My Power to Influence Essay
Choose one of the following two assignments to complete this week. Do not do both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission.
Option #1: My Power to Influence Essay
Read the article found here (Links to an external site.).
Write a paper. Please include the following:
Discuss three bases of individual power from the article (reward, legitimate, etc.) which you find in your workplace or other areas of your life.
Share at least one example of these bases of power are used to influence others. Which of the bases do you find audiences to be most receptive or responsive? Are there any bases of power that you feel could be used in a more positive manner?
The body of this paper should be 3-5 pages in length, not including the Title and References pages and should adhere to the CSU Global Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
Option #2: My Power to Influence Presentation
Read the article found here (Links to an external site.).
Create an APA-formatted presentation by using PowerPoint, Prezi, Visme, or other presentation software. Please include the following:
Discuss three sources of personal power from the article (expertise, attractiveness, etc.) which you find most effective in your workplace or other areas of your life.
Share at least one example of how this leader uses personal power “source” to influences others. Do you find your audiences to be receptive to your approaches? Are there any sources that you feel could use some improvement?
Your presentation should adhere to the CSU Global Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
Here are several presentation software links:
Sample Paper
Individual Influence
Organizations operate using various organizational systems in coordinating and enhancing corporation, collaboration, and effective flow of the daily activities. Apart from the standard rules and regulations available in guiding the organization’s members in effectively performing the operations, the organizations rely on key influential people within the organizations in influencing decisions and activities. According to Russel (2019), influence allows employees to impact the attitudes and behaviors of their workmates, subordinates, and to some level, their supervisors. This indicates that influence from top management down to the subordinates and technical teams is experienced both vertically and horizontally. The upward influence functions more over the downward type of influence. Most people rely on hard tactics which are authoritative and based on rewards. This paper will discuss various forms of individual influence in an organization that may positively or negatively impact the functionality and operations.
There are five main types of individual influence that various people influence and control their peers, subordinates, or supervisors. The individual influencing powers include reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, expert power, and referent power. I have experienced three main individual powers of influence in organizations, institutions, and the circles of life. The first type of power of influence is coercive power. Coercive power is the ability of the influencer to punish other people within the organization. This happens across all directions, vertically and horizontally, upwards and down the organizational structure. Even though this is applied by the administrators who can qualify or disqualify a person from their roles and duties, the other members of the organizational structure also use the same strategy to influence their peers and administrators. The administrators scare the subordinates of punishment that if they don’t adhere to the organizations’ rules and policies, they may be laid-off or fined. Through this, the organization administrators influence the subordinates to follow their remarks, calls, or direction in fear of facing punitive measures. I was working in an organization where our immediate supervisor would threaten us by doing anything against his wish. At one time, the organization required the departments to have representatives among the employees who would air the team’s grievances. The supervisor had his preferred person, and thus the other members followed the suggestion by the supervisor in fear that they would face discrimination and punishments. The supervisor was thus using coercive power. On the other side, the preferred candidate by the supervisor was also using coercive power to influence the direction of the team. The other team members would accept most of her conditions for the fear that they would be reported to the supervisor for small mistakes. Through this, the fellow teammate used coercive power to influence the rest of the team.
The reward power of influence is another power source for influencing people within a society or organization. This happens when the power holder rewards other people in getting allegiance and respect from them. I have been observing this from various organizations whereby the administrators give tokens, presents, and favors in gaining the power of influence to direct and control the team. According to Emelianova (2019), rewards motivate employees, and thus regular rewarding creates a positive room for having a closer relationship in influencing the people receiving the rewards. In my workplace, this is largely practiced by the managerial teams to motivate the team to work better and to positively embrace changes within the organization. In one of the departments, the manager organizes common luncheons, picnics, leaves, and monetary appreciations for better performers. Through this, the team members develop a positive attachment with the supervisor who rewards them and thus influences his team. Going against the supervisor causes a feeling of guilt among the members for the supervisor’s good things for the team. Through this, the supervisor has gained the power of influence over his team.
The other type of power of influence found in the organization is the expert power of influence. This power source is for people with a particular specialty or level of exercise that none or few other people within the organization possess. The team members possess knowledge that is required for the operations and activities within the organization, and thus the members follow the positions of the leader. In the organization, the most influential people are those with the highest levels of education and many years of experience. Even when new in the organization, people with Ph.D. are given an upper hand in airing their views and leading the group. Most of the professional members within the organization influence the processes and procedures of the organization beyond their normal roles. Years of experience and working in the organization depicts a higher level of knowledge, ability, and expertise and thus have greater followership than the new team members.
Despite the various sources of the individual power of influence in organizations and social areas, there are limitations accompanied by each, but there are those that most people lean to. Most people are responsive to the expertise form of the individual power of influence whereby one of the holders has a higher level of expertise and experience in the particular area. Sometimes, when the administrator has limited knowledge in most of the departmental fields, the members are allied to the particular member of the team with a lengthier experience and high level of education in leading various programs and processes in the organization. The supervisors sometimes entrust the experts with the team’s performance, understanding that they possess a higher level of knowledge and expertise to complete various tasks and processes of the organization. Most people appreciate this form of influence because it is not biased compared to coercive and rewarding power sources for influence.
The reward power of influence is one of the sources of individual influence that can be positively used to enhance the organization’s performance and general teams. Rewards motivate the members, and thus members appreciate the rewards through unconditional allegiance. The problem with this type of influence is that the members may not question the influencing individual for fear of losing the rewards and favors, and thus an entire team can go astray. In countering this, the rewards should be used to incorporate the transformative and collaborative environment in allowing the members to freely contribute to various positions tabled by the influential figure. Expertise power is important and can also be enhanced through a collaborative and democratic space that allows questioning decisions or positions and collaborative decision-making. The autocratic coercive power of influence cannot be positively applied in a workplace since it is prone to biasness and has a high level of workplace incivility. The influence is derogatory and thus cannot be used positively.
References
Emelianova, Y. (2019). Impact of Reward System on Employee Performance: A Case Study of Normet Ltd.
Russell, S. (2019). The Role of Upward Influence in Organizational Politics: A Discussion on the Effectiveness of Single and Combined Influence Tactics in an Upward Direction. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1379
