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12 - Power and the interpersonal influence of leaders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2010

By
Gary Yukl
Edited by
Dean Tjosvold  and
Barbara Wisse
Dean Tjosvold
Affiliation:
Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Barbara Wisse
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
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Summary

To be effective, a leader must influence people to carry out requests, support proposals, and implement decisions. In large organizations, the effectiveness of most managers depends on influence over superiors and peers as well as influence over subordinates (Kotter 1985). Two types of constructs that have dominated theory and research on interpersonal influence in organizations are power and influence tactics. This chapter will explain how leaders use influence tactics to accomplish their job responsibilities and how their personal and position power can enhance their effectiveness.

Power and influence outcomes

Power has been defined in many different ways, and there is disagreement about the best way to define and measure it. In this chapter, interpersonal power means the potential influence of one person (the “agent”) over the attitudes and behavior of one or more other people (the “targets”). This definition emphasizes potential influence rather than influence behavior or outcomes and specified targets rather than general influence in the organization. It is difficult to describe the power of an agent without specifying the target person(s), the influence objectives, and the time period (Yukl 2006). An agent will have more power over some people than over others and more influence for some types of issues than for others. Furthermore, an agent's power may change over time as conditions change or the effects of an agent's decisions become evident (Hollander 1980; Pfeffer 1981).

Type
Chapter
Information
Power and Interdependence in Organizations , pp. 207 - 223
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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