MGMT 2110:

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

PROFESSOR MARTHA JEONG

L1: TUES & THU 12:00pm-1:20pm (https://canvas.ust.hk/courses/42683)
L2: TUES & THU 4:30pm – 5:50pm (https://canvas.ust.hk/courses/42687)
L3: TUES & THU 10:30am – 11:50am (https://canvas.ust.hk/courses/42690)
 WHAT IS POWER?

Power is the capacity of a person, team, or organization to influence others

• Potential, not actual use
• A person can have power over you only if he or she controls something you desire
• People have power they don’t use -- may not know they possess
• A perception of dependence
• Power can work two ways
• Professor—student
• Student—professor
• Countervailing power

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 BASES OF POWER - POSITIONAL

Formal Authority
Formal authority – the ability to influence others through the formal authority inherent
in your position in the organization
Relevance – alignment of tasks with priorities of the organization
Centrality –centrality in work flow networks, location, information networks (being in
the know)
Autonomy/flexibility – discretion over resources or processes
Visibility/Recognition – how visible you are to others
Uniqueness/Irreplaceability – uniqueness of your contributions

Formal & Personal

Informational / Network – influence through your role, visibility and position in
3 organizational networks – SOCIAL CAPITAL
 BASES OF POWER - PERSONAL

Personal Power
Expert – the ability to influence others through the knowledge,
experience, or judgment critical for task accomplishment
Referent – the ability for others to identify with you, respect you, want to
be like you, agreeable behaviors, appearance, charisma, interpersonal skills
(building rapport, understanding others’ motivations, showing genuine
interest in people, making people feel good about themselves)
Effort – commitment of time/energy
Track Record – accomplishments and experience

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 POWER CAN CORRUPT

• Psychological effects of holding power

• Self-serving attributions (“I got to the top on my own”)
• In-group bias (“You’re in if you’re one of us”)
• System justification (“My rules are fair”; “I deserve it”)

• Behavioral effects of holding power

• Disinhibition and too much risk-taking (“I’m invincible”)
• Speaking out of turn (and saying what I want)
• Creation of systems, rules, and ideologies that favor the self and the
group (“Let’s maintain our status”)
• Decreased perspective-taking

5 Magee & Galinsky, 2008

 POWERLESSNESS CAN ALSO CORRUPT

• Blind obedience
• Believing authorities are just
• Diffusing responsibility
• Following directions without questioning

• Disengagement and neglect

• Believing that success is impossible (fatalism)
• Apathy and withdrawal (learned helplessness)

• Rebellion
• Believing that the system is unfair  anger, resentment
• Directing energy against the organization’s goals

6 Magee & Galinsky, 2008; Milgram, 1974

 INFLUENCE

• Influence is any behavior that attempts to alter someone’s

attitudes or behavior
• You need to convince others of your position
• You have no formal authority
• Or, you have formal authority, but “because I said so” is out of style

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 Power – the leader’s
amount of potential influence
over others

Influence: Tactics and

Principles – the process of
affecting others’ attitudes and
behaviors to achieve an
objective
Influence Outcomes
Commitment,
Compliance,
Resistance

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 CIALDINI’S PERSUASION PRINCIPLES

• Liking: people like those who like them

• Tactics: Uncover real similarities, offer genuine praise
• Reciprocity: people repay in kind
• Tactics: Give what you want to receive (exchange)
• Consistency: people align with their clear commitments
• Tactics: Ask for active, public, voluntary commitments
• Authority: people defer to experts
• Tactics: Clarify your expertise
• Scarcity: people want more of what’s less
• Tactics: Highlight uniqueness and rarity of opportunity

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 LIKING

• We do things for people we like.

• Determinants of liking:
• Being liked – why ingratiation works

• Proximity – physical closeness

• Similarity – doesn’t need to be significant (names, birthdays,

fingerprint types)

10 Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004; Burger et al., 2001; 2003

 RECIPROCITY

• Reciprocity: Requester has made a concession (smaller favor),

so recipient feels pressured to reciprocate with his/her own
concession (agree to smaller favor)

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 CONSISTENCY

• Consistency: People stick to their public commitments

• Don’t want to appear “two-faced”
• “Foot in the door” tactic
• Ask for small favor that will be accepted
• Petition (with phone number)
• Ask for larger favor that you really wanted
• Donations
• Once recipient agrees to small favor, he/she becomes “that type
of person” and will want to be consistent and agree to larger
favor

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 AUTHORITY/EXPERTISE

• “Experts are usually correct” heuristic

• Identical messages are more persuasive when attributed to an expert

• The best experts are:

knowledgeable AND trustworthy

• Status markers can signal expertise – impression management

• Titles, dress, cars, speech style

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 SCARCITY

• We want what we can’t have – Value

freedom and choice
• We don’t like to lose opportunities

• Examples:
• “While supplies last” and “This
weekend only”
• “Limited”
• Inside information

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 INSPIRATIONAL APPEAL

• Focuses on values, emotions, and

beliefs to gain support for a
request or course of action

• Effective when they are authentic,

personal, and enthusiastic

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 HARD AND SOFT INFLUENCE TACTICS

Influence Tactics

Silent authority
Pressure
Coalition building Hard influence tactics

Liking
Reciprocity
Consistency
Authority/Expertise
Scarcity Soft influence tactics
Inspirational appeal
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 SILENT AUTHORITY

• A silent authority is a person or

group, such as an owner or upper
management, that influences others
with his mere presence.

• The appeal is based on legitimate or

position power

• E.g., Security Guard

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 PRESSURE

• Push someone to do what you want

or else something undesirable will
occur

• Often includes threats and frequent

interactions until the target agrees

• Most effective when used in a crisis

situation

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 COALITION BUILDING

• Persuading by seeking the assistance of

others or by noting the support of
others
• Pools resources and power
• Legitimizes the issue
• E.g., unions, multi-party negotiations,
petition

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 HARD VERSUS SOFT INFLUENCE TACTICS

Hard Influence Soft Influence

Tactics Tactics

Liking
Reciprocity
Silent authority
Pressure Consistency

Coalition building Authority/Expertise

Scarcity
Inspirational appeal

Resistance Compliance Commitment

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