Chapter 4
Influencing: Power, Politics,
Networking, and
Negotiation
Copyright © 2010 by South-Western/Cengage Learning
All rights reserved.
PowerPoint Presentation by Rhonda S. Palladi
Georgia State University
Chapter 4
Learning Outcomes
 Explain the differences between position power and
personal power.
 Discuss the differences among legitimate, reward,
coercive, and referent power.
 Discuss how power and politics are related.
 Describe how money and politics have a similar use.
 List and explain the steps in the networking process.
 List the steps in the negotiation process.
 Explain the relationships among negotiation and conflict,
influencing tactics, power, and politics.
 Define the key terms listed at the end of the chapter.
2
Leadership and Influence
 Leadership
 Is the “influencing” process of leaders
and followers to achieve organizational
objectives through change
 Influencing
 Is the process of affecting others’
attitudes and behavior in order to
achieve an objective
3
Influence
 Is required to:





Gain power
Play organizational politics
Network
Negotiate
Get what you want
4
Discussion Question #1
Is power good or bad for
organizations?
5
Power
 Is the leader’s potential influence over
followers
 Often does not have to be used to
influence followers
 Used to get people to do what they
otherwise would not do
6
Power (cont.)
 Can be seen as negative and
manipulative
 Power within organizations should be
viewed in a positive sense
 Without power, organizational objectives
could not be achieved
 Required for leadership
7
Sources of Power
Position
Personal
Derived from
top
management
Derived from the
followers based
on leader’s behavior
8
Position Power
 Is derived from top management
 Is delegated down the chain of command
 Results from holding a management
position
9
Personal Power
 Is derived from the followers
 Is based on the leader’s behavior
 Followers can have personal power over
leaders
 A manager should have both personal
power and position power
10
Influencing Tactics
Rational
persuasion
Inspirational
appeal
Pressure
Legitimization
Consultation
Influencing
Tactics
Ingratiation
Personal
appeal
Coalitions
Exchange
Source: Adapted from J. French and B. H. Raven. 1959. “The Bases of Social Power.” In Studies of Social Power,
D. Cartwright, ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research
11
Types of Power
 Legitimate power
 Is based on the user’s position power, given
by the organization
 Employees agree to comply with
management authority in return for the
benefits of membership
 Most day-to-day manager–employee
interactions are based on legitimate power
12
Types of Power (cont.)
 To increase legitimate power:




