Leadership, Power, & Influence

Leadership

• Leadership is guiding a group toward achieving goals.

• Leadership can be formal or informal.

• Influence is the key, not the title

Formal vs Informal Leaders

• Formal leader: Officially designated (e.g., manager, supervisor).

• Informal leader: No formal title but influences others.

• Both types can guide teams effectively.

Importance of Effective Leadership

• Not all leaders are effective.

• Effective leadership aligns and motivates teams.

• Ineffective leadership can hinder progress

Universalist Theories of Leadership

• Universalist Theories look for the major characteristics common to all effective leaders.

  • Great Man/Woman Theory

    • Leadership ability is innate.

    • Historical examples: Leaders from any era are seen as natural-born leaders.

    • Modern perspectives view leadership as more dynamic.

  • Trait Theory

    • Focus on personal traits of leaders (intelligence, personality).

    • Big 5 Traits linked to leadership success:

      • Extraversion

      • Conscientiousness

      • Openness

      • Agreeableness

      • Emotional stability

Behavioral Theories of Leadership

• Leadership is about behavior, not traits.

• Task-Oriented: Focus on getting the job done.

• Relationship-Oriented: Focus on team wellbeing

Ohio State Leadership Studies

• Identified two key leader behaviors:

  • Initiating Structure: Organizing tasks, defining roles.

  • Consideration: Showing concern for team members' well-being.

University of Michigan Leadership Studies

• Similar to Ohio State studies.

  • Task-Oriented and Relationship Oriented behaviors.

  • Relationship-Oriented leadership improves satisfaction and retention.

Behavioral Theories in Action

• Both task-oriented and relationship oriented behaviors are important.

• Leadership effectiveness depends on the situation.

Contingency Theories of Leadership

• Focus on contingency theories of leadership.

• Effective leadership depends on the match between leader and situation.

• Four major contingency theories:

• Fiedler's Contingency Model

• Path-Goal Theory

• Decision-Making Model

• Leader-Member Exchange Model

Fiedler’s Contingency Model

• Leadership effectiveness is a match between a leader's style and situation control.

• Leaders are categorized as:

  • Task-Oriented

  • Relationship-Oriented

• Control is determined by leader-member relations, task structure, and position power.

• Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Measure

  • Leaders rate their least preferred coworker (LPC).

  • Low LPC = Task-Oriented Leader

  • High LPC = Relationship-Oriented Leader

  • Rating method uses bipolar scales (e.g., pleasant/unpleasant).

• Work Situation Factors

  • Combines to form a favorable or unfavorable work situation.

  • Leader-Member Relations: Trust and respect between leader and team.

  • Task Structure: How clear and defined the task is.

  • Position Power: Authority a leader holds (e.g., hiring/firing).

• Leader Effectiveness Based on Situation

  • Task-Oriented leaders: Effective in highly favorable or unfavorable situations.

  • Relationship-Oriented leaders: Effective in moderately favorable situations.

  • Importance of matching leader style to the situation.

• Strengths

  • First theory emphasizing situation and leadership interaction.

  • Promoted research on leadership contingency theories.

• Weaknesses

  • Unclear LPC measure.

  • Ambiguity in assessing real-world situations.

• Leader Match 

  • Program Program designed by Fiedler to apply the contingency model. 

  • Assesses leadership style and teaches leaders to adapt. 

  • Used by over 40,000 managers.

  • Emphasizes changing the situation to fit the leader. 

Path-Goal Theory

• Developed by Robert House (1971) and House & Mitchell (1974). 

• The leader acts as a facilitator or guide to help the team achieve their goals. 

• Rooted in the Expectancy Theory of motivation.

• Four Categories of Leadership Behavior:

• Directive Behavior 

  • Provides clear instructions, guidelines, and rules. 

  • Coordinates team activities and sets up schedules. 

  • Useful when tasks are complex or the team is inexperienced.

• Achievement-Oriented Behavior 

  • Focuses on setting challenging goals. 

  • Encourages improvement in performance and rewards achievement. 

  • Best suited for teams motivated by success and improvement.

• Supportive Behavior 

  • Focuses on interpersonal relationships and team morale. 

  • Ensures the work environment is comfortable and conducive to productivity. 

  • Useful when tasks are routine or the team is under stress. 

  • Participative Behavior 

    • Involves team members in decision making. 

    • Seeks opinions and feedback to improve processes. 

    • Builds commitment by empowering team members to contribute. 

  • Right Leadership Style 

    • Leader behavior should fit the task and the characteristics of the followers. 

    • Complex tasks with inexperienced workers call for directive leadership. 

    • Routine tasks with experienced workers might need supportive or participative leadership

• Criticisms 

  • Difficulty in making specific predictions in real-world settings. 

  • Criticized for lacking a clear intervention strategy. 

  • Still useful for assessing leadership behaviors relative to the situation

Decision-Making Model

• Leaders as decision-makers 

• Overview of Vroom's contingency theory 

• Range of decision-making strategies: autocratic to participative.

Vroom’s Decision-Making Model

• Offers both predictions and prescriptions 

• Decision tree framework 

• Yes/No questions guide leaders' decision making strategy

Comparison of the 3 Models

Limitations

• Fiedler’s model: Focus on leader power 

• Path-Goal theory: Leadership clarifies subordinate paths to goals 

• Vroom’s focus: Decision-making process

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

• Focus on leader-subordinate relationship quality 

• In-group vs. out-group members 

• Impact on job satisfaction and motivation

High Vs. Low Quality LMX

• High-quality: Frequent, positive communication 

• Low-quality: Infrequent, negative communication

• Effects on job satisfaction and performance 

Evidence Supporting LMX

• LMX quality impacts outcomes 

• Example: LMX training improves productivity by 19%

• Early relationships set long-term quality

• LMX quality impacts outcomes 

• Example: LMX training improves productivity by 19% 

• Early relationships set long-term quality

Charismatic Leadership Theory

• Focuses on exceptional leaders with high charisma. 

• Key traits: Confidence, vision, and ability to inspire 

• Effective in uncertain situations 

• Sensitivity to followers and environment 

• Ability to inspire and motivate 

• Desire to change the status quo 

• Interaction between leader, followers, and situation

Transformational Leadership Theory

• Transactional vs. transformational leadership 

• Transactional: Leader-follower exchange of rewards and loyalty 

• Transformational: Changing followers’ values, beliefs, and attitudes 

• Creates a vision for followers to pursue 

• Four Components

  • Idealized Influence: Leader as a role model 

  • Inspirational Motivation: Compelling vision for the future 

  • Intellectual Stimulation: Encouraging creativity and innovation 

  • Individualized Consideration: Personalized attention to followers

• Benefits

  • Higher group performance 

  • More satisfied followers 

  • Effective during organizational change 

  • Strong impact across diverse industries (e.g., healthcare, education, business)

  • Charismatic leaders focus on personal charm and emotional connection 

  • Transformational leaders focus on changing followers’ values and beliefs 

  • Both inspire, but through different mechanisms

Ethics in Leadership

• Distinguishing “good” vs. “bad” charismatic leaders 

• Socialized vs. personalized leaders 

• Importance of authentic leadership 

Leadership Theories and Leader Effectiveness

• Fiedler’s Leader Match program: Adapts work situation to leader's style

• Decision-making theory: Recommends best decision-making approach for a situation 

• Leader–member exchange (LMX): Focus on leader's responsiveness to group members 

• Most interventions aim to change leader behavior 

• Leadership training is a key focus for improving effectiveness 

Leadership Training and Development

• Approach 1: Teaching diagnostic skills 

  • Leaders assess situations to adapt behavior 

  • Emphasized by path-goal and decision-making theories 

• Approach 2: Teaching specific leadership skills 

  • Train task-oriented leaders to be more relationship oriented 

  • Transform transactional leaders into transformational leaders 

• Combination of both approaches is most effective

Factors for Effective Leadership Training

• Identify training needs (behaviors and skills) 

• Leader developmental readiness: Is the leader open to learning new behaviors? 

• Time and effort invested in training 

• Support from the organization and workgroup 

• Routine evaluations to assess program effectiveness

Challenges of Leadership Training

• Resistance from colleagues or subordinates 

• Organizational norms may clash with new leadership behaviors 

• Importance of aligning new behaviors with organizational culture

Job Redesign and Leadership Substitutes

• Fiedler: Change the job to fit the leader (Leader Match program) 

  • Task structure and position power adjustments. 

• Redesigning jobs to make leadership unnecessary 

  • Cohesive groups or highly skilled teams may not need leaders. 

  • Self-leadership and job enrichment can substitute for traditional leadership. 

Evaluation of Leadership Training Programs

• Importance of evaluating leadership training programs. 

• Measure outcomes like productivity, work quality, and satisfaction. 

• Return on investment (ROI) for leadership development programs.

Influence

Influence as Social Control

• Influence is a form of social power or control. 

• It refers to the ability to get someone to perform a specific action. 

• Often achieved through informal strategies such as persuasion, peer pressure, or compliance techniques.

Persuasion and Peer Pressure

• Persuasion: Using logic or emotions to convince someone. 

• Peer pressure: The influence exerted by peers to encourage certain behaviors

Compliance Techniques

• Methods used to gain agreement, often subtly. 

• Examples: Flattery, offering favors, or making someone feel obligated. 

• Example: A boss might use flattery or offer a favor to get extra work done. 

Influence tactics in the Workplace

• Assertiveness

  • Direct approach, demanding or instructing someone to do something. 

  • Often used by higher-status individuals.

• Ingratiation

  • Using flattery, compliments, or favors to increase personal appeal. 

  • Common tactic for gaining favor or compliance.

• Rationality

  • Using logical arguments and factual evidence to persuade. 

