I have had many people who had power and influence over me when I was growing up. These people produce effects on others and can also be influential to others. Influence is the change in a target agent’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as a result of influence tactics (PSU WC, 2020). The people who had the most influence on me were my little league basketball coaches.
Someone who is a coach in sports can lead and help change players on the team by motivating them to do better. There are tactics that leaders can use to influence someone’s behavior, beliefs and attitudes and is what helped me to be better at playing basketball. Having influence on someone is an important aspect of leadership because if you cannot influence people then I do not believe they are a good leader. Tactics range from emotional appeals, to the exchange of favors, to threats (PSU WC, 2020). A coach I had one year for basketball used to wear a shirt and tie to practices and games which to me made him seem intimidating. However, clothing can be used as a source of power. When we want to be seen as more powerful we often dress in suits. This is because we are judged to have more power dressed in a suit than in jeans and a t-shirt (PSU WC, 2020). Later on I found out that he wore a shirt and tie because he had come to practices or games right from work as he coached part-time.
In addition to power and influence, there is taxonomy of power which has five bases of power; expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power. The two bases of power that stick out to me about the coach I had who wore a shirt and tie to practices and games is expert power and referent power. Expert power is the power of knowledge and who is an expert in a particular area that influences others (PSU WC, 2020). My coach had expert power because he had been a basketball coach for a long time and he also played basketball when he was younger so he has experience about the game which made him a good coach. The other power is referent power. It is the potential influence one had due to the strength of the relationship between the leader and followers (PSU WC, 2020). Although I would find him intimidating, our coach was not hard on us and would make practices fun but still coached us techniques to make us better players.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2020). PSYCH485 lesson 7: Power and Influence. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2045005/modules/items/28166624
Kimberly Danza says
HI Michel,
I would like to thank you for two different reasons. The first is giving us an example of power applied in sports. I also would like to point out your perception as a young athlete in this instance. I feel like the greatest coaches are the ones who have strong influence, influence can be strong in many ways even if one uses Legitimate power and requests or demands by virtue of their role. (Hughes, Richard, etal,1993) Obviously in sports if a coach demands or requests, they most likely will be losing the collaboration of their athletes, and this will result in less influence to make progress in training. Your coach like many of the greatest used Expert and Referent power which are described as Personal power. Personal Power is the influence capacity as a leader that is driven from being seen knowledgeable and likable. (PSU WC, Lesson 1, 2020)
I think the fact that your coach was able to leave a mark as a person who influenced you means that maybe you liked playing in your little league. For you to remember the experience means you played for enough time. Was he also very good at keeping the players happy with each-other? Your coach may have been effective as he found ways to enhance the idiosyncratic credit in the team by not permitting in-group out-group rivalries develop. (Hughes, Richard, etal,1993) This shows the capacity of the coach to keep the group together. This is written by you as you can still remember it as a good period of your life. I personally remember my sports experiences as great when the team was fun and there were no rivalries in the team. Contrarily I remember leaving experiences quickly don’t have great memories when situations developed that created rivalries. I do think that the capability of leaders like in school to create a strong idiosyncratic credit distinguishes success as a company or sports Team.
It’s incredible how when we are children, we see everything bigger and certain things especially clothing makes a huge impression. I think the word child may be attributed to a Phase 1 in the LXM Theory like a stranger to the company, is new like a person that has to grow in his/her dimension (Northouse, 2016, pg.142) A child may also be defined as in age, like in this case you in the little league. The fact he was wearing a shirt a tie may have been what made him intimidate, this increased his likelihood of instructions being followed. (Hughes, Richard, etal,1993) Do you think this may have been the key to the success of your coach? He may have been able to be influential do to the fact he could cover his role in the correct way. I am a coach and when the situations are messy like children not listening, my influence is not as strong. When I can’t use my power to influence the final product (results, fun, regularity) ends up being lessened. His mark lasted as he was able to use his power to produce effect and influence you. (Hughes, Richard, etal,1993)
Reference
Hughes, Richard, et al. (1993). Leadership: enhancing the lessons of experience. Homewood: Irwin.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2020). PSYCH485 lesson 1: Leadership. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2045005/modules/items/28166624
kal290 says
Hi Michael,
This was a god example of power and influence. As you gave good examples of how your coaches displayed power in their positions, what was the effect they had on your productivity and attitude towards playing? Did the appearance of your coach motivate you to play harder, or did it make you take him more serious when giving instructions? I remember back when I was playing basketball, my coach was my gym teacher, he use to come to games in the clothes he wore to school, we never took him too serious. But when we went to the playoffs, he wore a shirt a tie and made us all wear a shirt and tie as well, which made us all take him and the game more serious. As stated in the lesson, “when we want to be seen as more powerful we often dress in suits” (PSU WC, Lesson 7, 2020). It worked because we intimidated the other teams and won the games more times than not.