Get management experience
Work to gain the perception of power
Exercise your authority regularly
Use rational persuasion
–
–
–
–
–
Explain the need for the objective
Explain how others will benefit
Provide evidence that the objective can be met
Explain potential problems and their handling
Explain why your plan is better than others
 Back up your authority with rewards and
punishment
13
Types of Power (cont.)
 Reward power
 Is based on the user’s ability to influence
others with something of value to them
 Impacts performance expectations and
achievement
 A leader’s power is strong or weak based on
his or her ability to reward and punish
 Uses the exchange influence tactic
14
Types of Power (cont.)
 To increase reward power:
 Have control over employee evaluations,
raises, promotions, etc.
 Find out what others value, and use it to
reward them
 Let people know you control rewards, and
state your criteria for receiving them
15
Types of Power (cont.)
 Coercive power
 Involves punishment and withholding of
rewards to influence employee compliance
 Uses the pressure influencing tactic
 Often used by peers to enforce norms
 Used to maintain discipline and enforce rules
 Without it, employees may ignore the leader
 Overuse undermines the leader’s authority
and creates hostile opposition
 Has generally been declining as an influence
technique
16
Types of Power (cont.)
 To increase coercive power:
 Gain authority to use punishment and
withhold rewards
– Make sure employees know the rules and penalties
– Remain calm and encourage improvement
 Do not make rash threats
– Do not use coercion to manipulate others or gain
personal benefits
 Be persistent, set deadlines, and check
progress often
17
Types of Power (cont.)
 Referent power
 Is based on the user’s personal relationships
with others
 Uses the personal appeals and inspirational
appeals influencing tactics
 Stem primarily from friendship, or the
employee’s attractiveness to the person
using power
 Being liked or the desire to be liked gives
referent power
 Is appropriate for people with weak, or no,
position power, such as with peers
18
Types of Power (cont.)
 To increase referent power:
 Develop people skills
– Remember that not only managers have referent
power
 Work at having good relationships with
managers, peers, and subordinates
19
Types of Power (cont.)
 Expert power
 Is based on the user’s skill and knowledge
 Makes others dependent on the person with
the power
 Can be a factor of personal power
 Can lead to promotion into management
 People respect experts
 Uses rational persuasion
20
Types of Power (cont.)
 To increase expert power:
 Take training and educational programs
 Attend trade or professional association
meetings and programs
– Read professional and trade journals
– Get published in professional journals
 Keep up with new technology
 Project a positive self-concept
 Let people know about your expertise to
develop a reputation
– Display diplomas, licenses, publications, and
awards
21
Types of Power (cont.)
 Information power
 Is based on the user’s data desired by others
 Distortion of data can promote position
 Employees provide information to managers,
which can also be distorted
 Conveying information is part of most
managers’ jobs
 Uses rational persuasion and inspirational
appeals
22
Types of Power (cont.)
 To increase information power:
 Have information flow through you
 Know what is going on in the organization
 Develop and use a network of information
sources
23
Types of Power (cont.)
 Connection power
 Is based on the user’s relationship with
influential people
 Is a form of politics
 Contacts or friends can influence persons you
deal with
 If people know you are friendly with powerful
people, they will tend to gain the perception
that you have power as well
 Can be enhanced using the coalition
influencing tactic
24
Types of Power (cont.)
 To increase connection power:
 Expand your network of contacts with
important managers who have power
 Join the “in crowd” and the “right”
associations and clubs
 Follow the guidelines for using the coalition
influencing tactic
 Get people to know your name
– Gain all the publicity you can
– Have your accomplishments known by people in
power by sending notices
25
Acquiring and Losing Power
Power can change over time
Personal power can be easily gained or lost
Abuse of power will result in loss of power
Social exchange theory explains how power is
gained and lost as reciprocal influence processes
occur over time between leaders and followers
 Social interaction is an exchange of benefits or
favors




26
Politics
 Is the process of gaining and using power
 Managers use their existing position
power and politics to increase their power
 Is a reality of organizational life
27
Politics Is a Medium of Exchange
 Politics has a negative connotation due to
those who abuse political power
 It is a medium of exchange
 Like money, political power is neither
good or bad; it is its use that determines
this
28
Discussion Question #2
Can management stop the
use of power and politics in
their organizations?
29
Common Organizational
Political Behaviors
Networking
Common
Organizational
Political
Behaviors
Reciprocity
Coalitions
30
Networking
 Is the process of developing relationships
for the purpose of socializing and
politicking
 Contributes most to successful
management advancement; more than
the other three activity categories of
managers:
 Traditional management
 Communication
 Human resource management
31
Reciprocity
 Involves creating obligations and
developing alliances, and using them to
accomplish objectives
 Uses the exchange influence tactic
 Doing something for someone creates a
debt to be collected at a future time
32
Building Coalitions
 Uses reciprocity and networking
 Is a political influence tactic
 Co-optation
 Getting a person whose support is needed to
join a coalition
33
Guidelines for Developing
Political Skills
Reciprocity
Learn the organizational
culture and power players
Coalitions
Develop good working relationships,
especially with your manager
Be a loyal, honest team player
Gain recognition
Networking
34
Learn the Organizational
Culture and Power Players










Develop connection power through politicking
Learn the cultural shared values and beliefs
Learn how politics operate within the organization
Learn who has power and what makes them tick
Tailor presentations of ideas to fit the power player’s needs
Network with power players
Do favors for power players
Develop coalitions with key players
Select a mentor who is good at politics
Observe those who are good at politics and copy their
behavior
35
Develop Good Working Relationships,
Especially with Your Manager
 Learn to share goals and priorities with your
manager
 Make or beat all deadlines
 Ask your manager for advice
 Never let your manager be embarrassed or
surprised in public because of your actions
 Avoid showing up your manager in public
 Include your manager in your network and
coalitions
 Do favors for your manager
 Use the ingratiation tactic with everyone
36
Be a Loyal, Honest Team Player
 Ethical behavior is important
 Do not backstab or gossip
 Earn others’ respect, confidence, and
trust
 Develop a support group or team
 Remember, the trend is toward teamwork
37
Gain Recognition
 Find ways to let the power players know
that you are doing a good job
 Let higher-ups know about your expertise
and contributions through your network
 Serve on committees and try to become
an officer
38
Networking
 Is more successful than all other methods
combined for finding employment
 Is also used for:






Developing a business
Job satisfaction
Enhanced performance
Salary
Power
Promotions
 Is a learned skill that everyone struggles
39
with, especially women
The Networking Process





Perform a self-assessment and set goals
Create your one-minute self-sell
Develop your network
Conduct networking interviews
Maintain your network
40
Perform a Self-Assessment
and Set Goals
 List and prioritize your talents and the
characteristics of an ideal new career or
job
 Translate your talents into
accomplishments
 Tie your accomplishments to the job
interview
 Set networking goals
41
Create Your One-Minute Self-Sell
 History of your career
 Include:
– Your most recent career or school history
– A description of the type of work or courses you have
taken
 Plans for the future
 State:
– The target career you are seeking
– The industry you prefer
– A specific function or role
 Questions to stimulate conversation
 Encourage two-way communication
 Write your script and practice your speech
42
Develop Your Network
 Begin with who you know
 Expand to people you don’t know
 Referrals
 Volunteer work
 Develop your ability to remember
peoples’ names
43
Conduct Networking Interviews
 Use your network list of people to set up
a networking interview to meet your goal
 May take many interviews to meet a goal
 Usually a phone call or 20-minute faceto-face meeting
 You are the interviewer
 Be prepared
44
Conduct Networking
Interviews (cont.)
Establish rapport
Deliver your one-minute self-sell
Ask prepared questions
Get additional contacts for your network
Ask your contacts how you might help
them
 Follow up





 Send thank-you notes (FEW DO!)
 Give status reports
45
Negotiation
 Is a process in which two or more parties
are in conflict working to reach an
agreement
 Is a core competency in life
 Common in:
 Job searches
 Labor relations
 Sales
46
Negotiating
 Negotiation is often a zero-sum game;
one party’s gain is the other party’s loss
 Sell your ideas to convince the other
party to give you what you want
 Try to work toward a win-win result
 All parties should believe they got a good
deal
47
The Negotiation Process
Plan
Agreement
Close the deal.
Negotiations
No Agreement
Postponement
Find out why for
future
negotiations.
48
The Negotiation Process: Plan
 Research the other party(ies)
 Set objectives
 Specific lower limit
 Target objective
 Opening objective
 Develop options and trade-offs
 Be prepared to deal with questions and
objections (especially unstated ones)
49
The Negotiation Process: Negotiations







Develop rapport
Focus on obstacles, not the person
Let the other party make the first offer
Listen
Ask questions
Don’t give in too quickly
Ask for something in return
50
The Negotiation Process: Postponement
 When you are not getting what you want,
you may try to create urgency
 When the other party becomes resistant,
remember that a hard sell will not work
 If the other party is creating urgency, be
sure it is really urgent
 Don’t be pressured into making a deal you
may regret later
 If you do want to postpone, give the
other party a specific time you will get
back to them
51
The Negotiation Process: Agreement
 Get it in writing
 Quit selling
 Start working on a personal relationship
52
The Negotiation Process:
No Agreement




Accept that agreement isn’t possible
Learn from the failure
Analyze and plan for the next time
Ask the other party what you did right
and wrong
53
Ethics and Influencing
 It pays to be ethical with influencing
tactics
 Power is only unethical when used to
promote your self-interest at the expense
of others
 Used ethically, power helps to meet
organizational objectives
 It is tempting to be unethical but the
price is often high
54
Ethics and Influencing (cont.)
 Confront others for unethical political
behavior
 Report unethical behavior in others
 Build networks based on mutually
beneficial relationships
 Tell the truth in negotiations and demand
the truth from the other party
 Use the stakeholders’ approach to ethics
and create a win-win situation
55
Discussion Question #3
Do you believe that most
managers use influencing (power,
politics, networking and
negotiating) for the good of the
organization, or for their own
personal benefit? What can be
done to help managers be more
ethical in influencing others?
56