  • Commonly used in professional settings

• Sanctions

  • Threatening negative consequences to enforce compliance.

  • Often used by those in authority.

• Exchanges

  • Offering something in return for compliance.

  • Involves bargaining or trading favors.

• Upward appeal

  • Seeking support from higher authority to influence decisions. 

  • Used when lower-status individuals need extra leverage.

• Blocking 

  • Interfering with someone’s work to force compliance. 

  • Commonly used in situations of conflict.

• Coalitions

  • Forming alliances to influence others. 

  • Involves seeking group support to exert pressure

Effectiveness of Influence Tactics

• Effectiveness depends on context and relationship. 

• Higher-status individuals often use assertiveness or sanctions. 

• Lower-status individuals favor rational appeals and ingratiation. 

• No significant gender differences in the use of tactics.

Cultural Differences in Influence

• U.S. managers prefer rational persuasion and exchanges. 

• Chinese managers favor coalition tactics and upward appeals. 

• Filipino context: Strong reliance on personal relationships (utang na loob) and non-confrontational approaches.

Group Influence

• Groups influence individuals to conform to norms. 

• Methods include criticism, isolation (silent treatment), or expulsion.

Power

• Power: Derived from positions or roles 

• Influence: Derived from personal qualities or persuasion skills 

• Consistency of power in organizations 

Sources of Power in Organizations

• Organizational Power: power derived from a person’s position in an organization and from control over important resources. 

• Individual Power: power derived from personal characteristics that are of value to the organization, such as particular expertise or leadership ability. 

• Three key sources of organizational power: 

  • hierarchy 

  • control of resources 

  • network centrality

French & Raven’s Five Bases of Power

• Coercive power

  • the use of punishment or the threat of punishment to affect the behavior of others. 

  • individuals, regardless of position, can use coercive power 

  • Risky because it may create anger and resentment.

• Reward Power

  • power that results from having the ability to offer something positive, such as money or praise.

• Legitimate Power

  • the formal rights or authority accompanying a position in an organization.

• Expert Power

  • power derived from having certain work-related knowledge or skill

• Referent Power

  • power resulting from the fact that an individual is respected, admired and liked by others.

Power Dynamics in Work Organizations

• Uneven distribution of power 

• Power relationships and job performance

Ways to Increase Power 

• Gaining work-related expertise 

• Building relationships and networking 

• Forming groups and coalitions 

  • Coalitions are a group of individuals who band together to combine their power.

Power Corollary and Leadership

• Power Corollary 

  •  is the concept that for every exercise of power, there is a tendency for the subject to react with a return power play.

Organizational Politics

• defined as a self-serving use of power or influence to achieve outcomes. 

• Occurs at all levels of organizations. 

• Political behavior can be functional or dysfunctional.

• Functional Politics: political behaviors that help the organization to attain its goals 

• Dysfunctional Politics: political behaviors that detract from the organization’s ability to attain its goals

Employee Perceptions of Politics

• Politics is often seen as a necessary evil. 

• Associated with job dissatisfaction and stress.

• Managers may view it as part of the job; employees feel burdened.

Typical Political Behaviors

• Internal vs. External Politics: 

  • Behavior within or outside the organization. 

• Lateral vs. Vertical Politics: 

  • Between peers or across hierarchical levels. 

• Legitimate vs. Illegitimate Politics: 

  • Accepted or unaccepted behaviors.

Whistle Blowing

•  political behavior whereby an employee criticizes company policies and practices to persons outside the organization. 

  • Complex form of organizational politics.

Causes of Organizational Politics

• Competition for Power and Resources 

  • Scarcity of resources (money, promotions, status). 

  • Employees form alliances to access resources. 

  • More political behavior when resources are scarce. 

• Subjective Performance Appraisals

  • When job performance isn’t measured objectively. 

  • Workers may resort to alliances, lobbying, or discrediting others. 

  • Dysfunctional for organizations as politics may determine success. 

• Delay in Measurement of Work Outcomes

  • Long-term tasks create delays in performance measurement. 

  • Workers focus on short-term results or engage in political behaviors. 

• Compensation for Inadequacies 

  • Workers engage in politics to hide inadequacies. 

  • Peter principle: workers promoted beyond competence. 

  • Workers may cover for leaders or colleagues’ inadequacies.

• Lack of Cooperation and Interdependence 

  • Greater political behavior in non-cooperative workgroups. 

  • Politicized workgroups are less productive than cooperative ones. 

• Increased Group Decision Making 

  • Group decision-making can increase politics. 

  • Members lobby for support to get their ideas accepted.

  • High potential for dysfunctional outcomes if political savvy outweighs decision quality. 

Managing Organizational Politics

• Politics management is similar to conflict management. 

• Understand when politics occurs. 

• Learn the causes of political behavior. 

Strategies

• Remove ambiguity and uncertainty 

• Provide “slack” resources 

• Create a positive and ethical organizational climate 

• Clarify personnel selection and appraisal processes 

• Reward performance, not politics