I think in sports that influence plays a bigger part than power. My reason for saying that is a coach dos have power over the players, but if the players ultimately decide that the coach doesn’t know what he is talking about, they can go out and do their own thing. But the influence that coach can have on players will lead to the players having respect for the coach and will make the players listen them him. When looking to influence other, building them up leads to more positive outcomes than trying to tear them down (PSU WC, Lesson 7, 2020. So a coach that is influencing the players to be better and doing it through their actions, will have a greater impact than a coach that just points out all the mistakes and threatens the players when they don’t listen.
Thank you for providing this blog post, it was a great read and showed examples of how sports can play a part in power and influence when dealing with players and coaches. One thing I want to add, there can also be power and influence with officials in sports. Sometimes, referees use their power to influence the play of the game. they can make players play more timid or give them the idea that they can play more freely. This is shown sometimes with superstar players like LeBron James, when he travels and it’s not called or he flops on a play and the ref calls a foul. The referee has the power to call the fouls, but the players have the influence to make the ref’s call certain things, depending on the player.
Reference
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2020). PSYCH485 lesson 7: Power and Influence. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2040131/modules/items/28001762
crb5498 says
To influence is when there is a change in a follower’s attitudes, values, beliefs or behaviors as a result of influence tactics. Influence is the degree of actual change. Influence tactics are one person’s actual behaviors that are designed to change another person’s attitudes, values, beliefs or behaviors (Hughes, 1993, p. 108). Throughout the lesson, there were nine tactics that were discussed: rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, ingratiation, personal appeals, coalition tactics, pressure tactics and legitimizing tactic (Hughes, 1993, pp. 123-124). Each of these tactics can be related back to sports in one way or another.
While coaching field hockey, I have seen all of these tactics in action. Rational persuasion is when a leader uses logical arguments or factual evidence to influence others (Hughes, 1993, p. 123). This past season there was a lot of focus on conditioning, this is because when playing field hockey you are constantly running whether it be sprinting or running long distances for a solid 60 minutes. As coaches we used this logical argument when the girls would complain about how much they were running or that they did not want to run anymore. Inspirational appeals are when a leader makes a request or proposal designed to arouse enthusiasm or excitement in their followers (Hughes, 1993, p. 124). When there would be a big game we would always propose a specific treat or prize for the girls if they played a great game. They did not have to win (though a win would be nice), they just had to try their hardest and play to the best of their abilities. Consultation occurs when leaders as followers to participate in an activity (Hughes, 1993, p. 124). On Fridays, we would always ask the captains to come up with a fun drill to start practice with. We did this because we wanted the girls to feel like they had a voice and it gave them the opportunity to take leadership for a portion of practice every week. Ingratiation occurs when followers attempt to get leaders in a good mood before making a request (Hughes, 1993, p. 124). Whenever the girls wanted to end practice early or have an easy practice they would bring me a coffee or a sweet treat. They would try to butter me up before they asked me what they wanted. Personal appeals are when followers ask another follower to do a favor out of friendship (Hughes, 1993, p. 124). The girls on the team are all friends and they would always as for favors such as a ride home or if they can borrow clothes or eat some of their snacks. Coalition tactics are when followers seek aid or support from others to influence other followers (Hughes, 1993, p. 124). When the captains would struggle to get the lower classmen to do their jobs or to follow their instructions they would come to the coaches to help them get the lower classmen back on track and doing what they are supposed to do. Pressure tactics are threats or persistent reminders used to influence (Hughes, 1993, p. 124). When the girls on the team would be lacking focus or not participating in the drills like they are supposed to; the coaches would threaten running or some sort of conditioning to get the girls to focus and get practice back on track. Legitimizing tactic is when leaders make requests based on their position or authority (Hughes, 1993, p.124). As a coach we use this tactic to request a few players from the upcoming class to be captains and lead the team in the upcoming season.
These influence tactics are used not only in sports but they can be seen in aspects of sports from both the coaches and the players.
References:
Hughes, Richard, et al. Power and Influence. Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience. Homewood, IL. Irwin. 1993. 0256102783. Ch. 5. pp. 107-131.