1. Leadership
Influencing: Power, Politics, Networking, and Negotiation
1. Lussie, Robert N., Christopher F. Achuan.2010. Leadership: Theory, Application and Skill Development. 4ed.
South – Western Cengage Learning.
2. Hughes, Richard L., Robert C. Ginnett, Gordon J. Curphy, Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience.
6th ed. McGraw-Hill.

2. 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.
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3. 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
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4. Influence
Is required to:
• Gain power
• Play organizational politics
• Network
• Negotiate
• Get what you want
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5. Discussion Question #1
Is power good or bad for organizations?
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6. 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
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7. Power (cont.)
1. Can be seen as negative and manipulative
2. Power within organizations should be viewed in a positive
sense
3. Without power, organizational objectives could not be
achieved
4. Required for leadership
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8. Sources of Power
Derived from
Position top management
Derived from the
Personal followers based
on leader’s behavior
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9. Position Power
1. Is derived from top management
2. Is delegated down the chain of command
3. Results from holding a management position
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10. Personal Power
1. Is derived from the followers
2. Is based on the leader’s behavior
3. Followers can have personal power over leaders
4. A manager should have both personal power and position
power
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11. Influencing Tactics
Rational Inspirational
persuasion appeal
Pressure Consultation
Legitimization
Influencing
Ingratiation
Tactics
Coalitions Personal
appeal
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

12. 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
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13. 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
1. Explain the need for the objective
2. Explain how others will benefit
3. Provide evidence that the objective can be met
4. Explain potential problems and their handling
5. Explain why your plan is better than others
1. Back up your authority with rewards and punishment
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14. 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
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15. 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
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16. 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
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17. 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
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18. 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
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19. 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
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20. 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
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21. 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
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22. 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
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23. 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
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24. 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
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25. 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
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26. 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
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27. 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
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28. 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
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29. Discussion Question #2
Can management stop the use of power and politics
in their organizations?
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30. Common Organizational
Political Behaviors
Networking
Common
Organizational
Reciprocity
Political
Behaviors
Coalitions
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31. 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
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32. 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
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33. Building Coalitions
Uses reciprocity and networking
Is a political influence tactic
Co-optation
• Getting a person whose support is needed to join a coalition
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34. Guidelines for Developing
Political Skills
Reciprocity Learn the organizational Coalitions
culture and power players
Develop good working relationships,
especially with your manager
Be a loyal, honest team player
Gain recognition
Networking
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35. 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
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36. 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
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37. 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
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38. 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
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39. 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 with, especially women
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40. 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
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41. 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
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42. Create Your One-Minute Self-Sell
1. History of your career
• Include:
• Your most recent career or school history
• A description of the type of work or courses you have taken
2. Plans for the future
• State:
• The target career you are seeking
• The industry you prefer
• A specific function or role
3. Questions to stimulate conversation
• Encourage two-way communication
4. Write your script and practice your speech
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43. 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
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44. 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 face-to-face meeting
• You are the interviewer
• Be prepared
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45. 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
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46. 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
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47. 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
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48. The Negotiation Process
Plan Agreement
Close the deal.
Negotiations
No Agreement
Postponement Find out why for
future negotiations.
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49. 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)
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50. 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
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51. 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
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52. The Negotiation Process: Agreement
• Get it in writing
• Quit selling
• Start working on a personal relationship
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53. 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
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54. 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
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55. 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
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