In reality, I never fully recovered from that mess. Things were never really “right” after all of that. It was an unfair situation for me. Another consequence of the clerical error was that it reset my date of hire and robbed me of vacation time, which the corporate policies calculated based on tenure. The situation you are in now is even worse because it seems to be persistent and ongoing.
The other day I was reading a link from Monster Jobs about the five biggest lies you might hear during an interview. One of them was “We’re still sorting out the job description, reporting relationship and salary range for the job.” (Ryan, 2014) This type of ambiguity, plus the type that I experienced after my transfer and what you are currently experiencing, has the potential to be damaging to inter-office relationships, as well as an employee’s general levels of self-confidence. Rizzo and House (1972) identified a negative correlation between levels of role ambiguity and conflict to levels of satisfaction, confidence and performance in one’s work (pp. 469-474).
Satisfaction is actually a very interesting concept for adding to potential explanations of motivation. According to Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of motivation, there are factors that help increase satisfaction called motivational factors and there are factors that mediate dissatisfaction called hygiene factors. By taking these factors of motivation, satisfaction and dissatisfaction into account, a good leader can strive to keep workers happy and motivated. Looking at the table, deficiencies that affect motivation in ambiguous situations can be isolated. For my situation, the role-ambiguity significantly influenced my relationships with co-workers. Furthermore, it made me question the policies and procedures of the company because those policies were allowing me to be in the ambiguous position. Additionally, the policies allowed a clerical error to impact my benefits in a manner that was, apparently, not fixable; almost two years after the mistake was made, I still had not received any word about adjusting my time in position/date of hire to allow my vacation time to calculate correctly.
HYGIENE FACTORS MOTIVATORS
• Compensation • Increasing responsibility
• Relationships with co-worker • Satisfaction of achievement
• Benefit plans • Expression of autonomy
• Policies/procedures • Opportunities for personal growth
Bogler (2001) showed that there is a relationship between leadership styles, employee satisfaction and working conditions (p. 680). This relationship explored working conditions in a comparison of transformational and transactional leadership and revealed that transactional leaders were more likely to create negative working conditions (Bogler, 2001). Transformational leader, conversely, are more adept at handling ambiguous situations; reacting to them properly and reducing employee dissatisfaction as a result of their presence (MacKenzie, Podsakoff, & Rich, 2001). I think, for both of our experiences with role-ambiguity, that a transformational leader would have limited our individual dissatisfaction. In my case, it may have prevented the attritional factors that caused me to “abandon ship.”
I too am an Account Manager, so your post resonated with me. I work at a Logistic and Fulfillment company. I completely understand your point of the fine balancing act of an Account Manager. I find myself often in the middle of issues that need resolved for our customers. I need to be conscious of my wording with employees when mistakes are made and if a behavior requires change, I must be sensitive in order to maintain a quality work relationship.
In my position, I am not technically a manger; I manage the customer and their accounts for the company. So, whereas I cannot comment specifically on your last question, I can say that I understand how to maintain that positive relationship you mentioned, while also influencing change. If I did not interact directly with the workers on the floor, it would appear that I am running to their boss when a problem occurs. When I need special things done for my customers, I have found it beneficial to grow and develop my relationship with the employees, as compared to running to their boss all the time. What I can say as a point to your question, I think a good exercise of power and influence through teaching and coaching is critical to change. I personally have built my relationship with the workers through servant leadership. I am intentional to be attentive, nurturing and I empathize with the workers as often as possible. As our text mentioned, “servant leaders put followers first, empower them, and help them build their full personal capacities” (Northouse, 2013, p. 219). Even though I cannot directly change their work situation, I cannot increase their pay or change any work related issue, I can improve their work environment and build a relationship of trust and service. I have found that if they feel I have their “back”, they have mine when needed. Thank you for sharing your points.
References
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage.