Study Guide
Unit 4: Leading without Formal Authority
4a. Evaluate the primary methods used by leaders to exert power over their subordinates
- How would you define power and each of the six sources of power?
- What are the definitions and examples of hard and soft behavioral tactics, rational and non-rational tactics, and bilateral and unilateral structural tactics?
- Why is it important for leaders to use their power ethically?
Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others. In the business world, we normally consider power as moving downward, from leaders to followers, but power may also move upward, from followers to leaders. Legitimate power is a person's rightful claim to ask another to complete a task based on their position or title. Referent power comes from a person's natural attractiveness and others' desire to emulate them. Expert power comes from a person's superior skills and knowledge in a specific area. People have reward power when they control rewards for which people are willing to complete certain tasks. When people threaten others with mental or physical harm, they are using coercive power. Finally, informational power comes from access to knowledge or information that people can exchange to complete a task.
How people use power is called tactics. Hard behavioral tactics, such as assertiveness or social exclusion, are harsh and forceful, while soft behavior tactics, like collaboration or social interaction, rely on building relationships. Rational tactics use logic and reasoning in bargaining and persuasion, but non-rational tactics, like evasion and insults, are more emotional and subjective. Finally, structural tactics use the relationships between roles and positions. Bilateral tactics involve reciprocity, as in bargaining and negotiation, while unilateral tactics are done by one person, as in fait accompli or disengagement.
Leaders need to use their power ethically because they have a lot of it, and depending on what type it is, it can go to their heads. They begin to want power for its own sake rather than to run an organization. Unethical leaders take advantage of followers and use organizations for the leaders' own means, often leading to both organizational and personal scandal and downfall.
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4b. Assess the methods used by leaders to exert influence over subordinates
- What is influence, and how do leaders in organizations use it?
- What are the names and examples of the three varieties of influence, according to Herbert Kelman (1958)?
- How does leaders' nonverbal communication influence their followers?
Influence occurs when a person's emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others. Leaders use it to earn respect, maintain order, socialize with newcomers, teach norms, and persuade change. According to Herbert Kelman, compliance is behaving the way others expect you to, whether you agree with it or not, like obeying laws. Identification is when you do what you think is valued by someone you like, respect, or idolize, such as buying sports equipment after seeing a professional athlete advertise it. The downside of identification is when leaders use it unethically, exploit their followers' idolatry, and become cult-like organizations. Internalization occurs when you accept a set of values that leads to behavior that reflects those values, such as making decisions according to your organization's philosophy.
Leaders may also influence their followers with non-verbal communication. Because of their status and power, followers' eyes are always on their leader, so their body language constantly influences them. How leaders stand and carry themselves, use eye contact, tone of voice, and speech patterns all influence follower behavior. They are used through inspiration, listening, patience, thoughtfulness, mindfulness, professionalism, staying focused, letting go, engaging others, showing joy, creativity, involvement, confidence, passion, contribution, perseverance, enthusiasm, amusement, responsibility, insight, kindness, empowerment, encouragement, achievement, interaction, helping, ambition, and playing, to name a few.
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4c. Analyze the role of emotional intelligence in leadership
- What are emotional intelligence and emotional leadership, and how are they related?
- What is the difference between mood and emotion?
- What are three reasons why it is so important for good leaders to have high emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage one's own emotions and those of others. Emotional leadership is the emotional process leaders use to influence their followers toward a common goal. Leaders must have strong control over their emotions and be able to manage others' emotions to use emotional leadership as an influence process. They should try to direct their behavior toward achieving the common goal.
Mood is a transient positive or negative effect, whereas emotion is a conscious feeling about a particular object or being influenced by chemicals in the brain. Emotions have a lot of influence on people's behaviors, judgment, and decision-making ability. Leaders need to have high emotional intelligence and be aware of their behaviors being compromised by their emotions. They also need to understand when the ratio of emotional to rational thinking in their employees is skewed toward making bad decisions and having poor judgment. In both cases, the leaders will need to manage their own and others' emotions and resulting behaviors so they don't end up hurting the organization.
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4d. Assess the key interpersonal skills in leadership
- How can leaders go native to paradoxically take control of their organizations' informal networks?
- How could a leader with an aggressive personality type be a positive influence on organizational growth?
- What are the differences between negotiation, conflict resolution, and mediation?
- How should leaders use delegation correctly?
Since leaders interact with people a lot, they must have excellent interpersonal skills. One such skill is going native, or becoming a member of the group you are observing. Every organization has an informal network, which is how work gets done (as opposed to the formal organizational structure). If leaders can insinuate themselves into the informal network, they can learn how it works and how to use it to their advantage.
Although the term aggressive personality type may sound nefarious, it merely describes someone interested in taking command, wielding power, accomplishing goals, being active and adventurous, and never backing down. A growth strategy requires capturing more market share, either taking away what currently belongs to others or making more from nothing. Both approaches will encounter fierce competition and continual setbacks. To be successful, the organization needs a leader with aggressive personality characteristics to allow it to persevere.
Negotiation is the process whereby conflicting parties attempt to resolve their divergent goals by redefining the terms of their interdependence. Conflict resolution is bringing disagreements to an end by using one of five approaches:
- avoiding: doing nothing;
- forcing: making the other party do what you want;
- collaborating: both parties working together to find the best outcome for each;
- compromising: both parties giving in a little to end the conflict; or
- accommodating: allowing the other party to have their way.
Mediation occurs when conflicting parties work to form a mutually acceptable agreement with the help of a neutral third party.
To review, see:
- Mediation
- Should Open Source Leaders Go Native?
- Aggressive Personality Types
- Working with Individuals
4e. Evaluate the positive and negative elements of leadership without formal authority
- How can you have leadership without formal authority?
- What are the positive and negative elements of leadership without formal authority?
- How can you tell if they are good or bad?
You don't need a position or title to be a leader. A charismatic personality can give you referent power, specific skills or knowledge give you expert power, access to information no one else has gives you informational power, and so on. Or perhaps you have high emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills, or conflict management skills that allow you to easily negotiate social situations, bring strangers together, provide useful advice, or keep belligerent people from fighting. All these traits and behaviors are what others look for in leaders regardless of where you stand in any formal hierarchy. Some negative elements of informal leadership are unethical leadership that turns into cult-like leadership, coercive power used for bullying, and aggressive personality types who go too far with their aggression.
You can tell if elements are good or bad by the outcomes they produce. If the outcomes meet organizational goals while maintaining organizational values and ethics, upholding laws, and keeping employees and shareholders satisfied, then the leadership elements that brought them about are most likely positive as well, regardless of the leader's authority level. If the outcomes produced are negative, if goals aren't met, values, ethics, or laws are broken, if employees or shareholders are grossly dissatisfied, then some element of leadership is negative and needs to be addressed.
To review, see:
Unit 4 Vocabulary
This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.
- accommodating
- aggressive personality type
- avoiding
- coercive power
- collaborating
- compliance
- compromising
- conflict resolution
- downward
- emotion
- emotional intelligence
- emotional leadership
- expert power
- forcing
- going native
- growth strategy
- hard behavioral tactics
- identification
- influence
- informal network
- informational power
- internalization
- legitimate power
- mediation
- mood
- negotiation
- non-rational tactics
- non-verbal communication
- power
- rational tactics
- referent power
- reward power
- soft behavioral tactics
- structural tactics
- tactics
- unilateral tactics
- upward