Influence: power, politics and negotiation
Introduction
Influencing someone is so important that it is considered the essence of leadership, influence is the power that someone exerts in the attitudes and behavior of another person to achieve a goal, power, politics and negotiation are ways to influence the the rest. Power is central to effective leadership, the ability to influence other people, in organizations this means the ability to make things happen or achieve their own goals despite the resistance of others.
There are three modes of influence processes: instrumental submission in which the follower behaves as requested in order to obtain a reward or avoid punishment, in internalization the followers behave with the influence of the leader, because they are attracted by the values, personal image, etc., identification, is when the follower agrees to imitate the behavior of the leader.
The results of the attempts to influence are: commitment, submission and resistance.
Resistance occurs when the follower is against the leader, does not let this influence him, the follower will make excuses for not making the change, will try to persuade the leader to give up, will ask the top management to annul the decision of the leader, it will take time for the leader to forget and not follow up. He will feign submission, but sabotage the change, he will refuse to make it.
With the rational persuasion tactic, the leader presents arguments with objective evidence to convince the follower that the behavior that will achieve the objectives.
To develop a rational persuasion plan: Explain why the goal needs to be achieved, explain how the follower will benefit from meeting the goal, suggest that the task may be interesting, offer evidence that the goal can be achieved, showing how to do the task, explain how potential problems and concerns will be handled, that is, identify potential difficulties and concerns and address them and if there are conflicting plans to achieve the goal, explain why the proposal is better than others, simply keep up with the competition.
With the exhortation tactic the leader tries to awaken the enthusiasm of the follower. To achieve the objectives.
To develop a plan of exhortation; We must appeal to the values and ideals of the followers, we must strengthen the emotions and enthusiasm based on the values of the followers, relate the exhortation with the self-concept of the follower, relate the request with a clear and attractive vision, that is, form a vision of how things will be when the objective is achieved and finally resort to non-verbal communication to emotionally reinforce messages.
With the consultation tactic, the leader uses the consultative style. To develop a consultation plan: You have to present a tentative proposal and be willing to modify it, set the goal and ask the followers how they can help, set the goal but let the followers devise the plan to achieve it.
With the ingratiation tactic, the leader is friendly and praises his followers, to develop a plan, you have to be sensitive to the moods of the followers, praise the achievements already achieved by the follower, but you also have to tell them why You will be praised, and acknowledge if the request is inconvenient.
The legitimation tactic, the leader is based on organizational authority, it is necessary to refer to policies, procedures, rules and other documents.
The tactic of pressure, the leader resorts to threats and disciplinary warnings, good leaders do not use pressure, but when the follower has low maturity levels and does not cooperate, you need to exert pressure, be persistent, set specific deadlines to achieve the homework and check progress frequently.
Power by position comes from top management and is delegated down the chain of command. Personal power is derived from the follower based on the behavior of the leader, legitimate power is based on power by position granted to whoever holds it for their place in the organization.
In order to have legitimate power, it is necessary to perform administrative functions, exercise authority regularly, and support authority with rewards and punishments.
The power of reward is based on the ability of the person who holds it to influence others by offering them something of value to them, to achieve them you have to obtain and retain control over the evaluation of employee performance.
Coercive power consists of punishing and denying rewards for influencing in order to achieve submission of someone, to achieve this you must obtain authority to apply punishments and deny rewards, however you must make sure that employees know the rules and punishments.
The power of reference is based on the personal relationship with others, it is necessary to cultivate the gift of people, strengthen relationships with the boss and colleagues.
Expert power is based on the skill and knowledge of its holder. To become an expert, take training and educational courses offered by the organization and project a positive personal image.
The power by connection comes from the relationship with influential people, to make better use you have to expand the network of contacts between important administrators, become a member of associations or clubs, and make sure that people know you.
Politics is the process by which power is obtained and used, money and politics are given a similar use, since they are means of exchange, money is the means of exchange as in an organization politics is. Policy and support are related to satisfaction in commitment and renewal intentions. The network of connections, reciprocity and coalitions are common political actions in organizations. Developing political skills requires: knowing the organizational culture and powerful members, establishing good working relationships, especially with your boss, and being a loyal and sincere participant in your team.
Negotiation is a process in which two or more parties in conflict try to reach an agreement, during the negotiation process the tactics of influence, power and politics can be used.
References:
The negotiation process consists of: the plan, the negotiations, the postponement and the agreement or disagreement.
Bateman, Thomas S. and Snell, Scott A. Administration; a comparative advantage, McGraw-Hill, Mexico. 1999. Glossary.
Lussier, Robert N., Achua, Christopher F., Leadership: Theory, Application, Skills Development, Mexico: Thomson. 2002.
