Discuss and define

Influencing Others

LO 10-4

Influence, refers to any behavior that attempts to alter someone's attitudes or behavior.61 Influence is power in motion. It applies one or more sources of power to get people to alter their beliefs, feelings, and activities. Consequently, our interest in the remainder of this chapter is on how people use power to influence others.

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global connections 10.1

The Art and Science of Managing Your Boss62

Iain McMath doesn't like to have an avalanche of information hinder his executive decision process. “I do things based on intuition, so when I meet with my financial director I only need a one-page summary,” says the managing director of services firm Sodexo Motivation Solutions Ltd. in Surrey, England. Unfortunately, the financial director didn't initially figure out McMath's preferences. “She … was coming to the meetings with a file of 600 pages,” McMath recalls. “I would then get frustrated because she gave me too much information, and she would get frustrated because she thought I didn't understand the importance of the data.”

McMath's financial director eventually adjusted her behavior to fit her boss's preferences. This alignment not only reduced conflict and frustration; it helped the financial director manage her boss by creating a more favorable impression. Managing your boss is the process of improving the relationship with your manager, for the benefit of each other and the organization. It includes developing bases of power that enable you to influence the manager to achieve organizational objectives. Most executives say it is a key factor in everyone's career success. “It is crucial to understand how to manage your manager,” says Tracey Andrews, manager of learning and development at the British department store chain John Lewis. “Start by getting to know how your manager thinks and works and what his/her priorities are.”

Along with aligning your behavior with the manager's preferred style, managing your boss involves becoming a valuable resource by making your manager's job easier. This begins by performing your own job well. “Managing your manager is all about going that extra step,” advises Chris Barber, who leads a team of 12 people as director of a photography studio in Warwickshire, UK. “It doesn't mean manipulating people … it's about doing your job well and helping your manager to get the best results.”

Managing your boss is an important form of influence in organizations. “It is crucial to understand how to manage your manager,” says an executive at British department store chain John Lewis.

Managing your boss also requires some impression management. For example, you need to “be a ‘problem solver’ rather than a ‘problem pyromaniac,’” says John Shetcliffe, Managing Director of John Shetcliffe Marketing in Hertfordshire, England. Problem pyromaniacs turn everything into problems for the boss to fix, whereas problem solvers offer the boss solutions when problems arise. Shetcliffe recommends a related impression management strategy for managing your boss: “Don't supply just bad news; announce good news too. Otherwise, little by little you become the bad news!”

Influence tactics are woven throughout the social fabric of all organizations, because influence is an essential process through which people coordinate their effort and act in concert to achieve organizational objectives. Influence is central to the definition of leadership. Influence operates down, across, and up the corporate hierarchy. Executives ensure that subordinates complete required tasks. Employees influence coworkers to help them with their job assignments. And as Global Connections 10.1 describes, upward influence tactics—better known as managing your boss—are important for both personal career success and the achievement of the organization's objectives.

Visit connect.mcgraw-hill.com for activities and test questions to help you learn about influence tactics.

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TYPES OF INFLUENCE TACTICS

Organizational behavior researchers have devoted considerable attention to the various types of influence tactics found in organizational settings. They do not agree on a definitive list, but the most commonly discussed influence tactics are identified in Exhibit 10.4 and described over the next few pages.63 The first five are known as “hard” influence tactics because they force behavior change through position power (legitimate, reward, and coercion). The latter three—persuasion, impression management, and exchange—are called “soft” tactics because they rely more on personal sources of power (referent, expert) and appeal to the target person's attitudes and needs.

EXHIBIT 10.4

Types of Influence Tactics in Organizations

Silent AuthorityThe silent application of authority occurs when someone complies with a request because of the requester's legitimate power as well as the target person's role expectations.64 This deference occurs when you comply with your boss's request to complete a particular task. If the task is within your job scope and your boss has the right to make this request, then this influence strategy operates without negotiation, threats, persuasion, or other tactics. Silent authority is the most common form of influence in high power distance cultures.65

AssertivenessThe supervisor at Otago Sheetmetal in New Zealand wasn't subtle about trying to improve staff performance. He often called the office administrator “useless” and on one occasion threatened to “plant her one.” He also raised his voice and occasionally swore at other employees. One employee had his lawyer send a letter to Otago Sheetmetal, urging the supervisor to be less aggressive.66 This incident of workplace bullying is an extreme form of assertiveness—influencing others through explicit reminders of one's obligations and sometimes explicit threats of punishment. Assertiveness might be called “vocal authority,” because it involves actively applying legitimate and coercive power to influence others. This application includes persistently reminding the target of his or her obligations, frequently checking the target's work, confronting the target, and using threats of sanctions to force compliance.

Information ControlEarlier in this chapter, we explained that people with centrality in social networks have the power to control information. This power translates into influence when the power holder selectively distributes information such that it reframes the situation and causes others to change their attitudes and/or behavior. Controlling information might include withholding information that is more critical or favorable, or distributing information to some people but not to others. According to one major survey, almost half of employees believe coworkers keep others in the dark about work issues if it helps their own cause. Another study found that CEOs influence their board of directors by selectively feeding and withholding information.68